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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A task force has voted to form yet another panel to try to resolve problems plaguing a state law aimed at making it easier for students with disabilities to get a high school diploma.
Thursday's decision followed nearly four hours of often pointed exchanges on who bears the blame for troubles surrounding a law that took effect in August.
Some backers of the overhaul contend the state education department has fallen short on providing educators with crucial guidance.
But Jamie Wong, director of special education policy, said her agency has supplied districts with a wide array of information and more is coming next week.
"This just went in to effect in August," Wong said of the new rules. "We have tried to be very clear and very purposeful."
The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1zFhBii ) the state has about 80,000 special education students and one of the nation's lowest high school graduation rates for students with disabilities.
The task force of special education officials, advocacy groups and parents was set up to help with the rollout of the measure, Act 833.
But the issue has been plagued by controversy from the outset, and federal officials have twice raised concerns on whether the law runs afoul of federal rules.
The first wave of changes for students was supposed to be in place at the start of the school year.
However, state officials said that deadline was never realistic and essentially pushed it back to January.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
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