Amend the bill in section 3 in subsection 8 in paragraph B in the last line (page 1, line 30 in L.D.) by striking out the following: " and English" and inserting the following: ' or English, or both'

Amend the bill in section 4 in the first paragraph in the next to the last line (page 1, line 38 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "and English" and inserting the following: 'or English, or both'

Amend the bill in section 4 in the first paragraph in the next to the last line (page 1, line 38 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "October" and inserting the following: 'November'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 2 in the first paragraph in the first line (page 3, line 18 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "By March 1, 2020, the" and inserting the following: 'The'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 3 in the first paragraph in the first line (page 3, line 28 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "June" and inserting the following: 'September'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 3 in the first paragraph in the 7th line (page 3, line 34 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "and English" and inserting the following: 'or English, or both'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 4 in the first paragraph in the first line (page 4, line 1 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "June" and inserting the following: 'September'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 5 in the first paragraph in the first line (page 4, line 4 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "November 15" and inserting the following: 'December 1'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 5 in the first paragraph in the last line (page 4, line 6 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "must" and inserting the following: 'may'

Amend the bill in section 4 in subsection 5 in paragraph D in the last line (page 4, line 15 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "and English" and inserting the following: 'or English, or both'

Amend the bill in section 5 in subsection 2 in the last line (page 5, line 9 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "and English" and inserting the following: 'or English, or both'

Amend the bill in section 6 by striking out all of the first paragraph (page 5, lines 17 to 20 in L.D.) and inserting the following:

Amend the bill by inserting after section 6 the following:

Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.

summary

This amendment removes any preferences in the bill for American Sign Language. The amendment also adjusts reporting dates throughout the bill.

The amendment also directs the Commissioner of Education no later than November 1, 2019 to establish a departmental task force to recommend language developmental milestones from existing resources and current standards and to develop a parent resource portfolio to monitor and track the expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward literacy in American Sign Language or English, or both, of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and sets criteria for the task force membership.

The bill directs the Department of Education to select tools and assessments for educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy development of children who are deaf and hard of hearing and to report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education and cultural affairs. The amendment requires the department to submit an interim report no later than March 1, 2020 and a final report no later than January 1, 2021 on the parent resource portfolio developed by the task force and a procedure to disseminate the parent resource portfolio to parents, a procedure to disseminate the selected tools and assessments to educators and a procedure for educators to use when a child is not progressing in expressive and receptive language skills.

The amendment also adds an appropriations and allocations section.