As we reported last month, the legislature considered a massive bill that attempted to codify, in state law, provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The bill was offered out of concern that the federal law may be in some jeopardy.
SB 678 (Pekarsky) was heard multiple times on the Senate side, with the patron responding to some, but not all, concerns raised by advocates. The biggest concern, in our view, was the enormous cost that the state would be forced to assume if the federal law is abandoned. The bill, in some stages, also failed to include protections that are unique to Virginia’s implementing regulations for IDEA. The patron eventually put a delayed enactment clause on the bill, a “trigger,” that the bill would not become effective unless IDEA protections are gone. Even with the trigger, the bill was continued to 2027 in the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
Currently, students with disabilities are protected under federal law by IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. These laws are designed to give students with disabilities access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE). dLCV hopes that federal law will remain in place, as it contains protections that people with disabilities have counted on for more than fifty years.
In another education-related bill, HB 1229 (Scott), the House considered an action to move the prohibition of seclusion and restraint in public schools out of regulation and into code. The patron was asked to bring the bill by a constituent, who was concerned that school districts are not taking the regulations seriously. dLCV agrees that many schools are not complying with the regulations. In our view, that problem will not be solved by moving the regs into code, but only by better enforcement. HB 1229 was modified, in the House, to simply require the Department of Education to encourage local departments to comply with the regulations and to report back to the legislature about their efforts. The substantially watered down bill was approved by the House and will be heard in the Public Education subcommittee of Senate Education and Health later today.
The mission of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation.