Our View of the Legislature – Special Education

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After delaying committee meetings because of water problems in Richmond, legislative business has resumed. Committees are considering hundreds of proposals, some of which concern education for children with disabilities in Virginia:

  • SB 768 (Favola) requires the Department of Education to survey each local school regarding mental and behavioral health services. The bill will be heard by the Senate Committee on Education and Health.
  • HB 1806 (Cohen) and SB 1126 (Boysko) ask that every Individualized Education Plan have an addendum that describes a protocol for individualized accommodations and support for the student during emergency situations at school. The House bill will be heard by the K-12 subcommittee of House Education, on Tuesday morning at 7:30. The Senate bill has been assigned to the Committee of Education and Health, which meets on Thursday mornings.
  • HB 2219 (Tran) and SB 1034 (Pekarsky) require documentation in the individualized education program of a student’s needs for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and require training of anyone involved in the instruction of such student. The House bill will be in House Education and the Senate bill in Senate Education and Health
  • HB 1954 (Rasoul) establishes an At-Risk program in public schools, requires support services positions for special education services to be funded based on a calculation of prevailing costs, and prohibits support services positions from being subject to any method of funding calculation that caps the number of funded support services positions based on a ratio of such positions to students enrolled the local school division.

dLCV’s mission 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. We are available to educate policymakers about the potential impact of legislative proposals. Please let us know of any legislation that you think we should be following by emailing ga@dlcv.org.