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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2000 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 22.1-217.01, 22.1-281, 22.1-346, and 22.1-348 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 22.1-217.01. Information on educational and other services for students identified as hearing or visually impaired.
The Department of Education shall annually prepare and distribute to local
school boards packets of information describing the educational and other
services available through the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the
Blind at Staunton, the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled
at Hampton, the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the
Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped to students who are identified as
hearing impaired or visually impaired. Local school boards shall annually distribute
this information to the parents of those students who are identified as hearing
impaired or visually impaired.
§ 22.1-281. Triennial census of school population.
Every three years, at a time to be designated by the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, a census of all persons residing within each school division who,
on or before December 31 immediately following the census, will have reached
their fifth birthday but not their twentieth birthday shall be taken on forms
furnished by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Such persons who are
domiciled in orphanages or eleemosynary institutions or who are dependents
living on any federal military or naval reservation or other federal property
shall be included in the census for the school division within which the
institution or federal military or naval reservation or other federal property
is located. Such persons who are confined in state hospitals, state training
schools or state training centers for the mentally retarded, each as defined in
§ 37.1-1, or mental institutions, state or federal correctional institutions,
or the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton, or the
Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall be
included in the census for the school division within which the parents or guardians
of such person or persons legally reside. If the legal residence of the parents
or guardians of such person is not ascertainable, such parents or guardians
shall be deemed to be legal residents of the school division from which such
person was admitted or committed.
§ 22.1-346. Transfer of property; rights and duties of the Board of Education; supervision of schools; appointment and removal of officers and faculty; certain funding initiatives.
A. All of the real estate and personal property now existing and standing in
the name of the board of visitors of the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf
and the Blind at Staunton and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and
Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall be transferred to and be under the control of
the Board of Education. The Department of General Services shall cooperate with the
Board in supervising the maintenance and repair of the real and personal property of
the schools.
B. Any gift, grant, devise or bequest made prior to July 1, 1984, to the
Virginia School for the Deaf, and the Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton or
the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton shall be held by the
Board of Education for the school to which made. The Board of Education shall
have the power to take, hold, receive and enjoy any gift, grant, devise or
bequest made hereafter to the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the
Blind at Staunton and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and
Multi-Disabled at Hampton. Such gift, grant, devise or bequest shall be held
for the school to which made for uses and purposes designated by the donor or if not
designated for one of the schools or for a specific purpose, for the general
purposes of any programs in either of the schools. The Board of Education shall
also accept, execute and administer any trust in which it may have an interest
under the terms of the instrument creating the trust.
C. The Board shall be charged with the operational control of the Virginia
School for the Deaf, and the Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton and the
Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton. In exercising this
operational control, the Board shall include, in any budget recommendations to
the Governor for state funding for the several school divisions which may be
related to educational technology or other programs appropriate for
implementation within the two schools, state funding for such programs to be
provided to the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton
and the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton.
However, the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton and
the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall not
be defined as school divisions for constitutional purposes. Supervision of the
contracts and agreements of the board of visitors of the Virginia Schools
School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton and the Virginia
School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton are hereby transferred
to the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Board shall provide rules and regulations for the governance of the schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall administer, supervise and direct the activities and programs of the schools pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Board. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall appoint the officers and employees of each school subject to the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 2.1-110 et seq.) of Title 2.1.
§ 22.1-348. Persons eligible; fees; educational programs to be provided; admissions procedures.
A. Persons of ages two through twenty-one shall be eligible for educational
services provided by the schools. Until July 1, 1993, there shall be no charge
for the education of students, but fees for student activities may be charged
at the Board's discretion. Beginning July 1, 1993, the Department of Education
shall be entitled to deduct annually from the locality's share for the
education of pupils with disabilities a sum equal to the actual local
expenditure per pupil in support of those students placed by the relevant local
school division in either of the Virginia Schools School for the Deaf and the
Blind at Staunton or the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled
at Hampton. The amount of the actual transfers shall be based on data
accumulated during the prior school year.
B. From such funds as may be appropriated, the Virginia School for the Deaf and
the Blind at Staunton shall provide an educational program for children in
preschool through grade twelve who are deaf, an educational program for
children in preschool through grade twelve who are blind, and an educational
program for children in preschool through grade twelve who have visual and
sensory disabilities and who are identified as emotionally disturbed pursuant
to Board of Education regulations. The Virginia School for the Deaf, and the
Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton shall provide an educational program for
children in preschool through grade twelve who are deaf, an educational program for
children in preschool through grade twelve who are blind, and an educational program for
children in preschool through grade twelve with sensory-impaired multiple
disabilities.
The preschool programs may be residential or nonresidential or both at the discretion of the Board. The Board, from time to time, may approve additional programs as may be appropriate.
"Sensory-impaired multiple disabilities" means, for the purposes of this
section and the identification of the program at the Virginia School for the
Deaf, and the Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton, concomitant impairments,
including at least one significant sensory impairment, the combination of which
requires services that cannot be provided in special education programs
designed solely for one impairment. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
C. Students with sensory-impaired multiple disabilities shall attend the
Virginia School for the Deaf, and the Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton.
The Board shall prescribe procedures and criteria for determining admission to
and the appropriate placement in the Virginia School for the Deaf, and the
Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton and the Virginia School for the Deaf and
the Blind at Staunton. The appropriateness of the placement of each student attending
either school shall be reviewed at least annually.