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1994 SESSION


CHAPTER 259
An Act to amend and reenact § 22.1-348 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind.
[H 332]
Approved April 4, 1994

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 22.1-348 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-348. Persons eligible; fees; educational programs to be provided; attendance zones; 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 handicapped 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 for the Deaf and the Blind. The amount of the actual transfers shall be based on data accumulated during the prior school year.

B. The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Staunton shall provide an educational program for deaf children who are deaf from preschool through grade twelve and an educational program for blind children who are blind from preschool through grade twelve. The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Hampton shall provide an educational program for deaf children who are deaf from preschool through grade twelve, an educational program for blind children who are blind from preschool through grade twelve, and an educational program for multi-handicapped children with sensory-impaired multiple disabilities from preschool through grade twelve.

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.

"Multi-handicapped children" shall mean"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 at Hampton, children who have two or more major handicapping conditions so severe that their particular educational needs require unique and special services or whose combination of severely handicapping conditions requires extraordinary programs or services or both to meet their particular educational needsconcomitant 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. The Board may establish geographic attendance zones to determine the school each student shall attend through grade eight. However, the younger siblings of a child in high school may attend the same school as the child in high school for the convenience and comfort of both children and parents. Multi-handicapped students whose primary disability is either blindness or deafness. Students with sensory-impaired multiple disabilities shall attend the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind at Hampton.

D. The Board shall prescribe procedures and criteria for determining admission to the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind 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.