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1994 SESSION

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HJ 102 Inclusion of students with disabilities.

Introduced by: Marian Van Landingham | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Inclusion of students with disabilities. Requests the Department of Education to study the effects of integrating students with disabilities in general education classrooms in the Commonwealth's public schools. The Department is to review, among other things, the effects of integrating students with disabilities in general education classrooms on curriculum and instruction opportunities for students with and without disabilities; allocation of instructional and support staff; general education class size; staff development requirements; and potential fiscal incentives and disincentives. The Department is to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1995 Session of the General Assembly.

The early identification and enrollment of students with disabilities in appropriate instructional programs is the responsibility of local school boards pursuant to the Standards of Quality. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (P.L. 94-142) of 1975 (EAHCA), renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, makes federal education funds available to states providing a "free and appropriate education" for students with disabilities; federal law directs that students with disabilities should be educated in the "least restrictive environment" and that these students are to be separated from their peers only when the appropriate education cannot be provided satisfactorily with supplemental services. The practice of returning special education pupils to the general education classroom has received renewed focus as courts have construed the IDEA to require school divisions to justify decisions to educate students with disabilities outside the general classroom environment.


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