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Virginia: 'It’s no secret we are failing students with disabilities'

Feb 2, 2024, Virginia Mercury: Va. lawmakers consider sweeping changes to special education  https://www.virginiamercury.com/2024/02/02/va-lawmakers-consider-sweeping-changes-to-special-education/

Two Virginia lawmakers are proposing sweeping measures to improve the state’s provision of special education services as criticisms from parents and the federal government over Virginia’s compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act continue.


Sponsored by Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, and Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington, the proposals would create a statewide system to oversee the development and use of individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with special needs, require more training for educators about how to provide inclusive special education instruction, set up eight regional “special education parent support centers” and provide additional specialists to divisions.


“It’s no secret we are failing our students with disabilities in Virginia,” said Coyner during a Jan. 30 hearing on the legislation.


Federal law requires states to provide all students with disabilities a “free appropriate public education.” Among the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is that schools must offer an IEP and that “every child should have the chance to meet challenging objectives,” according to a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision.


“This bill ensures that there is monitoring of this civil rights law at the state level, and it’s very necessary,” said Kandise Lucas, a special education advocate, during a recent House Education subcommittee meeting.


Virginia has almost 181,000 students receiving special education services this school year, an increase of nearly 7,000 students from a year ago. But the state has struggled to meet the demands of students with disabilities.


Virginia has repeatedly been criticized by the federal government for problems with providing special education services. A June 2020 report by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs determined that Virginia “does not have the procedures and practices that are reasonably designed to enable the state to exercise general supervision over all educational programs for children with disabilities.”…


Individual school divisions have also been faulted by federal officials. In November 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found Fairfax County Public Schools,


Virginia’s largest school district, had failed to provide thousands of students with disabilities the education they were entitled to receive during the COVID-19 pandemic.


State reviews have also echoed many federal criticisms. In 2020, the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission identified major shortcomings in the state’s provision of special education services, including low-quality IEPs, a lack of knowledge among educators about how to effectively support students with disabilities and shortfalls in the Virginia Department of Education’s oversight of local divisions….


A third of the special education directors interviewed by JLARC said only half or fewer administrators and general education teachers in their division had the knowledge or skills necessary to support students with disabilities. However, researchers pointed out that state regulations only required “minimal” training in special education for administrators….


 “Most of the things that the federal government has hit us with is about compliance, and while compliance must happen, it doesn’t guarantee great instructional practices and that all students are served the best they can be in the commonwealth,” said Coyner, a former Chesterfield School Board member, at a Tuesday hearing….


The proposal would also require training for educators about how to provide inclusive special education instruction and would task school boards with providing “high-quality professional development in instructional practices” for special education. …


Both Favola and Coyner are asking for $14.2 million over the next two years to pay for divisions’ special education parent engagement specialists and $8.1 million for the creation of the Virginia IEP system, professional development, teacher coaching and eight additional state ombudsman positions.


Two speakers Thursday said they wished the bill addressed problems with the special education teacher pipeline given the “extraordinary shortage” of teachers and the state’s reliance on provisionally licensed teachers. …


 “The workload is immense,” Pekarsky said. “The type of issues that they are dealing with are significant. There is significant burnout, people are leaving the profession and we know that our students with IEPs probably need the most highly qualified experienced teachers.”…

 





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