                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

CERTAIN DUTIES OF DEPARTMENT (§ 22.1-214.4)

The Department shall:

1. Provide training and guidance documents to local school divisions on the
development of individualized education programs (IEPs) for children with
disabilities that incorporate specific examples of high-quality present level of
performance descriptions, annual goals, and postsecondary transition sections.

2. Develop a required training module for each individual who participates in an
IEP meeting that comprehensively addresses and explains in detail (i) each IEP
team member&#8217;s respective role in the IEP meeting, (ii) the IEP development
process, and (iii) components of effective IEPs. The training module shall be
required for all IEP participants, with the exception of parents, prior to
participating in an IEP meeting and at regular intervals thereafter.

3. Annually conduct structured reviews of a sample of IEPs from a sufficiently
large sample of local school divisions to verify that the IEPs are in compliance
with state and federal laws and regulations governing IEP content, and provide a
summary report of the findings of such reviews and recommendations regarding any
necessary corrective actions to the reviewed divisions&#8217; superintendents,
special education directors, school board chairs and vice-chairs, and local
special education advisory committees. In reviewing local school
divisions&#8217; IEPs, the Department shall determine whether the special
education and related services, supplementary aids and services, and program
modifications that will be provided to enable students with disabilities to
participate in nonacademic and extracurricular activities are sufficient, and
include its findings and corrective actions in the summary reports it provides
to the reviewed local school divisions&#8217; superintendents, special education
directors, and school board members. Nothing in this section shall be construed
to (i) direct the Department to make determinations regarding whether a
particular IEP provides a free appropriate public education to any individual
student or (ii) authorize the Department to override a parent&#8217;s consent to
proposed revisions to an individual student&#8217;s IEP. In determining
corrective actions, the Department shall make recommendations to the relevant
school division regarding, among other things, those individual IEPs for which
the IEP team should convene to consider revisions necessary to incorporate
content required by special education regulations. For those individual IEPs for
which the Department recommends that the IEP team should convene to consider
such revisions, the relevant school division shall notify the relevant parents
or caregivers of the recommendations issued in the summary report of the
structured review conducted pursuant to this subdivision.

4. Develop and maintain a statewide plan for improving (i) its ongoing oversight
of local practices related to transition planning and services for children with
disabilities and (ii) technical assistance and guidance provided for
postsecondary transition planning and services for children with disabilities.
At a minimum, such plan shall articulate how the Department will reliably and
comprehensively assess the compliance and quality of transition plans for
children with disabilities on an ongoing basis and communicate findings to local
school division staff and local school boards. The Department shall, no later
than December 1 of each year, update the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on
Education and Health and the House Committee on Education on its progress in
implementing such plan.

5. Develop and maintain a statewide strategic plan for recruiting and retaining
special education teachers. At a minimum, such plan shall (i) use data analyses
to determine the specific staffing needs of each local school division on an
ongoing basis; (ii) evaluate the potential effectiveness of strategies for
addressing recruitment and retention challenges, including tuition assistance,
differentiated pay for special education teachers, and the expansion of special
education teacher mentorships; and (iii) estimate the costs of implementing each
such strategy, including the extent to which federal funds could be used to
support implementation. The Department shall, no later than November 1 of each
year, update the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and
the House Committee on Education on its progress in implementing such plan.

6. In order to (i) address variation in rates of determinations of student
eligibility for special education and related services both across local school
divisions in the Commonwealth and based on specific student disabilities, (ii)
promote consistency in such eligibility determinations, and (iii) ensure equal
access to special education and related services across local school divisions,
(a) review and update all forms and worksheets relating to referral, evaluation,
reevaluation, and eligibility, including clarifying any ambiguity or vagueness
in the standard for providing an initial evaluation or in eligibility criteria;
(b) review and update guidance on the implementation of such referral,
evaluation, reevaluation, and eligibility forms and worksheets and the legal
obligations of local school boards to conduct initial evaluations and make
eligibility determinations for special education and related services; and (c)
develop high-quality professional development to support the implementation of
such referral, evaluation, reevaluation, and eligibility guidance, forms, and
worksheets.

7. (i) Develop criteria for what constitutes &#8220;exceptional
circumstances&#8221; that warrant extension of the 60-calendar day regulatory
timeline for complaint investigations and include the criteria in its publicly
available complaint resolution procedures, (ii) consistently track the
Department&#8217;s receipt of each sufficient complaint and its issuance of the
respective letter of findings, and (iii) require staff to report at least
quarterly to the Superintendent on the specific reasons for granting an
extension due to &#8220;exceptional circumstances&#8221; and the amount of time
it took to complete each investigation beyond the 60-calendar day regulatory
timeline.

8. Develop policies and procedures for considering and addressing credible
allegations of local education agency (LEA) noncompliance with the requirements
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (P.L. 101-476) that do not
meet the current regulatory standard for state complaints. Such policies and
procedures shall include expectations and mechanisms for collaboration between
the Office of Dispute Resolution and Administrative Services and the Office of
Special Education Program Improvement in the Division of Special Education and
Student Services at the Department to investigate and resolve such credible
allegations of noncompliance that do not qualify for state complaint
investigations.

9. Elevate the position of State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education. The
State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education shall (i) report to the
Superintendent; (ii) systematically track and report to the Department questions
and concerns raised by parents to the State Parent Ombudsman for Special
Education and special education family support centers established pursuant to
&#xA7; 22.1-214.5; (iii) coordinate with the Parent Training and Information
Center on the activities of the special education family support centers
established pursuant to &#xA7; 22.1-214.5; and (iv) develop a one-page
comprehensive summary of the roles and responsibilities of the State Parent
Ombudsman for Special Education and such special education family support
centers, the specific supports the State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education
and such special education family support centers can provide to parents, and
how to contact the State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education and such special
education family support centers. The Department shall make the summary
available in multiple languages on its website and as part of the Virginia IEP
established pursuant to subdivision 11.

10. Develop and implement a process for systematically auditing and verifying
school divisions&#8217; self-determinations of compliance with all Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (P.L. 101-476) performance indicators. The
verification process shall include a random sample of school divisions each year
and ensure that all school divisions&#8217; self-determinations are reviewed and
verified no less frequently than once every five years.

11. (Effective July 1, 2027) Develop, establish, review and update as necessary
at least once every five years, and make available to each local school board an
IEP writing, facilitation, tracking, and transfer system to be referred to as
the Virginia IEP that includes, at a minimum, an IEP template component and a
data system component. The Department shall ensure that such data system
component allows for secure transfer of data from division student information
systems to the Department. The Department shall also develop and make available
to each local school board guidance on the utilization of the Virginia IEP and
high-quality professional development to support (i) the effective utilization
of the Virginia IEP and (ii) the implementation of instructional practices to
support the provision of specially designed instruction in inclusive settings.

12. Develop and publish a data dashboard for the annual public reporting, on a
date to be determined by the Superintendent, of state-level, division-level, and
school-level special education data, disaggregated by disability type and by
subgroups of students with disabilities, including by race, ethnicity, economic
disadvantage, English learner status, foster care status, and unhoused status,
except when such disaggregation would result in the disclosure of any
student&#8217;s personally identifiable information in violation of relevant
federal and state law. Such data dashboard shall include disaggregated (i)
results on the early literacy screener provided by the Department, the Virginia
Kindergarten Readiness Program, and Standards of Learning assessments and (ii)
college and career readiness and learning climate measures.

HISTORY: 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 173, 451, 452; 2024, cc. 468, 502.