2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 10-295. Specialized vision-related instruction, educational programs, goods and services. Expense of services. Teachers and educational resources; funding. Adult home instruction. Specialized facility. Adaptive equipment.

      Sec. 10-295. Specialized vision-related instruction, educational programs, goods and services. Expense of services. Teachers and educational resources; funding. Adult home instruction. Specialized facility. Adaptive equipment. (a) All residents of this state, regardless of age, who, because of blindness or impaired vision, require specialized vision-related educational programs, goods and services, on the signed recommendation of the director of the Board of Education and Services for the Blind, shall be entitled to receive such instruction, programs, goods and services for such length of time as is deemed expedient by said director. Upon the petition of any parent or guardian of a blind child or a child with impaired vision, a local board of education may provide such instruction within the town or it may provide for such instruction by agreement with other towns as provided in subsection (d) of section 10-76d. All educational privileges prescribed in part V of chapter 164, not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, shall apply to the pupils covered by this subsection.

      (b) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall expend funds for the services made available pursuant to subsection (a) of this section from the educational aid for blind and visually handicapped children account in accordance with the provisions of this subsection. The expense of such services shall be paid by the state in an amount not to exceed six thousand four hundred dollars in any one fiscal year for each child who is blind or visually impaired. The Board of Education and Services for the Blind may adopt such regulations as it deems necessary to carry out the purpose and intent of this subsection.

      (1) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall provide, upon written request from any interested school district, the services of teachers of the visually impaired, based on the levels established in the individualized education or service plan. The agency shall also make available its resources, including, but not limited to, the Braille and large print library, to all teachers of public and nonpublic school children. The agency may also provide vision-related professional development and training to all school districts. The agency shall utilize education consultant positions authorized as of July 1, 2001, funded by moneys appropriated from the General Fund, to supplement new staffing that will be made available through the educational aid for the blind and visually handicapped children account, which shall be governed by formal written policies established by the agency.

      (2) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall use funds appropriated to said account, first to provide specialized books, materials, equipment, supplies, adaptive technology services and devices, specialist examinations and aids, preschool programs and vision-related independent living services, excluding primary educational placement, for eligible children without regard to a per child statutory maximum.

      (3) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind may, within available appropriations, employ certified teachers of the visually impaired in sufficient numbers to meet the requests for services received from school districts. In responding to such requests, the agency shall utilize a formula for determining the number of teachers needed to serve the school districts, crediting six points for each Braille-learning child and one point for each other child, with one full-time certified teacher of the visually impaired assigned for every twenty-five points credited. The agency shall exercise due diligence to employ the needed number of certified teachers of the visually impaired, but shall not be liable for lack of resources. Not later than October first of each year, the Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall determine the number of teachers needed based on the formula provided in this subdivision. Based on such determination the Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall estimate the funding needed to pay such teachers' salaries, benefits and related expenses.

      (4) In any fiscal year, when funds appropriated to cover the combined costs associated with providing the services set forth in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection are projected to be insufficient, the Board of Education and Services for the Blind shall be authorized to collect revenue from all school districts that have requested such services on a per student pro rata basis, in the sums necessary to cover the projected portion of these services for which there are insufficient appropriations.

      (5) Remaining funds in said account, not expended to fund the services set forth in subdivisions (2) and (3) of this subsection, shall be used to cover on a pro rata basis, the actual cost with benefits of retaining a teacher of the visually impaired, directly hired or contracted by the school districts which opt to not seek such services from the Board of Education and Services for the Blind. Reimbursement shall occur at the completion of the school year, using the caseload formula denoted in subdivision (3) of this section, with twenty-five points allowed for the maximum reimbursable amount as established by the agency annually.

      (6) Remaining funds in such account, not expended to fund the services set forth in subdivisions (2), (3) and (5) of this subsection, shall be distributed to the school districts on a pro rata formula basis with a two-to-one credit ratio for Braille-learning students to non-Braille-learning students in the school district based upon the annual child count data provided pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection.

      (c) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind may provide for the instruction of the adult blind in their homes, expending annually for this purpose such sums as the General Assembly may appropriate.

      (d) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind may expend up to ten thousand dollars per fiscal year per person twenty-one years of age or over who is both blind or visually impaired and deaf for the purpose of sending such person to a specialized public or private facility within the state furnishing programs from which such person can profit. Said board may determine the criteria by which a person is sent to a specialized public or private facility and may adopt regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this subsection.

      (e) The Board of Education and Services for the Blind may, within available appropriations, purchase adaptive equipment for persons receiving services pursuant to this chapter. The cost of such purchases shall not exceed, and shall be included in, the maximum amount authorized for instructional expenses under subsection (b) of this section.

      (1949 Rev., S. 1610; 1949, 1953, 1955, S. 1002d; March, 1958, P.A. 17, S. 1; 1959, P.A. 582; 591; 1961, P.A. 539, S. 4; 1963, P.A. 386, S. 3; 577; February, 1965, P.A. 289, S. 1, 2; 574, S. 12; 1967, P.A. 462, S. 1, 2; 1969, P.A. 159, S. 1, 2; 580, S. 1, 2; 767, S. 2; 1971, P.A. 567, S. 1; 1972, P.A. 212, S. 1; P.A. 73-469, S. 1, 2; P.A. 74-260, S. 1, 2; P.A. 78-211, S. 1, 2; 78-218, S. 201; P.A. 79-525, S. 1; P.A. 81-378, S. 1, 2; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2, S. 138, 165; P.A. 98-252, S. 26, 80; P.A. 03-219, S. 1; P.A. 04-16, S. 1.)

      History: 1959 acts required that child and either parent or guardian have resided in state for three years immediately preceding application for aid and increased maximum payment by the state; 1961 act further increased maximum payment, increased the maximum additional sum payable, added the provision for blind children with other severe physical handicaps or mental retardation or emotionally maladjusted children, reduced the residence requirement from three years to one year and added Subsec. (c); 1963 acts increased the state's maximum payment and changed the name of the board; 1965 acts increased maximum payment for instruction in Subsec. (a) from twenty-one to twenty-seven hundred dollars per year and increased maximum payment in Subsec. (b) from forty-five hundred to five thousand dollars per year and substituted Sec. 10-75g for reference to repealed Sec. 10-81 in Subsec. (a); 1967 act increased maximum payment in Subsec. (a) to two thousand nine hundred dollars and in Subsec. (b) to five thousand five hundred dollars; 1969 acts amended Subsec. (a) to require recommendation of director rather than affirmative vote of three board members for special instruction, to require director to submit names of those recommended to the board, to substitute Sec. 10-76d for Sec. 10-75g, to increase maximum payment for instruction to three thousand four hundred dollars, to increase clothing payments from sixty to one hundred dollars, to add provisions re reimbursement for transportation costs and to extend provisions to those with impaired vision, amended Subsec. (b) to require bona fide residency for eligibility rather than three years' residency, to increase maximum payment to six thousand dollars and to extend provisions to those with impaired vision; 1971 act made provisions applicable to persons regardless of age, increased maximum payment in Subsec. (a) to four thousand dollars and in Subsec. (b) to seven thousand dollars; 1972 act increased maximum payment in Subsec. (a) to four thousand eight hundred dollars and in Subsec. (b) to eight thousand four hundred dollars; P.A. 73-469 increased payment in Subsec. (a) to five thousand four hundred dollars; P.A. 74-260 increased payment in Subsec. (a) to six thousand four hundred dollars and in Subsec. (b) to nine thousand four hundred dollars; P.A. 78-211 increased maximum payment in Subsec. (b) to twelve thousand dollars; P.A. 78-218 included regional boards of education in transportation reimbursement provisions in Subsec. (a) and removed masculine personal pronouns in Subsec. (b); P.A. 79-525 added Subsec. (d) re expenditures for persons twenty-one or older who are both blind or visually impaired and deaf; P.A. 81-378 raised maximum expenditure per year per child from twelve thousand to fourteen thousand dollars in Subsec. (b); June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-2 amended Subsec. (a) by requiring a local or regional board of education to request reimbursement by the first of June for expenses incurred during the preceding first of July through the thirty-first of December and by the first of December for expenses incurred during the preceding first of January through the thirtieth of June, amended Subsec. (b) by decreasing the amount of funds the board may expend for sending certain children to specialized facilities from fourteen to eleven thousand dollars, and added Subsec. (e) allowing the board to purchase adaptive equipment and specifying the cost limits of such purchases, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 98-252 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute referral by a local or regional board of education for referral by the State Board of Education for purposes of providing instruction to children with vision greater than as defined in Sec. 10-294a, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 03-219 amended Subsec. (a) by substituting "specialized vision-related educational programs, goods and services" for "special educational programs", making conforming change, and deleting provisions re submission of names by director to the board, "educable" child, six-thousand-four-hundred-dollar per person instructional spending limit, one-hundred-dollar per person clothing allowance, three-hundred-dollar per person transportation allowance, and services to a child with vision greater than as defined in Sec. 10-294a, amended Subsec. (b) by deleting provisions re eleven-thousand-dollar per fiscal year per child instructional spending limit for children with multiple handicaps, adding provision re six-thousand-four-hundred-dollar per fiscal year per child instructional spending limit and adding Subdivs. (1) to (6) re educational resources and teachers provided by the Board of Education and Services for the Blind to school districts, establishment of formula to determine the number of teachers needed to serve a district, and establishment of pro rata formula for distribution of funds from educational aid for blind and visually handicapped children account, effective July 9, 2003; P.A. 04-16 made technical changes.