Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 194

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR TRAINING AND EDUCATION OF HANDICAPPED CHILDREN

AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS TO THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR THE EDUCATION AND/OR TRAINING OF AND TRANSPORTATION FOR HANDICAPPED CHILDREN IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE.

WHEREAS, it is the obligation of the State Board of Education of the State of Delaware to provide educational opportunities for all of its children in accordance with aptitudes, interests, abilities, or disabilities; and

WHEREAS, it is sound economically, socially advantageous, and humane to provide for these handicapped children of Delaware; and

WHEREAS, Chapter 125, Volume 42, Laws of Delaware, 1939, expressly requires the State Board of Education to provide and maintain special classes and special facilities to meet the needs of all children recommended for special training; and

WHEREAS, the current budgets of the various boards of education are inadequate to support a satisfactory educational program adapted to the needs of handicapped children; NOW, THEREFORE,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:

Section 1. There is hereby appropriated, in addition to any amounts already or otherwise made available for the purposes hereinafter described, to the State Board of Education the sum of One Hundred Forty-nine Thousand Three Hundred Two Dollars ($149,302.00) for the school year 1951-1952, and a further sum of One Hundred Fifty-one Thousand Forty-six Dollars ($151,046.00) for the school year 1952-1953 to carry out the provisions of said Chapter 125, Volume 42, Laws of Delaware.

Section 2. The State Board of Education is hereby authorized and directed to make and adopt rules and regulations for the education and/or training of and transportation for handicapped children. Such children shall be described as follows:

A. Physically handicapped children for the purposes of this Act shall mean children of sound mind between the ages of six and sixteen years who suffer from any physical disability making it impracticable or impossible for them to benefit from or participate in the regular classroom program of the public schools and whose proper education requires a modification of the regular classroom program.

B. Maladjusted children for the purposes of this Act means children between the ages of six and sixteen years of age who are truant, incorrigible, delinquent, or in need of a special educational program designed to prevent them from becoming truant, incorrigible or delinquent,, or children who, upon the recommendation and approval of the superintendent of schools or other head administrative officer of the regular constituted school districts and upon the recommendation and approval of the Director of Child Development and Guidance, are assigned to such classes or schools by courts of competent jurisdiction.

C. Educatable mentally handicapped children for the purposes of this Act means children between the ages of six and sixteen years of age, who because of retarded intellectual development as determined by individual psychological examination, are incapable of being educated profitably and efficiently through the regular classroom program, but who may be expected to benefit from special educational facilities designed to make them economically useful and socially adjusted.

Section 3. The State Board of Education is further authorized and directed to use the funds appropriated in Section 1 for the following purposes: (1) the employment of the necessary professional and clerical personnel to carry out the program specified in Section 2; (2) necessary travel of persons employed; (3) transportation for handicapped children; (4) the purchase of necessary equipment; (5) allocation of funds to school districts which establish and maintain special classes for handicapped children, costs in excess of the funds necessary for the classes of the normal children.

Section 4. This Act shall be known as a Supplementary Appropriation Act and funds hereby appropriated shall be paid out of the General Fund of the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

Approved June 4, 1951.