As a Virginia and Fairfax County parent of a student who uses a wheelchair, I strongly support this bill. Accessibility is not theoretical for our family - it directly affects my son’s ability to participate in school and school-related activities. My son Spencer, a 10th grader, was a proud member of the Langley High School Varsity tennis team and helped win the Class 6 state championship. Yet at multiple high school tennis facilities, he encountered gates that were too narrow for his wheelchair. In some cases, he had to remove his wheels just to get onto the courts. That is not equal access. We have also experienced accessibility gaps at major school events, including graduation at DAR Constitution Hall, where accessible seating is extremely limited (only 14 total accessible seats for families) and difficult to navigate. These moments should be celebrations, not logistical challenges. Parents of children with disabilities are exhausted! We are constantly advocating, troubleshooting, and negotiating access one barrier at a time. That is not a workable or equitable system. This bill would shift the burden off families and toward a proactive, systematic review and planning process where it belongs. Requiring every school division to review and report accessibility barriers is a practical and necessary step. What gets measured gets fixed. A statewide summary and a funded plan will help ensure accessibility does not depend on a particular school, facility, or zip code. Students with disabilities deserve full and equal access to their education and school community. This bill moves Virginia closer to fulfilling that promise.

Accessibility in schools is a concern across the Commonwealth. The VDOE report on this from June 2021 stated that 22% of schools across the Commonwealth are not in compliance with the ADA. In Region 4, where FCPS is located, a staggering 30% of school buildings are not ADA-compliant. In fact, the only region of the state with more schools out of compliance than Northern Virginia is Region 1, Central VA. Here is just a small sampling of accessibility barriers SEPTA members have faced: Lack of access to accessible parking spots - many are located either in the bus loop or in the kiss and ride line, making them inaccessible during arrival and dismissal, when families need them most; Lack of playground accessibility & adapted equipment - especially for those who use mobility devices; Missing or broken Automatic door buttons; Broken or difficult-to-access elevators. Identifying accessibility barriers in our schools is crucial to supporting our students’ access to a free and appropriate public education. We urge you to support this bill.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires state and local governments, including school districts with 50 or more employees to develop a transition plan for their compliance with the ADA. These transition plans were required to be completed by July 1992. State and local governments were also required to develop a self-evaluation of programs and services by January 1993. The transition plans included a comprehensive review of structures to determine accessibility and a timeline to bring inaccessible buildings, features, and grounds into compliance. A timeline to address needs was a required part of the plan. Most governments also included cost estimates in their plans. All new buildings designed after 1992 were required to be built according to federal accessibility requirements. After the initial 1992 plan was developed, governments were required to periodically update their plan. The 1993 self-evaluation of programs and services was required so that modifications to policies, practices and procedures could be made to ensure inclusion and access. The evaluation also reviewed programs and services to determine how effective communication such as interpreting and alternate formats of material would be provided. As House Bill 2278 was being considered and passed in 2025, VACIL recommended to the bill’s patron and subsequently to the school districts that the 1992 transition plans and the 1993 self-evaluations and subsequent updates be reviewed to determine what may not have yet been addressed. A review of these documents could have been a good starting point to accomplish the review required by last year’s legislation. The 17 Virginia Centers for Independent Living offered assistance to school districts in the development of their report required by the last year’s legislation. Some school districts did engage with the Center for Independent Living in their community for this assistance. Many of the needs of students with disabilities are addressed by their individualized education programs (IEP) or 504 Plans. However, the requirements for access, modifications, and effective communication exist not only for students but parents, educators, and others with disabilities. HB1331 provides yet another notice and opportunity for school districts to review their buildings, grounds, and policies and to address issues that continue to restrict physical, program and communication access to students and others with disabilities.

The Arc of Northern Virginia is strongly in support of HB461 and HB1331. The greatest thing we can do to drive up long term independence and drive down long term costs for people with lifelong disabilities is offer high quality, inclusive education. Both bills take critical steps in that direction. HB461 works to ensure students with similar ages are learning together, an important step in ensuring people with a full range of disabilities are used to working and learning with peers and receiving the side benefit of peer to peer mentoring and support. This is far less likely to happen with students far apart in age. HB1331 simply bring Virginia into compliance with more than 30 years of accessibility law by ensuring schools know where they are not accessible, and can therefore plan to address it. We're generations past it being the norm or understandable for people with disabilities to be told they buildings where they go to learn are not set up to welcome them.