The Senate Education Committee is passing two bills to the senate floor relating to students with sensory disabilities. One deals with hiring of a superintendent for the schools for the blind and deaf. The other seeks to improve resources for deaf students’ language development. SDPB’s Jackie Hendry reports.
House Bill 1058 comes to the legislature at the request of the Board of Regents, which presides over the South Dakota School for the Blind and Visually Impaired as well as the State School for the Deaf. Mike Rusch is the executive director of the B-O-R. He says the bill puts an existing practice into state statute, and allows the board to save money on administrative costs that can then go towards services for students.
A former teacher for the School for the Deaf opposes the bill. Patty Kuglitsch testifies through a sign language interpreter that it’s critical for the administrator of the schools to have the specialized knowledge needed to advocate for students. She gives sign language as an example.
“Would it be, quote-unquote ‘Good enough’ for your own children to be educated in a system that lacks the expertise and doesn’t meet the needs, that’s using a language that’s often times not accessible in meeting the children’s needs?" Kuglitsch says.
The point prompts Senator Deb Soholt to recommend an amendment that would establish a trajectory for a new hire to learn any additional skills that might help them in the position. With that plan in mind, the committee gives a do-pass recommendation on a six to one vote.
Next, House Bill 1155 creates an advisory committee to recommend strategies to help deaf and hard-of-hearing students improve their English skills. Representative Dan Ahlers says ineffective education limits language proficiency for deaf students.
“Only six percent of deaf students scored proficient in English, and an average reading level at the age of 18 remained at the third and fourth grade level," Ahlers says.
Multiple deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals testify in favor of the bill, and there is no opposing testimony. The bill unanimously passes through the Senate Ed committee.