The title of this bill is a misnomer.  The bill does not support the spirit or purpose of the IDEA!  It does not appear to be about compliance with the IDEA  -- but rather with circumvention of it.  Eliminate parental involvement before making revisions to an IEP??  Hearing officers "controlled" by the Dept. or Education (either by the appointment process or by the department's ability to rewrite decisions)??  Longer time periods while kids do not get the help that they need??  Elimination of measurable objectives from IEP's?  Letting the schools (who usually are not the initiating parties) raise new issues, but denying this to the parents?  I fail to see how any of these revisions will help children that are struggling to learn -- or their families.  The theme of this bill seems to be one of eliminating school accountability.  If a school can change an IEP without parental involvement, it will render IEP's virtually unenforceable.   If a school can make a decision without even conferring with parents, they are overlooking valuable information.  If there are no measurable objectives in the IEP's, how can we evaluate whether the school is doing a better job meeting the specific needs of the student?  And under this bill, the only recourse would be to appeal to a hearing officer appointed by the VDOE.  Even if the hearing officer's decision is in the child's favor, the VDOC canre-write it! 

I oppose this bill.