Caroline

DENVER A change in the way the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind is governed could lead to better educational services for deaf and blind students throughout Colorado.

Senate Bill 53 would create an independent board of trustees to oversee the Colorado Springs-based campus, which was created in 1874 and has about 220 residential students.

Members of the House Education Committee voted unanimously to send it to the House floor for a vote.

In addition to creating the governing board, the measure would change the laws guiding operation of the school to make it easier to work and share resources with school districts throughout the state.

"We already do provide outreach services and technology support to other school districts but only up to a certain point," Superintendent Marilyn Jaitly said.

"But we are going to be able to use the money and resources we have in a better way."

In addition to the students who live on campus, the school provides educational assistance to about 260 deaf and blind students throughout the state by using computers, telephones and other methods.

SB53, sponsored by Rep. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, would give the school the authority to expand those services by entering into agreements with other school districts to jointly operate regional programs and to create charter schools for deaf and blind children.

For instance, Kay Cessna, special education director for Jefferson County Schools, would like to work with the School for the Deaf and the Blind to teach the 142 hearing-impaired students in her district. State law now prevents the school and the district from sharing resources.

"I believe that regional services are critical for this organization," Cessna said.

Under the new organizational structure, the governor would appoint the seven-member board of trustees to administer the school. An advisory board now makes recommendations to the Colorado Department of Education.

"This will really strengthen the ability of people who have genuine knowledge (of deafness and blindness) to have input," said Homer Paige, a member of the advisory board who has been blind since birth.

If the measure passes, the advisory board would be dissolved in favor of the board of trustees.