RICHMOND

Stuart's bill says that if disabled children and their families sue a school for not following the student's individual education plan, and win, then the judge can award the family attorney's fees.

Stuart, R-Westmoreland, thinks it's a simple issue to help poor families that might not have the resources to legally push a school to provide the things the child's IEP says they should.

"That will give access, quite frankly, to some of Virginia's poorest children, who can get what they need through the use of an attorney and otherwise could not," Stuart said.

Stuart's bill had little trouble getting through the Senate initially. The House then removed some language that said judges could issue sanctions if they thought such a lawsuit was frivolous.

Stuart doesn't think that language is necessary, because that's allowed elsewhere in state law. The Senate first accepted the amendment, but then changed its mind, and it was rejected yesterday.

"I suspect that some members have looked at that bill and now don't like it," Stuart said.

One opponent was Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, who said the House amendment could lead to schools being overburdened with lawsuits.

"There needs to be some balance. The school divisions cannot be put in a position to be constantly battling, battling these lawsuits that will be brought into circuit court," Houck said on the Senate floor. "You need the rights of the parents, but you also need to protect the public school system from runaway lawsuits What you're doing with this bill is you're tipping the balance too much in one direction. There needs to be balance for it to be fair to all parties."

Because the Senate rejected the House amendments, the bill will now go into a conference committee, which is a small group of lawmakers from both houses who try to reach a compromise acceptable to both sides.

Stuart said he feels his bill has been "hijacked" but that he'll push for restoring the House amendments to it.

Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com