Boost for Schools for the Deaf

For years, schools for the deaf nationwide watched their enrollment shrink, as parents who were often unaware of their existence, enrolled their children in local programs. Now, California has a new law that mandates that parents of deaf and hard of hearing (and blind) children be informed via a notice of parents' rights, about the existence of state schools for the deaf in California, at the time of doing an assessment. The exact language from the California Assembly website:

This bill would require that the copy of the notice of parent rights include information regarding the state special schools for pupils who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind.

Teri Sentelle has done an American Sign Language vlog (no captions) about this new law. As can be seen from the numerous comments on her vlog, many in the deaf community are thrilled by this boost to the survival of schools for the deaf in California.

California is widely regarded as a "bellweather" state for the rest of the country, so this is a major milestone in deaf education. Commenters on Sentelle's vlog point out that Florida had passed a similar law in the 1990s, which they said resulted in an increase in enrollment in Florida's schools for the deaf.

I do hope that more states get similar laws. However, I also hope that these laws do more than just boost awareness of state schools for the deaf; what about charter schools? All the state schools for the deaf have long since been established; all future increases in deaf schools is coming from charter schools. Therefore, similar legislation ought to include information on charter schools in the notice of parents' rights.