Autism bill defeated in committee

Legislators killed a bill on Thursday that would have established tuition-assistance grant program for students with autism. Here is the article from WPCVA.

The Senate Education and Health Committee voted 10-5 to defeat Senate Bill 956. The bill would have allocated up to $20,000 a year per student to attend any private school that could address the student's needs. This is something that we absolutely needed for families who are already having to pay for such high treatment costs as well as education. Others had this to say,


"It's focused too much on the individual and not enough on the system," Houck said. "I would much rather apply the money that's accomplished in this bill to the entire public education system in Virginia."

D. Patrick Lacy Jr., of the Virginia School Boards Association, agreed.

"Rather than dodge the fact that school systems do not have the resources, why don't we address the resources that the school systems need versus this fix, which at best is a temporary fix - a patch," Lacy said.

Which things could have turned out better than what they have done here