Senate Bill 2877 Summary

• Requires blind and visually impaired students to receive educational services from certified Blindness Assessment Specialists in addition to Teachers of the Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility Specialists.

• Establishes a presumption that Braille instruction is essential for blind and visually impaired students unless the IEP Committee determines after evaluation that it is not appropriate, and prohibits denial of Braille instruction solely based on residual vision.

• Mandates that research-based learning media assessments be conducted by blindness assessment specialists to determine appropriate reading and writing media for each student.

• Requires textbook publishers selling to Mississippi schools to provide NIMAS files, ASCII, or other electronically formatted files compatible with Braille conversion for all textbooks and supplementary materials by December 2012.

• Establishes that Braille and Orientation and Mobility are core subject areas for blind students and requires Teachers of the Blind certified after January 1, 2012 to demonstrate competency in reading and writing Literary Braille and Nemeth Code through the Mississippi Praxis II Braille Competency Exam or National Certification in Literary Braille.