
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994                   TAG: 9403310112
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

STATE APPEALS FOR SCHOOL FUNDS

Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore on Wednesday filed an appeal with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to force federal education officials to release $50.2 million in disputed funds.

The state and the U.S. Department of Education are battling over Virginia's policy on the expulsion or suspension of special-education students for offenses unrelated to their disabilities.

Under state policy, a school system has no obligation to provide education for a student who has been expelled or suspended.

Gilmore said the same policy should apply to special-education students.

But the agency said in December it would not release the money, earmarked for special-education students, unless Virginia continues to provide services to such students - even if they have been suspended or expelled.

"No objective reasoning can support the Draconian punishment ordered" by the federal department, Gilmore said in papers filed with the appeals court. - Associated Press

by CNB