亚利桑那州教育部门认定，亚利桑那州聋哑及盲人学校（ASDB）在准备关闭图森西校区并迁至奥罗谷的过程中违反了《残障人士教育法》[1]。教育部指出，该校限制了盲人和低视力学生的安置选择，并预先确定这些学生必须在2026-27学年就读其家庭所在学区的学校[1]。教育部已要求ASDB在8月28日前做出回应，并派遣特别监察员监督整改措施的实施[1]。
ASDB目前面临严峻财务压力，该校拥有114名学生，其中西校区占地56英亩，建筑历史已超过100年[1]。学校陷入300万美元的赤字，管理层引用了联邦和州资金不足、出生率下降以及学生需求日趋复杂化等原因[1]。为应对危机，学校已在本月早些时候将聋人和听力障碍学生迁移到奥罗谷的一所废弃小学[1]。
亚利桑那大学法学院教育权益诊所主任Diana Newmark表示，"IEP团队应考虑全方位服务继续体系以确定学生就学地点"[1]。教育部要求ASDB必须重新审视所有被认定为预先确定安置决定的学生案例[1]。
Arizona's education department has determined that the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by restricting placement options for blind, low-vision, and residential students during its planned closure of the Tucson West campus and relocation to Oro Valley [1]. The agency found that the school predetermined student placements for the 2026-27 school year—requiring students to attend schools in their home school districts—contravenes federal disability law [1]. In a July 10 letter, the education department required ASDB to respond by August 28 and appointed a special monitor to oversee corrective measures [1].
The ASDB, which serves 114 students across its 56-acre West campus built over 100 years ago, has already transferred deaf and hard-of-hearing students to an abandoned elementary school in Oro Valley earlier this month [1]. The school is facing a $3 million budget deficit, which officials attributed to insufficient federal and state funding, declining birth rates, and increasingly complex student needs [1]. According to Diana Newmark, director of the Education Rights Clinic at the University of Arizona College of Law, "IEP teams should consider the full continuum of services to determine where a student should be educated" [1]. The education department has mandated that ASDB re-examine all student cases that were determined to involve predetermined placement decisions [1].