A coalition of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents and their allies wants Vermont to re-open the Austine School for the Deaf as a public school and create a commission to address their concerns.
The Austine School closed in June because of dwindling enrollment and financial problems. A parent organization that coordinated numerous programs and services also shut down.
Mary Essex, president of the Vermont Association of the Deaf, told Vermont Public Radio that the group wants lawmakers to create an agency or commission to handle such coordination and to establish a public school for deaf children.
Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding says it is unlikely the state will re-open Austine or create a new school for the deaf given the state's finances and the popularity of mainstreaming.
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