(4) research identifying, developing, and evalu-
ating valid assessments and effective interventions 
measuring and addressing the unique needs of stu-
dents with visual disabilities, including need for in-
struction and services which may be needed by stu-
dents without disabilities or with other disabilities 
but which must be specifically designed, modified, or 
delivered to meet the unique learning needs of stu-
dents with visual disabilities. At a minimum, such 
instruction and services include communication and 
productivity (including braille instruction, and as-
sistive technology proficiency inclusive of low vision 
devices); self sufficiency and interaction (including 
orientation and mobility, self-determination, sensory 
efficiency, socialization, recreation and fitness, and 
independent living skills); and age appropriate career 
education. 
SEC. 212. ADMINISTRATION; ELIGIBILITY; GOVERNANCE; 
STRUCTURE. 
(a) ADMINISTRATION.—To carry out the provisions 
of section 211, the Secretary of Education shall enter into 
a contract or cooperative agreement (of no less than 5 
years in duration) with a consortium of entities described 
in subsection (b) which shall, with oversight by the Sec-
retary, have primary responsibility for administering the 
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program described in this subtitle. The Secretary shall 
have ongoing authority to enter into such contracts or co-
operative agreements. 
(b) ELIGIBILITY.—The consortium of entities de-
scribed in subsection (a) shall include— 
(1) at least two national nonprofit organizations 
with demonstrated experience publishing materials, 
offering direct professional development opportuni-
ties, and disseminating course curricula supporting 
the preparation or continuing education of teachers 
of students with visual impairments and related 
services personnel; 
(2) at least one national nonprofit organization 
(which may include a special school serving students 
who are blind) with demonstrated experience directly 
serving students with visual disabilities (including 
students who may or may not have additional dis-
abilities) through in-person instruction and services 
meeting their unique learning needs; 
(3) at least one institution of higher education 
that— 
(A) has consistently maintained for at 
least ten years a program of instruction pre-
paring teachers of students with visual impair-
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ments or orientation and mobility instructors; 
and 
(B) offers a program of doctoral study in 
special education; and 
(4) any other entity or entities with which the 
entities described in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
choose to partner (with approval of the Secretary). 
(c) GOVERNANCE.—As part of the Secretary’s over-
sight responsibilities, the Secretary shall appoint an advi-
sory board (of no more than 12 individual members who 
do not have a concurrent fiscal, fiduciary, or employment 
relationship with any of the entities comprising the consor-
tium described in subsection (b)) which shall advise the 
Secretary and such consortium of entities with respect to 
strategic planning and annual program performance. The 
advisory board shall be comprised of individuals with per-
sonal or professional experience with the needs of students 
with visual disabilities and shall include parents of stu-
dents with visual disabilities, administrators of special 
education programs, and representatives of national orga-
nizations of individuals who are blind or visually impaired. 
The Secretary is authorized to compensate the members 
of the advisory board for reasonable expenses incurred for 
travel related to in-person meetings of the advisory board 
which shall occur no more frequently than three times 
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within a calendar year. The provisions of the Federal Ad-
visory Committee Act shall not apply to meetings or other 
activities of the advisory board. Prior to the appointment 
of any individual to the advisory board, the Secretary shall 
consult with such consortium of entities which may also 
nominate individuals to the Secretary for advisory board 
membership. 
(d) STRUCTURE.—The Secretary, as part of the con-
tract or cooperative agreement described in subsection (a), 
shall ensure that such contract or cooperative agreement 
specifies any and all necessary fiscal and other responsibil-
ities between and among the entities described in sub-
section (b) whom shall propose such responsibilities to the 
Secretary in an application for award of such contract or 
cooperative agreement containing such information as the 
Secretary may require. 
SEC. 213. ACTIVITIES. 
Subject to the provisions of this subtitle, the Anne 
Sullivan Macy Center on Visual Disability and Edu-
cational Excellence is authorized— 
(1) to conduct or fund original quantitative and 
qualitative research and publish or otherwise dis-
seminate such research; 
(2) to conduct or fund in-person and online 
continuing education opportunities for teachers of 
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students with visual impairments and related serv-
ices personnel specifically trained to meet the unique 
learning needs of such students, and prepare, pub-
lish or otherwise disseminate supporting materials; 
(3) to conduct or fund in-person or online en-
richment projects for students with visual disabilities 
(including those who may also have additional dis-
abilities) to offer direct instruction and services in-
tended to improve the capacity of such students to 
learn effectively and live both productively and inde-
pendently for the purpose of— 
(A) supplementing the availability of such 
instruction and services offered by State and 
local educational agencies; and 
(B) evaluating, through appropriate quan-
titative and qualitative methods, the effective-
ness of instruction and services offered by such 
projects; 
(4) to fund, in accordance with regulations oth-
erwise applicable to personnel preparation programs 
supported under part D of the Individuals with Dis-
abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1450 et seq.), the 
establishment of programs within institutions of 
higher education preparing teachers of students with 
visual impairments (which have not been previously 
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funded under such part) to specifically prepare such 
teachers to provide expert instruction to students 
with visual disabilities who also have additional dis-
abilities; and 
(5) to enter into cooperative agreements, con-
tracts, grants (or other arrangements which may be 
permitted by the Secretary) with nonprofit organiza-
tions possessing demonstrable expertise and experi-
ence serving students with visual disabilities or the 
professionals trained to work with such students, in-
stitutions of higher education, State and local edu-
cational agencies, public and private specialized 
schools serving students with visual disabilities, and 
consortia of such entities, for the purpose of car-
rying out activities authorized in this subsection that 
are not otherwise directly conducted, in whole or in 
part, by the Anne Sullivan Macy Center. 
SEC. 214. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS AND CAR-
RYOVER. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 
out the provisions of this subtitle, there are authorized to 
be appropriated such sums as may be necessary, except 
that for fiscal year 2021 and for each succeeding fiscal 
year, the amount appropriated shall be an amount equal 
to no less than 0.2 percent of funds appropriated in the 
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previous fiscal year for grants to States under part B of 
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 
(b) CARRYOVER.—Funds appropriated pursuant to 
subsection (a) that have not been expended during the fis-
cal year for which they were appropriated shall remain 
available in the subsequent fiscal year, provided that no 
more than 15 percent of a given fiscal year’s appropriation 
may be so carried over. 
SEC. 215. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROGRAMS AND AC-
TIVITIES. 
(a) MAXIMIZING RESOURCES.—No funds made avail-
able pursuant to this subtitle may be used to fund pro-
grams or activities otherwise concurrently funded under 
parts D and E of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-
cation Act. 
(b) COORDINATION OF RESEARCH.—The Secretary 
shall ensure that research activities authorized and carried 
out pursuant to this title are conducted or funded in co-
ordination as appropriate with the National Center for 
Special Education Research and other divisions within the 
Department of Education responsible for research activi-
ties. 
(c) RELATIONSHIP TO SERVICES OFFERED BY THE 
AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND.—Nothing 
in this subtitle shall be construed to limit or otherwise con-
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dition the use of any funds appropriated pursuant to chap-
ter 6 of title 20, United States Code, and no funds made 
available pursuant to this subtitle shall be used by any 
State or local educational agency to supplant the use of 
funds appropriated under such chapter. 
(d) RELATIONSHIP
TO FUNDING
FOR NATIONAL 
CENTER
ON
DEAF-BLINDNESS, STATE
DEAF-BLIND 
PROJECTS, AND THE HELEN KELLER NATIONAL CEN-
TER.—The Secretary shall ensure that any activities con-
ducted or funded by the Anne Sullivan Macy Center di-
rectly serving individuals who are deaf-blind are coordi-
nated as appropriate with the National Center on Deaf- 
Blindness, State deaf-blind projects, and the Helen Keller 
National Center. No funds made available pursuant to this 
title may be used to support or supplant activities that 
are otherwise the sole responsibility of the National Center 
on Deaf-Blindness and State deaf-blind projects pursuant 
to sections 663(c)(8)(A) and 682(d)(1)(A) of the Individ-
uals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 
1463(c)(8)(A); 20 U.S.C. 1482(d)(1)(A)). No funds made 
available pursuant to this title may be used to support 
activities that are otherwise the sole responsibility of the 
Helen Keller National Center or may be used to supplant 
funds for such Center. 
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(e) WORK PRODUCT.—All matter produced by the 
Anne Sullivan Macy Center shall be the property of the 
United States Government, except that entities comprising 
the consortium of entities described in section 212(b) shall 
be individually free, within the terms of the contract or 
cooperative agreement described in section 212(a), to re-
produce, or author copyrighted derivative works, using 
such matter. 
TITLE III—IMPROVING THE EF-
FECTIVENESS 
OF 
SPECIAL 
EDUCATION 
AND 
RELATED 
SERVICES 
FOR 
CHILDREN 
AND YOUTH WHO ARE DEAF- 
BLIND 
Subtitle A—General Provisions 
SEC. 301. IDENTIFYING CHILDREN WHO ARE DEAF-BLIND. 
(a) SERVING ALL CHILDREN WITH DEAF-BLIND-
NESS
REGARDLESS
OF
CLASSIFICATION.—Section 
612(a)(3) (20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3)), as amended by sections 
101 and 201 of this Act, is further amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(E) SERVING
CHILDREN
WITH
DEAF- 
BLINDNESS.—When a State classifies children 
by disability, the State, in complying with sub-
section (a), identifies, locates and evaluates 
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children with concomitant vision and hearing 
losses who are, or may be, classified in a dis-
ability category other than deaf-blindness, 
meaning concomitant hearing and visual im-
pairments, the combination of which causes se-
vere communication and other developmental 
and educational needs that adversely affect a 
child’s educational performance (and including 
children who are deaf-blind with additional dis-
abilities), and provides (without prejudice to 
such classification) special education and re-
lated services to such children, including such 
services determined appropriate based on prop-
er evaluation as would be provided to children 
classified in the State as having deaf-blind-
ness.’’. 
(b) DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING.—Section 
618 (20 U.S.C. 1418) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(g) ACCOUNTING
FOR CHILDREN WITH DEAF- 
BLINDNESS.—In addition to the data collection and re-
porting requirements of subsections (a) through (d) and 
subject to such provisions, the State and the Secretary of 
the Interior shall, with respect to children classified in a 
disability category other than deaf-blindness, include the 
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