Virginia schools must give parents free interpreters and translations

If you have a child in a Virginia public school and English isn’t your strong language, this law means the school has to communicate with you in a way you can understand. Starting July 1, 2027, every school board must adopt a language access plan and post it on its website. The plan has to cover how the school will give you important information about special education, meetings about your child’s learning plan, discipline, and enrollment, with notice as adequate as the notice other parents receive.

You don’t have to apply. The school is supposed to ask about your preferred language when you enroll your child and keep a record of it. After that, it has to give you oral interpreting and written translations at no cost. Key documents, like enrollment forms, discipline notices, codes of conduct, and special education papers, must be translated into the languages parents in your district speak most. Schools can use technology such as remote interpreting, but qualified human interpreters have to back it up. Staff must be trained, and schools must post information about your rights and how to get help.

Del. Atoosa Reaser of Loudoun and Sen. Stella Pekarsky of Fairfax carried identical bills in the 2026 session. After the House and Senate settled their differences in a conference committee, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed both bills on April 13, 2026.