(a) The Department of Education shall provide or cause to be provided all regular and special education and related services required by children with disabilities to the end that they shall receive the benefits of a free appropriate public education appropriate to their needs.
(b) The Department of Education is authorized and directed to secure the fullest implementation in the Virgin Islands of the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act” (20 U.S.C. § 1400), as amended, and to do all that is or may be required to secure for the Virgin Islands the benefit of appropriations pursuant to such Act. The Department of Education shall constitute the state educational agency of the Virgin Islands Government under such Act and shall:
(1) develop, administer, and supervise the state plan authorized by the “IDEA” and acts amendatory thereto;
(2) identify all funds, personnel, records, equipment and other resources of the Virgin Islands Government—which provide or might provide educational programs and related services for children with disabilities within the scope of this chapter;
(3) provide for the detailed administration and close supervision of educational programs, services, and activities for children with disabilities in public schools organized and administered by the Department of Education and for the organization and supervision of educational programs, services, and activities for children with disabilities in special educational facilities or public institutions;
(4) establish and implement procedural safeguards which assure that the rights of children with disabilities and their parents or guardians are protected; and
(5) do such things as are necessary and incidental to carrying out the requirements of this chapter.
(c) The responsibility of the Department of Education to provide a free public education for children with disabilities is not diminished by the availability of private schools and services. Whenever private schools and services are available or are utilized, it continues to be the responsibility of the Department of Education to assure an appropriate quantity and quality of regular and special educational and related services, and the protection of all other rights, and to ascertain that all children with disabilities receive the educational and related services and rights to which this chapter entitles them.