17. School programs. The school board may create, maintain and expand center school programs at the school and programs for children that may be served by the school at any satellite school. For the 2000-01 and 2001-02 school years only, the residential program located on Mackworth Island is limited to enrolling up to 20 students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.__The superintendent may request that the commissioner approve a waiver of the residential enrollment limit and establish additional placements for students in the residential program located on Mackworth Island; the commissioner may approve those placements on a case-by-case basis and only if the individual education plan of the prospective student who is deaf or hard-of-hearing requires placement in a residential program.__Beginning with the 2002-03 school year, the school board shall establish a satellite school program that offers an array of educational programs that provide students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing with geographically convenient access to placement options that may be required by their individualized education program.

19. Report. The school board shall report biennially annually to the Governor and the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over education matters on the general status of the finances and operations of the school, including the center school programs and any satellite school programs, the status of the professional qualifications of the school board members and the results of the assessments required by subsection 16 and the general status of the school.

Sec. 12. 20-A MRSA §7410, sub-§3 is enacted to read:

3.__Repeal.__This section is repealed July 1, 2002.

Sec. 13. 26 MRSA §962, sub-§7, ķA, as amended by PL 1997, c. 698, §1, is further amended to read:

A. Any officer, board, commission, council, committee or other persons or body acting on behalf of:

(1) Any municipality or any subdivision of a municipality;