RICHMOND, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- A new law provides funding to support children with cancer for the first time in Virginia history.

The money will help provide pediatric cancer patients with navigators who will help to track their school work and keep them up to date.

The navigators will also help to bridge communications between the parents, the medical team and the child’s school, so that all of them are on the same page as the patient.

“Kids with cancer miss so many school days during treatments, so we really want to help them be successful as they transition back to school and move forward during and after treatment,” said Amy Godkin, the executive director of ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation.

The state budget provides $700,000 to Carilion Children’s, the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, the Children’s Hospital at Virginia Commonwealth University, the INOVA Schar Cancer Institute, and the University of Virginia Health System.

Each of these facilities will be getting a full-time navigator.