RICHMOND -- Two dozen families of Virginia Tech shooting victims settled wrongful death claims with the state Tuesday, even as their lawyers continued to argue that university officials could have done more to prevent the worst campus shooting incident in United States history.

Richmond Circuit Court Judge Theodore Markow approved the agreements, which are part of an $11 million settlement the state reached with the families of students and professors who were killed and those who were injured in the April 16, 2007, shootings. The overall settlement agreement was crafted in months of negotiations among lawyers for the victims and lawyers for the state, with help from mediators.

As part of the agreement, both Tech and the state deny liability for the shootings, which killed 32 and injured 25. Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman responsible for the rampage, also took his own life.

The settlement also covers claims against the town of Blacksburg, Montgomery County and other localities, and the New River Valley Community Services Board.

In addition to financial considerations, the settlement entitles victims and their families to have meetings with Gov. Tim Kaine and senior Virginia Tech officials and to receive a briefing from the Tech police department and the Virginia State Police about their investigation of the shooting. It also requires the university to maintain an electronic archive of records related to the shootings and to provide families with access to the archive.

"This has nothing to do with money," said Joe Samaha, whose daughter Reema was killed in a Norris Hall classroom. "This has to do with being able to openly discuss the failures we have discovered to create change."

Samaha said the victims' families will "continue to investigate the actions of the university and the commonwealth of Virginia until the whole truth is exposed so that failures like theirs don't result in bloodshed again."

"There were numerous steps that the university could and should have taken prior to and including that day, which would have prevented the magnitude of violence," Samaha said.

Markow approved settlement agreements with 24 families of deceased victims and four others should soon be approved, said Chief Deputy Attorney General William Mims. Two families that filed claims with the state chose not to accept the settlement. Two others did not file claims with the state.

In addition to the wrongful death claims, the state also has reached settlement terms with 18 victims who survived the shootings and filed claims against the state. Those agreements did not require court approval.

Peter Grenier, a lawyer who represents many of the victims' families, called the settlement "the most acceptable and the most reasonable outcome we could expect under the circumstances."

Virginia's "sovereign immunity" laws limit legal claims against the state to $100,000 in most circumstances.

The settlement provides $100,000 each to the families of victims killed in the shootings, and creates a "special damages fund" to meet medical and mental health needs of those families. Seriously injured victims could receive as much as $100,000 and will have their health care costs covered for life.

The agreement also calls for a $1.9 million "hardship fund" to cover special needs of victims and families. Additional funds will be set aside for charitable purposes such as campus safety and security grants, remembrance activities and donations to nonprofit organizations. The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which the university established after the shootings, will remain open for contributions for a minimum of five years.

"The amount families are receiving does nothing to offset or to reduce the pain they will forever suffer as the result of their loss," said lawyer Douglas Fierberg, who worked with Grenier in representing many of the families.

Several relatives of the shooting victims attended Tuesday's court hearing, and many wiped away tears and comforted one another as lawyers worked with Markow to finalize individual settlement agreements.

"We cannot possibly imagine the loss they have suffered," Mims said in the courtroom.

Samaha said the settlement moves families "one step closer to resolving our quest for truth and accountability."

Lawyers for the families said e-mails they obtained raise new questions about the actions of Tech administrators on the morning of the shootings. University officials opted to keep the campus open after Cho shot two students in West Ambler Johnston Hall dormitory about 7:15 a.m. Nearly two and a half hours later, Cho killed 30 people and himself in Norris Hall.

One e-mail was sent at 9:25 a.m. by Bernadette Mondy, co-director of Tech's Department of Environmental Health and Security, to her family. Mondy wrote that there "is an active shooter on campus" and that her office "is in lockdown." That was one minute before university officials sent out a campuswide e-mail notice of the dormitory shootings.

The university's notice did not mention that one student had been killed and another taken to the hospital.

"Without the benefit of accurate, timely information, our clients and others left areas of safety, gathered for classes in large, vulnerable groups, and walked right into danger and buildings that could and should have been in lockdown," Grenier said.

University officials were not available for comment.

A panel appointed last year by Kaine also concluded that university officials should have provided clearer information to the campus community about the first shooting incident.

"The university administration failed to notify students and staff of a dangerous situation in a timely manner," the panel wrote in its report.

Staff writer Greg Esposito contributed to this report.