Updates After the First Full Week of the 2012 Session

The 2012 Session of the General Assembly is now well underway.  Below is a summary of the activity on just some of the bills that we are following this session.  Be sure to check back throughout the week as we post more updates and details of more bills.

House Education Committee - SOQ Subommittee

HB138 (Cole) would have required local school divisions to, among other things, determine the immigration status of students and report to VDOE data regarding citizens and lawfully and unlawfully present aliens enrolled in public Schools.  The bill would also require the State Board of Education calculate the cost to the state and localities of educating students who are not lawfully present in the United States sand to submit an invoice for such costs to the U.S. Department of Education.  The SOQ Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended laying HB 138 on the table. 

HB224 (Habeeb) would require the Board of Education to adopt regulations allowing students to retake SOL tests and, at the discretion of a student’s teacher, to take SOL tests at any time during the school year.  The SOQ Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that HB 224 be reported and referred to Appropriations.     

HB225 (Habeeb), which would have required the Board of Education to adopt regulations establishing standards for accreditation based on student growth measures as an alternative to student outcome measures, failed to report out of the SOQ Subcommittee of the House Education.

House Education Committee - Students and Early Education Subcommittee

HB110 (R.P. Bell) would have required that the organ and tissue donor awareness component of driver education programs be at least 30 minutes.  At the patron’s request, the Students and Early Education Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that the bill be laid on the table.

HB143 (Englin) would allow a locality to use private funds for the local match in order to obtain state matching funds for certain preschool programs.  The bill was recommended for reporting by the Students and Early Education Subcommittee of the House Education Committee.

HB144 (Englin) would create a grant fund to be funded with unexpended Virginia Preschool Initiative (“VPI”) funds.  Often, VPI funds are unused because they require a local match and currently unexpended VPI funds revert to the state treasury.  The grant fund created by this bill would make the funds available for, among other things, improving training for preschool teachers, creating and improving preschool classrooms, and creating innovative early childhood programs for rural communities.  The Students and Early Education Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that the bill be referred to Appropriations.    

HB218 (R.P. Bell) would require local school divisions to ensure that IEPs teams consider the specific communication needs for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and address those needs in the IEP.  The Students and Early Education Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that the bill be referred to Appropriations. 

House Education Committee - Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee

HB250 (Cline) was amended to incorporate HB78 (Habeeb).  The bill would require each school board to report annually to the Board of Education the percentage of its operating budget allocated to instructional spending and directs the Board of Education to define instructional spending.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to remove language that would have required any school board that reported spending more than 67% of its operating budget on instructional spending present a plan to the Board of Education to increase instructional spending by 0.5% the next fiscal year.  The bill was also amended in subcommittee to include require the Board of Education to report annually to the House and Senate money committees the amount on instruction spending by school division.  The Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that the bill be reported as amended.    

HB547 (Comstock) would allow a school division to use unexpended state funds (that would otherwise revert to the state) to be used to pay a one-time bonus of up to 3% of annual base salary to all teachers.  The Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee of the House Education Committee recommended that the bill be referred to Appropriations. 

HB578 (R.P. Bell) would require the Board of Education to promulgate regulations establishing licensure requirements for teachers who teach only online courses.  The bill was recommended for reporting by the Teachers and Administrative Action Subcommittee of the House Education Committee.   

Senate Education and Health Committee

SB185 (Miller) provides that the Board of Education shall only require SOL assessments for math and English in the third grade.  The bill was reported from the Senate Education and Heath Committee and is on the floor of the Senate. 

SB190 (Miller) would clarify that a Special Power of Attorney may be used to enroll a student when the student’s parent is deployed within or outside the United States.  The bill was reported from the Senate Education and Heath Committee and is on the floor of the Senate.

SB271 (Marsh) adds evidence-based antibullying tactics to the list of training that the Virginia Center for School Safety provides and adds bullying to the list of topics on which the Center conducts research and provides information.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to remove a provision that would have allowed the Center to require that school safety audits include student surveys on bullying, gang activity, acts of violence and other, unenumerated topics.  The bill, as amended, was reported from the Senate Education and Heath Committee and is on the floor of the Senate.

SB278 (Smith) changes the date by which probationary teachers must be notified of their nonrenewal from April 15 to June 15.  We supported this bill because the new teacher evaluation system adopted by the Board of Education uses student growth as a significant factor (40%) in teacher evaluations.  The results of SOL tests, which are used as the measure of student growth in SOL courses, are not available until late May or early June, thus making the April 15 deadline unworkable.  SB278 was unanimously recommended for reporting by the Senate Education and Heath Committee and is on the floor of the Senate.