The House
Education Committee held its final meeting of the session this morning. The
docket contained all of the Senate SOL Reform bills and a handful of other
pieces of legislation.
SB2 (Marsden)
requires that all textbooks approved by the Board of Education after July 1,
2014 must note that the Sea of Japan is also referred to as the East Sea. After
much discussion and debate, the bill reported on a 19-3 vote.
SB144
(Edwards) is identical to HB365 and requires all revisions to SOL assessments
be finalized by December 31 of the school year prior to the school year in
which the revised assessment will be administered. Due to the fiscal impact HB365
was tabled in the Appropriations Committee. SB144, as amended to include an
enactment clause, was reported and referred to the Appropriations Committee
18-1.
SB270
(Miller) was reported 19-0 from the full committee. This bill requires only
math and reading SOL assessments for grade 3.
SB305 (Deeds)
requires that the Board of Education promulgate regulations to (1) increase the
number of students and grade levels that are eligible for expedited
retakes and (2) allow students in grade
3 through 5 who score 390 to 399 on a SOL assessment to receive remediation and
retake the assessment. The bill was reported and referred to the Appropriations
Committee 18-1. It will be before the Appropriations subcommittee tomorrow
afternoon.
SB306 (Deeds)
was conformed by the committee to HB930 (Greason) and unanimously reported. With
the substitute the bill reduces SOL assessments
in grade 3 through 8 from 22 to 17 assessments. It requires local school boards
to certify instruction and the completion of local assessments in the other
Standards of Learning subject areas. Further, the bill creates the Standards of
Learning Innovation Committee. The committee, led by the Secretary of
Education, will include a variety of stakeholders that are tasked to make
recommendations on the Standards of Learning assessments, authentic individual
student growth measures and alignment between the Standards of Learning and
assessments and the School Performance Report Card. The bill also allows the
Board of Education to make future further reductions in the number of SOL
assessments in grades 3 through 11.
SB388 (Barker) was reported and referred to the Appropriations Committee with a with a substitute. The substitute bill requires the Board of
Education to promulgate regulations providing local school boards maximum
flexibility to determine the date for administering SOL assessments.
SB389
(Barker) directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations for eligibility of expedited retakes of
SOL assessments for each student regardless of grade level or course. The bill
was reported and referred to the Appropriations Committee on an 18-1 vote.
SB532
(Stuart) was reported and referred to the Appropriations Committee on a 12-8
vote. The bill requires training for
certain staff in the administration of insulin and glucagon and the
certification of the Superintendent that the requirements of Board’s Manuel for
Training Public School Employees in the Administration of Insulin and Glucagon
have been met. Additionally the bill requires that a student with diabetes,
with written parental and prescriber consent, be allowed to carry and use
supplies and equipment for immediate treatment of their diabetes.
SB636 (Hanger) directs the
Board of Education to review SOL assessments and develop a plan to reduce the
number of assessments required by at least 25 percent. Given the other SOL
bills that have passed or will pass the General Assembly this session, the committee felt the bill was no longer necessary and was tabled.
Several of these bills were
referred to the House Appropriations committee. The Elementary and Secondary
Education subcommittee will meet tomorrow at 3pm to vote on these bills. Check back
tomorrow for an update from the Appropriations subcommittee.
