Budget Conferees

Both the House and Senate passed their budgets yesterday and will go into conference to work out the differences.  The House budget conferees are Delegates Jones, Landes, Cox, O'Bannon, Greason and Torian. The Senate budget conferees are Senators Hanger, Norment, Newman, Wagner, Ruff, Howell, and Saslaw. 

Senate Education and Health Committee Update

Today started with a very lengthy docket for the Senate Education and Health committee. As the end of session approaches, the committees are busy trying to finalize their work. Below is a summary of the committee’s actions on our public education bills.

HB8 (D. Bell) was reported and re-referred to the Senate Finance committee, as we expected. This bill establishes the Virginia Virtual School as a full-time virtual school program. Additionally, it requires that any student who enrolls full-time shall have the average state share of the Standards of Quality per pupil funding be transferred to the School. 

HB36 (D. Bell) requires each local school board to implement a program of instruction in the school division on all information and concepts contained in the civics portion of the U.S. Naturalization Test. The bill was reported as amended by the committee.

HB389 (LaRock) creates the Parental Choice Education Savings Account that allows a parent of students with disabilities to receive 90 percent of the SOQ per pupil state funds to use for education-related expenses of the student, including tuition, deposits, fees, transportation and required textbooks at a private, sectarian or nonsectarian elementary or secondary school or a public higher education institution. After a lengthy discussion and testimony, the bill was reported and re-referred to the Senate Finance committee on an 8-7 party line vote.

HB436 (Austin) requires the Department of Education to award recovery credit to any student in grades three through eight who fails a Standards of Learning assessment in English, reading, or mathematics, receives remediation, and subsequently retakes and passes such assessment, including expedited retakes. The committee unanimously reported the bill.

HB487 (McClellan) removes the requirement that school resource officers, that are employed pursuant to the School Resource Officer Grants Program, enforce school board rules and codes of student conduct as a condition of their employment. The bill was reported from the committee.

HB516 (Landes) requires the Board of Education to establish a policy to require schools to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. There was significant and robust debate about this bill in committee where it ultimately passed on a 9-6 vote.

HB521 (LeMunyon) requires the annual Board of Education report to the Governor and the General Assembly to include a complete listing of each report (i) that local school divisions are required to submit to the Board or any other state agency, including name, frequency, and an indication of whether the report contains information that the local school division is also required to submit to the federal government, and (ii) pertaining to public education that local school divisions are required to submit to the federal government, including name and frequency. The committee unanimously reported the bill.

HB524 (LeMunyon) requires data collected by or for the Department of Education or the local school board or made available to and able to be used by the local school board to judge the performance or quality of a teacher, maintained in a teacher's personnel file or otherwise, to be confidential in most instances. Current law requires such data to be confidential only if it is used by a local school board to make such a judgment. The bill provides that if such data is disclosed pursuant to court order, for the purposes of a grievance proceeding involving the teacher, or as otherwise required by state or federal law, such disclosure shall be made in a form that does not personally identify any student or other teacher. The bill was unanimously reported from the committee.

HB895 (Greason) removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit. Additionally, it requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements to:

• Develop and implement a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship;
• Emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and
• Establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing.

HB936 (Toscano) requires the Board of Education to make provision in its regulations for flexibility for any student with limited English proficiency to earn the credits required for a diploma. The bill requires such flexibility to permit local school divisions to award credit to such students who have failed reading, writing, or mathematics Standards of Learning assessments by a narrow margin, as defined by the Board. The bill was continued to the 2017 session.

HB942 (Wilt) requires local school board to provide reasonable and appropriate access to school property to youth-oriented, community organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA, and their volunteers and staff, to distribute and provide instructional materials in order to encourage participation in such organizations and their activities. Any access provided during the school day shall not conflict with instructional time. Such access may include after-school sponsored activities such as "Back to School" events, where it can be reasonably accommodated. With this substitute language, the bill was reported from the full committee. 

HB1377(LeMunyon) requires local school divisions to notify the parents of each student where the number of students in a class exceeds the prescribed class size limit no later than 10 days after the date on which the classes exceed the limits. The bill was unanimously reported from the full committee. 

General Assembly Budget Update

On Sunday, the House Appropriations committee and the Senate Finance committee released their versions of the budget, making amendments to the Governor’s introduced budget. The full details of these amendments were released yesterday afternoon. There are certainly pluses and minuses to both proposals but overall public education fairs well.

So what’s the bottom line?

If we look solely at direct aid to localities, the House provides $39.7 million more than the Governor’s introduced budget, and the Senate provides $27.6 million less that the Governor’s introduced budget.

To assist you in your work, we have compiled a list of specific K-12 budget amendments from both proposals that we believe you would be most interested in. Each link will take you directly to the budget language for that specific amendment. You can also find the reports from the House Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee here and the Senate Finance Education subcommittee here. The budget process is very fluid and will continue to change until the final budget is passed by March 12th.  We will keep you apprised of new information as it becomes available.  

House Budget – (HB30)

Item 137 #4h – Virginia Virtual School

Provides $275,000 in the first year from the general fund for a one-time start-up payment for the Virginia Virtual School. In the second year, $550,000 is provided from the non-general fund to the Virginia Virtual School for personnel costs pursuant to the passage of HB8.

Item 138 #2h – Virginia Student Training and Refurbishment (VA STAR)

Provides $50,000 each year of the biennium from the general fund to support the Virginia Student Training and Refurbishment (VA STAR) Program. The VA STAR Program takes surplus hardware from state agencies or private companies in order to offer students IT repair certification. Once refurbished, the computers are available for school use or distributed to students' families and community foundations needing them. This amendment continues funding necessary for VA STAR to continue the program within currently participating school divisions and to expand the number of participants through the 2016-18 biennium.

Item 138 #3h – Positive Behavior Intervention & Support

Removes $500,000 each year of the biennium from the general fund by continuing the current fiscal year 2016 level of funding for the Positive Behavioral Intervention & Supports initiative.

Item 139 #1h – Expand Local Flexibility for Salary Increase (language only amendment)

Provides additional flexibility to school divisions in implementing and satisfying the local matching requirements for the two percent salary increase for instructional and support positions. School divisions will be allowed to include salary increases provided to instructional and support positions during fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2018 by January 1, 2018 in an accumulative manner, to satisfy the required minimum average salary increase of two percent has been provided by the second year by January 1, 2018, in order to be eligible to receive the state's share of a two percent salary increase effective on July 10, 2017.

Item 139 #7h – Re-purpose Additional Instructional Positions to Lottery PPA

Redirects $42.7 million in the first year and $96.5 million in the second year from the general fund to be used toward reinstating the policy of providing school divisions with a Lottery Fund per pupil amount basis.

Item 139 #8h – Re-purpose At-Risk Add-on Range Increase

Redirects $24.7 million in the first year and $24.9 million in the second year from the new funding included in the introduced budget for the increased range used for the At-Risk Add-on, toward reinstating the policy of providing school divisions with a Lottery Fund per pupil amount basis.

Item 139 #9h – Lottery Proceeds Fund Per Pupil Allocations

Provides $85.2 million in the first year and $157.2 million in the second year from the Lottery Proceeds Fund and distributes to school divisions on an LCI-adjusted per pupil amount basis. This amendment reinstates the policy that provides a per pupil amount to school divisions from the Lottery Fund. There are other amendments in this item that provide additional revenues toward this initiative that collectively equal to $105.5 million in the first year and $167.2 million the second year. No more than 50 percent of these funds can be used for recurring costs, with the rest reserved for nonrecurring capital and equipment expenditures.

Item 139 #15h – Parental Choice Education Savings Account (language only amendment) 

This language only amendment implements part of HB389, requiring resident school divisions to deposit the appropriate state’s share of SOQ, sales tax, and any applicable special education funding received from the Department of Education for a qualifying student into an approved and established Parental Choice Education Savings account. The amendment further directs local school divisions to receive applicable receipts and invoices from parent expenditures for review of appropriateness of each expense and possible audit and directs the Department of Education and the Virginia College Savings Plan agencies to manage and audit such accounts. This amendment only addresses the transfer of state funds to student accounts, no funding is provided to local school divisions to implement, and is pursuant to the passage of HB389.

Item 139 #18h – Dual Enrollment for Home School Students (language only amendment)

The Department of Education, in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System, will ensure that the same policy regarding dual enrollment tuition-free waiver option shall be applied in the same manner for students enrolled in the public education system and students that are home-schooled.  In addition, any reduced tuition cost options afforded to parents of public school students who are enrolled in a dual enrollment course in a community college shall also be available to parents of home-schooled students.

Item 139 #19h – Virginia Virtual School – Transfer of Statewide Average SOQ Per Pupil Amount (language only amendment)

Pursuant to the passage of HB8, the amendment directs the Department of Education to transfer the average state share of Standards of Quality per pupil funding and the state's sales tax per pupil amount of funding to the Virginia Virtual School for each student that is enrolled in the Virginia Virtual School and who was previously enrolled in public school.  Funds shall be transferred based on the number of actual students enrolled in the Virginia Virtual School with a limit of 5,000 students per school year.  

The House Budget retains the Governor’s proposal to accelerate VRS rates to reflect 100% of actuarial rates in FY ’18.

NOTE: HB29 (the Caboose budget bill) contains $188 million to fully repay deferred retirement contributions for all VRS plans EXCEPT the public school teacher plan. That repayment allows for the subsequent reduction in rates for those plans in the FY’17-FY’18 biennial budget. Because the teacher plan is excluded from this repayment, the VRS contribution rates faced by local school divisions remain at their higher levels.  

Item 139 #20h – Work Group to Review Use of Chromebook (language only amendment)

Directs the Department of Education to convene a workgroup to review the current utilization of separate computer labs in schools for instruction and testing requirements and consider a transition to the usage of Chromebooks and similar other types of tablets or laptop computers in the classroom for students to use as an integrated part of instruction and Standards of Learning testing using the TestNav 8 software system upgrades. The workgroup will review the Department's Virginia Digital Textbook Marketplace contract and guidelines for the implementation of the pilot projects established in eight school divisions in the 2015-2016 school year and review the effectiveness of the pilots at the end of the year for improving academic success. Further, the workgroup will consider repurposing new issuances for educational technology grants to be used to purchase or lease Chromebooks or similar laptop devices.  

Senate Budget – (SB30)

Item 133 #1s – Student Assessment Growth Model  

Increases to $300,000 the amount for the new pilot for an analytical model to measure student growth in schools. Preliminary results shall be provided to the President of the State Board of Education and the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees in order to help evaluate whether a statewide approach should be implemented.

Item 135 #1s – Technology Assistance Services – eMediaVA

Provides additional funding for eMediaVA to help provide competency-based, personalized learning opportunities. With over 150,000 users, eMediaVA, a repository of audio, video, and interactive multimedia learning resources, is free to all public, private, and homeschool educators and their students statewide. The additional funds will be used to increase teacher training and awareness statewide, including implementation of a single log-on, development of customizable curriculum resources and additional infrastructure to distribute materials.

Item 136 #1s – Develop Model Exit Questionnaire for Teachers (language only amendment)

Directs the Department of Education to develop a model exit questionnaire that school divisions may administer to exiting teachers, which was a recommendation of the January 2016 Feasibility Study on the Implementation of a Program to Track Teacher Turnover in the Commonwealth. 

Item 139 #1s – Salary Increase

Adds $48.9 million the first year and $2.2 million the second year, to the $83.2 million the second year in the budget as introduced, for the state's share of a teacher compensation supplement. This amendment advances the effective date of the 2.0 percent compensation increase from July 10, 2017 to December 1, 2016.

Item 139 #2s – Reverse Additional Positions Mandate

Reverses the funding in the budget as introduced for an additional 2,500 positions by the second year. Instead, in a companion amendment, the funding in the first year is re-directed towards advancing the effective date of the 2 percent compensation increase from July 10, 2017 to December 1, 2016, and in the second year $96.4 million is distributed in a more flexible manner at the discretion of the most pressing needs of each school division's particular circumstance.

Item 139 #3s – Additional Support for Classroom Needs (Half Non-Recurring)

This amendment allocates $96.4 million as flexible, additional support for classroom needs of school divisions. The amount of funding per school division is calculated in the same manner as the proposal in the introduced budget for state's share of one instructional position per elementary school and two instructional positions per middle and high school; however, this Additional Support for Classroom Needs contains no such mandate to hire additional new on-going positions. Funds may not be used for central office purposes, at least half must be used for non-recurring expenses, and no local match is required.

Item 139 #4s – Additional Support for Classroom Needs (One-Time Funding)

Provides one-time funding of $24.2 million as flexible, additional support for classroom needs of school divisions. Funds may not be used for central office purposes, must be used for non-recurring expenses, and no local match is required. The distribution by school divisions is calculated based on the state's share of a per pupil amount.

Item 139 #6s – At-Risk Add-On Range

Reflects savings of $21.5 million from the budget as introduced, by adjusting funding based on changing the percentage At-Risk Add-On range from 2.5-14 percent of Basic Aid in the budget as introduced to 1-14 percent. This represents an increase from the current range in fiscal year 2016 of 1-12 percent based on each school division's percentage of students eligible for free lunch, based on family income levels. A companion amendment also captures savings of $15.3 million in this program.

Item 139 #7s – Rebenchmark Virginia Preschool Initiative Per-Pupil Amount

Provides $2.9 million each year to re-benchmark the per pupil amount for the Virginia Preschool Initiative to the first year of the biennium based on the same percentage that Basic Aid increased in the first year due to re-benchmarking in the budget, as introduced. This action increases the per pupil amount from $6,000 to $6,250, an increase of 4.2 percent.

The Senate Budget retains the Governor’s proposal to accelerate VRS rates to reflect 100% of actuarial rates in FY ’18.

Success in Defeating the Charter School Constitutional Amendment

We are pleased to announce that we were successful in defeating HJ1 and HB3, the charter school constitutional amendments, in the Senate Privileges and Elections committee late yesterday. All of the charter school constitutional amendments and corresponding legislation has now been defeated. So many of you called, emailed, and visited your legislators several times over the past few weeks and we thank you for all of these advocacy efforts.

Quick Budget Update

This afternoon the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees released their biennial budget proposals. VSBA staff is in the process of reviewing these proposals but you can read the remarks of the House Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman here and the Senate Finance Education Subcommittee Chairman here. Check back later for more information on the General Assembly's biennial budget announcements. 

Crossover Report

Today is the first day post-crossover, meaning that all bills have either passed their originating body or they failed to move forward. This session, VSBA has been working with over 300 bills that are directly or indirectly related to K-12 education. We have had a number of significant successes in defeating unfavorable legislation and in passing favorable legislation. Thank you to all of you who engaged in advocacy with the General Assembly. We greatly appreciate your help!

To assist you in your work, we have compiled a Crossover report which is divided into two sections, one for passed legislation and one for defeated legislation. As we move forward into the second half of session, we will be providing additional updates on these bills as they advance through the process. You can stay up-to-date on General Assembly's actions by visiting the VSBA Legislative Blog. Also, please keep an eye out for new VSBA Action Alerts. 

Thank you again for your continued support of VSBA. Your voice makes a difference in Richmond as legislators make decisions that impact your school division. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at emily@vsba.org.

Passed Legislation 

HJ1 (R. Bell) – the House version of the charter school constitutional amendment which would permit the Board of Education to authorize charter schools. The resolution narrowly passed the floor of the House on a 52-47 vote.

HB734 (Obenshain) – this is the Senate version of HB565 which rewrites the required elements of a charter school application and the charter contracting process. The bill does not restrict the Board of Education’s authority to authorize a charter school pursuant to the passage of the constitutional amendment. The bill passed the Senate on a 21-19 vote.

HB389 (LaRock) – Creates the Parental Choice Education Savings Account that allows a parent of students with disabilities to receive 90 percent of the SOQ per pupil state funds to use for education-related expenses of the student, including tuition, deposits, fees, transportation and required textbooks at a private, sectarian or nonsectarian elementary or secondary school or a public higher education institution. After much discussion in the education and appropriations committees, the bill passed the floor of the House on a 53-46 vote.

HB8 (D. Bell) – Establishes the Virginia Virtual School as a full-time virtual school program. Additionally, it requires that any student who enrolls full-time shall have the average state share of the Standards of Quality per pupil funding be transferred to the School. The bill passed the House on a 58-40 vote.

HB753 (Greason) – Makes local school boards responsible for setting their school calendar. The bill passed the House on a 76-22 vote.

HB571 (Robinson) – Makes local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar but requires local school boards that set the school calendar with a pre-Labor Day opening date, except those schools that were granted a "good cause" waiver for the 2015-2016 school year, to have a five-day weekend over Labor Day. The bill passed the House on a 76-21 vote.

HB518 (LeMunyon) – Requires the Board of the Education to select 12 schools that have been identified for comprehensive support and improvement under ESSA and require them to provide public school choice similar to previous sanctions under NCLB. The bill requires a study by the Department on the potential fiscal impacts and includes a reenactment clause. After much discussion and work on this legislation, the bill passed the House on a 57-42 vote.

HB131 (R. Bell) /SB612 (Garrett) – Prohibits Would force the VHSL to change its rules to permit home school students to participate in interscholastic activities.  The bill would allow each school board to decide whether it will permit home school students to participate and to charge reasonable fees to cover the cost of participation. As expected both bills passed their respective houses.

HB241 (Lingamfelter) /SB538 (Surovell) – Requires the Board of Education to consider alternative assessments for English Language Learners. Both bills unanimously passed their respective houses.

SB427 (Miller) – Requires that the Board of Education not include, for purposes of accreditation those students (up to 5 percent), who refuse to take SOL assessments. Currently, these students count against a school for purposes of accreditation. The bill unanimously passed the Senate floor.

SB368 (McDougle) – Allows the Board of Education to review the accreditation status of a school or division once every two or three years. It also states that:

•         Any school that receives a multiyear accreditation status other than full accreditation will be required to submit and adhere to a corrective action plan approved by the Board for the duration of the period of accreditation.
•      The Board of Education may require a division-level academic review if they determine through the individual school academic review process, or other division level action or inaction, that the failure is beyond the individual school thus requiring the local school board to submit a corrective action plan to meet full accreditation status.
•       If the Board determines that the proposed corrective action plan is not sufficient to enable all schools within the division to achieve full accreditation, the Board may return the plan to the local school board with directions to submit an amended plan pursuant to Board guidance.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate.

HB682 (Peace) – Allows a superintendent to apply to the Department of Education for an annual waiver of the teacher licensure requirements for an individual who is hired by the local school board to teach in the area of career and technical education. The individuals must have at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment experience. The bill unanimously passed the House.

HB279 (Byron) – Directs the Board of Education to establish a Virginia career and technical education adjunct faculty provisional license and a Virginia STEM adjunct faculty renewable license for qualified individuals to teach high school career and technical education courses on a part-time basis. The bill prescribes requirements for such licenses. The bill unanimously passed the House.

SB573 (Ruff) - Directs the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of temporary part-time teacher permits to qualified professionals with expertise and credentials in career and technical education areas who are recommended for the permit by employing school divisions. The bill unanimously passed the Senate.

HB895 (Greason) /SB336 (Miller) - Removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit. Additionally, it requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements to:

•  Develop and implement a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship;

• Emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and

• Establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing.

The House version of the bill requires the Board of Education to report on such graduation requirements to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than September 1, 2017. Both HB895 and SB336 passed their respective bodies.

HB168 (LaRock)/ SB120 (Carrico) – Allows a locality that has authorized the installation and operation of a video-monitoring system on school buses for recording violations of unlawfully passing a stopped school bus to execute a summons for these violations by mailing a copy of the summons to the owner of the vehicle. Current law requires that the summons be delivered by a law enforcement officer.

• SB120 includes an appeal process for those persons who disagree with the summons

Both HB168 and SB120 passed their respective houses.

SB364 (Chafin) – Allows the Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) to create a health insurance plan similar to the state employee plan for the participation of local school divisions in the state employee health plan. After a lot of work on this bill with various stakeholders, this compromise bill unanimously passed the Senate.

SB458 (McEachin) – Requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines for alternatives to short-term and long-term suspension for consideration by local school boards. Such alternatives may include positive behavior incentives, mediation, peer-to-peer counseling, community service, and other intervention alternatives. The bill passed the Senate on a 31-9 vote.

SB660 (Favola) – Prohibits a school board from appointing a hearing officer that is an employee of the school board or the spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or sibling of any member of the school board or school superintendent. VSBA worked with the patron to amend the bill. As amended VSBA does not have a position on the bill. The bill passed the Senate on a 38-2 vote.

HB942 (Wilt) – Requires local school boards to provide reasonable access to school property to any youth group listed as a patriotic and national organization in 36 U.S.C. Subtitle II, Part B to provide written materials and speak to students at times other than instructional time during the school day to encourage student participation. The bill passed the House on a 66-32 vote.

HB1234 (Lingamfelter) –  Authorizes a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if he is a retired law-enforcement officer and the local school board grants him the authority to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties. The bill passed the House on a 66-33 vote.

HB516 (Landes) – Requires the Board of Education to establish a policy to require schools to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill unanimously passed the House.

Defeated Legislation

SJ6 (Obenshain) & SJ93 (Obenshain/Sutterlein) – the Senate version of the charter school constitutional amendment. Both resolutions failed to pass the floor of the Senate.

HB565 (Lingamfelter) - Rewrites the required elements of a charter school application and the charter contracting process. The bill does not restrict the Board of Education’s authority to authorize a charter school pursuant to the passage of the constitutional amendment. The bill was re-referred to the House Education committee where it will fail to crossover.

HB1132 (LaRock) - Eliminates the requirement that school principals report to law enforcement any conduct that may constitute a misdemeanor. The bill was left in the House Courts of Justice committee where it will fail to crossover. 

HB1134 (LaRock) – States that a student cannot be prosecuted for disorderly conduct for conduct that occurs on school property during regular school hours or on a school bus. The bill failed to be engrossed for its third reading and will not be moving forward.

HB1061 (Bagby) – Requires that all reasonable alternatives be considered before a student is expelled or referred to law enforcement. The bill was re-referred to the House Courts of Justice committee where it will fail to crossover.

HB864 (Hugo) – Permits a local school board to conduct a teacher grievance hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel. VSBA opposed the bill and it was left in the House Education committee.

HB697 (Kory) – Makes several changes to the teacher dismissal and grievance procedures. VSBA opposed the bill and it was left in the House Education committee.

HB187 (Taylor) - Requires the plans or blueprints for the construction of a new public school building include an indoor active shooter gunshot detection and alerting system. The bill failed to report from the House Education committee.

HB167 (Cole) – Permits local school boards to allow any school board employee who is a former law-enforcement officer and ceased or retired from serving in such capacity while in good standing to possess a firearm in (i) any public elementary or secondary school in the school division, including buildings and grounds; (ii) that portion of any property open to the public and then exclusively used for school-sponsored functions or extracurricular activities while such functions or activities are taking place; and (iii) any school bus owned or operated by the local school board. The bill failed to report from the House Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee.

HB166 (Cole) - Requires that a local school division provide instruction in Braille or the use of Braille to visually impaired students unless the IEP or 504 team, after an evaluation by a certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI), determines that it is not appropriate to meet the student’s educational needs. Due to the fiscal impact on local school divisions, the bill was tabled in the Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee.

SB737 (Obenshain) – Prohibits school boards from granting employees paid leave or work time for the employees to work for or on behalf of a professional association, labor union, or labor organization. The bill failed to pass the Senate. 

VSBA Action Alert

We are pleased to announce that we were successful in DEFEATING SJ6 and SJ93, the charter school constitutional amendments, on the floor of the Senate on Monday. This vote was due to your direct advocacy efforts. Many of you called, emailed, and visited your legislators several times over the past few weeks and we thank you for all of these efforts.

HJ1 did pass the House of Delegates on Friday and will be crossing over to the Senate on Wednesday. We anticipate the second vote in the Senate to have the same outcome but we must keep all of our NO votes. We will alert you when HJ1, the constitutional amendment is placed on a committee docket for consideration again.

Thank you again for your continued advocacy efforts.

The Week Before Crossover

Even though it's only Tuesday, it's already been a busy week since it's the last before Crossover. The committees and subcommittees have had long dockets and extra meetings to finish their work by next Tuesday. In the House Education committee, they held several meetings of the Education Innovation subcommittee and Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee yesterday and today. Here’s are the highlights from those meetings. All bills that reported from the subcommittee will now be considered before the full committee on Wednesday morning. 

Education Innovation subcommittee – Monday morning meeting

HB895 (Greason) removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit. Additionally, it requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements to: (1) Develop and implement a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship; (2) emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and (3) establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing. The bill was unanimously reported from the subcommittee.

HB831 (Greason) requires the Board of Education to include computer science and computational thinking, including computer coding in the Standards of Learning and program of instruction. Several other Delegates had similar computer science bills and were all incorporated into HB831. With a substitute the bill was unanimously reported from the subcommittee.

Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee – Monday morning meeting

HB167 (Cole) permits local school boards to allow any school board employee who is a former law-enforcement officer and ceased or retired from serving in such capacity while in good standing to possess a firearm in (i) any public elementary or secondary school in the school division, including buildings and grounds; (ii) that portion of any property open to the public and then exclusively used for school-sponsored functions or extracurricular activities while such functions or activities are taking place; and (iii) any school bus owned or operated by the local school board. The subcommittee recommended tabled the bill.

HB187 (Taylor) requires the plans or blueprints for the construction of a new public school building to include an indoor active shooter gunshot detection and alerting system. The subcommittee recommended reporting and referring the bill to the Appropriations committee on a 4-3 vote.

HB682 (Peace) allows a superintendent to apply to the Department of Education for an annual waiver of the teacher licensure requirements for an individual whom the local school board hires or seeks to hire to teach in the area of career and technical education. The individuals must have at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment experience. The subcommittee recommended reporting on a 7-2 vote.

HB864 (Hugo) allows a school board to conduct a teacher grievance hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel. Under current law, the school board has the option of appointing a hearing officer or conducting such hearing itself. The subcommittee recommended tabling the bill.

HB1234 (Lingamfelter) authorizes a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if he is a retired law-enforcement officer and the local school board grants him the authority to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties. The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill on a 7-2 vote.

HB1279 (Anderson) requires public schools to hold a fire drill at least once every week during the first 10 school days of each school session and at least two additional fire drills during the remainder of the school session. Under current law, every public school is required to hold a fire drill at least once every week during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least once every month during the remainder of the school session. The bill also requires every public school to hold a lock-down drill at least once every week during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least two additional lock-down drills during the remainder of the school session. Under current law, every public school is required to hold at least two lock-down drills every school year. The bill was reported on an 8-1 vote from the subcommittee.

Education Innovation subcommittee – Tuesday morning meeting

HB436 (Austin) requires the Department of Education to award recovery credit to any student in grades three through eight who fails a Standards of Learning assessment in English, reading, or mathematics, receives remediation, and subsequently retakes and passes such assessment, including expedited retakes. The subcommittee unanimously recommends reporting with amendments.

HB520 (LeMunyon) requires each school division that provides for the redistricting of school boundaries to permit any enrolled student who is assigned to a different school in the school division as a result of such redistricting to remain, at the request of his parent, at the school at which he is currently enrolled until he completes the highest grade level at such school. While the bills includes several other provisions relating to the redistricting process and included a substitute bill, the subcommittee recommended tabling the bill.

HB1377 (LeMunyon) requires local school divisions to notify the parents of each student where the number of students in a class exceeds the prescribed class size limit no later than 10 days after the date on which the classes exceed the limits. The bill was unanimously reported from the subcommittee.

HB565 (Lingamfelter) rewrites the required elements of a charter application and the charter contracting process. The bill does not restrict the Board of Education’s authority to authorize a charter school pursuant to the passage of the constitutional amendment. The subcommittee recommends reporting the substitute on a 5-4 vote. 

We look forward to seeing you at the VSBA Capital Conference tomorrow and Thursday! 

Highlights from the Education, Finance and Courts of Justice committees

This morning there were dueling meetings of the House Education committee and Senate Finance committee followed by the House Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee. The VSBA team split our time between the two meetings to ensure we shared your positions and priorities.

The House Education committee took up several bills from yesterday’s Education Innovation subcommittee.

HB525 (LeMunyon) requires the SOL Innovation Committee to review and make recommendations to the Chairs of the House Education and Senate Education and Health committees on the number, subjects, and question compositions of standardized tests administered to public high school students in the Commonwealth by November 1, 2016. The bill was unanimously reported from the committee 21-0.

HB241 (Lingamfelter) directs the Board of Education to consider assessments aligned to the Standards of Learning that are structured and formatted in a way that measures the content knowledge of students who are English language learners and that may be administered to such students as Board of Education-approved alternatives to the SOL end-of-course English reading assessments. The bill was unanimously reported from the committee 21-0.

HB842 (Cline) requires every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license to receive professional development in the indicators of dyslexia and the scientific methods of teaching a student who is dyslexic. It also requires the Department of Education to collaborate with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to ensure that all teacher preparation programs offered at public higher education institutions in the Commonwealth convey information on the identification of students at risk for dyslexia and related disorders.

HB954 (Keam) requires each local school division’s policies and procedures regarding the identification and handling of suspected concussions in student-athletes to include a "Return to Learn Protocol" that requires school personnel to be alert to cognitive and academic issues that may be experienced by a student who has suffered a concussion or other head injury. The bill also broadens the scope of the "Return to Learn Protocol" in the Board of Education's guidelines for school division policies and procedures on concussions in student-athletes to require school personnel to (i) be alert to cognitive and academic issues that may be experienced by any student who has suffered a concussion or other head injury and (ii) accommodate the gradual return to full participation in academic activities of all students who has suffered a concussion or other head injury. Under current law, the "Return to Learn Protocol" only imposes such requirements on school personnel with respect to student-athletes.

In the Senate Finance committee it was anticipated that the statewide health insurance bills, SB384 (Vogel) and SB675 (Chafin) would be heard and voted on. However, the bills were taken by for the day as the patrons along with Delegates Jones and Kilgore and the Director of the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management work on an agreement between the House and Senate. We continue to strongly support this legislation which would give local school boards the option to join the state employee health plan and are appreciative of the efforts to reach a compromise.

The day was capped off with the House Courts of Justice Civil Law subcommittee where HB168 (LaRock) was on the docket. This bill allows a locality who has authorized the installation and operation of a video-monitoring system on school buses for recording violations of unlawfully passing a stopped school bus to execute a summons for these violations by mailing a copy of the summons to the owner of the vehicle. Current law requires that the summons be delivered by a law enforcement officer. HB168 was unanimously reported from the subcommittee and will now move on to the full House Courts committee. 

A busy Monday at the General Assembly

We started the day with the House Education committee where a handful of public education bills were on the docket. Below is a quick summary of the committee’s actions.

HB279 (Byron) directs the Board of Education to establish a Virginia career and technical education adjunct faculty provisional license and a Virginia STEM adjunct faculty renewable license for qualified individuals to teach high school career and technical education courses on a part-time basis. The bill prescribes requirements for such licenses. HB279 was unanimously reported from the committee with a substitute.

HB357 (Loupassi) requires at least 20 minutes of physical activity per day or an average of 100 minutes per week during the regular school year for students in grades kindergarten through five beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. The current requirement for a program of physical activity available to all students in grades six through twelve with a goal of at least 150 minutes per week remains unchanged. The committee recommended reporting the bill on an 18-4 vote.

HB942 (Wilt) requires local school boards to provide reasonable access to school property to any youth group listed as a patriotic and national organization in 36 U.S.C. Subtitle II, Part B, such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, to provide written materials and speak to students at times other than instructional time during the school day to encourage such students to participate in the activities and programs provided by such organization. The bill was reported from the subcommittee on a 16-6 vote.

HB516 (Landes) requires the Board of Education to establish a policy to require each public elementary or secondary school to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill was unanimously reported from the committee.

HB487 (McClellan) removes language in § 9.1-110. pertaining to school resource officers employed by the School Resource Officer Grants Program from the obligation to enforce school board rules and codes of student conduct as a condition of their employment. The committee reported the bill on a 20-2 vote.

After the committee meeting the education team was diligently meeting with legislators to share VSBA's opposition to the charter school constitutional amendment. On the House side, it is anticipated that the constitutional amendment will be on the floor tomorrow for a vote. In the Senate, the constitutional amendment will be taken up tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) in the Privileges and Elections committee at 4:00p.m. If you have not reached out to your legislators yet we would encourage you to do so.

The afternoon was busy with several committee meetings and legislators meetings for bills coming up later in the week.

In Senate General Laws, SB500 (Sturtevant) was heard by the committee. The bill requires every locality and school division to post on the public government website of the locality a register of all funds expended, showing vendor name, date of payment, amount, and a description of the type of expense, including credit card purchases with the same information. The bill also provides for the Commonwealth Data Point website administered by the Auditor of Public Accounts to include the same information for each state agency and institution, including each independent agency. Currently, the website includes such information for major state agencies. The bill will not be moving forward as it was passed by indefinitely on an 11-4 vote.

On the House side, the Courts Civil Law subcommittee was scheduled to hear HB168 (LaRock). However the bill was taken by for the day and will be heard on Wednesday. The bill allows a locality that has authorized the installation and operation of a video-monitoring system on school buses for recording violations of unlawfully passing a stopped school bus to execute a summons for such violation by mailing a copy of the summons to the owner of a vehicle that unlawfully passed a stopped school bus.

Thank you for your continued advocacy on behalf your board and VSBA. Check back tomorrow for more updates from Richmond!