Thursday, February 22, 2018

General Assembly Update 2/21/18

Today, VSBA staff began their day attending the morning meeting of House Counties, Cities, and Towns Subcommittee #1 at 7:30 a.m. One item of interest was on the subcommittee agenda:


SB 751 (Sturtevant) -  This bill would require every locality with a population greater than 25,000 and each school division with greater than 5,000 students to post quarterly on the public government website of such locality or school division 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 would allow any locality or school division to exclude from such posting any information that is exempt from mandatory disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any personal identifying information related to a court-ordered payment, and any information related to undercover law-enforcement officers. The bill would have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019. VSBA spoke in opposition to this bill. The subcommittee failed to recommend the bill for reporting due to the lack of a second on the motion.

Following this meeting, VSBA staff attended the meeting of the full House Education Committee. Bills of interest under consideration were:

SB 103 (Suetterlein) – This bill would require the Board of Education to provide for teacher licensure by reciprocity for a period of one year for any spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the Commonwealth, provided that such spouse has obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at the time the application for such a one-year reciprocal license is received by the Department of Education. The bill would provide that any such individual who receives a satisfactory evaluation at the conclusion of the year of employment under such one-year reciprocal license is eligible for a renewable license. VSBA supports this bill. The committee reported the bill with a substitute (conforming language to HB 2) (21-0).

SB 775 (Locke)This bill would prohibit the child of a person on active military duty who is attending school for free from being charged tuition upon such child's relocation pursuant to orders his parent received to relocate to a new duty station or to be deployed. The bill would allow the child to remain enrolled in the current school division free of tuition through the end of the school year. The bill would also prohibit the child of a person on active military duty who is eligible to attend a school for free from being charged tuition by a school division that will be that child's school division of residence upon such child's service member parent's relocation to the jurisdiction for that school division pursuant to orders received. The committee reported and referred the bill to House Appropriations (20-1).

SB 786 (Surovell) – This bill would prohibit any student who resides in Planning District 8 and is eligible for free or reduced price meals in the federally funded lunch program from being charged fees for enrolling in any online course or virtual program that is required or is offered by the school division in which he resides and requires such enrolled students to be provided, free of charge, a computer or other electronic device necessary to take the course or program. VSBA opposes the bill. The committee failed to adopt amended language from the subcommittee expanding the impact of the bill statewide. The committee also failed to pass the bill by indefinitely (11-11). The committee ultimately reported and referred the bill as amended to House Appropriations (14-8).

SB 840 (Favola) – This bill would require each local school board to adopt policies that (i) prohibit school board employees from requiring a student who cannot pay for a meal at school or who owes a school meal debt to do chores or other work to pay for such meals or wear a wristband or hand stamp; and (ii) require school board employees to direct any communication relating to a school meal debt to the student's parent, which may be made by a letter addressed to the parent to be sent home with the student. The committee reported the bill (22-0).

SB 961 (Mason) – This bill would align provisions regarding when a homeless child or youth is deemed to reside in a school division with Subtitle VII-B of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 11431 et seq.) and updates references to such act. The committee reported the bill (22-0).

SB 841 (Favola) – This bill would make several changes to the procedures relating to interventions when a pupil fails to report to school for a total of five scheduled school days for the school year, no indication has been received by school personnel that the pupil's parent is aware of and supports the pupil's absence, and a reasonable effort to notify the parent has failed, including (i) removing the appointed attendance officer as a party to the plan to resolve such nonattendance, (ii) permitting but not requiring the attendance officer to participate in the conference necessitated by additional absences subsequent to the development of the plan, and (iii) permitting but not requiring the attendance officer to file a complaint with the juvenile and domestic relations court alleging the pupil is a child in need of supervision or to institute criminal proceedings against the parent pursuant to relevant law. Under current law, the attendance officer is required to participate in such conference and is also required to file such complaint and institute such proceedings in cases in which the pupil is absent for an additional school day without indication that the pupil's parent is aware of and supports the pupil's absence. The committee reported the bill (17-5).

After the conclusion of the full committee, VSBA attended House Education Subcommittee #2. Bills of interest to the Association discussed included:

SB 126 (Cosgrove)This bill would permit any school division outside of Planning District 8, at the discretion of the local school board, to administer a parent/student driver education component as part of the driver education curriculum. Under both current law and the bill, such component is a requirement in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia). The bill would allow for school divisions to administer such component in-person or online.The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill (9-0).  

SB 169 (Stanley)This bill would effectively require VHSL to establish, by July 1, 2021, a varsity level robotics team competition program that includes state championships. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).

SB 229 (Hanger) – This bill would require the Board of Education to establish a training program for school board employees who assist in the transportation of students on school buses, including individuals employed to operate school buses and school bus aides, on autism spectrum disorders, including the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, strategies for interacting with students with autism spectrum disorders, and collaboration with other employees who assist in the transportation of students on school buses. The bill would require each school board employee who assists in the transportation of students with autism spectrum disorders on school buses to participate in such training program. VSBA spoke on the bill and thanked the patron for modifying the language to address implementation concerns. The subcommittee recommended reporting and referring the bill to House Appropriations (10-0).

SB 273 (Petersen) – This bill would authorize local school boards to include and requires the Board of Education to accept, for elementary school, unstructured recreational time that is designed to develop teamwork, social skills, and overall physical fitness in any calculation of total instructional time or teaching hours. The committee amended the bill in the nature of substitute to conform to HB 1419 (Delaney). The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill as amended (10-0).

SB 401 (Lewis) – This bill would direct the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Education to update the "Window into a Green Virginia" curriculum developed by the Departments for sixth grade science to include a unit on the benefits, including the energy benefits, of recycling and reuse. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).

SB 664 (McPike) – This bill would require the Board of Education, in its graduation requirements, to permit local school divisions to waive the requirement for students to receive 140 clock hours of instruction after the student has completed the course curriculum and relevant Standards of Learning end-of-course assessment, or Board-approved substitute, provided that such student subsequently receives instruction, coursework, or study toward an industry certification approved by the local school board. VSBA supports this bill. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).

x
x
x