VSBA staff attended the morning meeting of House Education Subcommittee #1. Bills of interest to our association discussed included:
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 staff spoke in support of the bill. The
Subcommittee recommended reporting the bill with a substitute (7-0).
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
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
subcommittee recommended reporting and referring the bill to House
Appropriations (8-0).
SB 786
(Surovell) – This bill, as it was passed by the Senate, would have prohibited 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. There were
two amendments adopted by the subcommittee, one that changed the bill to apply to the entire Commonwealth and
another that changed the language “providing” a computer or electronic device to “make available.”
VSBA spoke in strong opposition to the bill. The subcommittee recommended reporting
and referring the bill to House Appropriations (6-2).
SB 840
(Favola) – This bill would require each
local school board to adopt policies that (i) prohibit school board employees
from publicly identifying or stigmatizing a student who cannot pay for a meal
at school or who owes a meal debt, including requiring that such student wear a
wristband or hand stamp; (ii) 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; and (iii) 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 subcommittee amended the bill to conform
with HB 50 (Hope).
The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill (7-0).
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 subcommittee recommended reporting the bill (8-0).
