Below is a summary of some of the most significant
education-related legislation that was passed and that was defeated by the
General Assembly during the 2018 session. The state budget remains to be
resolved and Governor Northam will reconvene the General Assembly for a special
session on April 11th.
This session, VSBA worked on approximately 300 bills that were directly
or indirectly related to K-12 education. We have had numerous significant
successes in defeating or amending unfavorable legislation and in passing
favorable legislation. Thank you to all of you who engaged in advocacy with the
General Assembly. Your voice makes a difference in Richmond as legislators make
decisions that impact your school divisions. We greatly appreciate your help
and thank you again for your continued support of VSBA!
Passed Legislation
HB 1 (Wilt) – This bill makes
significant changes to the way that student
directory information must be handled. Specifically,
the bill provides that except as provided otherwise by federal law or
regulation, a school shall not release the address, phone number, or email
address of a student unless the parent, legal guardian, or eligible student has
affirmatively consented in writing to the disclosure. Under current law, a school could designate
student addresses, phone numbers and email address as directory information and
then could disclose such information unless the parent, legal guardian, or
eligible student opted out of such disclosure.
HB 2 (Bell, Richard) – This bill requires the Board of Education to provide
for teacher licensure by reciprocity 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 a
Virginia license is received by the Department of Education. The bill provides that
no service requirements or licensing assessments shall be required for such an
individual. The bill is identical to SB 103 (Suetterlein). VSBA
supported this legislation.
HB 3 (Landes) – This bill requires the State Board to develop and implement, in
coordination with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the
Department of Education, and the Virginia Association of School
Superintendents, (i) a plan to achieve and maintain the same standards
regarding quality, consistency and level of evaluation for dual enrollment
courses offered by local school divisions, (ii) a process and criteria for
determining whether any dual enrollment courses meet or exceed such quality
standards is transferable to a public
institution of higher education as (a) a uniform certificate of general studies
program or passport program course credit, (b) a general elective course
credit, or (c) a course credit meeting other academic requirements of a public
institution of higher education. VSBA supported this bill.
HB 50 (Hope) – This bill requires 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.
HB 129 (Yancey) – This bill modifies the worker retraining tax credit by allowing
credit to manufacturers conducting a manufacturing orientation, instruction,
and training program that is (i) provided to students in grades six through 12,
(ii) coordinated with the local school division and certified as qualified for
tax credit by the Virginia Economic Partnership Development Authority, and
(iii) conducted either at a plant or facility used by the manufacturer or at a
public middle or high school in Virginia. The credit would equal 35 percent of
the manufacturer's direct costs in providing the program, not to exceed $2,000
for any year.
HB 150 (Bulova) –
This bill requires local departments of social services to notify the
appropriate school board without delay if the subject of a founded complaint of
child abuse or neglect was, at the time of the investigation or the conduct
that led to the report, an employee of a school division located within the
Commonwealth. Currently, such reporting is only required if the subject of the
complaint is an employee of a school division at the time the complaint is
determined to be founded.
HB 212 (Wright) – This bill allows
any school board to hire close family members of school board members if (i)
the member certifies that he had no involvement with the hiring decision and
(ii) the superintendent certifies to the remaining members of the governing
body in writing that the employment is based upon merit and fitness and the
competitive rating of the qualifications of the individual and that no member
of the board had any involvement with the hiring decision. Current law limits
use of the exemption to only those school districts located in Planning
Districts 3, 4, 11, 12, 13, and 17. This bill is identical to SB 124 (Black). VSBA supported
this bill.
HB 215 (Knight) – This bill creates a renewable one-year license for any
individual who has (i) received a graduate degree from a regionally accredited
institution of higher education; (ii) completed at least 30 credit hours of
teaching experience as an instructor at a regionally accredited institution of
higher education; and (iii) received qualifying scores on the professional
teacher's assessments prescribed by the Board, including the communication and
literacy assessment and the content-area assessment for the endorsement sought
and (iv) completed certain other licensure requirements. VSBA supported this
bill.
HB 507 (Mullin) –
This bill provides that (i) the instructional programs for students with
limited English proficiency implemented by each local school board may include
dual language programs whereby such students receive instruction in English and
in a second language and (ii) the additional full-time equivalent instructional
positions for students identified as having limited English proficiency that
are funded pursuant to the general appropriation act may include dual language
teachers who provide instruction in English and in a second language. VSBA
supported this bill.
HB 544 (Freitas) –
This bill permits each local school board to (i) establish High School to Work
Partnerships (Partnerships) between public high schools and local businesses to
create opportunities for high school students to (a) participate in an
apprenticeship, internship, or job shadow program in a variety of trades and
skilled labor positions or (b) tour local businesses and meet with owners and
employees or (ii) delegate the authority to establish Partnerships to the local
school division's career and technical education administrator or his designee,
in collaboration with the guidance counselor office of each public high school
in the school division. The bill requires such local school boards to educate
high school students about opportunities available through such Partnerships.
The bill also requires the Board of Education, the Department of Labor and
Industry, and the State Board for Community Colleges to identify Partnerships
that may be eligible for exemptions from certain federal and state labor laws
and regulations and establish procedures by which such exemptions may be
obtained for such Partnerships. VSBA supported this bill.
HB 632 (Bulova) – This bill requires the Board of Education (Board) to (i)
establish content standards and curriculum guidelines for courses in career
investigation; (ii) develop, in consultation with certain stakeholders,
resource materials that are designed to ensure that students have the ability
to further explore interest in career and technical education opportunities in
middle and high school; and (iii) disseminate such career investigation
resource materials to each school board. The bill directs each school board to
require each middle school student to take at least one course or alternative
program of instruction in career investigation.
HB 638 (Collins) –
This bill prohibits political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, which includes
local school boards, from regulating the use of privately owned, unmanned
aircraft system (e.g. drones). The bill
contains certain provisions prohibiting the use of a drones without permission
near dwellings. The bill also contains limitations on the use of drones by
registered sex offenders and by persons who are the subject of protective
orders.
HB 803 (O’Quinn) – This bill extends eligibility to participate in programs of
preparation and instruction to take a high school equivalency examination
approved by the Board of Education to individuals who are at least 16 years of
age. Under current law, such programs are available only to adults who did not
complete high school, students who have been granted permission by their
division superintendent, and those who have been ordered by a court to
participate in the program.
HB 810 (O’Quinn) – This bill reduces
the training requirements for school bus driver applicant
who do not possess an commercial driver's license to the following: (i) a
minimum of 24 hours of classroom training and (ii) six hours of
behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil passengers and
requires any school bus operator applicant who possesses a commercial driver's
license to receive (a) a minimum of four hours of classroom training and (b)
three hours of behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil
passengers. Current law leaves the setting of such hourly requirements to the
Department of Education.
HB 1000 (Gilbert) – This bill was
intended to address the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court in Butler v.
Fairfax County School Board, in which the Court held that school boards were
not permitted to employ individuals who had any prior felony conviction. The Court’s decision resulted in some local
school boards terminating employees who had been hired with prior felony convictions. The bill permits
those school boards to re-hire such individuals who had been employed by the school
board as of December 17, 2015 (the date of the Court’s decision), provided that
the individual has been granted a simple pardon by the Governor and has had his
civil rights restored by the Governor.
HB 1044 (Torian) – This bill requires each school board to adopt policies to (i)
prohibit abusive work environments in the school division, (ii) provide for the
appropriate discipline of any school board employee who contributes to an
abusive work environment, and (iii) prohibit retaliation or reprisal against a
school board employee who alleges an abusive work environment or assists in the
investigation of an allegation of an abusive work environment.
HB 1085 (Yancey) – This bill requires any local school board of a school division
in which a military installation or other military housing is located to
establish and implement policies to provide for the enrollment to any school of
any military student residing on a military installation or in military housing
within the school division, upon the request of his parent. The bill permits
such policies to include certain conditions. The bill requires a copy of such
policies to be posted on the division's website and to be available to the
public upon request.
HB 1125 (Landes) – This bill makes several changes to the teacher licensure
process, including (i) permitting teachers with a valid out-of-state license,
with full credentials and without deficiencies, to receive licensure by
reciprocity without passing additional licensing assessments and (ii)
specifying that for the purpose of Board of Education regulations for the
approval of teacher education programs, the term "education preparation
program" includes four-year bachelor's degree programs in teacher
education. VSBA supported this bill.
HB 1156 (Wilt) - This bill requires
the Board of Education, in its regulations governing licensure, to provide for
licensure of teachers with an endorsement in dual language instruction
pre-kindergarten through grade six. The bill defines "dual language
instruction" as instruction in English and in a second language. The bill requires
the Board, in establishing the requirements for such endorsement, to require,
at minimum, coursework in dual language education; bilingual literacy
development; methods of second language acquisition; theories of second
language acquisition; instructional strategies for classroom management for the
elementary classroom; and content-based curriculum, instruction, and
assessment. The bill provides that (i) each teacher with such an endorsement is
exempt from the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment requirement but
is subject to the subject matter-specific professional teacher's assessment
requirements and (ii) no teacher with such an endorsement is required to obtain
an additional endorsement in early/primary education pre-kindergarten through
grade three or elementary education pre-kindergarten through grade six in order
to teach in pre-kindergarten through grade six. VSBA supported this bill.
HB 1419 (Delaney) – This bill requires local school boards to provide (i) a minimum
of 680 hours of instructional time to students in elementary, except for
students in half-day kindergarten, in the four academic disciplines of English,
mathematics, science, and history and social science and (ii) a minimum of
375 hours of instructional time to students in half-day kindergarten in the
four academic disciplines of English, mathematics, science, and history and
social science. The bill authorizes local school boards to include and require
the Board of Education to accept, elementary school, unstructured recreational
time that is intended to develop teamwork, social skills, and overall physical
fitness in any calculation of total instructional time or teaching hours, provided
that such unstructured recreational time does not exceed 15 percent of total
instructional time or teaching hours.
HB 1600 (Bourne) – This bill reduces the maximum length of a long-term suspension
from 364 calendar days to 45 school days. The bill permits a long-term
suspension to extend beyond a 45-school-day period if (i) the offense
involved firearms, drugs, or serious bodily injury or (ii) the local school
board or the division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating
circumstances exist, as defined by the Department of Education.
SB 76 (Favola) – This bill specifies that for the purpose of Board of Education
regulations for the approval of teacher education programs, the term
"education preparation program" includes four-year bachelor's degree
programs in teacher education. VSBA supported this bill.
SB 170 (Stanley) – This bill provides
that no student in preschool through grade three shall be suspended for more
than three school days or expelled from attendance at school unless (i) the
offense involved physical harm or credible threat of physical harm to others or
(ii) the local school board or the division superintendent or his designee
finds that aggravating circumstances exist, as defined by the Department of
Education.
SB 229 (Hanger) – This bill requires 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 requires
each school board employee who assists in the transportation of students with
autism spectrum disorders on school buses to participate in such training
program.
SB 273 (Petersen) – This bill requires local school boards to provide (i) a minimum
of 680 hours of instructional time to students in elementary, except for
students in half-day kindergarten, in the four academic disciplines of English,
mathematics, science, and history and social science and (ii) a minimum of
375 hours of instructional time to students in half-day kindergarten in the
four academic disciplines of English, mathematics, science, and history and
social science. The bill authorizes local school boards to include and require
the Board of Education to accept, elementary school, unstructured recreational
time that is intended to develop teamwork, social skills, and overall physical
fitness in any calculation of total instructional time or teaching hours,
provided that such unstructured recreational time does not exceed 15 percent of
total instructional time or teaching hours. The bill is identical to HB 1419 (Delaney).
SB 343 (Peake) – This bill was intended to
address the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court in Butler v. Fairfax County
School Board, in which the Court held that school boards were not permitted to
employ individuals who had any prior felony conviction. The Court’s decision resulted in some local
school boards terminating employees who had been hired with prior felony
convictions. The bill permits those school boards to re-hire such
individuals who had been employed by the school board as of December 17, 2015
(the date of the Court’s decision), provided that the individual has been
granted a simple pardon by the Governor and has had his civil rights restored
by the Governor. The bill is identical to HB 1000 (Gilbert).
SB 349 (Peake) – This bill makes several changes to the teacher licensure
process, including (i) permitting teachers with a valid out-of-state license,
with full credentials and without deficiencies, to receive licensure by
reciprocity without passing additional licensing assessments and (ii)
specifying that for the purpose of Board of Education regulations for the
approval of teacher education programs, the term "education preparation
program" includes four-year bachelor's degree programs in teacher
education. VSBA supported this bill.
The bill is identical to HB 1125 (Landes).
SB 526 (Obenshain) – This
bill prohibits political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, which includes local
school boards, from regulating the use of privately owned, unmanned aircraft
system (e.g. drones). The bill contains
certain provisions prohibiting the use of a drones without permission near
dwellings, The bill also contains
limitations on the use of drones by registered sex offenders and by persons who
are the subject of protective orders.
This bill is identical to HB 638
(Collins).
SB 557 (Hanger) – This bill reduces the
training requirements for school bus driver applicant
who do not possess an commercial driver's license to the following: (i) a
minimum of 24 hours of classroom training and (ii) six hours of
behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil passengers and
requires any school bus operator applicant who possesses a commercial driver's
license to receive (a) a minimum of four hours of classroom training and (b)
three hours of behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil
passengers. Current law leaves the setting of such hourly requirements to the
Department of Education. This bill is identical to HB 810 (O’Quinn).
SB 840 (Favola) – This bill requires 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. This bill is identical to HB 50 (Hope) .
Defeated Legislation
HB 13 (Kory) – This bill would have
required state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act
to support 20 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000
students identified as having limited English proficiency. Current law requires
state funding to support 17 such positions for each 1,000 such students. The
bill was left in the House Appropriations Committee.
HB 15 (Mullin) – This bill
would have required a principal to first
take appropriate alternative disciplinary action or determine that no such
appropriate alternative disciplinary action exists before referring to the
local law-enforcement agency student incidents of assault and assault and
battery without bodily injury. The bill was left in the House Courts of Justice
Committee.
HB 90 (Bell, John) –
This bill would have permitted a school board to conduct a teacher grievance
hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel consisting of one member
selected by the teacher, one member selected by the division superintendent,
and an impartial hearing officer, selected by the other two panel members, to
serve as the chairman of the panel. Under current law, the school board has the
option of appointing a hearing officer or conducting such hearing itself. The
bill would also have remove the requirement that a teacher grievance hearing be
set within 15 days of the request for such hearing and extend from five days to
10 days the minimum period of advanced written notice to the teacher of the
time and place of such hearing. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was passed left
in the House Education Committee.
HB 159 (Rasoul) –
This bill would have required each local school board to implement a
comprehensive, sequential family life education curriculum in grades
kindergarten through 12 that is consistent with the family life education
Standards of Learning or curriculum guidelines developed by the Board of Education
and removes from such standards and guidelines the requirement for instruction
in the benefits, challenges, responsibilities, and value of marriage for men,
women, children, and communities; abstinence education; the value of postponing
sexual activity; and the benefits of adoption as a positive choice in the event
of an unwanted pregnancy. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was passed by
indefinitely by the House Education Committee.
HB 221 (Miyares) – This bill would have broadened
the eligibility criteria for students with a disability to include students
with an Individualized Instructional Plan (IIP) attending a school for students
with a disability licensed by the Department of Education and accredited by an
agency approved by Virginia Council of Private Education. Under current law,
only students who have obtained an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)
pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) may
meet the criteria for the Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits
program. The remaining criteria for students with a disability (residence in
Virginia and family household income not more than 400 percent of the poverty
level) would have continued to apply regardless of whether the student had an
IIP or an IEP. The bill would have increased the scholarship amount available
for an eligible student with a disability from 100 percent to 300 percent of
the per-pupil amount distributed to the local school division as the state's
share of the standards of quality costs. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was
left in the House Finance Committee.
HB 224 (Krizek) – This bill would have
required the Board of Education to make regulations to require each new public
school bus purchased for the transportation of students to be equipped with a
seat belt consisting of a lap belt and shoulder strap or harness in every seat.
The bill would have required each school board to ensure that no later than
July 1, 2036, each school bus that it uses for the transportation of students
is equipped with a seat belt in every seat. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill
was left in the House Education Committee.
HB 252 (Guzman) –
This bill would have required each school board to employ at least one mental
health counselor per 250 students in each high school in the local school
division. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was left in the House Education Committee.
HB 253 (Guzman) –
This bill would have provided that the maximum caseload for each full-time
special education aide is five students. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was
left in the House Education Committee.
HB 296 (Bell, Richard) –
This bill would have prohibited students in preschool through grade three from
being suspended or expelled except for drug offenses, firearm offenses, or
certain criminal acts. VSBA strongly opposed this bill. The bill was passed by
indefinitely by the House Education Committee.
HB 372 (Robinson) – This bill would have made local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar and
determining the opening day of the school year and eliminates the post-Labor
Day opening requirement and "good cause" scenarios for which the
Board of Education may grant waivers of this requirement. The bill would
require 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 2017-2018 school year, to close all schools in the division from
(i) the Thursday immediately preceding Labor Day through Labor Day or (ii) the
Friday immediately preceding Labor Day through the Tuesday immediately
succeeding Labor Day. The bill was continued to 2019 by the Senate Education
and Health Committee.
HB 395 (Davis) – This bill would have
eliminated the requirement that a student must currently attend or have
recently attended a public school in order to qualify for a scholarship from a
scholarship foundation that provides tax-credit-derived scholarships. The bill
would have increased the maximum annual scholarship amount from 100 percent of
the per pupil amount distributed to the local school division as its share of
standards of quality costs (i) for a student with a disability, to 400 percent
of such amount, and (ii) for a student who has an autism spectrum disorder, to
$26,000. The bill would add to the definition of "qualified educational
expenses" expenditures made in connection to summer education. VSBA opposed
the bill. The bill was left in the House Finance Committee.
HB 445 (Carroll Foy) – This bill would have eliminated the requirement that school principals
report certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense to law
enforcement. VSBA supported the bill. The bill was left in the House Courts of
Justice Committee.
HB 496 (Bell, Robert) – This
bill (also known as the “Tebow Bill”) would have prohibit public schools from
joining an organization governing interscholastic programs that does not deem
eligible for participation a student who (i) receives home instruction; (ii)
has demonstrated evidence of progress for two consecutive academic years; (iii)
is in compliance with immunization requirements; (iv) is entitled to free
tuition in a public school; (v) has not reached the age of 19 by August 1 of
the current academic year; (vi) is an amateur who receives no compensation but
participates solely for the educational, physical, mental, and social benefits
of the activity; (vii) complies with all disciplinary rules and is subject to
all codes of conduct applicable to all public high school athletes; and (viii)
complies with all other rules governing awards, all-star games, maximum
consecutive semesters of high school enrollment, parental consents, physical
examinations, and transfers applicable to all high school athletes. The bill
would have provided that no local school board is required to establish a
policy to permit students who receive home instruction to participate in
interscholastic programs among other provisions. VSBA opposed this bill. The
bill was defeated in the House Education Committee.
HB 688 (McQuinn) –
This bill would have required local school boards to provide alternative
education programs for suspended students. VSBA strongly opposed this bill as
an unfunded mandate. The bill was left in the House Appropriations Committee.
HB 809 (O’Quinn) – This bill would have permitted local school boards to display commercial
advertising material on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and
the rear of the bus, provided that no such material (i) obstructs the name of
the school division or the number of the school bus, (ii) is sexually explicit,
or (iii) pertains to alcohol; food or beverages that do not meet the nutrition
standards developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to the
federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 or any additional state or local
nutrition standards for food or beverages sold to students in school; gambling;
politics; or tobacco. The bill was continued to 2019 by the Senate Education
and Health Committee.
HB 831 (Bagby) –
This bill would have required the Virtual Virginia program, established by the
Department of Education, to be made available to all public middle and high
schools. The bill would provide that such program may be made available to all
public elementary schools. Under current law, Virtual Virginia is required to
be made available to public high schools only. The bill would also have replaced
the term "statewide electronic classroom" with "online learning
program" to more accurately reflect the Virtual Virginia program. VSBA
supported the bill. The bill was left in the House Appropriations Committee.
HB 1020 (Adams, L.R.) –
This bill would have make local school boards responsible for setting the
school calendar and determining the opening day of the school year and
eliminates the post-Labor Day opening requirement and "good cause"
scenarios for which the Board of Education may grant waivers of this
requirement. VSBA supported this bill. The bill was incorporated by Senate
Education and Health into HB 372 (Robinson).
HB 1033 (Price) – This bill would have allowed a magistrate or a general district
court to issue an order requiring a person to provide a blood specimen for
testing for human immunodeficiency virus or the hepatitis B or C virus when
exposure to bodily fluids occurs between a person and any health care provider,
person employed by or under the direction and control of a health care
provider, law-enforcement officer, firefighter, emergency medical services
personnel, person employed by a public safety agency, or school board employee
and the person whose blood specimen is sought refuses to consent to providing
such specimen. Currently, only the general district court may issue such order.
The bill would have allowed a testing order to be issued based on a
finding that there is probable cause to believe that exposure has
occurred. Currently, there must be a finding by a preponderance of the evidence
that exposure has occurred. VSBA supported this bill. The bill was continued to
2019 by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
HB 1101 (Robinson) –
This bill would have required that every public body, except for governing
boards of public institutions of higher education, afford an opportunity for
public comment during any open meeting. The bill provided, however, that if a
public body holds more than four meetings in a calendar year, such public body
may, by recorded vote, limit the number of meetings at which an opportunity for
public comment is afforded to four meetings per calendar year. The bill would
have required that the notice given by a public body prior to a meeting include
information as to the approximate point during the meeting when public comment
will be received. In current law, this requirement applies only to public
bodies where at least one member has been appointed by the Governor. The bill
would have permitted public bodies to choose the approximate point during the
meeting when public comment will be received and permits public bodies to adopt
reasonable rules governing the public comment portion of the meeting, including
imposing reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner, but prohibited
public bodies from limiting public comment to only the submission of written
comments. The bill was left in the House General Laws Committee.
HB 1286 (LaRock) –
This bill would have permitted the parents of certain children to apply to the
school division in which the child resides for a one-year, renewable Parental
Choice Education Savings Account that consists of an amount that is equivalent
to a certain percentage of all applicable annual Standards of Quality per pupil
state funds appropriated for public school purposes and apportioned to the
resident school division in which the student resides, including the per pupil
share of state sales tax funding in basic aid and any state per pupil share of
special education funding for which the student is eligible. The bill would have
permitted the parent to use the moneys in such account for certain
education-related expenses of the student, including tuition, deposits, fees,
and required textbooks at a private elementary school or secondary school that
is located in the Commonwealth. VSBA opposed the bill. The bill was left in the
House Education Committee.
HB 1416 (Edmunds) –
This bill would have extended the term of the waiver of the teacher licensure
requirements that a division superintendent may apply to the Board of Education
for any individual whom the local school board hires or seeks to hire to teach
in a trade and industrial education program and removes the requirement that
such individual has at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment
experience. The bill would have also removed requirements that an individual
seeking a three-year career and technical license (i) has at least four years
of full-time work experience or its equivalent in the specific career and
technical education subject area in which the individual seeks to teach and
(ii) has obtained qualifying scores on the communication and literacy
professional teacher's assessment prescribed by the Board. VSBA supported this
bill. The bill was left in the House Education Committee
HB 1471 (Hugo) –
This bill would have permitted 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. VSBA opposed this bill. The bill was left in the House Committee on
Counties, Cities, and Towns.
HB 1504 (Cline) – This bill would have required enrollment in the
Virtual Virginia online learning program during the school year to be open, on
a space-available basis, to each public high school student in the Commonwealth
and each high school student in the Commonwealth who receives home instruction.
VSBA opposed the bill original version of the bill.. The House failed to adopt
the conference report of the bill and, therefore, the bill was defeated on a
close vote of 45-46.
HJ 19 (Bell, Richard) – This bill
would have continued for one additional
year the Joint Committee of the House Committee on Education and the Senate
Committee on Education and Health to Study the Future of Public Elementary and
Secondary Education in the Commonwealth, consisting of seven members of the
House Committee on Education and six members of the Senate. The Senate
Committee on Rules carried the bill over to 2019.
HJ 88 (Bagby) – This bill would have
requested the Department of Education to study the teacher licensure process
and the assessment requirements therein for any inherent biases that may
prevent minority teacher candidates from entering the profession. VSBA supported
this bill. The bill was left in the House Rules Committee.
SB 169 (Stanley) – This bill would have
effectively required VHSL to establish, by
July 1, 2021, a varsity level robotics team competition program that includes
state championships. The bill was defeated in the House on a vote of 18-80.
SB 252 (Dance) – This bill would have prohibited state agencies from
including on any employment application a question inquiring whether the
prospective employee has ever been arrested or charged with, or convicted of,
any crime, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would have also authorized
localities to prohibit such inquiries. The bill was left in House General Laws.
SB 261 (Suetterlein) –
This bill would have provided that a local school board that is required to
employ two full-time librarians for any middle school or high school may meet
such requirement by employing two full-time librarians, or one full-time
librarian and one full-time media specialist, or instructional resource
teacher. The bill also provided that a local school board that is required to
employ a full-time school-based clerical person for the library for any middle
school or high school may meet such requirement by employing one full-time
school-based clerical person for the library, for instruction, or for
assessment or career planning, or by employing one full-time classroom
instructional assistant. VSBA supported this bill. The bill was defeated in the
House Education Committee.
SB 336 (Peake) – The
bill would have required that every elected public body afford an opportunity
for public comment during any open meeting. The bill would have permitted
elected public bodies to choose the approximate point during the meeting when
public comment will be received and to adopt reasonable rules governing the
public comment portion of the meeting, including imposing reasonable
restrictions on time, place, and manner. Such rules shall not limit public
comment to only the submission of written comments. The bill would have required
that the notice given by any public body prior to a meeting include information
as to the approximate point during the meeting when public comment will be
received. VSBA opposed the bill. The bill was left in the House Committee on
General Laws.
SB 476 (Reeves) –
This bill would have provide that school principals are not required to report
criminal misdemeanors or status offenses to law enforcement if in the
principal's discretion, based on a totality of the circumstances and consistent
with Board of Education guidelines, such report is not warranted. The bill
would have required the Board of Education, in consultation with the Department
of Juvenile Justice, the Office of the Attorney General, and any interested
stakeholders, to update its Student Conduct Policy Guidelines to provide
guidance for principals in exercising such discretion. VSBA supported the bill.
The bill was continued to 2019 by the House Courts of Justice Committee.
SB 516 (Obenshain) – This bill
would have authorized the Board of
Education to establish regional charter school divisions consisting of at least
two but not more than three existing school divisions in regions in which each
underlying school division has (i) an enrollment of more than 3,000 students
and (ii) one or more schools that have accreditation denied status for two out
of the past three years. The bill would require such regional charter school
divisions to be supervised by a school board that consists of eight members
appointed by the Board and one member appointed by the localities of each of
the underlying divisions. The bill would have authorized the school board,
after a review by the Board, to review and approve public charter school
applications in the regional charter school divisions and to contract with the
applicant. The bill would require that the state share of Standards of Quality
per pupil funding of the underlying school district in which the student
resides be transferred to such school. VSBA strongly opposed this bill. Senate
Finance continued the bill to 2019.
SB 751 (Sturtevant) – This bill
would have required 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 have allowed 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 opposed the bill. The
bill was left in House Committee on Counties, Cities, and Towns.
SB 785 (Surovell) – This bill
would have prohibited local school boards
from requiring the use of any electronic textbook in any course in grades six
through 12 unless the school board adopts a plan to ensure that on or
before July 1, 2020, (i) each student enrolled in such course will have
actual access at school and, if any assignment requires the use of such
electronic textbook outside of school hours, in his residence to at least one
personal computing device not shared with another student that contains an
operating system and the hardware necessary to support the format of each
electronic textbook expected to be used in such course and (ii) the relevant
school has adequate connectivity, which the bill defines as bandwidth of at
least 100 kilobits per second per enrolled student. VSBA opposed this bill. The
bill was left in the House Appropriations Committee.
SB 786 (Surovell) – This bill would have provided that no student who
resides in Planning District 8 and is eligible for free or reduced price meals
in the federally funded lunch program shall be 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 such enrolled students shall be provided, free
of charge, a computer or other electronic device necessary to take the course
or program. VSBA opposed the bill. The bill was elft in the House
Appropriations Committee.
SB 914 (Chase) – This bill
would have make local school boards
responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening day of
the school year and eliminates the post-Labor Day opening requirement and
"good cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education may grant
waivers of this requirement. The bill would have required 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 2017-2018
school year, to close all schools in the division from (i) the Thursday
immediately preceding Labor Day through Labor Day or (ii) the Friday
immediately preceding Labor Day through the Tuesday immediately succeeding
Labor Day. VSBA supported this bill. The bill was passed by indefinitely bu the
Senate Education and Health Committee.
SB 969 (Newman) – This bill would have
required the Board of Education, in
establishing high school graduation requirements, to require students to earn
one verified credit in history and social science by (i) the successful
completion of a Board-developed end-of-course Standards of Learning assessment;
(ii) achievement of a passing score on a Board-approved standardized test
administered on a statewide, multistate, or international basis that measures
content that incorporates or exceeds the Standards of Learning content in the
course for which the verified credit is given; or (iii) achievement of criteria
for the receipt of a locally awarded verified credit from the local school
board in accordance with criteria established in Board guidelines when the
student has not passed a corresponding Standards of Learning assessment. The
bill would have prohibited such end-of-course Standards of Learning
assessment from being a performance-based assessment. The bill was
left in the House Appropriations Committee.
SJ 6 (Locke) – This bill would have
requested the Department of Education to study the teacher licensure process
and the assessment requirements therein for any inherent biases that may
prevent minority teacher candidates from entering the profession. VSBA supported
this bill. It was continued to 2019 in the House Rules Committee.
