This morning the Senate Education and Health Committee met and considered the following bills of interest:
SB 1142 (Favola) requires the Board of Education to
establish the State School Health Advisory Committee, consisting of no more
than 20 nonlegislative citizen members, to advise the Board, the Governor, and
the General Assembly on (i) the role of employees in public elementary or
secondary schools in providing health care services at such schools and (ii)
the need for any training associated with delivery of health care
services. The Committee voted
unanimously to report the bill.
SB 1141 (Favola) would require the Board of Education,
in its curriculum guidelines for family life education, to include instruction
on the prevention of human trafficking. Additionally, the bill requires any
high school family life education program offered in a local school division to
incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs
on the prevention of human trafficking. The
Committee voted unanimously to report the bill.
SB 1159 (Black)
requires any family life education curriculum offered in any elementary
school, middle school, or high school to incorporate age-appropriate elements
of effective and evidence-based programs on the harmful physical and emotional
effects of female genital mutilation, associated criminal penalties, and the
rights of the victim including any civil action. The Committee voted unanimously to report the
bill.
SB 1275 (Black) requires any school board that offers
a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program to make the program available
to any student who receives home instruction and resides in the local school
division. The bill is particularly problematic because it prohibits any such
school board from requiring any such student to enroll on a full or part-time
basis or to meet other eligibility requirements for such a program beyond those
required of public school students.
Because the students would not be required to enroll, the school
division would receive no state or local funds for the additional students
participating in the program. The Committee
voted to report the bill on a 9-5 vote.
SB 1236 (DeSteph) requires school boards to adopt and
implement policies to ensure employees have equal access to education employee. The bill is troubling because, among other
things, it would remove the discretion of the local school board or
superintendent to decide what groups are permitted to attend new teacher or
employee orientations. The Committee
voted to report the bill on an 8-4 vote.
SB 1295 (Spruill) requires each school board to (i)
develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use and distribution of tobacco
products and nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at
an on-site or off-site school-sponsored activity and (ii) include in its code
of student conduct a prohibition against possessing tobacco products or
nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at an on-site
or off-site school-sponsored activity. Current law only places these
requirements on each school board with regard to electronic cigarettes. The
bill requires such policy to include adequate provisions for enforcement among
students, employees, and visitors, including the enumeration of possible
sanctions or disciplinary action consistent with state or federal law, and referrals
to resources to help staff and students overcome tobacco addiction. The bill
provides such policies may include procedures for effectively communicating the
policy to students, their parents and families, school personnel, visitors on
school premises, and local residents, groups, businesses, and other
organizations served by the school. The Committee
voted to report the bill on a vote of 11-3.
SB 1397 (Peake) requires the Board of Education to
issue a license to an individual seeking initial licensure who has not
completed the professional assessments prescribed by the Board, if such
individual (i) holds a provisional license that will expire within three
months, (ii) is employed by a school board, (iii) is recommended for licensure
by the division superintendent, (iv) has attempted, unsuccessfully, to obtain a
qualifying score on the professional assessments prescribed by the Board, (v)
has received an evaluation rating of proficient or above on the performance
standards for each year of the provisional license and such evaluation was
conducted in a manner consistent with the Guidelines for Uniform Performance
Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers, Principals, and
Superintendents, and (vi) meets all other requirements for initial licensure.
The bill removes the requirement that the Board of Education prescribe an
assessment of basic skills for individuals seeking entry into an approved education
preparation program and establish a minimum passing score for such
assessment. The Committee voted
unanimously to report the bill.
SB 1433 (McClellan) requires the Department of
Education to aggregate and report to each education preparation program certain
teacher employment data, as available, regarding such program's graduates. The Committee voted unanimously to report the
bill.
SB 1440 (McClellan) directs the Board of Education to
review and update the health Standards of Learning for students in all grades
to include mental health. Legislation passed in 2018 required such review and update
for students in grades nine and 10. The Committee
voted unanimously to report the bill.
SB 1608 (Dunnavant) requires the Virginia Fusion
Intelligence Center (the Center) to develop or obtain a school safety mobile
application to (i) facilitate the provision of real-time, 24 hours a day, seven
days a week crisis intervention services by licensed clinicians, including
support or crisis counseling, suicide prevention, and referral services to
students and youth in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chats
and (ii) provide to students and youth in the Commonwealth a platform that is
capable of receiving text, audio, images, or video to furnish information
concerning a suspected, anticipated, or completed criminal violation. The
Center shall coordinate with the Department of Medical Assistance Services to
contract with a third-party to provide such crisis intervention services. The Committee voted unanimously to report the
bill.
This afternoon, the Senate Education and Health Public Education Subcommittee met and considered the following bills:
SB 1218 (Newman) was amended with a substitute in
subcommittee. The substitute would
require end of course SOL assessments be administered to students in grades
9-12 in reading, writing, mathematics, biology, and Virginia and U.S.
history. The assessments cannot be performance-based
assessments. The bill also provides that
the writing assessment include a writing sample. The bill also requires that the Board of Education
establish guidelines to ensure that other (non-SOL) assessments produce
quantifiable metrics that are comparable across school divisions and
years. The bill further requires that
Board of Education to include in its graduation requirements a requirement that
students earn verified credits in reading, writing, mathematics, science and
Virginia and U.S. History. The committee
recommended the bill for reporting unanimously.
SB 1138 (Favola) was amended in subcommittee. The amended bill would allow a local school
board, when applying for its school division to be designated as a School
Division of Innovation, to apply to the Board of Education (the Board) to
replace certain Standards of Learning assessments with performance-based
assessments. The bill requires the Board to determine if the local school board
has the capacity to administer and score performance-based assessments and
provides criteria for such determination. The bill requires any proposed
performance-based assessment to be an adequate replacement of the relevant Standards
of Learning assessment and requires students to demonstrate the knowledge and
skills required by the relevant Standards of Learning and one or more of
critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, or citizenship.
The standards of learning assessments eligible for replacement are (i) Virginia
Studies, (ii) Civics and Economics, (iii) elementary school science, and (iv)
middle school science. The bill further requires the Board to promulgate any
necessary regulations and to submit to the U.S. Department of Education any
necessary amendments to its consolidated state plan. The subcommittee failed to report the bill on
a vote of 2-3.
SB 1348 (Newman) would require the Department of
Education, in consultation with representatives from pertinent industries such
as renewable energy, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, and oil, to establish
an energy career cluster. The bill requires the Department of Education to base
the knowledge and skill sets contained in such energy career cluster on the
energy industry competency and credential models developed by the Center for
Energy Workforce Development in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The bill further requires the Department of Education to report to the Chairmen
of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and
Health no later than December 1, 2019, on its progress toward establishing such
energy career cluster. The subcommittee
recommended the bill be reported unanimously.
SB 1472 (Deeds) would require each school board to
adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and other relevant
personnel, as determined by the school board, employed on a full-time basis, to
complete a Mental Health First Aid training or similar program. The bill
requires each school board to provide such training and provides that a school
board may contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, a community services board, a behavioral health authority, a
nonprofit organization, or other certified trainer to provide such training. The
subcommittee failed to report the bill on a vote of 2-3.
SB 1419 (Sturtevant) would permit the Department of
Education to establish a microcredential program for the purpose of permitting
any public elementary or secondary school teacher who holds a renewable or
provisional license or any individual who participates in any alternate route
to licensure program to complete additional in-person or blended coursework and
earn microcredentials in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) endorsement areas, including computer science, for which there is a high
need for additional qualified teachers. The bill requires the Department of
Education to establish a microcredential committee to determine how any microcredential
awarded pursuant to any such program will be used to award add-on endorsements
and certifications for teachers in such STEM endorsement areas. The bill
provides certain conditions in which in-person coursework in a microcredential
program not contributing to an endorsement is eligible for professional
development points towards the renewal of a teaching license. The subcommittee recommended that the bill be reported
unanimously.
SB 1545 (Sturtevant) would allows a school board to
adopt an alternative accountability process to provide a principal and parties
involved in an incident involving assault or assault and battery without bodily
injury that occurs on a school bus, on school property, or at a
school-sponsored event an option to enter into a mutually agreed upon mediation
process between the involved parties as an alternative to reporting such
incident to law enforcement. The bill requires a principal in a school division
with such a process to attempt to engage the parties involved in such an
incident in the alternative accountability process prior to reporting such
incident to the local law-enforcement agency. The bill prohibits a principal
from reporting such an incident when the parties successfully complete the
alternative accountability process. VSBA
proposed amendments to the bill that make the provisions of the bill permissive
rather than mandatory, which Sen. Sturtevant and the subcommittee accepted. The amended bill was unanimously recommended
for reporting.
SB 1632 (Sturtevant) would require local school boards
to adopt and implement policies permitting a student who has been issued a
valid written certification for the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil to use
such oils while at school. The bill prohibits a school board from suspending or
expelling such a student for such use. The bill prohibits a school nurse
employed by a local school board, person employed by a local health department
who is assigned to the public school pursuant to an agreement between the local
health department and the school board, or other person employed by or
contracted with a local school board to deliver health-related services from
being prosecuted for possession or distribution of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil
or for storing, dispensing, or administering cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, in
accordance with the policy adopted by the local school board, to a student who
has been issued a valid written certification for its use. Finally, the bill
requires the Department of Health Professions, in coordination with the
Department of Education, to develop and make available to school boards, a
standardized form to be completed by the certification issuing physician and
the dispensing pharmaceutical processor. The bill was recommended for reporting unanimously.
SB 1591 (Dunnavant) would direct the Virginia Center
for School and Campus Safety (the Center) to convene a work group to develop
guidelines and best practices for the sharing of information between a local
school board or public institution of higher education and law enforcement
regarding a student whose behavior may pose a threat to the safety of a school
or institution or the community. Such guidelines and best practices shall seek
to balance the interests of safety and student privacy and shall be consistent
with the provisions of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as applicable. The
bill requires the Center to develop such guidelines and best practices, report
to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on
Education and Health, and make such guidelines available to local school
boards, public institutions of higher education, law enforcement, and the
public by October 1, 2019. The bill was
recommended for reporting unanimously.
SB 1590 (Dunnavant) would requires that the Virtual
Virginia program, the statewide electronic classroom established by the
Department of Education, be made available to all public schools. Currently,
the program is available only to high schools. The bill requires the Department
to utilize a learning management system for the purposes of implementing
Virtual Virginia. The bill also authorizes the Department to charge a
per-student fee to school divisions for each student enrolled in a full-time
Virtual Virginia program beyond an initial allotment of 15 such students per
school division and prohibits the Department from limiting the total number of
such students by school division. The
bill was recommended to report of a vote of 3-1-1.
SB 1406 (Dance) would change the name of guidance
counselors to school counselors and require school boards to employ school
counselors in accordance with the following ratios: (i) effective with the
2019-2020 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students,
one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students
or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one
full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major
fraction thereof; in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at
300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof;
(ii) effective with the 2020-2021 school year, in elementary schools, one hour
per day per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one hour per day
additional time per 60 students or major fraction thereof; in middle and high
schools, one period per 55 students, one full-time at 275 students, one
additional period per 55 students or major fraction thereof; and (iii)
effective with the 2021-2022 school year, in elementary, middle, and high
schools, one hour per day per 50 students, one full-time at 250 students, one
additional hour per day per 50 students or major fraction thereof. The subcommittee recommended the bill be
reported and re-referred to the Finance Committee.
SB 1392 (Wagner) would direct the Board of Education
to establish the Standards of Achievement Career and Technical Education
Committee (Committee) to make recommendations to the General Assembly and the
Board of Education to facilitate the development of career and technical
education Standards of Achievement, including accreditation standards,
assessment testing, and course content and curriculum for participating
schools, with a focus on (i) rigorous standards and course content and
curriculum that align workforce skills with industry-recognized standards; (ii)
robust business and industry engagement and responsiveness to labor market
needs; (iii) strategies to remove the stigma from career and technical
education, including early exposure to career options and life skills; (iv)
work-based learning and apprenticeships; (v) innovative high school models; and
(vi) leveraging existing resources and programs in the Commonwealth. The
Committee shall identify any necessary changes to statutory and regulatory
provisions, including existing requirements regarding (a) instructional
programs; (b) instructional, administrative, and, support personnel; (c)
accreditation; (d) assessments; (e) graduation requirements; (f) teacher
licensure; and (g) dual enrollment. The bill requires the Committee to report
its findings and recommendation to the General Assembly and the Board of
Education by November 1, 2019. The subcommittee recommended the bill be
reported and re-referred to the Finance Committee.
SB 1629 (McPike) would Require each local school board
to submit its plan to test and remediate certain potable water sources and
report the results of any such test to the Department of Health. The
subcommittee unanimously voted to recommend that the bill be reported.
