The Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education
and Health Committee met this afternoon and considered the following bills:
SB80 (Marsden) would declare that, except in certain limited
circumstances, a student journalist at a public middle school or high school or
public institution of higher education has the right to exercise freedom of
speech and the press in school-sponsored media, including determining the news,
opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media, regardless
of whether the media is supported financially by the school board or governing
board, supported through the use of school or campus facilities, or produced in
conjunction with a class or course in which the student is enrolled. The bill
defines "school-sponsored media" as any material that is prepared,
substantially written, published, or broadcast by a student journalist at a
public middle school or high school or public institution of higher education
under the direction of a student media adviser and distributed or generally
made available to members of the student body. The bill was amended to eliminate references to middle schools. The amended bill was recommended for reporting 3-2.
SB98 (Locke) would remove (i) the option for local school
boards to extend the three-year probationary term of service for teachers by up
to two additional years and (ii) the prohibition against school boards
reemploying any teacher whose performance evaluation during the probationary
term of service is unsatisfactory. The bill was recommended for reporting 3-2.
SB135 (Stuart) would expand eligibility for services under
the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private
school special education program to a public school special education program
established and funded jointly by a local governing body and school division
located within Planning District 16 for the purpose of providing special
education and related services when (i) the public school special education
program is able to provide services comparable to those of an approved private
school special education program and (ii) the student would require placement
in an approved private school special education program but for the
availability of the public school special education program. The bill was reported 5-0.
SB167 (Favola) would removes receipt of one or more
unsatisfactory performance evaluations from the list of factors that
"incompetency" may be construed to include for the purpose of
establishing grounds for the dismissal of public school teachers. The bill was amended to delete the definition of "incompetency" in its entirety. The bill was recommended for reporting 3-2.
SB221 (Locke) would shorten from every five years to every
two years the frequency of the review period for memorandums of understanding
between school boards and local law-enforcement agencies. The bill also
requires local school boards to conspicuously publish the current division
memorandum of understanding on its division website and provide notice and
opportunity for public input and discussion during each memorandum of understanding
review period. The bill was repommented for reporting 3-1-1.
SB299 (Stanley) would require each local school board to
install at least one purified water bottle filling station in every public
school in the local school division. The bill requires that each purified water
bottle filling station (i) dispense filtered, clean drinking water; (ii) be
regularly cleaned and maintained; and (iii) be accompanied by a cup dispenser
if there is no drinking fountain on the same floor and wing as the water bottle
filling station. The bill was stricken at the request of the patron.
SB324 (Deeds) would require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, with the assistance of each school board or division
superintendent, to survey each local school division to identify critical
shortages of school bus drivers by geographic area and local school division
and to report any such critical shortage to each local school division and to
the Virginia Retirement System. The bill was recommended for reporting 5-0.
SB377 (Bell) would permits 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 also removes the requirement that a teacher grievance
hearing be set within 15 days of the request for such hearing and extends from
five days to 10 days the minimum period of advanced written notice to the
teacher of the time and place of such hearing. The bill was recommended for reporting 3-2.
SB853 (Boysko) would requires the Department of Education to
develop a model curriculum and teacher training module for providing
age-appropriate instruction on genocide, racism, harassment, discrimination,
and historical injustice in grades kindergarten through 12. Each local school
board is required to implement the model curriculum and teacher training module
by the 2022-2023 school year. The bill was amended to create an Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education Practices Advisory Committee to recommend standards to the Board of Education. The amended bill was recommended for reporting 3-0-1.
