Thursday, February 20, 2020

Senate Education and Health Committee Meeting, February 20, 2020


The Senate Education and Health Committee met at 8:00 a.m., Thursday, February 20, 2020 and considered the following pieces of legislation. If you have questions, please contact VSBA Chief Lobbyist, Stacy Haney, at Shaney@haneyphinyo.com, or VSBA Government Relations Specialist, J.T. Kessler, at jason@vsba.org.

H.B. 270 (VanValkenburg) Requires every public school to provide the parents of enrolled students with at least 24 hours' notice before the school conducts any lock-down drill. The bill specifies that no such notice is required to include the exact date and time of the lock-down drill. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 308 (Hope) Requires the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no later than August 1, 2020, guidelines for the granting of excused absences to students who are absent from school due to mental or behavioral health and requires any student who is absent from school due to his mental or behavioral health to be granted an excused absence, subject to such guidelines. The bill was amended to change the date for the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no later than December 31, 2020. The bill reported with amendment 15-0.

H.B. 392 (Ward) Prohibits each school board from employing any individual who has been convicted of a violent felony set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 of the Code of Virginia or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child. The bill permits each school board to employ any individual who has been convicted of any felony or crime of moral turpitude that is not set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 of the Code of Virginia and does not involve the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child, provided that in the case of a felony conviction, such individual has had his civil rights restored by the Governor. The bill contains parallel provisions for contractors and their employees who have direct contact with students on school property during regular school hours or during school-sponsored activities. Current law provides that any felony conviction is a bar to employment and contract work in public schools. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 402 (Keam) Requires every public school to hold at least one lock-down drill after the first 60 days of the school session, in addition to the two lock-down drills required to be held during the first 20 days of the school session at each such school. Current law requires each public school to hold at least two lock-down drills after the first 20 days of the school session. The bill requires kindergarten students to be exempt from mandatory participation in lock-down drills during the first 60 days of the school session and requires the principal at each relevant school to implement such exemption by either (i) conducting teacher-only drills or otherwise providing suitable training for kindergarten teachers or (ii) notifying each parent of a kindergarten student at least five school days in advance of each planned lock-down drill and permitting each such parent to opt his child out of participation in such lock-down drill. The bill was amended to add Pre-K as exempt from mandatory participation in lock-down drills. The bill was reported as amended 15-0.

H.B. 410 (Delaney) Requires each local school board to enact a policy to require that timely written notification is provided to the parents of any student who (i) undergoes literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services or (ii) does not meet the benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners in preschool through grade 12, which notification shall include all such assessment scores and subscores and any intervention plan that results from such assessment scores or subscores. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 415 (Delaney) Requires school boards to adopt policies and procedures to ensure suspended students are able to access and complete graded work during and after the suspension. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 501 (Krizek) Permits each school board to designate another entity or individual to participate on its behalf in the annual review of its written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 753 (Rasoul) Requires the Department of Education to (i) establish a uniform definition of social-emotional learning and develop guidance standards for social-emotional learning for all public students in grades kindergarten through 12 in the Commonwealth; (ii) make such standards available to each local school division no later than July 1, 2021; and (iii) issue a report no later than November 1, 2021, on the resources needed to successfully support local school divisions with the implementation of a statewide social-emotional learning program. The bill reported 14-1.

H.B. 817 (Hope) Requires the Department of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health and medical professional societies, to develop and implement health and safety best practice guidelines for the use of digital devices in public schools no later than the 2021-2022 school year. The bill was reported as amended on a 9-5-1 vote.

H.B. 836 (Carroll Foy) Requires the Department of Education to develop a plan to adopt and implement standards for microcredentials used toward add-on endorsements and renewal of licenses earned by Virginia license holders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The bill requires such plan to include (i) a process for reviewing and administering educator microcredentials; (ii) assurances that educator microcredentials rely upon demonstrable evidence from the submission of artifacts, such as student projects and teacher lesson plans, that are then objectively scored against existing rubrics; and (iii) assurances that educator microcredentials focus on interrelated competencies leading to logical teacher professional development pathways and stacks of educator microcredentials and align with the Board of Education's ongoing work on educator professional development. Such plan shall also include the resources needed for statewide implementation. The bill requires the Department of Education to complete and submit the plan to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education, the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than December 1, 2020. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 928 (Coyner) Permits the Chesterfield County School Board to establish a recovery high school in the school division as a year-round high school (i) for which enrollment is open to any high school student who resides in Superintendent's Region 1 and is in the early stages of recovery from substance use disorder or dependency and (ii) for the purpose of providing such students with the academic, emotional, and social support necessary to make progress toward earning a high school diploma and reintegrating into a traditional high school setting. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee 15-0.

H.B. 999 (Bell) Requires each school board's policies on the possession and administration of epinephrine in every school in the local school division to require that at least one school nurse, employee of the school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine has the means to access at all times during regular school hours any such epinephrine that is stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible container or area. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 1073 (Kory) Requires each school board to annually provide parents of pupils in grades kindergarten through 12 information regarding the health dangers of tobacco and nicotine vapor products. The bill requires that the information provided be consistent with guidelines set forth by the Department of Education. The bill reported 14-1.

H.B. 1208 (Tran) Each school board that provides for the transportation of students and that has established a rule, regulation, or policy to exclude certain students who reside within a certain distance from the school at which they are enrolled from accessing such transportation to establish a process for waiving, on a case-by-case and space-available basis, such exclusion and providing transportation to any such student whose parent is unable to provide adequate transportation for his child to attend school because the parent is providing necessary medical care to another family member who resides in the same household, as evidenced by a written explanation submitted by a licensed health care provider who provides care to such family member. The bill reported on a vote of 13-1-1.

H.B. 1336 (Keam) Requires the Board of Education, in conducting its regular review and revision of the Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for family life education, to consult relevant stakeholders to ensure that revisions reflect contemporary community standards. The bill requires the next such review and revision to be completed no later than June 30, 2021. The bill requires each school board to conduct a review of its family life education curricula at least once every seven years. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.

H.B. 1344 (Askew) Provides that when adopting regulations regarding the issuance of written reprimands of teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license, the Board of Education shall establish in such regulations the grounds for such written reprimands and provides that for a teacher who breaches his contract, the local board of education or division superintendent, in addition to a written reprimand or revocation of the teacher's license as in current law, may issue a suspension of the teacher's license. The bill reported  15-0.

H.B. 1394 (Leftwich) Requires each local school board that offers a family life education program to post for public viewing (i) on the local school division's official website a summary of such program and (ii) on the local school division's official website or a parental portal a complete copy of all printed family life education program materials not subject to copyright protection and a description of all family life education program audio-visual materials. The bill requires each local school board to implement the foregoing provisions no later than the start of the 2021-2022 school year. The bill reported as amended 11-3.

H.B. 1469  (Gooditis) Requires the Board of Education to extend for at least one additional year, but for no more than two additional years, the three-year provisional license of a teacher employed in an accredited private elementary or secondary school or a school for students with disabilities that is licensed by the Board upon receiving from the school administrator of such school (i) a recommendation for such extension and (ii) satisfactory performance evaluations for such teacher for each year of the original three-year provisional license. This bill incorporates HB 725. The bill reported 15.0

H.B. 1491 (Guy) Requires each public high school to provide to any enrolled student who is of voting age or otherwise eligible to register to vote access to Virginia voter registration information and applications and the opportunity to complete such application during the normal course of the school day. The bill reported on a 10-5 vote.

H.B. 1557 (Fowler) Eliminates the annual salary limits for appointed school board members and permits any appointed school board to pay each of its members an annual salary that is consistent with the salary procedures and no more than the salary limits provided for local governments in Article 1.1 (§ 15.2-1414.1 et seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 15.2 (Counties, Cities and Towns) or as provided by charter. This bill incorporates HB 1578. The subcommittee failed to recommend reporting this bill on a 2-3 vote. A substitute motion was made to report the bill. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations on a 8-7 vote.

H.B. 1613 (Brewer) Requires the Board of Education, pursuant to regulation, to permit any individual who seeks a technical professional license to substitute the successful completion of an intensive, job-embedded, three-year program of professional development for the nine semester hours of professional studies required for such license. The bill reported 15-0.

H.B. 1630 (Kilgore) Permits any school board and division superintendent to extend from three months to six months the period within which the provisional license of an individual seeking initial teacher licensure who has not completed professional assessments will expire for the purpose of establishing such individual's eligibility for initial licensure, provided that such individual has received a satisfactory mid-year performance review in the current school year and meets all other eligibility criteria. The bill reported 15-0.