Below
is a summary of legislation that passed during the 2021 session of the General
Assembly. This is not an exhaustive list of all education-related legislation
but is an attempt to cover the most important pieces of passed legislation. Except
where noted otherwise, this legislation awaits action by the Governor.
School
Reopening
SB
1303 (Dunnavant) Requires each school board to offer in-person instruction to
each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary and
secondary school for at least the minimum number of required instructional
hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public
school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the
instructional time provided pursuant to such program. The bill contains certain
exceptions to the abovementioned requirement. The bill requires each school
board to provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to
the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation
strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and
secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided
by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill requires
the Department of Education to establish benchmarks for successful virtual
learning and guidelines for providing interventions to students who fail to
meet such benchmarks and for transitioning such students back to in-person
instruction. The bill also requires all teachers and school staff to be offered
access to receive an approved COVID-19 vaccination through their relevant local
health district. The bill has an expiration date of August 1, 2022.
Mandates
SB 1322 (DeSteph) Provides for the submission and utilization of seizure
management and action plans for students with a diagnosed seizure disorder. The
bill requires each such seizure management and action plan to state that
such plan is separate from any individualized education program (IEP) or
Section 504 Plan that is in place for the student and nothing in such plan
shall be construed to abrogate any provision of any IEP or Section 504 Plan
that is in place for the student. The bill requires that school nurses and
certain school division employees biennially complete Board of
Education-approved training in the treatment of students with seizure
disorders. The bill provides immunity from civil liability for acts or omissions
related to providing for the care of a student under a seizure management and
action plan. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.
HB
1823 (Askew)
Requires
each building that was built before 2015 and that houses any public school classroom
for students, licensed child day program, or other program that serves
preschool-age children to be equipped with at least one carbon monoxide
detector.
HB 2019 (McQuinn) Requires each local school board to adopt
and implement policies for the possession and administration of undesignated
stock albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers in every public school in
the local school division, to be administered by any school nurse, employee of
the school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local
health department who is authorized by the local health director and trained in
the administration of albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers for any
student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication. The bill requires
the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Health, to
develop and implement policies for the administration of stock albuterol in
public schools. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022.
HB 2176 (Torian) Defines, for the purposes of mandatory
school board policies relating to abusive work environments, the terms
"abusive conduct," "abusive work environment,"
"physical harm," and "psychological harm." The bill clarifies
that the requirement to adopt such policies shall not be construed to
limit a school board's authority to adopt policies to prohibit any other type
of workplace conduct as the school board deems necessary.
Licensure
and Evaluation
SB
1196 (Locke)/ HB 1904 (Jenkins) Requires teacher, principal, and division
superintendent evaluations to include an evaluation of cultural competency. The
bill requires every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license
from the Board of Education (i) to complete instruction or training in cultural
competency and (ii) with an endorsement in history and social sciences to
complete instruction in African American history, as prescribed by the Board.
The bill also requires each school board to adopt and implement policies that
require each teacher and any other school board employee holding a license
issued by the Board to complete cultural competency training, in accordance
with guidance issued by the Board, at least every two years. This bill was
signed by the Governor with an effective date of July 1, 2021.
HB 1776 (Ward) Requires the Board of Education to grant a
two-year extension of the license of any individual licensed by the
Board whose license expires on June 30, 2021, in order to
provide the individual with sufficient additional time to complete
the requirements for licensure.
Anti-Discrimination
HB
1848 (Sickles) Adds discrimination on the basis of disability as an unlawful
discriminatory practice under the Virginia Human Rights Act. The bill also
requires employers, defined in the bill, to make reasonable accommodation to
the known physical and mental impairments of an otherwise qualified person with
a disability, if necessary to assist such person in performing a particular
job, unless the employer can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an
undue hardship on the employer. The bill also prohibits employers from taking
any adverse action against an employee who requests or uses a reasonable
accommodation, from denying employment or promotion opportunities to an
otherwise qualified applicant or employee because such employer will be
required to make reasonable accommodation to the applicant or employee, or from
requiring an employee to take leave if another reasonable accommodation can be
provided to the known limitations related to the disability.
Broadband
SB
1225 (Boysko) Authorizes school boards to appropriate funds for the
purposes of promoting, facilitating, and encouraging the expansion and
operation of broadband services for educational purposes. The bill authorizes
school boards to partner with private broadband service providers to promote,
implement, and subsidize broadband for educational purposes to the households
of students who would qualify for (i) a child nutrition program or (ii) any
other program recognized or adopted by the local school board as a measuring
standard to identify at-risk students.
SB 1334 (Edwards)/ HB 1923 (Alaya) Expands the existing
broadband pilot program to allow for the participation of municipalities and government-owned
broadband authorities in order to provide broadband service to unserved areas
of the Commonwealth.
SB 1413 (Boysko)/ HB 2304 (Tyler) Makes permanent the pilot
program under which a Phase I or Phase II electric utility is permitted to petition
the State Corporation Commission to provide broadband capacity to unserved
areas of the Commonwealth. The bill expands the program to allow for the
participation of municipalities and government-owned broadband
authorities. The bill provides that investor-owned electric utilities may
recover costs of and revenue generated from providing broadband capacity that
serves as an electric grid transformation project in areas unserved by
broadband, as defined in the bill. The bill also consolidates the State Corporation
Commission petition approval process into one hearing.
FOIA
HB
1931 (Levine) Authorizes a public body to conduct through electronic
communication means a meeting for which, on or before the day of the meeting, a
member of the public body holding the meeting notifies the chair that such
member is unable to attend the meeting due to a family member's medical
condition that requires the member to provide care for such family member,
thereby preventing the member's physical attendance. The bill also clarifies
that participation in an electronic meeting by a member of a public body due to
the inability to attend because of a personal matter is limited each calendar
year to two such meetings, which is current law, or 25 percent of the meetings held
that calendar year rounded up to the next whole number, whichever is greater.
This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory
Council. This bill was signed by the Governor with an effective date of July 1, 2021.
HB 2025 (Gooditis) Provides that personal contact information
provided to a public body or any of its members for the purpose of receiving
electronic communications from the public body or any of its members is
excluded from the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA, unless the recipient
of such electronic communications indicates his approval for the public body to
disclose such information. Currently, the law provides protections for personal
contact information provided to a public body, not to its members; only applies
to electronic mail; and requires the electronic mail recipient to request the
public body not to disclose his personal contact information in order for the
information to be exempt from mandatory disclosure. This bill is a
recommendation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council.
Election
Requirements
SB
1157 (Spruill) Shifts all municipal elections for city and town council and
school board from May to November, beginning with elections held after January
1, 2022.
HB 2198 (Convirs-Fowler) Provides that in a locality that
imposes district-based or ward-based residency requirements for members of the
governing body or school board, the member elected from each district or ward
is to be elected by the qualified voters of that district or ward and not by
the locality at large. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1,
2022.
Inclement
Weather
SB
1132 (Suetterlein)/ HB 1790 (McNamara) Provides that when severe weather
conditions or other emergency situations have resulted in the closing of any
school in a school division for in-person instruction, the school division may
declare an unscheduled remote learning day whereby the school provides
instruction and student services, consistent with guidelines established by the
Department of Education to ensure the equitable provision of such services,
without a reduction in the amount paid by the Commonwealth from the Basic
School Aid Fund. The bill prohibits any school division from claiming more than
10 unscheduled remote learning days in a school year unless the Superintendent
of Public Instruction grants an extension. This bill was signed by the Governor
with an effective date of July 1, 2021.
School
Safety
HB
1998 (Murphy) Reduces from three to two the minimum number of mandatory annual
lock-down drills in each public elementary and secondary school in the
Commonwealth. This bill was signed by the Governor with an effective date
of July 1, 2021.
School
Meals
HB
2013 (Roem) Requires each school board to adopt a policy that prohibits
the board from filing a lawsuit against a student or the student's parent
because the student cannot pay for a meal at school or owes a school meal debt.
HB 2135 (Roem) Requires each school board that governs a
local school division that has a student population that qualifies for free and
reduced-price meals at a minimum percentage of 50 percent in the prior school
year and simultaneously offers educational or enrichment activities and is
consequently eligible to participate in the Afterschool Meal Program
administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS) Child and Adult Care Food Program to apply to the Department of Education
to participate in the Afterschool Meal Program for each such school to
subsequently and simultaneously serve federally reimbursable meals and offer an
afterschool education or enrichment program, pursuant to FNS guidelines and
state health and safety standards. The bill requires the Department of Education
to administer the Afterschool Meal Program on behalf of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. The bill provides that the Superintendent of Public Instruction
shall issue a waiver to this requirement upon determination that participation
is not financially viable for a school or group of schools. The bill requires
the Department of Education to develop a process and criteria for evaluating
such waivers. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022.
Special
Education
SB
1288 (Dunnavant)/ HB 2299 (Carr) Requires the Department of Education and the Board
of Education to develop new policies and procedures and effect numerous
modifications to existing policies and procedures to improve the administration
and oversight of special education in the Commonwealth.
HB
2314 (Mugler) Requires the Board of Education to amend a certain regulation
relating to special education to remove the word "component"
following the word "evaluation," thereby ensuring compliance with the
relevant federal regulation and clarifying that the parent of a child with a
disability has the right to an independent educational evaluation at public
expense if the parent disagrees with an evaluation obtained by the local
educational agency.
HB
2316 (Mundon King) Requires the Department of Education to update its special
education eligibility worksheets as necessary, including clarifying any
ambiguity or vagueness in eligibility criteria, and provide to each local
school division the appropriate level of guidance on eligibility determinations
for special education and related services. The bill requires the Board of
Education to amend its regulations to ensure that each education preparation
program graduate in a K-12 general education endorsement area demonstrates
proficiency in understanding the role of general education teachers on the
individualized education program (IEP) team.
SOQ/SOL
SB
1257 (McClellan) The bill modifies a school personnel requirement in Standard
2 of the Standards of Quality. It requires each school board to provide at
least three specialized student support positions, including school social
workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts,
licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral
positions, per 1,000 students.
SB 1357 (Dunnavant)/ HB 2027 (Coyner) Requires the Board of
Education to establish, in lieu of a one-time end-of-year assessment and for
the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course
of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system, aligned with the
Standards of Learning, for the administration of reading and mathematics
assessments in grades three through eight. The bill requires such through-year
growth assessment system to include at least one beginning-of-year, one
mid-year, and one end-of-year assessment in order to provide individual
student growth scores over the course of the school year, provided that the
total time scheduled for taking all such assessments shall not exceed 150
percent of the time scheduled for taking a single end-of-year proficiency
assessment. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate
training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth
data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in
grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill provides that
with such funds and content as are available for such purpose, such
through-year growth assessment system shall provide accurate measurement of a
student's performance, through computer adaptive technology, using test items
at, below, and above the student's grade level as necessary. The bill requires
full implementation of such system no later than the 2022–2023 school
year and partial implementation during the 2021–2022 school
year consisting of one beginning-of-year assessment and one
end-of-year assessment.
HB
1885 (Simonds) Requires the Department of Education to perform a comprehensive review
of the ongoing implementation of mandatory computer science standards in
elementary schools and middle schools and the alignment of middle school and
high school computer science courses and course pathways. The bill requires
such review to include recommendations for implementation processes at the
local level, profiles of implementation processes that have been successful for
school divisions, a description of opportunities for enhanced collaboration
with relevant computer science stakeholders to expand computer science
education opportunities for all students in the Commonwealth and for relevant
professional development for teachers, and examining methods of data collection
annually from local school divisions pertaining to computer science
implementation. The bill requires the Department of Education to prepare a
report on its comprehensive review and provide such report to the Chairmen of
the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and
Health, the Secretary of Education, and the Superintendent of Public
Instruction no later than November 1, 2021. This bill has been signed by the
Governor with an effective date of July 1, 2021.
HB
1905 (Cole, J.) Adds to objectives developed and approved by the Board of
Education for economics education and financial literacy at the middle and high
school levels the implications of various employment arrangements with regard
to benefits, protections, and long-term financial sustainability. Employment
arrangements is defined in the bill as full-time employment, part-time
employment, independent contract work, gig work, piece work, contingent work,
day labor work, freelance work, and 1099 work.
Students
SB
1169 (Norment)/HB 1918 (Mugler) Requires (i) driver education programs to include instruction
on the dangers of distracted driving and speeding and (ii) a student to submit
a standard application form developed by the Department of Education by which
the student provides evidence that he possesses a valid driver's license or
driver privilege card before being issued a pass to park a vehicle on high
school property.
SB
1439 (McClellan)/ HB 1940 (Rasoul) Provides that, subject to guidelines established
by the Department of Education, each school board (i) shall permit one school
day-long excused absence per school year for any middle school or high school
student in the local school division who is absent from school to engage in a
civic event and (ii) may permit additional excused absences for such students
who are absent for such purposes. The bill also provides that local school
boards may require that the student provide advance notice of the intended
absence and require that the student provide documentation of participation in
a civic event.
HB 1865 (Delaney) Requires reading intervention services for
students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based
on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading test or
any reading diagnostic test that meets criteria established by the Department
of Education to be evidence-based, including services that are grounded in the
science of reading, and include explicit, systematic, sequential, and
cumulative instruction, to include phonemic awareness, systematic phonics,
fluency, vocabulary development, and text comprehension as appropriate based on
the student's demonstrated reading deficiencies. The bill requires the parent
of each student who receives such reading intervention services to be notified
before the services begin and the progress of each such student to be monitored
throughout the provision of services.
HB
2119 (Keam) Exempts students who are (i) at least 18 years old, (ii)
emancipated minors, or (iii) unaccompanied minors who are not in the physical
custody of their parent or guardian from the requirement to participate in the
parent/student component of a school's driver education program. This bill was
signed by the Governor with an effective date of July 1, ,2021.
Other
SB
1307 (Dunnavant) Directs the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the
state plan for medical assistance services to provide for payment of medical
assistance services delivered to Medicaid-eligible students when such services
qualify for reimbursement by the Virginia Medicaid program and may be provided
by school divisions, regardless of whether the student receiving care has an
individualized education program or whether the health care service is included
in a student's individualized education program. The bill specifies that such
services shall include those covered under the state plan for medical
assistance services or by the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and
Treatment benefit as specified in § 1905(r) of the federal Social Security Act,
and shall include a provision for payment of medical assistance for health care
services provided through telemedicine services. The bill also requires the
Department of Medical Assistance Services to provide technical assistance to
the Department of Education and local school divisions to facilitate their
understanding of and compliance with federal ordering, referring, and
prescribing provider screening and enrollment requirements.
SB 1313 (Mason)/ HB 2117 (Van Valkenburg) Requires that funds
expended for private special education services under the Children's Services
Act only be expended on educational programs that are licensed by the Board of
Education or an equivalent out-of-state licensing agency. The bill also
provides that as of July 1, 2022, such funds may only be expended for programs
that the Office of Children's Services certify as having reported their tuition
rates.
The bill
adds children and youth previously placed in approved private school
educational programs for at least six months who will receive transitional
services in a public school setting to the target population for eligibility
for the state pool of funds. The bill provides that state funds shall be allocated
for no longer than 12 months for transitional services.
The bill
requires the Secretaries of Education and Health and Human Resources, in
conjunction with the Office of Children's Services and the Department of
Education, to establish a work group with appropriate stakeholders to develop a
detailed plan to direct the transfer of Children's Services Act funds currently
reserved for children requiring an educational placement in a private special
education day school or residential facility to the Department of Education, as
well as several other topics. The bill requires that the work group submit its
plan and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on
Appropriations and Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations by November
1, 2021, as well as a final plan and recommendations by November 1, 2022.
SB
1314 (Hashmi) Directs the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority
to establish an Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment (the Office) to
coordinate data analysis on workforce and higher education alignment and
translate data to partners. The Office shall provide a unified, consistent
source of information or analysis for policy development and implementation
related to talent development and shall partner with the State Council of
Higher Education for Virginia, institutions of higher education, the Virginia
Department of Education, the Virginia Employment Commission, GO Virginia, and
other relevant entities to offer resources and expertise related to education
and labor market alignment.
HB
1827 (Austin) Requires the nine-member Board of Education to include at least
five members, appointed by the Governor, who each reside in different
superintendent's regions in the Commonwealth.
HB
1866 (Delaney) Permits court-appointed special advocates to participate in
and verbally share information with family partnership meetings and in meetings
of family assessment and planning teams, multidisciplinary child sexual abuse
response teams, individualized education program teams, and multidisciplinary
teams related to child abuse.
HB
2058 (Simonds) Creates the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board to create a unified vision regarding STEM
education initiatives, language, and measures of success to promote a culture
of collaboration for STEM programming in the Commonwealth. The Board shall
develop the infrastructure for creating STEM Regional Hubs and naming STEM
Champions in communities across the Commonwealth. Additionally, the Board shall
report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly on STEM challenges,
goals, and successes across the Commonwealth.
Defeated
Legislation
SB
1191 (Kiggans) Would have required school nurse positions from requirements for
student support positions and instead requires each local school board to
employ at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position in each
elementary school, middle school, and high school in the local school division.
The bill also requires the Department of Education to establish and administer
a waiver process for local school boards for which the requirements of the bill
create an undue hardship. The bill was Passed by Indefinitely by a 17-0 vote of
the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
SB
1317 (Dunnavant) Would have required all local school boards to establish and
implement policies to provide for the open enrollment to any school of any
student who is eligible to receive free or reduced lunch upon the request of a
parent or guardian, subject to conditions and limitations established by the
local school board. The bill was defeated on the Senate Floor 15-24.
SB 1358 (Hashmi)/ HB 1785 (Ward) Would have required the
Safety and Health Codes Board to adopt regulations establishing standards
designed to protect employees from heat illness, defined in the bill. The
measure authorizes an employee to bring an action based on a violation of such
standards in which injunctive relief and monetary damages may be sought. The
bills were stricken at the request of the Patrons.
SB 1380 (Lucas) Authorizes electric utilities to partner with
school divisions to implement projects designed to encourage the proliferation
of school buses that are fueled in whole or in part by electricity, along with
associated charging and other infrastructure, for the purpose of transporting
students and that may also serve as electric grid stabilization or peak-shaving
resources. The bill provides that if an electric school bus project meets the
requirements in the bill, then it is in the public interest and may constitute
an energy storage resource. The bill requires an electric school bus project
and its corresponding agreement to include a provision to compensate a
participating school division for the use of the school bus battery by the
electric utility as a grid stabilizing or peak-shaving resource and a provision
that the electric school buses shall be titled under the participating school
division, but the utility shall own the associated batteries and charging
stations. The bill also provides a tax exemption for electric school buses and
associated charging and other infrastructure that is related or incidental to
an authorized electric school bus project. The Second Conference Report was
rejected by the House of Delegates by a vote of 41-48.
SB 1401 (Pillion)/ HB 2094 (O’Quinn) Would have reduced the total
number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum
requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965, as amended. The bills Failed to Report from the House Education
SOL/SOQ Subcommittee on a 4-4 vote.
HB 1736 (Adams, D.) Prohibits any individual who provides
nursing services in a public elementary or secondary school as a school board
employee or through a contract with the local health department from using the
title of school nurse unless such individual is a registered nurse who
possesses an active license to practice in the Commonwealth. The bill Failed to
Report from the Senate Education and Health Committee on a vote of 6-8.
HB 1742 (Webert) Would have required in the event that any
school board does not provide the option of in-person instruction as the sole
method of instruction for any enrolled student, the parent of any such student
who withdraws his child from attendance to receive, upon request, an education
voucher in an amount equal to a prorated share of the applicable Standards of
Quality per-pupil state funds appropriated for public school purposes and
apportioned to the school division, 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 child is eligible, to cover the expenses of providing
in-person instruction in an alternative setting. The bill permits the
Department of Education to establish rules, regulations, or procedures for the
issuance of such education vouchers. The bill failed to report from the
House Education PreK-12 Subcommittee on a vote of 3-5.
HB 1755 (Carter) Would have repealed the provisions of the
Code of Virginia that, among other things, prohibit any agreement or
combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organization whereby
(i) nonmembers of the union or organization are denied the right to work for
the employer, (ii) membership in the union or organization is made a condition
of employment or continuation of employment by such employer, or (iii) the
union or organization acquires an employment monopoly in any such enterprise. A
discharge petition failed to Pass by a vote of 83-13 in the House of Delegates.
HB 1770 (Freitas) Would have permitted
any
school division to establish a program to create savings accounts for students
to be used for alternative educational programs. The bill requires the
Department of Education to establish policies and procedures under which the
parent of each student may use such funds on public or private educational
programs. The bill failed to report from the House Education PreK-12
Subcommittee on a 2-6 vote.
HB 1780 (Carter) Would have exempted employees of a local school
board from the prohibition on striking, and from termination of employment for
striking by public employees. The bill was left in the House Labor and Commerce
Committee.
HB
1791 (McNamara) Would have provided that if any person commits a simple assault or
assault and battery against another knowing or having reason to know that such
other person is a sports official who is (i) engaged in the performance of his
duties as such during a sports event or (ii) on the premises where a sports event
is held immediately preceding or following a sports event, such person is
guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also provides that the sentence of
such person, upon conviction, shall include a mandatory minimum fine of $500
and such person shall be prohibited from coming within 50 feet of the premises
where any sports event is held in the Commonwealth an hour prior to the
beginning of the sports event, during the sports event, and an hour following
the conclusion of the sports event for one year. The bill also makes it a Class
1 misdemeanor to orally make a threat to kill or do bodily injury to any sports
official who is engaged in the performance of his duties as such during a
sports event or on the premises where a sports event is held immediately preceding
or following the sports event. The bill defines "sports event" and
"sports official." The bill was Laid on the Table in the House Courts
of Justice Criminal Subcommittee by a vote of 8-0.
HB 1826 (Austin) Would have required the nine-member Board of Education
to include at least one member with experience or expertise in local government
leadership or policymaking, at least one member with experience or expertise in
career and technical education, and at least one member with experience or
expertise in early childhood education, all of whom are appointed by the
Governor. The bill failed to report from the House Education SOL/SOQ
Subcommittee on a 3-5 vote.
HB 1915 (Mugler) Would have required that public school
teachers be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average.
Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The bill requires
state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum
sufficient to fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher
salaries, effective from the 2022-23 school year through the 2026-27 school
year. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022. The bill was left
in the House Appropriations Committee.
HB 2000 (Roem) Would have prohibited a public body
from charging a requester for any costs incurred during the first two hours
spent accessing or searching for requested records when such requester has made
four or fewer individual records requests to such public body within 31 consecutive
days. The bill provides that for any additional time spent accessing or
searching for such records, or when such requester makes five or more
individual records requests to such public body within any 31-consecutive-day
period, the public body shall not charge an hourly rate for accessing or
searching for the records exceeding the lesser of the hourly rate of pay of the
lowest-paid individual capable of fulfilling the request or $33 per hour. The
bill also requires public bodies to post on their website or otherwise publish
a written policy (a) explaining how the public body assesses charges for
accessing or searching for requested records and (b) noting the current fee
charged, if any, by the public body for accessing and searching for the requested
records. The bill was Tabled in the House Committee on General Laws 22-0.
HB 2090 (Cox) Would have established the Reimbursement for
Education Access Decisions (READ) Fund (the Fund); permits any school board to
establish a READ program to provide, during the state of emergency declared by
the Governor in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, funds to any parent or legal
guardian who meets compulsory attendance requirements by having his child
taught by a tutor or teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of
Education and approved by the division superintendent in lieu of enrollment in
the local school division to cover certain costs of such education; and permits
any such school board to apply to the Department of Education for an award from
the Fund to reimburse the school board for half of the cost of making
reimbursements to parents pursuant to its READ program. The bill provides that
the school board is responsible for covering the remaining half of the cost of
its READ program with such federal and local funds as may be available for such
purpose. The bill permits the Department of Education to establish such rules
and procedures as it deems necessary for receiving applications for
reimbursement and making awards from the Fund. The bill also provides that if
federal funding is provided pursuant to an Act of Congress with regard to
relief from the COVID-19 pandemic and such Act does not preclude such federal
funding from being used to make awards from the Fund, the Governor shall
reserve a reasonable amount of such federal funding to be credited to the Fund
to fully support reimbursement requests from such school boards. The bill was
Laid on the Table in the House Education PreK-12 Subcommittee by a vote of 5-3.
HB 2093 (O’Quinn) Would have established the School
Construction Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and
requires the Department of Education to establish the School Construction
Program for the purpose of providing grants from the Fund, subject to certain
conditions, to school boards that leverage federal, state, and local programs
and resources to finance the design and construction of new school buildings
and facilities or the modernization and maintenance of existing school
buildings and facilities. The bill was Left in the House Appropriations
Committee.
HB 2228 (Guzman) Would have provided that, for the purposes
of the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act, "occupational disease"
includes injuries from conditions resulting from repetitive and sustained
physical stressors, including repetitive and sustained motions, exertions,
posture stress, contact stresses, vibration, or noise. The bill provides that
such injuries are covered under the Act. Such coverage does not require that
the injuries occurred over a particular period, provided that such a period can
be reasonably identified and documented and further provided that the
employment is shown to have primarily caused the injury, considering all
causes. The bill was Left in the House Appropriations Committee.
HB 2247 (Aird) Would have removed several conditions on
the Board of Education's constitutional duty to determine school division
boundaries and requires the Board, in fulfilling such duty, to consider equity
in educational programs within and between school divisions. The bill was
Stricken at the request of the Patron.
HB 2277 (Bell) Would have required any child with a disability
who receives special education and related services, reaches age 22 after
September 30, 2020, and is scheduled to complete high school in the spring of
2021 to be given the option for an extension to attend high school for the
duration of the 2021-22 school year. The bill was Left in the House
Appropriations Committee.
