The Virginia General Assembly convened this week on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, to receive the 2026 legislative session at full speed.
The Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Public Education met for its first meeting of the 2026 session of the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday, January 15, 2026. This week's docket includes 22 pieces of proposed legislation impacting K-12 education, with 7 bills being passed by for the day.
To view this week's Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Public Education click here.
Below you will find a few of the bills heard in this week's subcommittee hearing.
SB4 (Roem) - School breakfasts; availability at no cost to students.
Requires each school board to require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make breakfast available to any student who requests such a meal at no cost to the student. The bill also requires the Department of Education to provide the formula for determining the state reimbursement rate for such meals.
Passed subcommittee on a vote of 5-0
SB19 (Locke) - DOE; policies relating to instructional material that contains sexually explicit content.
Amends current law requiring the Department of Education to develop model policies and each school board to adopt policies consistent with the Department's model policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content. This bill would repeal 2020 legislation for the removal and censorship of certain books used for instructional material purposes and does not prohibit schools from notifying parents about educational content.
Referred on a vote of 3-2
SB20 (Locke) - Child Care Subsidy Program; income-based eligibility for assistance.
Requires the DOE to develop and implement a phased reduction model for the Child Care Subsidy Program (the Program) that provides for an assistance phase-out period during which the assistance for which a given family is eligible is incrementally reduced in proportion to the increase in such family's income for the purpose of ensuring that no family receiving child care assistance under the Program experiences a sudden loss in eligibility for assistance as a result of an increase in family income.
Referred on a vote of 5-0
SB33 (Favola)- Programs for at-risk students; permissible uses of funding.
Includes as covered programs that are eligible for funding under the At-Risk Program initiatives to support both the physical and mental health of students in public schools, including the hiring of registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses.
Passed by for the day.
SB39 (Favola) - Public schools; best practice of tech. tools to assist w/identifying students at risk of self-harm.
Establishes a work group with the purpose of establishing and making recommendations on best practices for the procurement, implementation, and use in public schools of technology tools designed to assist with the identification of students at risk of engaging in self-harm or intending to inflict harm on others.
An amendment was added during the subcommittee to incorporate racial and cultural bias mitigation strategies. Amendment was adopted by a voice vote.
Referred on a vote of 3-2.
SB42 (Roem) - School boards; powers and duties, school meal policies, payment of school meal debt.
Requires each school board, at the end of each school year, to pay for the total unpaid school meal balance on the nonprofit school food service account of each public elementary or secondary school in the school division resulting from uncollectable school meal debts on any student account using any appropriated nonfederal funds. This bill also prohibits requiring any public elementary or secondary school in the school division from paying for or providing any funding to pay for such school's unpaid school meal balance.
Referred on a vote of 5-0.
SB61 (Mulchi) - Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program; established.
Establishes the Nationally Certified School Psychologist Program and incorporates such program into the existing National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and expands grant incentives to school psychologists.
Passed by for the day.
SB63 (Salim)- Graduation with an advanced studies diploma; requirements, complet. of Int'l Baccalaureate diploma.
Requires the Board of Education to permit any student who is simultaneously pursuing an advanced studies diploma and an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma to complete certain courses or sequences of courses required for an IB diploma, as approved by the Board, including substitutes for the Virginia and U.S. history and government courses and for the economics and personal finance credit requirement.
Passed by for the day.
SB90 (Favola)- Equity in public school funding and staffing; at-risk Program established, standards of quality.
The bill establishes (i) the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at-risk, including programs and services of prevention, intervention, or remediation; (ii) a state-funded, flexible per pupil Standards of Quality funding add-on to be applied for each special education student, calculated in accordance with the provisions of the bill, for the purpose of better meeting the educational needs of students with disabilities; and (iii) a state-funded, flexible per-pupil Standards of Quality funding add-on to be provided for each English language learner student, calculated in accordance with the provisions of the bill, for the purpose of better meeting the educational needs of English language learner students.
The bill also establishes requirements and conditions for each school division receiving funding pursuant to the At-Risk Program or either of the per pupil Standards of Quality funding add-ons established pursuant to the bill, including a requirement that each such school division annually report to the Department of Education on the planned and actual uses of such funds.
Passed by for the day.
SB102 (Stanley) - School boards; high school courses or dual enrollment programs for certain certifications.
Permits any school board to provide to high school students, either on school premises or through a dual enrollment program or other partnership with a comprehensive community college, courses of instruction that prepare students for certification as a certified nurse aide, emergency medical technician, or firefighter.
This bill would waive all instructor requirements such as nine hours of courses in instruction, behavior management, in curriculum and instruction, etc. An amendment was added to amend the instructor requirements to require and cross-reference the sections relating to provisional licensure.
Reported as amended on a vote of 5-0.
SB105 (Stanley) - STEM+C Competition Team Grant Program; eligibility for grants.
Clarifies the eligibility requirements for receiving a grant pursuant to the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing (STEM+C) Competition Team Grant Program (the Program).
Reported on a vote of 5-0.
SB108 (Pekarsky)- School boards; student cell phone and smart device possession and use policies, prohibition.
Amends the requirements for the student cell phone and smart device possession and use policies that each school board is required to develop and each public elementary and secondary school is required to implement pursuant to applicable law to require such policies to, except as provided in applicable law, prohibit student cell phone and smart device possession and use on school property from bell to bell.
Original intend of the bill is to require all school boards to implement cell phones use policies on prohibition of use for students from bell to bell.
Referred on a vote of 4-0-1 (absetention)
SB109 (Pekarsky) - School boards; parental notification, safe storage of prescription drugs and firearms in household.
Requires each school board to develop and implement a policy to require the annual notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the school division regarding the importance of securely storing prescription drugs and firearms.
Referred on a vote of 3-2.
SB110 (Pekarsky) - Certified school library specialists; Superintendent of Public Instruction to employ in DOE.
Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to employ in the Department of Education at least one certified school library specialist.
Referred on a vote of 5-0.
SB117 (Pekarsky) - Public school teachers; reemployment of teacher who has not received continuing contract status.
Requires written notice of noncontinuation of a continuing teacher contract to be given by the teacher by June 15 of each year; otherwise, the contract continues in effect for the ensuing year in conformity with local salary stipulations, including increments.
Referred on a vote of 5-0.
SB119 (Carroll Foy) - Employee Child Care Assistance Pilot Program; established, report.
Establishes the Employee Child Care Assistance Pilot Program (the Pilot Program) to provide matching funds in order to incentivize employers to contribute to the child care costs of their employees.
Passed by for the day.
SB134 (Locke) - Public education; early childhood care and education, funding formula calculations, report.
Requires the Department of Education to establish and maintain a funding formula for the provision of early childhood care and education services based on cost of quality rate per child, actual data from the prior year, unserved waitlists, and a multiplier based on enrollment and parent demand growth in prior biennia.
Referred by a vote of 5-0.
SB147 (Pekarsky) - Alternative graduation pathways to earn Standard Diploma; development, approval, and implementation,
Directs the Board of Education to develop, approve, and implement alternative graduation pathways to earn a Standard Diploma that are designed to expand opportunities for students to complete the verified credit requirements for the Standard Diploma that do not require achieving a passing score on applicable Standards of Learning assessments.
Passed by for the day.
SB151 (Craig) - Elementary school students; water safety instruction required, guidelines.
Requires the Board of Education to develop and make available to each school board by September 1, 2026, guidelines on and each school board to provide as a part of any physical or health education instruction on water safety and awareness.
Referred by a vote of 5-0.
SB174 (Pekarsky)- Virginia Student Teacher Scholarship Program; established, report.
Establishes the Virginia Student Teacher Scholarship Program for student teacher with eligibility criteria shall be awarded a scholarship in an amount not to exceed $7,500 per each supervised clinical practice experience to assist with expenses incurred during the supervised clinical practice.
Referred on a vote of 5-0.
SB190 (Williams Graves)- Public schools; student support services, student personal information and data security, report.
Requires any nonprofit organization seeking to provide student support programs to students enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school to register and maintain status as a certified student support agency.
Passed by for the day.
SB203 (Suetterlein) - Teacher licensure; career and technical education or dual enrollment; three-year licenses; established.
Directs the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of a three-year license to teach solely career and technical education courses or dual enrollment courses at public high schools in the Commonwealth.
Passed by for the day.
The Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Public Education meets weekly during the session on Thursday, 1/2 hour after adjournment, in Senate Room C. A link to the Live Stream video and recordings of all previously held committee meetings and floor sessions of the Senate can be viewed by clicking here.
Sofhia Pineda
VSBA Government Relations Specialist
