The Senate
Education and Health Committee met Thursday morning for its final meeting of
session. Chairman Lucas moved quickly through the docket taking the
recommendations from the subcommittee reports. VSBA had a few successes in defeating bills
unwanted bills and a defeat with the School Calendar “Labor Day” bills. Below is a report of
the committee’s actions.
HB197
(Landes) directs the Board of
Education to develop guidelines for supplementary written materials used to
teach the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United State,
the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Statue of Religious Freedom, the Virginia
Declaration of Rights and the charters of the Virginia Company of April 10,
1606, May 23, 1609 and March 12, 1612. It further requires that all teachers
ensure that supplementary written materials contain accurate restatements of
the principles contained in the documents. The bill was reported from
the full committee.
HB324 (D. Bell) was carried over to 2015. VSBA strongly
opposed the bill due to significant problems including funding concerns. The
bill established the Board of the Virtual Virginia School and requires that the
School be open to any student in the Commonwealth. The bill would result in
federal, state, and local funds, up to $6,500 per pupil, being transferred from
local school boards to the Virtual Virginia School. Chairman Lucas will send a
letter to the Chairman of the Finance Committee requesting that they examine
the funding provisions in the bill.
HB515 (Minchew) was significantly amended in the House but
VSBA still had concerns. The bill required principals to attempt to notify the
parents of any student who violates a school board policy or compulsory school
attendance requirement if the violation could result in a student’s suspension,
long-term suspension or expulsion. VSBA had concerns with the language of the
amended legislation because it could be construed to place a significant burden
on principals to notify parents of minor infractions even when the teacher or
principal has decided not to suspend the student. The bill was passed by
indefinitely and failed to report from the committee due to the concerns raised
by VSBA.
HB751 (Rust) was amended and unanimously reported by the
committee. The bill clarifies that school administrators and the local school
board have discretion in disciplining students for certain drug offenses.
Current law requires school boards to expel students for these offenses but
does allow school boards to impose another sanction if warranted by special circumstances.
Under this legislation, a school board may still expel a student for drug
offenses, but is not required to do so.
HB754 (Rust) was stricken at
the request of the patron. The bill allowed the
school board or a committee thereof to change a disciplinary decision made by a
Superintendent or designee or hearing officer in certain circumstances. It was VSBA's
position that school boards can already take such actions.
HB786 (Wilt) prohibited the dismissal or probation of an
employee on the grounds that they possessed an unloaded firearm in a closed
container in their vehicle or in a locked trunk, a knife with a metal blade in
their vehicle or an unloaded shotgun in a firearms rack. The possession of a
firearm on school property in these limited circumstances is not prohibited by
law but, currently, a school board may choose to prohibit it. This bill effectively
prevented school boards from exercising their authority to prohibit firearms on
school property in these circumstances. Due to the work of VSBA and
other stakeholder groups, the bill was passed by indefinitely by the committee
on a close 8-7 vote.
HB887 (Peace) requires the Board of Education to develop
model criteria and procedures for establishing a Governor’s Career and
Technical Education School. The bill was reported by the committee.
HB930 (Greason) was slightly amended by the patron and committee to
clarify the specific stakeholder groups that will be involved in the Standards
of Learning Innovation Committee, which will be led by the Secretary of
Education. The committee is tasked to make recommendations on the Standards of
Learning assessments, authentic individual student growth measures and
alignment between the Standards of Learning and assessments and the School
Performance Report Card. Additionally, the bill requires local school boards to
certify instruction and the completion of local assessments in the other
Standards of Learning subject areas. The bill also allows the Board of
Education to make future further reductions in the number of SOL assessments in
grades 3 through 11. VSBA
has worked extensively with Delegate Greason on this legislation and strongly
supports the bill.
HB1086 (D. Bell) provides
that when a student with a disability who lives in one school division enrolls
in a full time virtual program offered by another a school division, the school
division in which the student is enrolled must provide special education
services to the student. The bill was reported by the committee.
HB1115 (Greason) expands Virtual Virginia by authorizing DOE
to contract with local school boards that have developed virtual courses to
make those virtual courses available to other school boards through Virtual
Virginia. VSBA has been working with Delegate Greason on this legislation and
strongly supports the bill. The full committee unanimously reported HB1115.
HB1229 (Landes) was conformed to SB324 to delay
implementation of the A-F grading scale by three years. SB324 (Miller) has
passed the House floor which delays implementation by one year. Both bills will
go to conference to work on a compromise.
Unfortunately, the School Calendar “Labor Day” bills
were not placed on the docket for a hearing by the committee. Without an action on HB333,
HB610 and HB577, the bills will be left in committee indefinitely.
Thursday afternoon the Elementary and Secondary Education
subcommittee of House Appropriations met to act on the final bills assigned to
them. As expected, the majority of the bills were tabled due to the fiscal
impact.
SB388 (Barker) required the Board of Education to promulgate
regulations providing local school boards maximum flexibility to determine the
date for administering SOL assessments. The bill was tabled.
SB389 (Barker) directed the Board of Education to promulgate
regulations for eligibility of expedited retakes of SOL
assessments for each student regardless of grade level or course. The
bill was tabled.
SB291 (Carrico) imposed
certain evaluation requirements, including evaluation by a Teacher of the
Visually Impaired, for students with visual impairment. VSBA had
concerns about the fiscal impact this legislation would have on school
divisions. The bill was tabled due to those concerns.
SB305 (Deeds) required that the Board of Education promulgate
regulations to (1) increase the number of students and grade levels that are
eligible for expedited retakes and (2) allow students in grade 3 through
5 who score 390 to 399 on a SOL assessment to receive remediation and retake
the assessment. The bill was tabled.
SB144 (Edwards) required all revisions to SOL assessments be
finalized by December 31 of the school year prior to the school year in which
the revised assessment will be administered. Due to the same fiscal
impact concerns of HB365, the bill was tabled.
SB532 (Stuart) was conformed to HB134 (Cole) and reported
from the subcommittee since it doesn’t have any fiscal impact to school
divisions. The bill requires that a student with diabetes, with written
parental and prescriber consent, be allowed to carry and use supplies and
equipment for immediate treatment of their diabetes.
