Early this morning the House Education Reform subcommittee met to take up
a number of bills related to A-F school grading and alternative assessments.
Below is a summary of their actions.
HB1672
(Greason) was reported from the subcommittee. This legislation repeals the A-F
school grading system and requires the Board of Education, in consultation with
the SOL Innovation Committee, to redesign the School Performance Report Card so
that it is more effective in communicating to parents and the public the status
and achievements of the public schools and local school divisions. HB1313,
HB1566, and HB2180 were all tabled in lieu of HB1672 which will be the vehicle
used for A-F school grading moving forward.
HB1675
(Greason) was reported from subcommittee with amendments. The new bill
incorporates components of HB1491, HB1592 and HB1684. The bill requires the
Board of Education, in establishing course and credit requirements for a high
school diploma, to allow local school divisions to waive 1) the requirement for
students to receive 140 clock hours of instruction to earn a standard credit or
2) the requirement for students to achieve a satisfactory score on a SOL
assessment test to earn a verified credit upon providing the Board with
satisfactory score on a locally developed alternative assess or on an Advanced
Placement or International Baccalaureate
examination.
HB2238
(LaRock) which creates Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts reported from
subcommittee on a 3-2 vote. This bill will allow parents of qualified students to
apply to the Department of Education for the Savings Account to consist of the
student’s state per pupil funding and certain special education funds. Those
funds may be used for certain expenses of the student including tuition, fees,
or required textbooks at a private school, preschool, or program of home
instruction, educational therapies or services, tutoring services, curriculum,
tuition or fees for a private online learning program, fees for a nationally
standardized norm-references achievement test, contributions to a qualified
tuition program, or tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a public two-year
or four-year higher education institution or an accredited private higher
education institution in the Commonwealth. A qualified student means a resident
of the Commonwealth and who:
- Has a 504 or IEP plan;
- Has a parent who is a member of the armed forces of the United States;
- Lives in a permanent foster care placement; or
- Was accepted for placement for foster care and was adopted.
HB2318
(Orrock) reported with an amendment 6-1. This bill would require the Board of
Education’s formula for assessing high school graduation rates, as used for the
Standards of Accreditation, to exclude from rates of on-time graduates each
student who fails to graduate on time based on circumstances that are outside
of the control of the local board in extenuating circumstances.
HB1448
(McQuinn) and HB2005
(Torian) were stricken from the docket in subcommittee at the request of the
patrons.
All of the bills that reported from the House Education Reform
subcommittee are on the full House Education committee docket for tomorrow
morning. More updates to come!
