Crossover Report

Today is the first day post-crossover, meaning that all bills have either passed their originating body or they failed to move forward. This session, VSBA has been working with over 300 bills that are directly or indirectly related to K-12 education. We have had a number of significant successes in defeating unfavorable legislation and in passing favorable legislation. Thank you to all of you who engaged in advocacy with the General Assembly. We greatly appreciate your help!

To assist you in your work, we have compiled a Crossover report which is divided into two sections, one for passed legislation and one for defeated legislation. As we move forward into the second half of session, we will be providing additional updates on these bills as they advance through the process. You can stay up-to-date on General Assembly's actions by visiting the VSBA Legislative Blog. Also, please keep an eye out for new VSBA Action Alerts. 

Thank you again for your continued support of VSBA. Your voice makes a difference in Richmond as legislators make decisions that impact your school division. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at emily@vsba.org.

Passed Legislation 

HJ1 (R. Bell) – the House version of the charter school constitutional amendment which would permit the Board of Education to authorize charter schools. The resolution narrowly passed the floor of the House on a 52-47 vote.

HB734 (Obenshain) – this is the Senate version of HB565 which rewrites the required elements of a charter school application and the charter contracting process. The bill does not restrict the Board of Education’s authority to authorize a charter school pursuant to the passage of the constitutional amendment. The bill passed the Senate on a 21-19 vote.

HB389 (LaRock) – Creates the Parental Choice Education Savings Account that allows a parent of students with disabilities to receive 90 percent of the SOQ per pupil state funds to use for education-related expenses of the student, including tuition, deposits, fees, transportation and required textbooks at a private, sectarian or nonsectarian elementary or secondary school or a public higher education institution. After much discussion in the education and appropriations committees, the bill passed the floor of the House on a 53-46 vote.

HB8 (D. Bell) – Establishes the Virginia Virtual School as a full-time virtual school program. Additionally, it requires that any student who enrolls full-time shall have the average state share of the Standards of Quality per pupil funding be transferred to the School. The bill passed the House on a 58-40 vote.

HB753 (Greason) – Makes local school boards responsible for setting their school calendar. The bill passed the House on a 76-22 vote.

HB571 (Robinson) – Makes local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar but requires local school boards that set the school calendar with a pre-Labor Day opening date, except those schools that were granted a "good cause" waiver for the 2015-2016 school year, to have a five-day weekend over Labor Day. The bill passed the House on a 76-21 vote.

HB518 (LeMunyon) – Requires the Board of the Education to select 12 schools that have been identified for comprehensive support and improvement under ESSA and require them to provide public school choice similar to previous sanctions under NCLB. The bill requires a study by the Department on the potential fiscal impacts and includes a reenactment clause. After much discussion and work on this legislation, the bill passed the House on a 57-42 vote.

HB131 (R. Bell) /SB612 (Garrett) – Prohibits Would force the VHSL to change its rules to permit home school students to participate in interscholastic activities.  The bill would allow each school board to decide whether it will permit home school students to participate and to charge reasonable fees to cover the cost of participation. As expected both bills passed their respective houses.

HB241 (Lingamfelter) /SB538 (Surovell) – Requires the Board of Education to consider alternative assessments for English Language Learners. Both bills unanimously passed their respective houses.

SB427 (Miller) – Requires that the Board of Education not include, for purposes of accreditation those students (up to 5 percent), who refuse to take SOL assessments. Currently, these students count against a school for purposes of accreditation. The bill unanimously passed the Senate floor.

SB368 (McDougle) – Allows the Board of Education to review the accreditation status of a school or division once every two or three years. It also states that:

•         Any school that receives a multiyear accreditation status other than full accreditation will be required to submit and adhere to a corrective action plan approved by the Board for the duration of the period of accreditation.
•      The Board of Education may require a division-level academic review if they determine through the individual school academic review process, or other division level action or inaction, that the failure is beyond the individual school thus requiring the local school board to submit a corrective action plan to meet full accreditation status.
•       If the Board determines that the proposed corrective action plan is not sufficient to enable all schools within the division to achieve full accreditation, the Board may return the plan to the local school board with directions to submit an amended plan pursuant to Board guidance.

The bill unanimously passed the Senate.

HB682 (Peace) – Allows a superintendent to apply to the Department of Education for an annual waiver of the teacher licensure requirements for an individual who is hired by the local school board to teach in the area of career and technical education. The individuals must have at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment experience. The bill unanimously passed the House.

HB279 (Byron) – Directs the Board of Education to establish a Virginia career and technical education adjunct faculty provisional license and a Virginia STEM adjunct faculty renewable license for qualified individuals to teach high school career and technical education courses on a part-time basis. The bill prescribes requirements for such licenses. The bill unanimously passed the House.

SB573 (Ruff) - Directs the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of temporary part-time teacher permits to qualified professionals with expertise and credentials in career and technical education areas who are recommended for the permit by employing school divisions. The bill unanimously passed the Senate.

HB895 (Greason) /SB336 (Miller) - Removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit. Additionally, it requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements to:

•  Develop and implement a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship;

• Emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and

• Establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing.

The House version of the bill requires the Board of Education to report on such graduation requirements to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than September 1, 2017. Both HB895 and SB336 passed their respective bodies.

HB168 (LaRock)/ SB120 (Carrico) – Allows a locality that has authorized the installation and operation of a video-monitoring system on school buses for recording violations of unlawfully passing a stopped school bus to execute a summons for these violations by mailing a copy of the summons to the owner of the vehicle. Current law requires that the summons be delivered by a law enforcement officer.

• SB120 includes an appeal process for those persons who disagree with the summons

Both HB168 and SB120 passed their respective houses.

SB364 (Chafin) – Allows the Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) to create a health insurance plan similar to the state employee plan for the participation of local school divisions in the state employee health plan. After a lot of work on this bill with various stakeholders, this compromise bill unanimously passed the Senate.

SB458 (McEachin) – Requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines for alternatives to short-term and long-term suspension for consideration by local school boards. Such alternatives may include positive behavior incentives, mediation, peer-to-peer counseling, community service, and other intervention alternatives. The bill passed the Senate on a 31-9 vote.

SB660 (Favola) – Prohibits a school board from appointing a hearing officer that is an employee of the school board or the spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or sibling of any member of the school board or school superintendent. VSBA worked with the patron to amend the bill. As amended VSBA does not have a position on the bill. The bill passed the Senate on a 38-2 vote.

HB942 (Wilt) – Requires local school boards to provide reasonable access to school property to any youth group listed as a patriotic and national organization in 36 U.S.C. Subtitle II, Part B to provide written materials and speak to students at times other than instructional time during the school day to encourage student participation. The bill passed the House on a 66-32 vote.

HB1234 (Lingamfelter) –  Authorizes a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties if he is a retired law-enforcement officer and the local school board grants him the authority to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties. The bill passed the House on a 66-33 vote.

HB516 (Landes) – Requires the Board of Education to establish a policy to require schools to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill unanimously passed the House.

Defeated Legislation

SJ6 (Obenshain) & SJ93 (Obenshain/Sutterlein) – the Senate version of the charter school constitutional amendment. Both resolutions failed to pass the floor of the Senate.

HB565 (Lingamfelter) - Rewrites the required elements of a charter school application and the charter contracting process. The bill does not restrict the Board of Education’s authority to authorize a charter school pursuant to the passage of the constitutional amendment. The bill was re-referred to the House Education committee where it will fail to crossover.

HB1132 (LaRock) - Eliminates the requirement that school principals report to law enforcement any conduct that may constitute a misdemeanor. The bill was left in the House Courts of Justice committee where it will fail to crossover. 

HB1134 (LaRock) – States that a student cannot be prosecuted for disorderly conduct for conduct that occurs on school property during regular school hours or on a school bus. The bill failed to be engrossed for its third reading and will not be moving forward.

HB1061 (Bagby) – Requires that all reasonable alternatives be considered before a student is expelled or referred to law enforcement. The bill was re-referred to the House Courts of Justice committee where it will fail to crossover.

HB864 (Hugo) – Permits a local school board to conduct a teacher grievance hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel. VSBA opposed the bill and it was left in the House Education committee.

HB697 (Kory) – Makes several changes to the teacher dismissal and grievance procedures. VSBA opposed the bill and it was left in the House Education committee.

HB187 (Taylor) - Requires the plans or blueprints for the construction of a new public school building include an indoor active shooter gunshot detection and alerting system. The bill failed to report from the House Education committee.

HB167 (Cole) – Permits local school boards to allow any school board employee who is a former law-enforcement officer and ceased or retired from serving in such capacity while in good standing to possess a firearm in (i) any public elementary or secondary school in the school division, including buildings and grounds; (ii) that portion of any property open to the public and then exclusively used for school-sponsored functions or extracurricular activities while such functions or activities are taking place; and (iii) any school bus owned or operated by the local school board. The bill failed to report from the House Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee.

HB166 (Cole) - Requires that a local school division provide instruction in Braille or the use of Braille to visually impaired students unless the IEP or 504 team, after an evaluation by a certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI), determines that it is not appropriate to meet the student’s educational needs. Due to the fiscal impact on local school divisions, the bill was tabled in the Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education subcommittee.

SB737 (Obenshain) – Prohibits school boards from granting employees paid leave or work time for the employees to work for or on behalf of a professional association, labor union, or labor organization. The bill failed to pass the Senate.