The 2018 session of the General Assembly opened yesterday!
Your VSBA lobbying team has been hard at work identifying legislation that
impacts school boards and meeting with legislators. We have identified more
than 150 bills that we are actively tracking. We will use this blog
throughout the session to keep you informed about the key legislation that may
impact local school boards.
Today the Senate Education Committee
met and reported two bills that are of interest to school boards
as they pertain to the teacher licensure process. SB76 (Sen. Barbara
Favola), would require the Board of Education to include four-year
undergraduate teacher education programs in its teacher licensure regulations
standards. VSBA supports this bill. The Committee also reported SB103 (Sen. David Suetterlein), which
would require the Board of Education to provide for teacher licensure by
reciprocity for a period of one year for any spouse of an active duty member of
the Armed Forces of the United States or the Commonwealth, provided that such
spouse has a currently valid and credentialed out-state teaching license. Individuals
with a satisfactory evaluation at the end of one year would be eligible for
renewal. VSBA supports this bill.
VSBA staff
also attended the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance
Education Subcommittee meetings where committee members were briefed on Governor
McAuliffe’s proposed budget for the 2018-2020 biennium. Materials presented and
discussed can be accessed here
and here.
In
other news, the House of Delegates unanimously voted to appoint Del. Kirk Cox
as Speaker of the House. House Committee membership was also decided and can be
reviewed here
along with their regular meeting times. Committees will begin assigning subcommittee
membership in the coming days.
