Yesterday, VSBA staff attended the meeting of House Education Committee. Bills of interest to VSBA included:
SB 391 (Spruill) - This bill would eliminate the cap on the annual salary that the school board of the City of Norfolk may pay its appointed members. Beginning July 1, 2018, all members of the school board of City of Norfolk will be elected members. Salaries of elected school board members are subject to the same limitations as members of local governing bodies. VSBA spoke in support of this bill. The Committee reported the bill unanimously (19-0).
SB 557 (Hanger) - This bill would would require any new school bus operator applicant who does not possess an commercial driver's license to receive (i) a minimum of 24 hours of classroom training and (ii) six hours of behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil passengers and requires certain school bus operator applicants who possess a commercial driver's license to receive (a) a minimum of four hours of classroom training and (b) three hours of behind-the-wheel training on a school bus that contains no pupil passengers. Current law leaves the setting of such hourly requirements to the Department of Education. VSBA spoke in support of this bill. The Committee reported the bill unanimously (19-0).
SB 960 (Suetterlein) - This bill would permit each local school board to (i) establish High School to Work Partnerships (Partnerships) between public high schools and local businesses to create opportunities for high school students to (a) participate in an apprenticeship, internship, or job shadow program in a variety of trades and skilled labor positions or (b) tour local businesses and meet with owners and employees or (ii) delegate the authority to establish Partnerships to the local school division's career and technical education administrator or his designee, in collaboration with the guidance counselor office of each public high school in the school division. The bill would require such local school boards to educate high school students about opportunities available through such Partnerships. The bill would also require the Board of Education, the Department of Labor and Industry, and the State Board for Community Colleges to identify Partnerships that may be eligible for exemptions from certain federal and state labor laws and regulations and establish procedures by which such exemptions may be obtained for such Partnerships. The Committee reported the bill unanimously (19-0).
Today, VSBA staff attended the morning meeting of Senate Committee on Education and Health. There were numerous bills of interest to VSBA discussed:
HB 1 (Wilt) - This bill would clarify that student
directory information may be publicly released by school personnel if the
school has given notice to the parent, legal guardian, or eligible student of
(i) the types of information that the school has designated as directory
information; (ii) the right of the parent, legal guardian, or eligible student
to refuse the designation of any or all of the types of information about the
student as directory information; and (iii) the period of time within which a
parent, legal guardian, or eligible student must notify the school in writing
that he does not want any or all of the types of information about the student
designated as directory information. The bill would also provides, however, that
except as provided otherwise by federal law or regulation, a school shall not
release the address, phone number, or email address of a student unless the
parent, legal guardian, or eligible student has affirmatively consented in
writing to the designation of any or all of such information as directory
information. VSBA opposed the bill as written and sent an action alert to our membership on the bill. The committee voted (15-0) to conform the bill to SB 512 (Suetterlein). VSBA strongly prefers the language of SB512, which specifically provides that student phone numbers and email addresses may be withheld pursuant to FOIA.
HB 81 (Krizek) - Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, upon
the request of a school board, to grant such school board up to an additional
180 days to appoint a new division superintendent. VSBA supports this bill. The
committee reported the bill (15-0).
HB 399 (Keam) – This bill would require each school board to implement a
plan to notify students and their parents of the availability of internships,
externships, apprenticeships, credentialing programs, certification programs,
licensure programs, and other work-based learning experiences. The committee reported
the bill (15-0).
HB 442 (Carroll Foy) - This bill would require the Department of Education to develop, maintain,
and make available to each local school board a catalogue of the testing
accommodations available to English language learners for each certification,
examination, assessment, and battery that satisfies the career and technical
education credential graduation requirement. The bill would requires each local
school board to develop and implement policies to require each high school
principal or his designee to notify each English language learner of the
availability of such testing accommodations prior to the student's
participation in any such certification, examination, assessment, or battery.
The bill would have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019. The committee reported the
bill (15-0).
HB 507 (Mullin)
– This bill would provide
that (i) the instructional programs for students with limited English
proficiency implemented by each local school board may include dual language
programs whereby such students receive instruction in English and in a second
language and (ii) the additional full-time equivalent instructional positions
for students identified as having limited English proficiency that are funded
pursuant to the general appropriation act may include dual language teachers
who provide instruction in English and in a second language. VSBA supports this
bill. The committee reported and referred to Senate Finance (11-4).
HB 779 (Heretick)
– This bill would eliminate the cap on the
annual salary that the school board of the City of Norfolk may pay its
appointed members. Beginning July 1, 2018, all members of such school board
will be elected members. VSBA supports this bill. The committee reported
the bill (15-0).
HB 809 (O'Quinn) - This bill would permit local school boards to display commercial
advertising material on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and
the rear of the bus, provided that no such material (i) obstructs the name of
the school division or the number of the school bus, (ii) is sexually explicit,
or (iii) pertains to alcohol; food or beverages that do not meet the nutrition
standards developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to the
federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 or any additional state or local
nutrition standards for food or beverages sold to students in school; gambling;
politics; or tobacco. The committee voted to carry the bill over to 2019 (11-4).
HB 1020 (Adams, L.R.) - Makes local school boards responsible
for setting the school calendar and determining the opening day of the school
year and eliminates the post-Labor Day opening requirement and "good
cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education may grant waivers of
this requirement. VSBA supports this bill. The committee voted to roll the bill
into HB 372 (15-0).
HB 1114 (VanValkenburg) – This bill would provide that the
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, the Department of
Health Professions, the Board of Accountancy, and the Board of Education shall
not be authorized to suspend or revoke the license, certificate, registration,
permit, or authority it has issued any person who is in default or delinquent
in the payment of a federal-guaranteed or state-guaranteed educational loan or
work-conditional scholarship solely on the basis of such default or
delinquency. The committee reported the bill (15-0).
HB 1265 (Cline) – This bill would require each
education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher
education or private institution of higher education that leads to a degree,
concentration, or certificate for reading specialists to include coursework or
other training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions,
accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related
disorder. The committee reported the bill with a substitute (15-0).
In the afternoon, VSBA attended Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Public Education. Bills of interest to VSBA included:
HB 45 (Filler-Corn) – This bill would
require any family life education
curriculum offered in any elementary school, middle school, or high school to
incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs
on the importance of the personal privacy and personal boundaries of other
individuals and tools for a student to use to ensure that he respects the
personal privacy and personal boundaries of other individuals. The subcommittee
recommended the bill for reporting (3-0).
HB 80 (Krizek) -This bill would require the Board of Education, in its regulations providing
for teacher licensure by reciprocity, to permit applicants to submit
third-party employment verification forms. VSBA supports this bill. The
subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (3-0).
HB 215 (Knight) – This bill would declare
eligible for a renewable one-year license to teach in public high schools in
the Commonwealth any individual who has (i) received a graduate degree from a
regionally accredited institution of higher education; (ii) completed at least
30 credit hours of teaching experience as an instructor at a regionally accredited
institution of higher education; and (iii) received qualifying scores on the
professional teacher's assessments prescribed by the Board, including the
communication and literacy assessment and the content-area assessment for the
endorsement sought and (iv) completed certain other licensure requirements.
VSBA spoke in support of this bill. The subcommittee recommended the bill for
reporting (3-0).
HB 231 (Hope) – This bill would clarify
that in a county with the county manager plan of government (Arlington County),
the county may have an elected school board notwithstanding the default method
of school board appointment as set out in the Code. The subcommittee
recommended the bill for reporting (3-0).
HB 1085 (Yancey) – This bill would require
any local school board of a school division in which a military installation or
other military housing is located to establish and implement policies to
provide for the enrollment to any school of any military student residing on a
military installation or in military housing within the school division, upon
the request of his parent. The bill would permit such policies to include
certain conditions. The bill would require a copy of such policies to be posted
on the division's website and to be available to the public upon request. The subcommittee
recommended the bill for reporting (3-0).
HB 1156 (Wilt) – This bill would require
the Board of Education, in its regulations governing licensure, to provide for
licensure of teachers with an endorsement in dual language instruction
pre-kindergarten through grade six. The bill would define "dual language
instruction" as instruction in English and in a second language. The bill would
require the Board, in establishing the requirements for such endorsement, to
require, at minimum, coursework in dual language education; bilingual literacy
development; methods of second language acquisition; theories of second
language acquisition; instructional strategies for classroom management for the
elementary classroom; and content-based curriculum, instruction, and
assessment. The bill would provide that (i) each teacher with such an
endorsement is exempt from the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment
requirement but is subject to the subject matter-specific professional
teacher's assessment requirements and (ii) no teacher with such an endorsement
is required to obtain an additional endorsement in early/primary education
pre-kindergarten through grade three or elementary education pre-kindergarten
through grade six in order to teach in pre-kindergarten through grade six. VSBA
spoke in support this bill. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting
(3-0).
HB 1600 (Bourne) – VSBA worked with the patron and other stakeholders to modify language of the bill. There was an amendment in the form of a substitute. The substitute would reduce the maximum length of a long-term
suspension from 364 calendar days to 45 school days. The bill would permit a
long-term suspension to extend beyond a 45-school-day period if (i) the offense involves firearms or drugs or serious bodily injury or (ii) or if the school board or
division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating circumstances
exist, as defined DOE. The substitute also states that the definition of aggravating circumstances must include a consideration of the student's disciplinary record. The
subcommittee recommended the substitute for reporting (3-0).
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