SB 751
(Sturtevant) - This bill would require every locality with a
population greater than 25,000 and each school division with greater than 5,000
students to post quarterly on the public government website of such locality or
school division a register of all funds expended, showing vendor name, date of
payment, amount, and a description of the type of expense, including credit
card purchases with the same information. The bill would allow any locality or
school division to exclude from such posting any information that is exempt
from mandatory disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any
personal identifying information related to a court-ordered payment, and any
information related to undercover law-enforcement officers. The bill would have
a delayed effective date of July 1, 2019. VSBA spoke in opposition to
this bill. The subcommittee failed to recommend the bill for reporting due to the lack of
a second on the motion.
Following this meeting, VSBA staff attended the meeting of the full House Education Committee. Bills of interest under consideration were:
SB 103
(Suetterlein) – This bill 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 obtained a valid out-of-state
license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at
the time the application for such a one-year reciprocal license is received by
the Department of Education. The bill would provide that any such individual
who receives a satisfactory evaluation at the conclusion of the year of
employment under such one-year reciprocal license is eligible for a renewable
license. VSBA supports this bill. The committee reported the bill with a substitute
(conforming language to HB 2) (21-0).
SB 775
(Locke) – This bill
would prohibit the child of a person on active military duty who is attending
school for free from being charged tuition upon such child's relocation
pursuant to orders his parent received to relocate to a new duty station or to
be deployed. The bill would allow the child to remain enrolled in the current
school division free of tuition through the end of the school year. The bill would
also prohibit the child of a person on active military duty who is eligible to
attend a school for free from being charged tuition by a school division that
will be that child's school division of residence upon such child's service
member parent's relocation to the jurisdiction for that school division
pursuant to orders received. The committee reported and referred the
bill to House Appropriations (20-1).
SB 786
(Surovell) – This bill would prohibit any
student who resides in Planning District 8 and is eligible for free or reduced
price meals in the federally funded lunch program from being charged
fees for enrolling in any online course or virtual program that is required or
is offered by the school division in which he resides and requires such enrolled
students to be provided, free of charge, a computer or other electronic
device necessary to take the course or program. VSBA opposes the bill. The committee failed to adopt amended language from the subcommittee expanding the impact of the bill statewide. The
committee also failed to pass the bill by indefinitely (11-11). The committee ultimately reported and referred the bill as amended
to House Appropriations (14-8).
SB 840
(Favola) – This bill would require each
local school board to adopt policies that (i) prohibit school board employees from requiring a
student who cannot pay for a meal at school or who owes a school meal debt to
do chores or other work to pay for such meals or wear a wristband or hand stamp; and (ii) require school board
employees to direct any communication relating to a school meal debt to the
student's parent, which may be made by a letter addressed to the parent to be
sent home with the student. The committee reported the bill (22-0).
SB
961 (Mason) – This bill would align
provisions regarding when a homeless child or youth is deemed to reside in a
school division with Subtitle VII-B of the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 11431 et seq.) and updates references
to such act. The committee reported the bill (22-0).
SB 841
(Favola) – This bill would make several
changes to the procedures relating to interventions when a pupil fails to
report to school for a total of five scheduled school days for the school year,
no indication has been received by school personnel that the pupil's parent is
aware of and supports the pupil's absence, and a reasonable effort to notify
the parent has failed, including (i) removing the appointed attendance officer
as a party to the plan to resolve such nonattendance, (ii) permitting but not
requiring the attendance officer to participate in the conference necessitated
by additional absences subsequent to the development of the plan, and (iii)
permitting but not requiring the attendance officer to file a complaint with
the juvenile and domestic relations court alleging the pupil is a child in need
of supervision or to institute criminal proceedings against the parent pursuant
to relevant law. Under current law, the attendance officer is required to
participate in such conference and is also required to file such complaint and
institute such proceedings in cases in which the pupil is absent for an
additional school day without indication that the pupil's parent is aware of
and supports the pupil's absence. The committee reported the bill
(17-5).
After the conclusion of the full committee, VSBA attended House Education Subcommittee #2. Bills of interest to the Association discussed included:
SB 126
(Cosgrove) – This bill would permit
any school division outside of Planning District 8, at the discretion of
the local school board, to administer a parent/student driver
education component as part of the driver education curriculum. Under both
current law and the bill, such component is a requirement in Planning
District 8 (Northern Virginia). The bill would allow for school divisions to
administer such component in-person or online.The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill (9-0).
SB 169
(Stanley) – This bill would effectively require VHSL to establish, by
July 1, 2021, a varsity level robotics team competition program that includes
state championships. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).
SB 229
(Hanger) – This bill would require the Board
of Education to establish a training program for school board employees
who assist in the transportation of students on school buses, including
individuals employed to operate school buses and school bus aides, on autism
spectrum disorders, including the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders,
strategies for interacting with students with autism spectrum disorders, and
collaboration with other employees who assist in the transportation of students
on school buses. The bill would require each school board employee who assists
in the transportation of students with autism spectrum disorders on school
buses to participate in such training program. VSBA spoke on the bill and thanked the patron for modifying the language to address implementation concerns. The subcommittee recommended reporting and referring the bill to House Appropriations (10-0).
SB 273
(Petersen) – This bill would authorize local
school boards to include and requires the Board of Education to accept, for elementary
school, unstructured recreational time that is designed to develop teamwork,
social skills, and overall physical fitness in any calculation of total
instructional time or teaching hours. The committee amended the bill in the nature of substitute to conform to HB 1419 (Delaney). The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill as amended (10-0).
SB 401
(Lewis) – This bill would direct the
Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Education to update
the "Window into a Green Virginia" curriculum developed by the
Departments for sixth grade science to include a unit on the benefits,
including the energy benefits, of recycling and reuse. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).
SB 664 (McPike)
– This bill would require the Board of
Education, in its graduation requirements, to permit local school divisions to
waive the requirement for students to receive 140 clock hours of instruction
after the student has completed the course curriculum and relevant Standards of
Learning end-of-course assessment, or Board-approved substitute, provided that
such student subsequently receives instruction, coursework, or study toward an
industry certification approved by the local school board. VSBA supports this bill. The subcommittee recommended the bill for reporting (9-0).
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