Today, VSBA staff attended the full meeting of Senate Education and Health. Numerous bills of interest to the Association were discussed:
HB 3 (Landes)
– This
bill would require the
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council), in consultation
with the Department of Education and each public institution of higher
education, to establish (i) quality standards for dual enrollment courses,
including quality standards for course instructors, materials, and content;
(ii) a process by which dual enrollment courses that meet or exceed such quality
standards are certified as universal transfer courses that satisfy course
credit or other academic requirements at any public institution of higher
education; and (iii) a policy for the satisfaction of course credit or other
academic requirements through the successful completion of universal transfer
courses by entering students that (a) identifies the course credit or other
academic requirements of each public institution of higher education that the
student satisfies by successfully completing a universal transfer course and
(b) ensures, to the extent possible, that the satisfaction of course credit or
other academic requirements is consistent across each public institution of
higher education and each such universal transfer course. The provisions of the
bill would replace existing provisions that require the Council and each public
institution of higher education to establish policies relating to course credit
for dual enrollment courses but that do not provide for quality standards or
the universal transfer designation for such courses. VSBA supports this biThe committee conformed
bill to HB 919 (Jones).
The committee reported the bill 15-0.
HB 167 (Miyares)
– This bill would require
the Board of Education to establish criteria for awarding a diploma seal for
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the Board of
Education-approved diplomas. Under current law, such diploma seal is limited in
scope to technology and advanced mathematics. The committee reported the bill (13-0).
HB 329 (Yancey) – This bill would require the Board of Education, in establishing
high school graduation requirements, to permit students to exceed a full course
load in order to participate in courses offered by an institution of higher
education that lead to a degree, certificate, or credential at such
institution. VSBA supports this bill. The committee reported the bill (12-0).
HB 443 (Carroll Foy) – This
bill would require the Board of Education, in establishing high school
graduation requirements, to (i) provide for the substitution of computer coding
course credit for any foreign language course credit required to graduate with
a standard or advanced diploma for children with disabilities and (ii) permit
any English language learner who previously earned a sufficient score on an
Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate foreign language examination
to substitute computer coding course credit for any foreign language course
credit required to graduate, except in cases in which such foreign language
course credit is required to earn an advanced diploma offered by a nationally
recognized provider of college-level courses. The committee reported the bill
(13-0).
HB 632 (Bulova) – This bill would require the Board of
Education (Board) to (i) establish content standards and curriculum guidelines
for courses in career investigation; (ii) develop, in consultation with certain
stakeholders, resource materials that are designed to ensure that students have
the ability to further explore interest in career and technical education
opportunities in middle and high school; and (iii) disseminate such career
investigation resource materials to each school board. The bill directs each
school board to require each middle school student to take at least one course
or alternative program of instruction in career investigation. The committee
reported the bill (14-0).
HB 803 (O'Quinn) – This
bill would extend eligibility to participate in programs of preparation
and instruction to take a high school equivalency examination approved by the
Board of Education to individuals who are at least 16 years of age. Under
current law, such programs are available only to adults who did not complete
high school, students who have been granted permission by their division
superintendent, and those who have been ordered by a court to participate in
the program. The committee reported the bill (14-0).
HB 829 (Bagby) – This
bill would clarify that each parent of a school-age child in the
Commonwealth is required to cause his child to attend school. Current law
requires each such parent to send his child to school. The committee reported
the bill (14-0).
HB 1044 (Torian) – This
bill would require each school board to adopt policies to (i) prohibit
abusive work environments in the school division, (ii) provide for the
appropriate discipline of any school board employee who contributes to an
abusive work environment, and (iii) prohibit retaliation or reprisal against a
school board employee who alleges an abusive work environment or assists in the
investigation of an allegation of an abusive work environment. The bill would define
an abusive work environment as one in which a school board employee engages in
conduct in the workplace that a reasonable person would find hostile and that
is severe enough to cause physical harm or psychological harm to another school
board employee. The bill was amended in subcommittee to remove certain
restrictive language to school boards. The committee reported the bill (14-1).
HB 1125 (Landes) – This
bill would make several changes to the teacher licensure process,
including (i) permitting teachers with a valid out-of-state license, with full
credentials and without deficiencies, to receive licensure by reciprocity
without passing additional licensing assessments and (ii) specifying that for
the purpose of Board of Education regulations for the approval of teacher
education programs, the term "education preparation program" includes
four-year bachelor's degree programs in teacher education. VSBA supports the
bill. The committee reported the bill with a financial clause 15-0.
HB 1320 (Habeeb) – This
bill would require the Department of Education to develop and distribute
to each local school division a resource guide on the local development and
implementation of performance assessments that includes (i) detailed
recommendations for methods of ensuring (a) the quality, validity, and
reliability of such assessments, such as assurances, sampling, and auditing,
and (b) the alignment of such assessments with the desired student outcomes of
critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and
citizenship and (ii) a collection of division-level performance assessment
exemplars. VSBA supports the bill. The committee carried the bill over to 2019.
HB 1370 (Pogge) – This
bill would clarify that a parent who provides home instruction through a
program of study or curriculum is required to provide his child with such
program of study or curriculum to satisfy the requirements for the home
instruction of such child. The committee reported the bill (15-0).
HB 1530 (Davis) – This
bill would require the Board of Education to make recommendations
to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the
Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2018,
relating to (i) strategies for eliminating any stigma associated with high
school career and technical education pathways and the choice of high school
students to pursue coursework and other educational opportunities in career and
technical education and related fields such as computer science and robotics
and (ii) the consolidation of the standard and advanced diplomas into a single
diploma and the creation of multiple endorsements for such diploma to recognize
student competencies and achievements in specific subject matter areas. The
committee reported the bill (15-0).x
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