The House Education Subcommittee # 2 met early this morning and considered the following bills of interest:
HB 2123 (Carroll Foy) would permit each local school board to enter into College and Career Access Pathways Partnerships (Partnerships), currently referred to as agreements, with comprehensive community colleges or other public institutions of higher education or educational institutions that offer a career and technical education curriculum. The bill requires any such Partnership to (i) specify the options for students to take courses as part of the career and technical education curriculum that lead to course credit or an industry-recognized credential, certification, or license concurrent with a high school diploma, (ii) specify the credit, credentials, certifications, or licenses available for such courses, and (iii) permit students to participate in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs at comprehensive community colleges concurrent with a high school diploma and receive college credit and high school credit for successful completion of any such program. Current law allows local school boards to enter into agreements with such institutions but does not specify course credit as being part of the agreements. The bill was recommended to be reported and referred to Appropriations on a vote of 8-0.
HB 2589 (Tran) was amended in subcommittee to require the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure (ABTEL) to make recommendations for licensure of for teachers of CTE and dual enrollment courses. The subcommittee voted to recommend the bill be reported and referred to Appropriations.
The House Education Committee also met this morning and considered the following bills of interest.
HB 1807 (Bell, R.P.) provides that certain cost-savings agreements between school divisions will remain in effect until terminated by the school divisions. Under current law, such agreements are valid for a period of 15 years. The patron explained that the bill will impact Highland and Augusta Counties and Rappahannock and Madison Counties, which have cost-savings agreements which will expire absent this legislation. The Committee reported and referred the bill to Appropriations on a vote of 20-0.
HB 2222 (O'Quinn) 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 bill was amended in Committee to also allow school division advertising material. The Committee reported the bill 17-2.
HB 1908 (VanValkenburg) would direct 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 bill failed on a vote of 10-10.
HB 1930 (Bell, R.P.) was amended and, as amended, would require (i) the Board of Education to collaborate with various stakeholders to biennially update its guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches, student-athletes, and student-athletes' parents or guardians of the nature and risk of concussions, criteria for removal from and return to play, risks of not reporting the injury and continuing to play, and the effects of concussions on student-athletes' academic performance and (ii) each local school division to biennially update its policies and procedures regarding the identification and handling of suspected concussions in student-athletes. The Committee voted to report the bill on a vote of 20-0.
HB 1877 (Convirs-Fowler) was amended in subcommittee to require school divisions to offer high school equivalency programs on a year-round basis. The bill failed on a vote of 9-11.
HB 1693 (Rodman) as originally filed would have require any high school family life education curriculum offered by a local school division to include, at least four times during grades 11 and 12, instruction for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities on a variety of topics, including social skills, self-esteem, sexuality, and rights and responsibilities. A substitute was adopted in subcommittee that would require VDOE to establish guidelines for developmentally- and age-appropriate instruction related to sexual health, self-restraint, self-protection, respect for personal privacy, and personal boundaries of others for IEP teams to utilize when developing IEPs. The substitute would also require IEP teams to consider such guidelines when developing IEPs for students with disabilities. The Committee reported the bill on a vote of 13-7.
HB 1619 (Thomas) would expand eligibility for services under the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private school special education program to a public school special education program established and funded jointly by a local governing body and school division located within Planning District 16 for the purpose of providing special education and related services when (i) the public school special education program is able to provide services comparable to those of an approved private school special education program and (ii) the student would require placement in an approved private school special education program but for the availability of the public school special education program. The Committee reported and referred the bill to Appropriations on a vote of 19-1.
HB 1710 (Krizek) would require the Board of Education to make regulations to require each new public school bus purchased for the transportation of students to be equipped with a seat belt consisting of a lap belt and shoulder strap or harness in every seat. The bill requires each school board to ensure that no later than July 1, 2037, each school bus that it uses for the transportation of students is equipped with a seat belt in every seat. The Committee voted to report and refer the bill Appropriations on a vote of 13-8.
HB 1724 (Krizek) would establish the Grow Your Own Teacher Pilot Programs Fund and permits the Department of Education to award grants from such fund to local school boards to establish Grow Your Own Teacher Pilot Programs whereby the local school board provides scholarships not to exceed $7,500 per academic year for attendance at a baccalaureate institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to any individual who (i) graduated from a public high school in the local school division, (ii) was eligible for free or reduced price lunch throughout the individual's attendance at a public high school in the local school division, and (iii) commits to teach, within three years of graduating from the baccalaureate institution of higher education in the Commonwealth and for a period of at least four years, at a public high school at which at least 50 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch in the school division in which such individual graduated from high school. The bill provides that in the event that any program scholarship recipient fails or refuses to comply with such teaching obligation, the sum of all scholarship funds received by such individual shall be converted to a loan that is subject to repayment with interest. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2024. The bill was amended in subcommittee to apply only to Longwood University. The Committee voted to report and refer the bill Appropriations on a vote of 18-3.
HB 1623 (Cole) would permit any student whose parent has received orders to relocate to a duty station in the Commonwealth to register for courses and other academic programs and participate in the lottery process for charter schools and college partnership laboratory schools in the school division in which such student will reside at the same time and in the same manner as students who reside in the local school division. The bill requires each such student to provide to the school board proof of residency in the local school division no later than 10 days after his parent establishes such residency. The Committee voted to report and refer the bill to Appropriations on a vote of 20-0.
HB 1788 (Ransone) would require the Public School Records Consortium and the Records Oversight Committee to confer with school boards and division superintendents and submit to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2019, recommendations on ways in which school boards and school board employees can better promote efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the implementation of the Virginia Public Records Act. The Committee voted to report the bill on a vote of 22-0.
