Thursday, January 30, 2020

House Education Committee January 29, 2020


HB410 (Delaney)  The bill was amended in subcommittee to require each local school to adopt a policy to require written notification to parents when a student undergoes literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services and when the student does not meet the benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners.  The notice must include the scores and subscores and any intervention plan.  The substitute was reported 17-0.
HB916 (Sickles) This bill was amended in subcommittee to require the establishment of a Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education Practices Advisory Committee which will provide recommendations to the Board of Education regarding the Holocaust, slavery, anti-Semitism, and other subjects.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 13-4.
HB975 (Guzman) The bill was amended in subcommittee to amend the ratio of instructional personnel to limited English proficient students from 17 per 1000 students to 20 per 1000 students.  The substitute was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 13-4.
HB1316 (Aird) Makes several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv) requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v) lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi) requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 14-3.
HB1508 (McQuinn) Requires school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: (i) effective with the 2020-2021 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one hour per day additional time per 60 students or major fraction thereof; in middle and high schools, one period per 55 students, one full-time at 275 students, one additional period per 55 students or major fraction thereof and (ii) effective with the 2021-2022 school year, in elementary, middle, and high schools, one hour per day per 50 students, one full-time at 250 students, one additional hour per day per 50 students or major fraction thereof. Under current law, school boards are required to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 17-0.
HB257 (Mullin) Eliminates the requirement that school principals report certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense to law enforcement.  The bill was amended in subcommittee.  The bill was reported 16-2.
HB271 (VanValkenburg) Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in coordination with the Department of Education and the Department of Juvenile Justice, to annually collect, report, and publish data related to incidents involving students and school resource officers or school security officers. The bill also requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to analyze and disseminate submitted data.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to remove school security officers.  The bill was reported 17-1.
HB273 (VanValkenburg) Requires each local school board to ensure that each elementary school teacher has an average of one 45-minute period per school day of planning time and that each middle and high school teacher is provided one planning period per school day or the equivalent, which shall be at least 45 minutes or one class period, whichever is longer. The bill permits local school boards and teachers to enter into an appropriate contractual arrangement providing for compensation in lieu of such planning time or period. Under current law, public elementary school teachers are guaranteed at least an average of 30 minutes of planning time per school day during a school week.  The bill was reported 15-1.
HB292 (VanValkenburg) Shortens from every five years to every two years the frequency of the review period for memorandums of understanding between school boards and local law-enforcement agencies. The bill also requires local school boards to conspicuously publish the current division memorandum of understanding on its division website and provide notice and opportunity for public input during each memorandum of understanding review period.  The bill was reported 13-2.
HB308 (Hope) Requires the Department of Education to establish and distribute to each school board no later than August 1, 2020, guidelines for the granting of excused absences to students who are absent from school due to mental or behavioral health and requires any student who is absent from school due to his mental or behavioral health to be granted an excused absence, subject to such guidelines.  The bill was reported 9-3.
HB365 (Carroll Foy)  Removes (i) the option for local school boards to extend the three-year probationary term of service for teachers by up to two additional years and (ii) the prohibition against school boards reemploying any teacher whose performance evaluation during the probationary term of service is unsatisfactory.  The bill was reported 10-3.
HB368 (Carroll Foy) Specifies, for the purpose of several provisions of law relating to the public school enrollment of children placed in foster care, that a child or student placed in foster care includes a pupil who was in foster care when he reached age 18 but such pupil has not yet reached age 22.  A substitute was adopted by the subcommittee.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 13-0.
HB376 (Willett) Requires (i) each school board to report to the Department of Education annually the number and type of teacher and support staff vacancies in the school division and (ii) each education preparation program to report to the Department of Education annually the number of individuals who graduated from the program during the current calendar year, by endorsement area. The bill requires the Department of Education to (a) establish deadlines for and the format of the reporting of such data and (b) aggregate and report such data annually on the Department's website.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 10-3.
HB392 (Ward) Prohibits each school board from employing or accepting the volunteer service of any individual who has been convicted of a violent felony set forth in subsection C of § 17.1-805 of the Code of Virginia or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child. The bill permits each school board to employ or accept the volunteer service of any individual who has been convicted of any felony or crime of moral turpitude that is not set forth in subsection C of § 17.1-805 of the Code of Virginia and does not involve the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child, provided that in the case of a felony conviction, such individual has had his civil rights restored by the Governor. The bill contains parallel provisions for contractors and their employees who have direct contact with students on school property during regular school hours or during school-sponsored activities. Current law provides that any felony conviction is a bar to employment and contract work in public schools.  The bill was amended in subcommittee remove all references to volunteers and to update the list of barrier crimes to refer to Va. Code § 19.2-392.02.  The bill was reported 10-2.
HB405 (Keam) Requires each school board to make tampons and pads available at all times and at no cost to students in the bathrooms of each facility that it owns, leases, or otherwise controls that houses a public school at which any student in grades five through 12 is enrolled.  The bill was reported 8-5.
HB415 (Delaney) Requires school boards to adopt policies and procedures to ensure suspended students are able to access and complete graded work during the suspension.  The bill was reported 13-1.
HB501 (Krizek) Permits each school board to designate another entity or individual to participate on its behalf in the annual review of its written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan.  The bill was reported 14-0.
HB570 (Guzman)  Removes receipt of one or more unsatisfactory performance evaluations from the list of factors that "incompetency" may be construed to include for the purpose of establishing grounds for the dismissal of public school teachers.  The bill was amended to eliminate the definition of incompetency from the Code.  The bill was reported 9-6.
HB797 (Askew) Requires each local school board to submit its plan to test and remediate certain potable water sources and report the results of any such test to the Department of Health. The bill also requires local school boards to take all necessary steps to notify parents if testing results indicate lead contamination that exceeds the maximum contaminant level goals set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to require parental notification if lead contamination exceeds 10 parts per billion.  The bill was reported 15-0.
HB836 (Carroll Foy) Requires the Department of Education to develop and adopt standards for microcredentials earned by public school teachers in the Commonwealth, including microcredentials used toward add-on endorsements, initial licensure, renewal of licensure, and professional development points in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, that align with nationally-accepted standards for microcredentials, such as those utilized by the nonprofit organization Digital Promise. Such standards shall include (i) educator microcredentials focused on discrete competencies based upon relevant, peer-reviewed research in the specific domain or discipline; (ii) educator microcredentials that rely upon demonstrable evidence from the submission of artifacts, such as student projects and teacher lesson plans, that are then objectively scored against existing rubrics; and (iii) educator microcredentials that focus on interrelated competencies leading to logical teacher professional development pathways and stacks of educator microcredentials. The bill requires any entity that issues microcredentials to public school teachers in the Commonwealth to comply with such standards.  A substitute was adopted by the subcommittee.  The bill was reported with substitute 17-0.
HB1081 (Guzman) Provides that an attendance officer, or a division superintendent or his designee when acting as an attendance officer, may complete, sign, and file a petition for a violation of a school attendance order in response to the filing of a petition alleging the pupil is a child in need of supervision with the intake officer of the juvenile and domestic relations district court on a form approved by the Virginia Supreme Court.  The bill was reported 15-0.
HB1174 (Lopez) Requires each local school board to adopt and implement policies for the possession and administration of undesignated stock albuterol inhalers in every school in the local school division, to be administered by any school nurse, employee of the school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers for any student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication. The bill limits the liability of (i) any such individual who provides, administers, or assists in the administration of an albuterol inhaler for a student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication and (ii) the prescriber of such medication.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to be permissive.  The bill was reported 13-0.
HB1177 (Poindexter) Requires each school board to establish a policy to prohibit any teacher in the school division from assigning to any student a homework assignment that requires the use of an Internet connection that is capable of transmitting information at a rate that is not less than 256 kilobits per second in at least one direction when such student lacks access to such an Internet connection.  The bill was amended to permit but not require school boards to adopt such policies.  The bill failed to report 8-9. 
HB1208 (Tran) Requires each school board to establish a process for assisting any student whose family members have one or more medical conditions that preclude them from providing transportation for the student to attend school to apply for and obtain a pass to ride a regionally operated or locally operated bus to school.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to require school boards to establish a waiver process by which students who are not eligible for transportation (because, for example, they live within the walking zone) to receive transportation in certain instances.  The bill was reported 13-0.
HB1344 (Askew) Provides that when adopting regulations regarding the issuance of written reprimands of teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license, the Board of Education shall establish in such regulations the grounds for such written reprimands and provides that for a teacher who breaches his contract, the local board of education or division superintendent, in addition to a written reprimand or revocation of the teacher's license as in current law, may issue a suspension of the teacher's license.  This bill was reported 13-0.
HB1355 (Rasoul) Requires the Department of Education to establish an interagency task force composed of state and local agencies and entities in the areas of early childhood development, health, social services, community engagement, family engagement, higher education, communities in schools, and workforce development for the purpose of developing a program for the establishment of community schools whereby public elementary and secondary schools serve as centers for the provision of such community programs and services to students and their families as may be necessary on the basis of the unique needs of the student population to be served. The bill requires such program to include a process by which school boards and community partnerships may apply to the Department of Education to designate an elementary or secondary school in the local school division as a community school. The bill also establishes a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury for the purpose of providing planning grants for school boards and community partnerships that seek to apply to the Department of Education through such program for community school designation.  The bill was amended in subcommittee with a substitute.  The bill was reported and referred to Appropriations 9-8.
HB1469 (Gooditis)  Requires the Board of Education to extend for at least one additional year, but for no more than two additional years, the three-year provisional license of a teacher employed in an accredited private elementary or secondary school upon receiving from the school administrator of such school (i) a recommendation for such extension and (ii) satisfactory performance evaluations for such teacher for each year of the original three-year provisional license. The provisions of the bill mirror current law relating to the extension of provisional licenses for public school teachers.  The bill was reported 15-0.
HB1568 (Rush) Directs the State Board of Education to amend its regulations to require that persons seeking a technical professional license with an endorsement to teach military science have either the appropriate credentials issued by the United States military or a recommendation from a Virginia employing educational agency.  The bill was reported 17-0.
HB1613 (Brewer)  Requires the Board of Education, pursuant to regulation, to permit any individual who seeks a technical professional license to substitute the successful completion of an intensive, job-embedded, three-year program of professional development for the nine semester hours of professional studies required for such license.  The bill was reported 17-0.
HB1630 (Kilgore)  Permits any school board and division superintendent to extend from three months to six months the period within which the provisional license of an individual seeking initial teacher licensure who has not completed professional assessments will expire for the purpose of establishing such individual's eligibility for initial licensure, provided that such individual has received a satisfactory mid-year performance review in the current school year and meets all other eligibility criteria.  The bill was reported 17-0.
HB1633 (Edmunds) Requires the Board of Education to establish a program to use Literary Fund proceeds to subsidize interest payments on certain loans made by the Virginia Public School Authority to local governing bodies and school boards for the design and construction of new school buildings and facilities or the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities as follows: for school divisions in localities determined to have above-average or high fiscal stress by the Commission on Local Government in its most recent version of such report, the Board shall subsidize up to 100 percent of the interest due on such loan. Under current law, eligibility for such interest rate subsidy payment is based on the local composite index of ability to pay.  The bill was reported and rereferred to Appropriations 17-0.