The PreK-12 Subcommittee of the House Education Committee
met and considered the following bills:
HB15 (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, 2038, each school bus that it uses
for the transportation of students is equipped with a seat belt in every seat. The subcommittee recommended reporting the bill
unanimously.
HB74 (Kory) would require each school board to adopt and
implement policies that require each teacher and other relevant personnel, as
determined by the school board, employed on a full-time basis, to complete a
Mental Health First Aid training or similar program. The bill requires each
school board to provide such training and provides that a school board may
contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, a
community services board, a behavioral health authority, a nonprofit
organization, or other certified trainer to provide such training. The bill was amended to require mental health
awareness training for employees identified by local school boards. The amended bill was recommended for
reporting 7-1.
HB156 (Sickles) would establish the Critical National
Security Language Grant Fund and the Critical National Security Language Grant
Program within the Department of Education for the purpose of awarding grants
on a competitive basis to any school division that provides a foreign language
course in a foreign language that is currently identified as critical by the
National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship program. Such
grants are limited to $5,000 per student who successfully completes a critical
foreign language course per school year.
The bill was recommended to report and rerefer to Appropriations 6-2.
HB270 (VanValkenburg) would Requires every public school to
provide the parents of enrolled students with at least 24 hours' notice before
the school conducts any lock-down drill. The bill specifies that no such notice
is required to include the exact date and time of the lock-down drill. The bill was recommended for reporting 7-0.
HB351 (Bell) would require the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, with the assistance of each school board or division
superintendent, to survey each local school division to identify critical
shortages of school bus drivers by geographic area and local school division
and to report any such critical shortage to each local school division and to
the Virginia Retirement System. The bill permits any school bus driver in any
geographic area or school division in which a critical shortage of school bus
drivers has been so identified to elect to continue to receive a service
retirement allowance if the driver meets certain other conditions. The bill was recommended for reporting 7-0.
HB402 (Keam) would require every public school at which
sixth grade is the highest grade taught to hold at least one lock-down drill
after the first 60 days of the school session and every public school at which
seventh grade or any grade above seventh grade is taught to hold at least two
lock-down drills after the first 60 days of the school session, in addition to
the two lock-down drills required to be held during the first 20 days of the
school session at each such school. Current law requires each public school to
hold at least two lock-down drills after the first 20 days of the school
session. The bill requires kindergarten students to be exempt from mandatory
participation in lock-down drills during the first 60 days of the school
session and requires the principal at each relevant school to implement such
exemption by either (i) conducting teacher-only drills or otherwise providing
suitable training for kindergarten teachers or (ii) notifying each parent of a
kindergarten student at least five school days in advance of each planned
lock-down drill and permitting each such parent to opt his child out of
participation in such lock-down drill. The
bill was recommended for reporting 7-0.
HB928 (Coyner) would permit the Chesterfield County School
Board, with such funds as may be appropriated for such purpose pursuant to the
general appropriation act, to establish a recovery high school in the school
division as a year-round high school (i) for which enrollment is open to any
high school student who resides in Superintendent's Region 1 and is in the
early stages of recovery from substance use disorder or dependency and (ii) for
the purpose of providing such students with the academic, emotional, and social
support necessary to make progress toward earning a high school diploma and
reintegrating into a traditional high school setting. The bill was recommended to be reported and
rereferred to Appropriations 8-0.
HB953 (Ayala) would establish the STEAM Education Fund for
the purpose of awarding grants in amounts not to exceed $50,000 annually to any
public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth at which at least 25
percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch that provides an academic
class, curriculum, or activity focused on a science, technology, engineering,
arts, or mathematics (STEAM) discipline. The bill was recommended to be reported and
rereferred to Appropriations 8-0.
HB999 (Bell) would require each school board's policies on
the possession and administration of epinephrine in every school in the local
school division to require that at least one 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 epinephrine has the means to access at all times during regular school hours
any such epinephrine that is stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible
container or area. The bill was
recommended for reporting 6-1.
HB1012 (Bulova) would require the Board of Education to
establish a statewide unified public-private system for early childhood care
and education in the Commonwealth to be administered by the Board of Education,
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Department of Education. The
bill transfers the authority to license and regulate child day programs and
other early child care agencies from the Board of Social Services and
Department of Social Services to the Board of Education and Department of
Education. The bill maintains current licensure, background check, and other
requirements of such programs. Such provisions of the bill have a delayed
effective date of July 1, 2021. The bill requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to establish a plan for implementing the statewide unified early
childhood care and education system and requires the Department of Social
Services and the Department of Education to enter into a cooperative agreement
to coordinate the transition. The bill also requires the Board of Education to
establish, no later than July 1, 2021, a uniform quality rating and improvement
system designed to provide parents and families with information about the
quality and availability of certain publicly funded early childhood care and
education providers and to publish the initial quality ratings under such
system in the fall of 2022. The
subcommittee adopted a comprehensive substitute, which was recommended to be
reported and rereferred to Appropriations 6-2.
HB1301 (Adams) would require the funding transferred from
the Department of Education to the relevant school divisions in support of a
regional alternative education program to be based on each such school
division's need for the current school year. Under current law, such funding is
transferred based on data accumulated during the prior school year. The bill was recommended to report and
rerefer to Appropriations 7-0.
HB1073 (Kory) would require each school board to annually
provide parents of pupils in grades kindergarten through 12 information
regarding the health dangers of tobacco and nicotine vapor products. The bill
requires that the information provided be consistent with guidelines set forth
by the Department of Education. The bill
was recommended for reporting 6-2.
HB1085 (Hayes) would establish minimum requirements for the
installation of water bottle filling stations and drinking fountains in new
public school buildings, additions to existing public school buildings, and
alterations to existing public school buildings estimated to cost $50,000 or
more. The bill requires the Board of Education to amend its regulations to
require local school divisions to allow all students to carry and utilize a
water bottle while at school. The bill
was tabled 7-1.
HB1124 (Davis) would
permit any school board to enter into an operating contract with a
not-for-profit entity (operating entity) to designate a public elementary or
secondary school in the local school division in which at least 50 percent of
enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch as a yellow
school and set forth numerous requirements for such contracts. The bill was tabled 4-3.
HB1274 (O’Quinn) would establish the School Construction
Fund as a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury and requires the
Department of Education to establish the School Construction Program for the
purpose of providing grants from the Fund, subject to certain conditions, to
school boards that leverage federal, state, and local programs and resources to
finance the design and construction of new school buildings and facilities or
the modernization and maintenance of existing school buildings and facilities. The bill was recommended to report and rerefer to Appropriations
7-0.
