HB1415 (Roem) Establishes, as part of each local school
board's provision of those support services that are necessary for the
efficient and cost-effective operation and maintenance of its public schools,
the following ratios for school library clerical personnel positions: in
elementary schools, one full-time at 300 students and two full-time at 700
students; in middle schools, one full-time at 300 students, two full-time at
800 students, and three full-time at 1,700 students; and in high schools, one
full-time, two full-time at 900 students, and three full-time at 1,800
students. The bill was stricken.
HB1446 (Aird) Requires any local school board in a local
school division that (i) is under a division-level corrective action plan, (ii)
contains any school that is under a corrective action plan, or (iii) receives
at-risk add-on payments pursuant to the general appropriation act to annually
assess each school building in the local school division for compliance with
the Board of Education's minimum standards for school buildings and report the
results to the Board. The bill requires, in any case of noncompliance with such
standards, such report to include an assessment of the extent to which local
funds are available to remedy such noncompliance. The bill provides that when
the Board determines, on the basis of any such report, that a local governing
body has not provided the local school board sufficient funds to ensure
compliance with the minimum standards for school buildings, the Board may
petition the relevant circuit court to compel the local governing body to
provide such funds to the local school board.
The bill was stricken.
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 recommended to be reported and
rereferred to Appropriations 7-1.
HB1515 (McQuinn) Requires school boards to employ school
counselors in accordance with the following ratios: (i) effective with the
2020%962021 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%962022
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 recommended to be reported and
rereferred to Appropriations 8-0.
HB916 (Sickels) 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 recommended to be reported 5-3.
HB1599 (Roem) Requires
school boards to employ librarians in accordance with the following ratios: in
elementary schools, one part-time to 299 students, one full-time at 300
students, and two full-time at 700 students; in middle schools, one-half time
to 299 students, one full-time at 300 students, two full-time at 800 students,
and three full-time at 1,700 students; and in high schools, one half-time to
299 students, one full-time at 300 students, two full-time at 900 students, and
three full-time at 1,800 students. Under current law, school boards are required
to employ librarians in accordance with the following ratios: in elementary
schools, one part-time to 299 students and one full-time at 300 students; in
middle schools, one-half time to 299 students, one full-time at 300 students,
and two full-time at 1,000 students; and in high schools, one half-time to 299
students, one full-time at 300 students, and two full-time at 1,000 students. The bill was carried over to 2021.
HB233 (Mugler) Requires public school teachers to be
compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. Under current
law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The foregoing provisions of the
bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. The bill requires funding
to be provided on an incremental basis pursuant to the general appropriation
act to implement such teacher compensation rate by the effective date. The bill was recommended to be reported and
rereferred to Appropriations. The bill
was tabled 4-2.
HB86 (Kilgore) Permits any local
school board that governs a school division (i) in which the locality is
designated as fiscally at-risk or fiscally distressed by the Appalachian
Regional Commission in the most recent fiscal year or is determined to have
above-average fiscal stress or high fiscal stress by the Virginia Commission on
Local Government in its most recent "Report on the Comparative Revenue
Capacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia Counties and
Cities" and (ii) for which the composite index of local ability to pay is
less than or equal to 0.2000 to expend up to 25 percent of the required local
effort for basic aid for debt service on school building capital renovation or
construction projects. The bill provides that in the event that the school
division no longer meets such criteria, the local school board shall develop
and implement a plan to readjust expenditures of the required local effort for
basic aid over the course of no more than four fiscal years. The bill also
provides that in the event that a school division that no longer met such
criteria subsequently meets the criteria again after developing a plan, the
local school board may seek the approval of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to amend such plan. The bill has an expiration date of July 1,
2032. The bill failed to report 3-3.
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 recommended to be reported
5-0.
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 recommended to be reported
and rereferred to Appropriations 6-0.
