The Senate Education and Health Committee met at 8:00 a.m., Thursday, February 20, 2020 and considered the following pieces of legislation. If you have questions, please contact VSBA Chief Lobbyist, Stacy Haney, at Shaney@haneyphinyo.com, or VSBA Government Relations Specialist, J.T. Kessler, at jason@vsba.org.
H.B. 270 (VanValkenburg) 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 reported 15-0.
H.B. 308 (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 amended to
change the date for the Department of Education to establish and distribute to
each school board no later than December 31, 2020. The bill reported with
amendment 15-0.
H.B. 392 (Ward) Prohibits each school board from employing any individual who has been convicted of a violent felony set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 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 any individual who has been convicted of any felony or crime of moral turpitude that is not set forth in the definition of barrier crime in subsection A of § 19.2-392.02 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 reported 15-0.
H.B. 402 (Keam) Requires every public
school to hold at least one lock-down drill 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 amended to
add Pre-K as exempt from mandatory participation in lock-down drills. The bill
was reported as amended 15-0.
H.B. 410 (Delaney) Requires each local
school board to enact a policy to require that timely written notification
is provided to the parents of any student who (i) undergoes literacy and
Response to Intervention screening and services or (ii) does not meet the
benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners in preschool
through grade 12, which notification shall include all such assessment scores
and subscores and any intervention plan that results from such assessment
scores or subscores. The bill reported 15-0.
H.B. 415 (Delaney) Requires school
boards to adopt policies and procedures to ensure suspended students are able
to access and complete graded work during and after the suspension. The
bill reported 15-0.
H.B. 501 (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 reported 15-0.
H.B. 753 (Rasoul) Requires the
Department of Education to (i) establish a uniform definition of
social-emotional learning and develop guidance standards for social-emotional
learning for all public students in grades kindergarten through 12 in the
Commonwealth; (ii) make such standards available to each local school division
no later than July 1, 2021; and (iii) issue a report no later than November 1,
2021, on the resources needed to successfully support local school divisions
with the implementation of a statewide social-emotional learning program. The
bill reported 14-1.
H.B. 817 (Hope) Requires the Department
of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health and medical
professional societies, to develop and implement health and safety best
practice guidelines for the use of digital devices in public schools no later
than the 2021-2022 school year. The bill was reported
as amended on a 9-5-1 vote.
H.B. 836 (Carroll Foy) Requires the
Department of Education to develop a plan to adopt and implement standards
for microcredentials used toward add-on endorsements and renewal of licenses
earned by Virginia license holders in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) fields. The bill requires such plan to include (i) a
process for reviewing and administering educator microcredentials; (ii)
assurances that educator microcredentials 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) assurances
that educator microcredentials focus on interrelated competencies leading to
logical teacher professional development pathways and stacks of educator
microcredentials and align with the Board of Education's ongoing work on
educator professional development. Such plan shall also include the resources
needed for statewide implementation. The bill requires the Department of
Education to complete and submit the plan to the Chairmen of the House
Committee on Education, the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate
Committee on Education and Health, and the Senate Committee on Finance and
Appropriations no later than December 1, 2020. The bill reported 15-0.
H.B. 928 (Coyner) Permits the
Chesterfield County School Board 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 reported and
referred to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee 15-0.
H.B. 999 (Bell) Requires 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 reported 15-0.
H.B. 1073 (Kory) Requires 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 reported 14-1.
H.B. 1208 (Tran) Each school board that
provides for the transportation of students and that has established a rule,
regulation, or policy to exclude certain students who reside within a certain
distance from the school at which they are enrolled from accessing such
transportation to establish a process for waiving, on a case-by-case and
space-available basis, such exclusion and providing transportation to any such
student whose parent is unable to provide adequate transportation for his child
to attend school because the parent is providing necessary medical care to
another family member who resides in the same household, as evidenced by a
written explanation submitted by a licensed health care provider who provides
care to such family member. The bill reported on a vote of 13-1-1.
H.B. 1336 (Keam) Requires the Board of
Education, in conducting its regular review and revision of the Standards of
Learning and curriculum guidelines for family life education, to consult
relevant stakeholders to ensure that revisions reflect contemporary community
standards. The bill requires the next such review and revision to be completed
no later than June 30, 2021. The bill requires each school board to conduct a
review of its family life education curricula at least once every seven years.
The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations.
H.B. 1344 (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. The bill reported 15-0.
H.B. 1394 (Leftwich) Requires each local
school board that offers a family life education program to post for public
viewing (i) on the local school division's official website a summary of such
program and (ii) on the local school division's official website or a parental
portal a complete copy of all printed family life education program
materials not subject to copyright protection and a description of all
family life education program audio-visual materials. The bill requires each
local school board to implement the foregoing provisions no later than the
start of the 2021-2022 school year. The bill reported as
amended 11-3.
H.B. 1469 (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 or a school
for students with disabilities that is licensed by the
Board 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.
This bill incorporates HB 725. The bill reported 15.0
H.B. 1491 (Guy) Requires each public
high school to provide to any enrolled student who is of voting age or
otherwise eligible to register to vote access to Virginia voter registration
information and applications and the opportunity to complete such application
during the normal course of the school day. The bill reported on a 10-5 vote.
H.B. 1557 (Fowler) Eliminates the annual
salary limits for appointed school board members and permits any appointed
school board to pay each of its members an annual salary that is consistent
with the salary procedures and no more than the salary limits provided for
local governments in Article 1.1 (§ 15.2-1414.1 et
seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 15.2 (Counties, Cities and Towns) or as provided
by charter. This bill incorporates HB 1578. The subcommittee failed to
recommend reporting this bill on a 2-3 vote. A substitute motion was made to
report the bill. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Committee on
Finance and Appropriations on a 8-7 vote.
H.B. 1613 (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
reported 15-0.
H.B. 1630 (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 reported 15-0.
