The House Education Committee met this morning to consider the following legislation. A summary of the legislation and actions taken by the committee are as follows:
HB 1776 (Ward) Requires the Board of Education to grant a two-year extension of the renewable license of any public school teacher whose license expires in 2021 in order to provide the teacher with sufficient additional time to complete the requirements for re-licensure. The bill reported and was referred to the House Appropriations Committee with amendments by a 21-0 vote of the committee.
HB 1790 (McGuire) Provides that when severe weather conditions or other emergency situations have resulted in the closing of any school in a school division for in-person instruction, the school division may declare an unscheduled remote learning day whereby the school provides synchronous or asynchronous instruction, or some combination thereof, to all students in the school in lieu of in-person instruction without a reduction in the amount paid by the Commonwealth from the Basic School Aid Fund, provided that the school division has established an unscheduled remote learning day plan that ensures that every student is provided instruction and services on such unscheduled remote learning day that are comparable in quality to the instruction and services provided to learners on any other remote learning day. The bill reported with amendments by a vote of 21-0.
HB 1798 (Tyler) Removes the Brunswick County school board from the list of approved member salaries for appointed school boards. The Brunswick County school board is currently an elected school board. The bill was reported with a vote of 21-0.
HB 1823 (Askew) Requires each building that was built before 2015 and that houses any public school classroom for students, licensed child day program, or other program that serves preschool-age children to be equipped with at least one carbon monoxide detector. The bill was reported by a vote of 20-1.
HB 1904 (Jenkins) The bill requires teacher, principal, and division superintendent evaluations to include an evaluation of cultural competency. The bill requires every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license from the Board of Education (i) to complete instruction or training in cultural competency and (ii) with an endorsement in history and social sciences to complete instruction in African American history, as prescribed by the Board. The bill also requires each school board to adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and any other school board employee holding a license issued by the Board to complete cultural competency training, in accordance with guidance issued by the Board, at least every two years. The bill reported on 15-6 vote of the committee.
HB 1915 (Mugler) Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficient to fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries, effective from the 2022-23 school year through the 2026-27 school year. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022. The bill reported and was referred to the House Appropriations Committee by a 19-3 vote of the committee.
HB 1940 (Rasoul) Requires, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, any middle school or high school student who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event to be granted an excused absence. The committee reported the bill on a 17-5 vote.
