HB 1736 (Adams, D.) Excludes school nurse positions from requirements for student support positions and instead requires each local school board to employ at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school, middle school, and high school in the local school division. The bill defines a school nurse as a registered nurse engaged in the specialized practice of nursing who protects and promotes student health, facilitates optimal development, and advances academic success. The committee reported the bill with a substitute on a 12-8 vote.
HB 1865 (Delaney) Requires reading intervention services for students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading test or any reading diagnostic test that meets criteria established by the Department of Education to be evidence-based and aligned with the science of reading and structured literacy approaches, both defined in the bill, and to include the components of effective reading instruction and explicit, systematic, sequential, and cumulative instruction. The bill requires the parent of each student who receives such reading intervention services to be notified before the services begin and the progress of each such student to be monitored throughout the provision of services. The bill also requires the Department of Education, no later than the beginning of the 2021%962022 school year, to compile and provide to each local school division a list of materials, resources, and curriculum programs that are supported by the science of reading and based on instruction that is explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic, including (i) evidence-based dyslexia programs that are aligned to structured literacy or grounded in the Orton-Gillingham methodology and (ii) evidence-based reading intervention programs, including programs that are grounded in the science of reading. The committee reported the bill with amendments on a 20-2 vote.
HB 1905 (Cole, J.) Adds to objectives developed and approved by the Board of Education for economics education and financial literacy at the middle and high school levels the implications of various employment arrangements with regard to benefits, protections, and long-term financial sustainability. Employment arrangements is defined in the bill as full-time employment, part-time employment, independent contract work, gig work, piece work, contingent work, day labor work, freelance work, and 1099 work. The bill was reported 22-0.
HB 1929 (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, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students. The bill reported and referred to the House Committee on Appropriations on a 21-1 vote.
HB 2027 (Coyner) Requires, no later than the 2024-2025 school year, each reading and mathematics Standards of Learning assessment for students in grades three through eight to (i) be administered three times per school year, at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of each school year, for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year and (ii) provide accurate measurement of a student's performance outside of his grade level through the incorporation, through computer adaptive technology, of test items at grade levels below and above the tested level. The bill requires any student growth data to include such measurement of outside-of-grade-level performance. The bill requires the Department of Education to ensure adequate training for teachers and principals on how to interpret and use student growth data from such assessments to improve reading and mathematics instruction in grades three through eight throughout the school year. The bill prohibits the total time spent taking each such assessment over each of the three annual administrations from exceeding 150 percent of the time spent taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment. The bill was reported and referred to the House Committee on Appropriations on a 19-1 vote.
HB 2058 (Simonds) Creates the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Advisory Board to create a unified vision regarding STEM education initiatives, language, and measures of success to promote a culture of collaboration for STEM programming in the Commonwealth. The Board shall develop the infrastructure for creating STEM Regional Hubs and naming STEM Champions in communities across the Commonwealth. Additionally, the Board shall report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly on STEM challenges, goals, and successes across the Commonwealth. The bill reported on a 20-0 vote.
