The Senate Education and Health Committee met Thursday, February 17, 2022. The following actions were taken by the committee on legislation appearing on its docket.
HB 4 (Wyatt) Requires that school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense and report to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object of such act that the incident has been reported to law enforcement. Under current law, principals are required to make such reports only for such acts that may constitute a felony offense. The bill was conformed to SB 36 and reported by a vote of 14-1.
HB 9 (Ware) Permits each school board to extend for up to two additional years the three-year probationary term of service that is required for each teacher in the school division before the issuance of a continuing contract and prohibits each school board from reemploying a teacher whose performance evaluation during such probationary period is not satisfactory. The bill provides that, for the purpose of the dismissal of a teacher for cause, the term "incompetency" may be construed to include consistent failure to meet the endorsement requirements for the position or one or more unsatisfactory performance evaluations. The bill also eliminates the option for a school board to conduct a teacher dismissal hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel, requires each such hearing to be set no later than 15 days after the request for the hearing, and reduces from 10 days to five days the minimum period of advance written notice to the teacher of the time and place of such hearing. The bill was Passed by Indefinitely by a vote of 9-6.
HB 230 (Coyner) Requires the Board of Education's licensure regulations to provide for licensure by reciprocity for any spouse of an active duty or reserve member of the Armed Forces of the United States or a member of the Virginia National Guard who has obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at the time the application for a Virginia license is received by the Department of Education. Current law requires such regulations to provide for licensure by reciprocity for any spouse of an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the Commonwealth. The bill requires such an individual to submit an official copy of the military permanent assignment orders of the individual's spouse as part of the complete application packet. The bill requires the Department to determine and communicate such individual's eligibility for licensure by reciprocity within 15 business days of receipt of the complete application packet. The bill was reported by a vote of 15-0.
HB 246 (Kilgore) Provides that students who miss a partial or full day of school while participating in 4-H educational programs and activities shall not be counted as absent for the purposes of calculating average daily membership and shall receive course credit in the same manner as they would for a school field trip. The bill directs each local school board to develop policies and procedures for students to make up missed work and may determine the maximum number of school days per academic year that a student may spend participating in 4-H educational programs and activities to not be counted absent. The bill reported by a vote of 15-0.
HB 418 (Delaney) Removes Reading Recovery from the list of programs and initiatives for which school boards may use at-risk add-on funds. The bill reported by a vote of 15-0.
HB 741 (Bell) Requires each local school board, as part of each annual school safety audit, to create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate but provides that such floor plan may be withheld from public disclosure. The bill reported by a vote of 15-0.
HB 979 (Tran) Requires the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of a provisional license, valid for a period not to exceed three years, to any individual who has held within the last seven years a valid and officially issued and recognized license or certification to teach issued by an entity outside of the United States but does not meet the requirements for a renewable license. The bill was conformed to SB 68 and reported with a vote of 15-0.
HB 1022 (Guzman) Provides that, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, any student who is a member of a state-recognized or federally recognized tribal nation that is headquartered in the Commonwealth and who is absent from school to attend such tribal nation's pow wow gathering shall be granted an excused absence, provided that the parent of such student provides to the student's school advance notice of such absence in the manner required by the school. The bill reported with amendment by a vote of 15-0.
HB 1352 (Bell) Prohibits any private elementary or secondary school from retaliating in any manner against any individual who in good faith reports child abuse or neglect as mandated by relevant law. The bill was Re-Referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 15-0.
