The Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on K-12 Public Education held its inaugural meeting of the 2023 session of the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday, January 12, 2023. The following recommendations were made by members of the subcommittee pertaining to legislation effecting K-12 public education.
SB 787 (DeSteph) Requires each local school board to adopt policies addressing the selection and evaluation of all printed or audiovisual materials purchased by, donated to, or otherwise made available to the school division that will be made available to students in school libraries, with clear procedures for (i) mandatory prior written parental consent before a student is permitted to check out from the school library any such printed or audiovisual materials that depict a child engaged in the fondling of the sexual or genital parts of another or the fondling of his sexual or genital parts by another, masturbation, sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anilingus, anal intercourse, or object sexual penetration and (ii) handling challenged controversial instruction materials.
The bill was Passed by Indefinitely on a vote of 3-2.
SB 819 (Favola) Provides that each local school division is permitted to use any nationally recognized, research-based assessment or screener in identifying and assessing the progress of any student in need of reading or algebra readiness intervention services as an alternative to a diagnostic test that must be approved by the Department of Education.
The bill was Passed by for the Day.
SB 821 (Surovell) Requires each division superintendent to identify, update as necessary, and make available to the Department of Education and to other appropriate individuals a fax number, an email address, and a mailing address at which the division superintendent will receive the reports required to be transmitted pursuant to relevant law from (i) every state official or agency and every sheriff, police officer, or other local law-enforcement officer or conservator of the peace having the power to arrest for a felony upon arresting a person who is known or discovered by the arresting official to be a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary teacher or any other employee in any local school division in the Commonwealth for a felony or a Class 1 misdemeanor or an equivalent offense in another state and (ii) the clerk of any circuit court or any district court in the Commonwealth upon the conviction of a Board of Education-licensed school employee for certain enumerated felonies. The bill requires the Department to compile and make publicly available on its website a list of such fax numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses. The bill also requires all such arresting officials or agencies and all such clerks to transmit the required reports via certified mail, return receipt requested, or to the identified fax numbers and email addresses. The bill finally requires, until July 1, 2027, all such arresting officials or agencies request in writing that the Virginia Employment Commission provide the name of the current employer of each arrested person for purposes of determining whether such notice is required.
The bill Reported on a vote of 4-0.
SB 832 (Chase) Declares that the parent of any student enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in the Commonwealth has the right to (i) access a list of any printed or audiovisual instructional material; (ii) participate in the textbook review and approval process; (iii) receive notice of and give informed consent to any counseling or guidance program offered to his child by the school; (iv) access his child's education records; (v) receive advance, written notice of any school-sponsored field trip, activity, assembly, presentation, or other event at which his child's attendance is invited, including a clear opt-out provision; (vi) receive advance notice of any questionnaire or survey to be administered to his child; (vii) receive notice of and attend any public meeting of the school board in the local school division in which his child is enrolled; (viii) review the annual school division budget and expenditures; and (ix) petition the circuit court with jurisdiction over such child's local school division to review an action of the school board if the parent is aggrieved by such action. The bill requires the Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board model policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the parental right to review and exempt his child from any printed or audiovisual instructional materials used as a part of the curriculum in any class or course in which such parent's child is enrolled. The bill also revises existing policies and duties of each local school board in accordance with the parental rights to transparency in education.
The bill was Passed by for the Day.
SB 883 (Newman) Eliminates the requirement that the Board of Education perform a triennial review of the accreditation status of a public school that has been fully accredited for three consecutive years. The bill also eliminates the provision permitting the Board to do a review of the accreditation status of any other school once every two or three years and the requirement that any such school receiving a multiyear accreditation status other than full accreditation be covered by a Board-approved multiyear corrective action plan. Under the bill, the Board is required to review annually the accreditation status of all schools in the Commonwealth.
The bill Reported with amendment on a vote of 2-1-2.
SB 1007 (Hashmi) Directs the Board of Education to amend its regulations for the Child Care Subsidy Program to expand the scope of eligibility to apply for the Program to any foster parent of a child placed in the foster parent's home if, at the time of eligibility determination or redetermination, the child (i) meets the criteria for eligibility currently set forth in the Board's regulations or (ii) is between the ages of 13 and 17 but otherwise meets the criteria for eligibility set forth in the Board's regulations, provided that there is documented evidence that such child between the ages of 13 and 17 has exhibited tendencies toward self-harm or harm to others.
The bill was Passed by for the Day.
SB 1041 (McPike) Provides that the Board of Education shall require any candidate for division superintendent of a local school division serving a locality with a population greater than 140,000 people to have (i) a master's degree and relevant endorsements or a doctorate degree in educational administration or educational leadership administration and (ii) at least five years of instructional, administrative, and supervisory experience in education, with no exceptions or substitutes for senior leadership experience in non-education fields. The Board of Education may substitute certain requirements for education-specific endorsements, degrees, or educational, administrative, or supervisory experience for a certain amount of experience in senior leadership positions outside of the education field only for local school divisions serving a locality with a population not exceeding 140,000 people.
The bill reported on a vote of 3-1-1.
SB 1044 (McPike) Requires each local school division that issues student identification cards for any grade level, kindergarten through grade 12, and each public institution of higher education that issues student identification cards to clearly and conspicuously include on one side of each student identification card the telephone number for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) and to annually review the telephone number for accuracy and currency. The bill provides that each new student identification card and any replacement student identification card issued by any school division or by any public institution of higher education must comply with the provisions of the bill beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.
