The Senate Education and Health Committee met Thursday, February 15, 2024, to consider legislation that has crossed over from the House of Delegates. The following bills pertaining to K-12 Education were on the committee's docket.
HB 355 (Cole) Requires each school board to provide written verification of employment within 10 working days of receipt of any request for employment verification from a former employee of the school board.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-296.5, relating to school boards; teachers; terms of employment; employment verification; requirement.The committee conformed the bill to SB 441 (Durant) by voice vote. The bill reported with substitute by a vote of 15-0.
HB 462 (Runion) Clarifies that joint or regional schools such as academic year Governor's schools are eligible to participate in the Public School Construction Grants Program (the Program) and that school divisions may used grants received pursuant to the Program for construction, additions, infrastructure, site acquisition, and renovations for buildings and facilities used for career and technical education programs provided at a regional comprehensive school.
The committee conformed the bill toe SB 474 (Obenshain) by voice vote. The bill reported with a substitute by a vote of 15-0.
HB 498 (Cohen) Requires each local school board to develop and implement a policy to require the annual notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the local school division, to be sent by email and, if applicable, SMS text message within 30 calendar days succeeding the first day of each school year, of the parent's legal responsibility to safely store any firearm present in the household, risks associated with improperly stored firearms, statistics relating to firearm-related accidents, injuries, and death among youth, and other tips and strategies. The bill requires each school board to make such parental notification available in multiple languages on its website.
The committee reported the bill on a vote of 9-6.
HB 647 (Coyner) Clarifies several provisions of the Virginia Literacy Act (the Act), enacted during the 2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly and effective with the 2024-2025 school year, including (i) clarifying that the term "evidence-based literacy instruction" does not include practices that instruct students to gain meaning from print through the use of (a) three-cueing, which includes semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues; (b) meaning, structure, and visual cues; or (c) visual memory for word recognition; (ii) removing the option to use a literacy screener approved by the Department of Education for certain purposes enumerated in the Act; (iii) requiring the Department to develop a list of core literacy curricula for students in kindergarten through grade five and supplemental instruction practices and programs and intervention programs for students in kindergarten through grade eight that consist of evidence-based literacy instruction aligned with science-based reading research; and (iv) requiring each divisionwide literacy plan to address how the local school board will align (a) core reading and literacy curriculum for students in kindergarten through grade five and (b) screening, supplemental instruction, and interventions for students in kindergarten through grade eight with evidence-based literacy instruction practices aligned with science-based reading research.
The committee reported the bill on a vote of 13-0.
HB 1076 (Rasoul) Requires the Board of Education to permit school boards to administer, during the 2024-2025 school year, locally developed or adopted assessments as alternatives to the through-year growth assessment system established by the Board, provided that any such alternative assessment is aligned to the Standards of Learning.
The bill was conformed to SB 435 (Suetterlein). The bill reported with a substitute on a vote of 14-1.
HB 1317 (Cole) Requires the superintendent of any school division to, upon receiving notification of the disposition in a delinquency case concerning a student who is not enrolled in such school division, forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division where such student is enrolled or where such student intends to enroll, as evidenced by the receipt of a request from the other school division for such student's scholastic records. Current law only permits the superintendent of any such school division to forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division in which the student is currently enrolled. The bill also requires a copy of the complete student disciplinary records of any student transferring from one school division to another to be transferred to the school division to which such student is transferring, upon request from such school division.
The bill reported on a vote of 13-0.
HB 1504 (Seibold) Requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines for school-connected overdose response and parental notification policies to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The bill requires such guidelines to include (i) a model action plan for each school board to follow in responding to any school-connected overdose, including communicating and coordinating with the Department of Education and the applicable law-enforcement liaison or the local law-enforcement agency that employs such school division's school resources officers and (ii) criteria for issuing parental notification to ensure sensitivity to the privacy interests of affected individuals and compliance with any applicable law, rules, or regulations relating to the disclosure and protection of a minor's personal, confidential, or otherwise sensitive information.
The bill was conformed to SB 498 (Carroll Foy). The bill reported with a substitute 15-0.
To review all bills on the committee's docket, click here. To view an archived recording of the February 15, 2024, meeting of the committee, click here. To review House bills conformed to Senate bills, click here and type Senate bill number into legislation search box or you can click on the members name where you can find a listing of all legislation the member has introduced this session and the legislation's current status in the 2024 session.
