The full Senate Committee on Education and Health met during session of the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday, January 29, 2026. This week's docket includes 42 pieces of proposed legislation impacting K-12 education.
To view this week's Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Public Education, click here.
Below you will find a set of highlighted bills heard in this week's subcommittee hearing.
SB33 (Senator
Favola) Programs for at-risk students; permissible uses of funding.
Includes as covered programs that are eligible for funding under the At-Risk
Program initiatives to support both the physical and mental health of students
in public schools, including the hiring of registered nurses and advanced
practice registered nurses.
Reported from Education and Health and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
SB63 (Senator Salim) Graduation with an advanced studies diploma; requirements, complet. of Int'l Baccalaureate diploma.
Requires
the Board of Education to permit any student who is simultaneously pursuing an
advanced studies diploma and an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma to
complete certain courses or sequences of courses required for an IB
diploma.
Reported from Education and Health with substitute (12-Y 2-N)
SB90 (Senator Favola) Equity in public school funding and staffing; at-risk Program established, standards of quality.
The bill
establishes an At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and
services for students who are educationally at-risk by providing state-funded
dollars as an add-on the existing At-Risk funds.
Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N)
SB234 (Senator Head) Student discipline and codes of student conduct; anti-bullying policies and procedures.
The bill
expands requirements relating to parental responsibilities and involvement in
preventing and addressing incidents of bullying. It expands requirement for
school boards to provide annual training on bullying prevention and
intervention for students and parents and workshops for parents and
educators.
Passed by indefinitely in S-Education and Health committee (9‑Y 6‑N)
SB265 (Senator Stanley) Elementary and secondary schools or higher educational institutions; bullying and cyberbullying.
This
bill makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to commit an act of aggravated bullying or
aggravated cyberbullying. The bill also requires administrator of each to
address such incidents, discipline the student guilty thereof, and report such
incidents to local law enforcement. It also requires the division
superintendent and the principal to report such incidents to law
enforcement.
Rereferred from Education and Health to Courts of Justice (15-Y 0-N)
SB341 (Senator
Boysko) Private elementary and secondary schools; policies relating to bullying
and cyberbullying, etc.
This
bill requires private elementary and secondary schools to develop policies
currently mandated for public elementary and secondary schools.
Reported from S-Education and Health committee (14‑Y 0‑N 1‑A)
SB427 (Senator Bagby) High school graduation requirements; history and social studies credits.
Requires
the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to
permit any student to substitute the African American History course or the
Advanced Placement African American Studies course for the World History I
course or the World Geography course for the purpose of satisfying the history
and social studies credit requirements.
Reported from Education and Health with amendment (12-Y 2-N)
SB450 (Senator Bagby) Public school teacher licensure requirement; comprehensive review of alt. licensure pathway, report.
Directs
the Department of Education (the Department) to convene a stakeholder work
group to conduct a comprehensive review of the alternative licensure pathways
and make recommendations on improving the quality, efficacy, and outcomes of
such alternative licensure pathways.
Reported from Education and Health with amendment (15-Y 0-N)
SB491 (Senator
Pekarsky) Public schools; right to free public elementary and secondary
education, discrimination, etc.
Prohibits
any child in the Commonwealth from being denied a free public education through
secondary school on the basis of the actual or perceived immigration or
citizenship status of the child or the child's parents, in accordance with the
Constitution of Virginia and consistent with the requirements of the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Reported from Education and Health (Fiscal impact can be viewed here)
SB685 (Senator Pekarsky) Standards of Quality; school board policies; communication and language accessibility for limited English proficient parents; requirements; report.
Requires
each school board to develop, implement, and post in a publicly accessible
location on its website a language access plan consisting of policies and
procedures designed to ensure meaningful communication with and informational
accessibility for limited English proficient (LEP) parents.
Reported from Education and Health with amendments and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (14-Y 0-N 1-A)
The Senate Education and Health full committee meets weekly during the session on Thursday, 8:30 a.m., Senate Room A, General Assembly Building. A link to the Live Stream video and recordings of all previously held committee meetings and floor sessions of the Senate can be viewed by clicking here.
Sofhia Pineda
VSBA Government Relations Specialist
