Update from the House Education Committee

This morning, the House Education Committee acted on many of the bills from Tuesday's House Education Reform subcommittee. 

HB1585 (Stolle) would allow a division superintendent, with the school board's approval, to establish a school schedule that wold provide for year-round school or, for any school that has not achieved full accreditation, to set the school start date.  The bill would also allow the superintendent to determine the schedule for the entire school division if more than 15% of the schools in the school division have not achieved full accreditation.  Among other things, this bill would allow superintendents and school boards to start the school year in schools not fully accredited prior to Labor Day without obtaining a waiver from the post-Labor Day start requirement.  This bill was reported 15-5 from the House Education Committee. 

HB1490 (Habeeb) was amended in the Education Reform subcommittee on Tuesday morning.  As amended, the bill directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standards of Learning test, with the exception of the writing Standards of Learning tests, to each student regardless of grade level or course.  The bill also has an emergency clause, which means that, if enacted, the legislation would allow for expedited retakes this spring.  The committee approved reporting and referring the amended bill to Appropriations 20-0. 

HB1615 (Greason) would allow the required end-of-course or end-of-grade assessments for English, mathematics, science, and history and social science to be integrated to include multiple subject areas.  This bill would not, however, require the use of integrated assessments.  This bill was passed unanimously by the committee.

HB1674 (Greason) would reduce the frequency that a school's accreditation status is reviewed by the Board of Education.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to allow the Board of Education to review the accreditation status of schools every one, two, or three years, as determined by the Board of Education.  The amended bill would also require that a school that is not fully accredited be reviewed in the subsequent year.  The amended bill was reported by the full committee. 

HB2088 (Murphy) relating to graduation requirements for economics and personal finance was stricken from the docket at the request of the patron.

The committee will meet again on Monday morning.  

House Education Reform Subcommittee Acts on Reform Bills

HB1585 (Stolle) would allow a division superintendent, with the school board's approval, to establish a school schedule that wold provide for year-round school or, for any school that has not achieved full accreditation, to set the school start date.  The bill would also allow the superintendent to determine the schedule for the entire school division if more than 15% of the schools in the school division have not achieved full accreditation.  Among other things, this bill would allow superintendents and school boards to start the school year in schools not fully accredited prior to Labor Day without obtaining a waiver from the post-Labor Day start requirement.  This bill was reported from the House Education Reform Subcommittee.

HB1490 (Habeeb) was amended in subcommittee.  As amended, the bill directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standards of Learning test, with the exception of the writing Standards of Learning tests, to each student regardless of grade level or course.  The bill also has an emergency clause, which means that, if enacted, the legislation would allow for expedited retakes this spring.  The subcommittee approved reporting and referring the amended bill to Appropriations.

HB1302 (Farrell) was explained by the patron as an alternate to the approach taken by HB1490 in the event that HB1490 fails due to a lack of funding.  HB1302 would directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standards of Learning test for all students, grade levels, and courses.  The bill would also permit local school boards to adopt such criteria and would require the locality to bear the cost of implementation.  Delegate Farrell assured the subcommittee that he will strike this bill if HB1490 is passed out of the House Appropriations Committee.  This bill was reported from the subcommittee.

HB1615 (Greason) would permit the required  end-of-course or end-of-grade assessments for English, mathematics, science, and history and social science to be integrated to include multiple subject areas.  This bill would not, however, require the use of integrated assessments.  This bill was reported by the subcommittee.

HB1674 (Greason) would reduce the frequency that a school's accreditation status is reviewed by the Board of Education.  The bill was amended in subcommittee to allow the Board of Education to review the accreditation status of schools every one, two, or three years, as determined by the Board of Education.  The amended bill would also require that a school that is not fully accredited be reviewed in the subsequent year.  The amended bill was reported by the subcommittee.     

VSBA Advocacy in Action at the General Assembly

This morning, the co-chairs of the VSBA Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environments, Mr. Rodney Jordan (School Board Member, Norfolk City) and Dr. Mark Lineburg (Superintendent, Winchester City) presented to the House Education Committee on the October 2014 task force report. Many of you received similar presentations from Mr. Jordan and Dr. Lineburg at the VSBA Annual Convention and at the “Practices of Promise for Schools in Challenging Environments” Summit in December. If you have not had a chance to review the task force report I would encourage you to do so.

The report prioritizes five key domain areas including community and family engagement, funding and resources, specialized training, student learning, and teacher quality. It also targets recommendations for school board and governance teams, community groups, internal/external stakeholders, the General Assembly and other policy makers, and VSBA. Mr. Jordan and Dr. Lineburg spent over an hour delivering their research, sharing the task force’s recommendations, and answering questions from members of the House Education Committee. After the committee meeting, the task force co-chairs met with staff from the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance Committee to further share the report and recommendations.

We came away from the meetings encouraged and energized. We heard thoughtful questions and passionate statements from members with genuine interest in working together to help all students in the Commonwealth. VSBA will continue to capitalize on this momentum throughout the session and into the coming months. A big thank you goes to Mr. Jordan and Dr. Lineburg for all their efforts on behalf of VSBA. 

For more information about the VSBA Task Force on School in Challenging Environments please visit the VSBA website.   

VSBA Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environment co-chairs, Mr. Rodney Jordan (Norfolk) and Dr. Mark Lineburg (Winchester), present to the House Education Committee. 

Dr. Mark Lineburg, co-chair of the VSBA Task Force on Schools in Challenging Environments, answers questions from legislators about the task force report. 

Update from Senate Subcommittee on Public Education

The Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee met and considered a number of bills today.  Below is a summary of the actions recommended by the subcommittee today.

The subcommittee recommended reporting SB724 (Black), which would prohibit the Board of Education from implementing the Common Core Standards. 

The subcommittee also recommended reporting SB823 (Miller), which changes the requirement that school provide a program of physical fitness to a program of physical activity.  The bill also requires that the program of physical activity for grades kindergarten through five consist of at least 20 minutes per day or an average of 100 minutes per week during the regular school year.  The bill does not alter the minutes (150 per week on average) that the program of physical activity be made available to students in grades six through twelve.   

The subcommittee also rolled SB897 (Miller) and SB757 (Barker) in SB874 (Cosgrove) and amended the remaining bill to  direct the Board of Education to promulgate regulations to provide the same criteria for eligibility for an expedited retake of any Standards of Learning test, with the exception of the writing Standards of Learning tests, to each student regardless of grade level or course.  The amended bill was recommended for reporting.

The subcommittee recommended SB900 (Barker), which would require the Board of Education to promulgate regulations authorizing local school divisions to determine the date for administering SOL assessments.  Currently, BOE determines the timing of SOL assessments. 

The subcommittee adopted an amended in the nature of a substitute for SB727 (Black).  AS amended, the bill repeals the A-F school grading legislation and directs the Board of Education to redesign the School Performance Report Card to make it more effective in communicating the status and achievements of the public schools and local school divisions.  The subcommittee recommended the substitute for reporting.

The subcommittee considered SB782 (Favola), which would require the Board of Education to adopt regulations on the use of seclusion and restraint that, among other things, incorporate BOE's  Guidelines for the Development of Policies and Procedures for Managing Student Behavior in Emergency Situations and the Fifteen Principles contained in the U.S. Department of Education's Restraint and Seclusion: Resource Document.  The subcommittee amended the bill to require the BOE to adopt regulations that are consistent with (rather than that incorporate) the BOE Guidelines and the U.S. DOE's Fifteen Principles.  The subcommittee recommended this bill, as amended, for reporting.

Update from House Education Committee for Monday, January 19

Today, the House Education Committee considered HB1325 (Cole), which will require that a local school division provide instruction in Braille or the use of Braille to visually impaired students unless the IEP or 504 team, after an evaluation, determines that it is not appropriate to meet the student’s educational needs. Additionally it will also require that the evaluation be conducted by a certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI).  The Committee voted to report and refer the bill to Appropriations.

Update from the first Senate Education and Health Committee

This morning the Senate Education and Health Committee held their first meeting on the 2015 session. Senator Steve Martin again serves as chairman of the committee. The other members of the committee include Senators Dick Saslaw, Louise Lucas, Janet Howell, Steve Newman, Mamie Locke, George Barker, Ralph Smith, Jeff McWaters, Dick Black, Bill Carrico, Tom Garrett, Chap Petersen, John Cosgrove, and Lynwood Lewis.  This committee is slightly different than last year. Senators John Miller and Barbara Favola have been removed from the committee and Senators Petersen, Cosgrove, and Lewis have been added. Senator Bill Carrico has been named chairman of the public education subcommittee, which will meet on Mondays. The members of the subcommittee include Senators Howell, Locke, Smith, and Cosgrove.

Although there were several bills on the agenda, many of them were passed by for the week. After some discussion and input from VSBA and other members of the committee, Senate Bill 852 (Carrico) was passed by for the week so that we can continue to work on the language. As currently written the legislation permits a public school athletic coach to require a student-athlete to participate in conditioning exercise, such as push-ups or running laps, as part of a disciplinary process if the student athlete and his parents have signed a form that: (1) enumerate actions, such as being late to or missing practice, that would result in discipline involving conditioning or exercise; (2) specifies the required conditioning or exercise for each action that would result in discipline; and (3) acknowledges that the student-athlete and his parent understand and accept the disciplinary process.

Senate Bill 985 (Garrett) was also heard in committee this morning. This legislation, which VSBA strongly supports, allows school divisions to use Virginia Public School Educational Technology grant funds for the lease of educational technology. Under current law, these grants are only available for the acquisition and replacement of educational technology. The bill was reported and referred to the Senate Finance Committee on a 13-2 vote. VSBA will continue to support and address any concerns about this legislation.

All other public education bills were taken by for the week. Check back next week for more updates from the public education subcommittee and full committee on Thursday. 

The 2015 General Assembly Session begins

Today marks the start of the 2015 General Assembly session. For the next 46 days, the 140 members of the legislature will debate thousands of bills ranging from education and transportation to public safety and veterans affairs. Additionally, they must work together with the governor to ensure a balanced budget for the Commonwealth.

Right now there are thousands of bills that have been filed with the House and Senate Clerk's Office and we expect to see many more coming online in the next few days. Some of the major themes we’re seeing in education include additional changes to the Standards of Learning assessments and school accountability, local control of the school calendar, flexibility with educational technology funding, changes to restraint and seclusion policy and graduation requirements, and virtual and blended learning. Your VSBA lobbying team has been very busy meeting with legislators, reading bills, and developing our overall strategy to ensure success for our students, schools, and local school boards. 

Be sure to visit the VSBA Legislative Blog throughout session to get updates and details about what’s happening in Richmond. Additionally, we’ll be providing quick updates on the VSBA Twitter Handle – @VASchoolBoards. I would also encourage you to review the “Keys to Success for the 2015 General Assembly Session” published in the latest edition of the VSBA newsletter.

Finally, don’t forget to attend the upcoming VSBA Capital Conference January 26-27 at the Richmond Marriott. This conference offers you an opportunity before crossover to interact with your legislators and advocate for your school division and public education. You will receive key presentations on Virginia’s political landscape and updates on legislation and the state budget. In addition to the presentations, you will have the opportunity to hear directly from Governor Terry McAuliffe, Secretary of Education Anne Holton, Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Steve Staples, and Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Barry DuVal as well as attend the VSBA Legislative Reception.

We look forward to seeing you in Richmond!