An early start to the day

Today started very early with the House Education Reform subcommittee at 7:00a.m. With crossover next week each body is busy finalizing their actions on legislation. Immediately following the subcommittee, the full House Education committee met to take up a lot of bills that went through the subcommittee process earlier this week. Below is a summary of the actions the Education Reform subcommittee took this morning.

HB1303 (Farrell) reported with a substitute. The legislation requires the Department of Education to make the Standards of Learning assessments for middle and high schools available by December 1 of the school year in which the assessments will be administered or when newly developed assessments are available, whichever is later.

HB1713 (LeMunyon) failed to report from the subcommittee on a 2-5 vote. This bill required the Board of Education to establish and implement a policy, with certain conditions and limitations, that would allow any student assigned to a school accredited with warning for three consecutive years or denied accreditation to enroll in the same grade level at another school in the division that is fully accredited or accredited with warning for fewer than three consecutive years  as long as the students enrollment didn’t exceed the schools enrollment capacity.

HB1714 (LeMunyon) gives flexibility to the Board of Education relating to the science assessment for middle school students. It will allow the Board to permit the student to take the SOL assessment in science after the student receives instruction in the grade 6 science, life science, and physical science SOL and before the student completes grade 8. Current law permits the Board to require each student to the SOL assessment in grade 8.  The bill reported unanimously.

HB1752 (LaRock) reported from the subcommittee. This bill prohibits the Board of Education from adopting the Common Core State Standards without prior approval from the General Assembly.

HB1872 (Bulova) requires the Board of Education to develop a training program for principals and assistant principals that imparts the knowledge and leadership skills necessary to oversee the improvement of student performance in elementary, middle, or high schools that have been denied accreditation or accredited with warning for two consecutive years. Additionally, the bill allows the school board in which the principal and each assistant principal of an elementary or secondary school that has been denied accreditation or accredited with warning for two consecutive years have successfully completed the training program to request, and requires the Board to grant, release from (i) state regulations currently granted to any school in the school division or (ii) school division policies and state regulations currently granted to any public charter school in the school division. These releases will remain in effect for five years or until any such administrator no longer meets the criteria for training program completion or is not enrolled in the training program and may be renewed for additional five-year periods. 

HB2220 (Davis) was tabled in the subcommittee. Many education stakeholders worked with the patron on this legislation but a compromise couldn’t be reached. As originally drafted, the bill required per-pupil funding to be allocated to the charter school by the local school division on a noncategorical basis.

HB2271 (Futrell) requires the Board of Education, as part of its regular waiver process, to request a waiver under ESEA authorizing the use of an English language proficiency assessment such as the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment as an alternative to the 11^th grade Standards of Learning End-of-Course English/Reading test for students with limited English proficiency. 

VSBA goes to Washington!

For the past three days, 25 of your school board colleagues participated in NSBA’s 2015 Advocacy Institute. While at the Advocacy Institute they gained knowledge on how to be an effective advocate from legal, legislative, and public advocacy experts and received an update on federal legislation moving through Congress. Armed with expert information, your school board colleagues met with members of the Virginia Congressional delegation including Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and Representatives Bobby Scott, Rob Wittman, Bob Goodlatte, Robert Hurt, and Dave Brat. These successful meetings allowed us to share our thoughts and stories on ESEA reauthorization, IDEA funding, sequestration, and reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. All of the members of our Congressional delegation were receptive to our message of increase local control and flexibility. 

Thank you to all of those board members who participated in the 2015 Advocacy Institute and Day on the Hill. Your voice and your stories make a difference! VSBA looks forward to continuing to work with all of our board members and members of Congress to ensure a robust public education system for the Commonwealth.

VSBA members meet with Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. 

VSBA members meet with Representative Bobby Scott (VA-03) who serves as the Ranking Member on the House Education and Workforce Committee. 

Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine show their support for NSBA's "Stand Up 4 Public Education" campaign. 

Monday Update from Education Committees

As we near crossover, Committees are working hard to act on all remaining bills. 

This morning, the House Education Committee took action on a large number of bills:

HB1361 (Bell) was reported and referred to Appropriations.  This bill, identical to one filed last year, establishes a statewide Virtual Virginia School.

HB2238 (LaRock), which originally did not make it out of Committee, was resurrected, amended, and then reported and referred to Appropriations.  The bill permits parents of students with disabilities to apply to the Department of Education for a Parental Choice Savings Account which would allow the parent to use state funds for certain expenses of the student including tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a private school, preschool, or program of home instruction, educational therapies or services, tutoring services, curriculum, tuition or fees for a private online learning program, fees for a nationally standardized norm-references achievement test, contributions to a qualified tuition program, or tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a public two-year or four-year higher education institution or an accredited private higher education institution in the Commonwealth.

HB1328 (Cole) was referred to the Courts Committee.  The bill would require school principals to determine the citizenship and immigration status of each student.  The bill would also require school boards to report this data to DOE and DOE to submit an invoice to U.S. DOE for reimbursement of the costs of educating students who are not lawfully present in the U.S. 

HB1334 (Landes) requires DOE to develop policies to ensure compliance with the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and state law applicable to students' personally identifiable information.  The bill also sets forth requirements for reporting disclosures of this information.  The bill was reported unanimously.

HB1338 (Farrell) would allow school boards to report hardware necessary for electronic textbooks as an instructional expense.  The bill was reported and referred to Appropriations.

HB1351 (Ramadan), related to diploma seals for biliteracy, was reported.

HB1443 (Bell) would require the Board of Education to adopt regulations on the use of seclusion and restraint that, among other things, are consistent with 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 bill was reported unanimously.  This bill is identical to SB782, which has already been passed by the Senate.

HB1587 (Landes) was amended to require that when a school employee is exposed to the body fluids of a minor, the minor is not deemed to have consented to blood testing until notice has been given to the parent.  The amended bill was reported.

HB1612 (Greason) requires certain  online service providers who contract with school divisions to meet certain requirements related to data privacy and the use of student data.  The bill was reported.

HB1627 (Bell), which would have allowed an alternative assessment for economics education and financial literacy, was tabled.

HB1679 (Bell) was reported.  The bill requires school boards to post on their websites information the services available through the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the  Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired,

HB1744 (Hugo) reinstates the fact finding panel process for teacher grievances.  While currently the bill gives school boards the option to use a fact finding panel and does not make its use mandatory, VSBA is vehemently opposed to this bill because it is backtracking and opens the door to further changes (such as making the fact finding panel process mandatory in the future) that would make the grievance process longer and more costly.  The bill was reported and referred to the Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee.

HB1952 (Poindexter) related to the sale or transfer of used school buses was reported.

HB1962 (Landes) adds several topics to the required annual training for school board members and further requires that school board members certify their attendance at such training.  The bill was reported unanimously.

In addition, the Senate Subcommittee on Public Education also met and took the following actions:

SB998 (Stuart), which would have required a management plan for the implementation of concussion policies was passed by indefinitely.

SB1063 (Obenshain) would have allowed up to 25 percent of teachers in elementary charter schools and up to 50% of teachers in middle and high charter schools to be unlicensed.  There was no motion on the bill.

SB1286 (McDougle), which requires school boards to publish the annual school budget in line item on their websites, was reported.

SB1293 (Martin) prohibits school boards and the DOE from requiring the disclosure of student's social security numbers of newly enrolled students.  The bill was reported.

SB1354 (Reaves) requires DOE to establish a process for school boards to identify students who have a parent in the military and to report data on such students for the purposes of enhancing funding and services for those students.  The bill was reported.

SB1369 (Norment) established a private, statewide STEAM Academy.  For each student enrolled, the STEAM Academy would receive a proportionate share of federal, state, and local funding.  The bill was reported. 

SB1386 (Vogel) would require every person seeking licensure or relicensure as a teacher to receive professional development on the screening, intervention, accommodation, and use of technology for students with reading disabilities, including dyslexia.  The motion to report the bill failed on a tie vote.

Good news to share!

This afternoon the House Appropriations unanimously reported HB1490 (Habeeb). 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. Governor McAuliffe has included $200,000 in his budget amendments for the costs of these expedited retakes beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. 

Another very busy day in the Education Committees.

It’s been another busy day at the General Assembly with several committee and subcommittee meetings. This morning, the bills below were reported from the full House Education committee. Additionally, there were two bills before the Senate Finance committee that the committee reported and VSBA offered their support. 

SB866 (Chafin) and SB1075 (Vogel), relating to the option for localities to participate in the state employee health plan, reported unanimously with a substitute. The substitute bill allows local school boards and local governments to participate in the state employee health plan. However, it does require the authorization from both the local school board and local governing body to participate in the plan. 

Report from the House Education committee: 

HB1672 (Greason) was reported and referred from the committee on a 20-2 vote. This legislation repeals the A-F school grading system and requires the Board of Education, in consultation with the SOL Innovation Committee, to redesign the School Performance Report Card so that it is more effective in communicating to parents and the public the status and achievements of the public schools and local school divisions. HB1313, HB1566, and HB2180 were all tabled in lieu of HB1672 which will be the vehicle used for A-F school grading moving forward. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Appropriations due to the potential fiscal impact of redesigning the School Performance Report Card

HB1675 (Greason) was reported from committee with amendments. The new bill incorporates components of HB1491, HB1592 and HB1684. The bill permits local school divisions to waive 1) the requirement for students to receive 140 clock hours of instruction to earn a standard credit or 2) the requirement for students to achieve a satisfactory score on a SOL assessment test or Board-approved substitute test to earn a verified credit upon providing the Board with satisfactory proof, based on Board guidelines, that the students for whom such requirements are waived have learned the content and skills included in the relevant Standards of Learning. The Board guidelines will provide that a satisfactory score on a locally developed alternative assessment or on an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examination is proof that the student has learned the content.

HB2238 (LaRock) which creates Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts failed to report from the full committee on a 10-10 vote. It is expected that this legislation may be brought back up for consideration at another committee meeting. This bill will allow parents of qualified students to apply to the Department of Education for the Savings Account to consist of the student’s state per pupil funding and certain special education funds. Those funds may be used for certain expenses of the student including tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a private school, preschool, or program of home instruction, educational therapies or services, tutoring services, curriculum, tuition or fees for a private online learning program, fees for a nationally standardized norm-references achievement test, contributions to a qualified tuition program, or tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a public two-year or four-year higher education institution or an accredited private higher education institution in the Commonwealth. A qualified student means a resident of the Commonwealth and who:

• Has a 504 or IEP plan;
• Has a parent who is a member of the armed forces of the United States;
• Lives in a permanent foster care placement; or
• Was accepted for placement for foster care and was adopted.

HB2318 (Orrock) reported with a substitute 18-4. This bill would require the Board of Education’s formula for assessing high school graduation rates, as used for the Standards of Accreditation, to exclude from rates of on-time graduates each student who fails to graduate on time based on extenuating circumstances that are outside of the control of the local board in extenuating circumstances.

House Education Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee:

In addition to the full House Education Committee (reported below), the Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee also met today.  The subcommittee recommending reporting HB 1351 (Ramadan) related to biliteracy diploma seals, HB 1627 (R. Bell)m which allows an alternative assessment for economics education and financial literacy, and HB 1952 (Poindexter) related to the sale or transfer of school buses.

In addition, HB 1443 (Bell), which would require the Board of Education to adopt regulations on the use of seclusion and restraint was also recommended for reporting unanimously.  An identical bill has already been passed by the Senate. 

HB 1612 (Greason) was amended in subcommittee and would require certain online service providers who contract with school divisions to meet certain requirements related to data privacy and the use of student data.  The amended bill was recommended for reporting.

Senate Subcommittee on Public Education:

Finally, the Public Education Subcommittee of the Senate Education and Health Committee also met today.  The subcommittee reported SB 900 (Barker) related to the dates for administering SOL assessments, SB 1116 (Barker) related to alternative assessments for students with limited English proficiency, and SB 1021 (Puller), which allows school boards to count as instructional time up to 15 minutes per day of recess. 

The subcommittee also considered SB 1145 (Alexander), which is related to training for school board members.  SB 1145 was amended earlier this week to be identical to HB 1962 (Landes), which VSBA supports.  Today, however, the subcommittee further amended SB 1145 to remove many of the important provisions, including the listing of topics that would be the subject of training.  The subcommittee reported the amended bill. 

And we saved a bit of good new for last ... Senator Favola's SB 980 was scheduled to be heard today in the Senate subcommittee This bill would have reversed much of the good work that was accomplished - and to which VSBA contributed greatly - in the 2013 session when the teacher grievance procedure statutes were rewritten.  SB 980 would have restored the three-person fact finding panel process to the grievance procedure.  VSBA is strongly opposed to SB 980 and we have been lobbying Senator Favola to change her mind about this bill.  Today, Senator Favola withdrew SB 980 - a huge win for VSBA and school boards across Virginia.     
 

A snowy morning at the General Assembly

Early this morning the House Education Reform subcommittee met to take up a number of bills related to A-F school grading and alternative assessments. Below is a summary of their actions.

HB1672 (Greason) was reported from the subcommittee. This legislation repeals the A-F school grading system and requires the Board of Education, in consultation with the SOL Innovation Committee, to redesign the School Performance Report Card so that it is more effective in communicating to parents and the public the status and achievements of the public schools and local school divisions. HB1313, HB1566, and HB2180 were all tabled in lieu of HB1672 which will be the vehicle used for A-F school grading moving forward.

HB1675 (Greason) was reported from subcommittee with amendments. The new bill incorporates components of HB1491, HB1592 and HB1684. The bill requires the Board of Education, in establishing course and credit requirements for a high school diploma, to allow local school divisions to waive 1) the requirement for students to receive 140 clock hours of instruction to earn a standard credit or 2) the requirement for students to achieve a satisfactory score on a SOL assessment test to earn a verified credit upon providing the Board with satisfactory score on a locally developed alternative assess or on an Advanced Placement  or International Baccalaureate examination.

HB2238 (LaRock) which creates Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts reported from subcommittee on a 3-2 vote. This bill will allow parents of qualified students to apply to the Department of Education for the Savings Account to consist of the student’s state per pupil funding and certain special education funds. Those funds may be used for certain expenses of the student including tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a private school, preschool, or program of home instruction, educational therapies or services, tutoring services, curriculum, tuition or fees for a private online learning program, fees for a nationally standardized norm-references achievement test, contributions to a qualified tuition program, or tuition, fees, or required textbooks at a public two-year or four-year higher education institution or an accredited private higher education institution in the Commonwealth. A qualified student means a resident of the Commonwealth and who:

•  Has a 504 or IEP plan;
• Has a parent who is a member of the armed forces of the United States;
•  Lives in a permanent foster care placement; or
• Was accepted for placement for foster care and was adopted.

HB2318 (Orrock) reported with an amendment 6-1. This bill would require the Board of Education’s formula for assessing high school graduation rates, as used for the Standards of Accreditation, to exclude from rates of on-time graduates each student who fails to graduate on time based on circumstances that are outside of the control of the local board in extenuating circumstances.

HB1448 (McQuinn) and HB2005 (Torian) were stricken from the docket in subcommittee at the request of the patrons.  

All of the bills that reported from the House Education Reform subcommittee are on the full House Education committee docket for tomorrow morning. More updates to come!

VSBA Advocacy in Action at the General Assembly

This morning the House Counties, Cities, and Towns committee took action on HB1383 (Morris). This legislation would allow local governing bodies to remove appointees at any time, including school board members, with a 2/3 majority vote of the local governing body. VSBA activated members from the 20 appointed school boards to contact their legislators and members of the committee to urge their opposition to the bill. With help from those appointed school board members, including several who passionately testified before the committee, we were able to successfully defeat this legislation on a 13-5 vote, flipping many of the votes from subcommittee. 

Thank you to all of those board members who wrote letters, made phone calls, and advocated against HB1383, especially those who traveled to Richmond to testify. Your voice made a difference! 

Richmond County Board Members John Brown and Brenda Pemberton testify before the House Counties, Cities, and Towns committee on HB1383. 

Legislators listen to testimony from school board members on HB1383.