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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2004 SESSION
Chairman: H. Russell Potts, Jr.
Date of Meeting: February 26, 2004
Time and Place: 8:00 A.M., SENATE ROOM B, GENERAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING
HOUSE HEALTH BILLS WILL BE HEARD 1ST
Patron: Welch
Practice of podiatry; surgery. Increases the anatomical area of the foot where a podiatrist may perform amputations. The bill authorizes podiatrists to perform amputations proximal to the metatarsal-phalangeal joints in a hospital or ambulatory surgery center that has the appropriate statutorily required accreditation. The bill does not allow amputation of the foot proximal to the transmetatarsal level through the metatarsal shafts.
Patron: Hamilton
Health professions; practice of midwifery. Provides for the licensure by the Board of Medicine of those persons who have obtained the Certified Professional Midwife credential to practice midwifery pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board of Medicine. The Board of Medicine shall adopt regulations, with advice from the Advisory Board on Midwifery established in this bill. The regulations shall (i) address the requirements for licensure to practice midwifery (ii) be consistent with the current job analysis for the profession; (iii) ensure professional autonomy; (iv) provide for an appropriate license fee; and (v) include requirements for licensure renewal and continuing education. The regulations shall not (a) require any agreement, written or otherwise, with another health care professional, or (b) require the assessment of a woman who is seeking midwifery services by another health care professional. Licensed midwives must disclose to clients certain background information, including their training and experience, a written protocol for medical emergencies, malpractice or liability insurance coverage, and procedures to file complaints with the Board of Medicine. The bill provides immunity to physicians, nurses, prehospital emergency personnel or health care institutions for acts resulting from the administration of services by any licensed midwife.
Patron: Jones, S.C.
Practice of optometry. Revises the requirements for the practice and licensure of optometrists by requiring, after June 30, 2004, every person initially licensed to practice optometry to meet the qualifications for a TPA-certified optometrist, and by expanding TPA-certified optometrists' prescriptive authority to include Schedule VI controlled substances for the purpose of examining and determining abnormal or diseased conditions of the human eye or related structures. The bill authorizes TPA-certified optometrists to prescribe and administer Schedule III through VI controlled substances and devices to treat diseases of the human eye and its adnexa as determined by the Board. This authority is expanded to include certain injectable Schedule VI drugs for the treatment of abnormal or diseased conditions of the adnexa and intramuscular administration of epinephrine for treatment of emergency cases of anaphylactic shock, but treatment of infantile or congenital glaucoma and the use of injectables for cosmetic purposes are prohibited. There is an emergency clause requiring the Board of Optometry to promulgate regulations within 280 days of enactment.
Patron: Suit
Validity of septic tank permits. Grandfathers certain onsite sewage systems into the Board of Health's regulatory scheme. The bill provides that whenever any onsite sewage system is failing and the Board's regulations for repairing it impose (i) a requirement for treatment beyond the level of treatment provided by the existing onsite sewage system when operating properly or (ii) a new requirement for pressure dosing, the owner may request a waiver from such requirements. The Commissioner is required to grant such request, unless he finds that the failing system was installed illegally without a permit. Such waivers must be recorded in the land records of the clerk of the circuit court. Except between a husband and a wife, such waivers are not transferable and are null and void upon transfer or sale of the property. The owner of the property is required to disclose, in writing, to any and all potential purchasers or mortgage holders that any operating permit for the onsite sewage system that has been granted a waiver shall be null and void at the time of transfer or sale of the property and that the Board's regulatory requirements for additional treatment or pressure dosing are required before an operating permit may be reinstated.
Patron: Hamilton
Practice of dentistry or dental hygiene by students; temporary licenses to persons enrolled in advanced dental education programs; emergency. Modernizes the authority for dental students and dental hygiene students to practice under the direction of competent instructors. This bill removes the mere authority to perform dental operations when enrolled in advanced dental programs (e.g., internships, residencies, certificate and degree programs in hospitals and schools of dentistry) and authorizes the Board to issue temporary annual licenses to these advanced dental students. The Board may promulgate regulations to carry out the temporary licensure program and may require reports from the hospitals and schools of dentistry that operate the programs. Students enrolled in schools of dentistry may perform dental operations in accredited programs, nonprofit dental clinics providing indigent care, governmental or indigent care clinics to which they are assigned in their final academic year, and private dental offices for a limited time during the final academic year. Two enactment clauses require that (i) the Board of Dentistry must promulgate emergency regulations and (ii) the act is an emergency, to be in effect from its passage.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Moran
Conservatorship. Eliminates the authority of a conservator for an incapacitated person to seek a divorce without prior court authorization. Guardians of incapacitated persons are prohibited from seeking a change in a person's marital status without prior court approval.
Patron: McDonnell
Screening tests for infants. Directs that the physician or certified nurse midwife charged with an infant's care after delivery perform the screening test for inborn errors of metabolism rather than the physician, nurse or midwife in charge of the delivery of the baby.
Patron: Bryant
Vaccines in certified nursing facilities and nursing homes. Requires, unless the vaccination is medically contraindicated or the resident declines the offer of the vaccination, that each nursing home and certified nursing facility provide or arrange for the administration to its residents of (i) an annual vaccination against influenza and (ii) a pneumococcal vaccination, in accordance with the most recent recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Patron: Byron
Morning-after pill; parental consent for minors required. The bill requires a prescriber to obtain parental consent prior to prescribing Plan B, or any other form of the MAP, to an unemancipated minor. Prescribing without consent is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron: Marshall, R.G.
Morning-after pill; public institutions of higher education prohibited from making such available. Prohibits any public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth from making available the morning-after pill in its delivery of health care services to students.
Patron: Shuler
Faculty representatives to boards of visitors, the State Board for Community Colleges, and local community college boards. Requires the boards of visitors of four-year public institutions of higher education, the State Board for Community Colleges, and local community college boards to appoint a nonvoting, advisory faculty representative to their boards. In the case of the State Board for Community Colleges, the representative must be appointed from among persons elected by the Chancellor's Faculty Advisory Committee. Faculty representatives to boards of visitors and local community college boards must be appointed from among those individuals elected by the faculty, faculty senate, or other equivalent group of the institution. All representatives must serve terms of not less than one 12-month period, which is coterminous with the institution's fiscal year, or for terms mutually agreed to by (i) the State Board for Community Colleges and the Chancellor's Faculty Advisory Committee, or, (ii) as the case may be, the local community college board or the board of visitors and the institution's faculty senate or other equivalent group. The State Board for Community Colleges, local community college boards, and boards of visitors may exclude the faculty representative from discussions of faculty grievances, faculty or staff disciplinary matters, salaries, or other matters, in their discretion.
Patron: Lingamfelter
Charter School Excellence and Accountability Act. Amends the charter schools statute to (i) require public charter schools to maintain high standards for teachers and administrators; (ii) allow charter schools to contract with private institutions of higher education for school facilities, services, and other undertakings, including construction; (iii) add evidence of the support of school division residents for a charter school to those items that may be included in proposed charter agreement materials; (iv) allow charter applicants to submit the proposed charter agreement to the Board of Education for review and comment, and to require inclusion of the Board's findings in the charter application to the local school board; (v) delete the authority of school boards to limit the number of charter schools within the division and the statutory cap on the maximum number of charter schools (two schools or not more than 10 percent of the total number of schools in the division, whichever is greater); (vi) delete the requirement that half the charter schools in the division be designed to benefit at-risk pupils, and instead direct school boards to give priority to applications designed to benefit these students, particularly those at-risk students currently served by schools that have not achieved full accreditation; (vii) direct the Board to report annually to the General Assembly the number of public charter school applications granted and denied, and the reasons for any such denials; (viii) increase the maximum charter term from three to five years; (xi) amend the State and Local Government Conflicts of Interests Act to allow the governing body, administrators, and other personnel within a public charter school to have an ownership or financial interest in renovating, lending, granting, or leasing public charter school facilities, provided such interest has been disclosed in the public charter school application.
The measure includes a July 1, 2009, sunset on these new provisions. HB 845 was rolled into this measure.
Patron: Marrs
Model student conduct policies. Directs the Board of Education, in developing model student conduct policies, to include standards for school board policies on self-defense.
School boards must adopt student conduct policies that are at least consistent with the Board's model, and may adopt more stringent policies.
Patron: Hamilton
Enhanced compensation and retirement benefits for certain employees of local public school boards. Authorizes local school boards to employ turnaround specialists to address conditions at a public school that may impede educational progress and effectiveness and academic success. The bill also authorizes local school boards to offer increased retirement benefits and compensation to turnaround specialists and licensed instructional personnel teaching in a subject matter in grades six, seven, or eight under a middle school critical shortage program adopted by the State Board of Education.
Patron: Tata
Regulation of private, for-profit schools. Eliminates division of regulatory responsibility between the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) and the Board of Education (BOE) for privately owned, for-profit career training schools by granting SCHEV regulatory authority for private institutions of higher education operating in Virginia and postsecondary schools (which may or may not offer degree programs). The Board of Education will only license and regulate schools for students with disabilities; it will no longer review nondegree credit, certificate, and diploma programs offered by postsecondary schools offering diplomas or certificates.
The measure offers definitions of noncollege degree schools (those offering academic-vocational programs and those limited to vocational (nondegree) programs). School definitions are distinguished by "degree," "nondegree," "college degree," and "noncollege degree" offerings.
The measure also directs SCHEV to appoint the Career College Advisory Board, comprised of college and university representatives and other members, to assist in "academic and administrative matters related to private proprietary institutions of higher education and academic-vocational noncollege degree schools."
The measure also provides that private institutions shall not be required to obtain another authorization from the Council to operate in Virginia if (i) they were formed, chartered or established in this Commonwealth, or chartered by an Act of Congress; (ii) have maintained a main or branch campus continuously in the Commonwealth for at least 10 calendar years under their current ownership; (iii) were continuously approved or authorized to confer or grant academic or professional degrees by the Council, by the Board of Education or by an act of the General Assembly during those 10 years; and (iv) are fully accredited by an accrediting agency that is recognized by, and has met the criteria for Title IV eligibility of the United States Department of Education. If authorization to confer or grant academic or professional degrees is revoked, the institution must seek reauthorization and must do so annually until it meets this criteria.
Other changes in the measure provide that (i) only institutions of higher education and academic-vocational noncollege degree schools may offer degree programs; (ii) academic-vocational and vocational noncollege degree schools are subject to various contractual, name, and other requirements that were previously limited only to private institutions of higher education (typically, four-year private institutions and other private entities using "college" in their names); and (iii) SCHEV will maintain a list of postsecondary schools it has certified or licensed for operation in Virginia.
SCHEV certification is required to operate as a postsecondary school (private institutions of higher education and academic-vocational or vocational noncollege degree schools); SCHEV approval is required for degree granting and use of the words "college" or "university" (institutions of higher education and academic-vocational noncollege degree schools).
Patron: Bell
Qualifications for providing home instruction. Requires persons providing home instruction to hold a high school diploma.
Under current law, such individuals must hold a baccalaureate degree.
Patron: Nutter
Unfunded scholarships. Eliminates the restriction on the number of unfunded graduate and undergraduate scholarships public institutions of higher education may award to resident and nonresident students. The total value of all such scholarships, however, remains unchanged.
Patron: Oder
Policies for required reinstatement of certain military students. Directs the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) to include in its guidelines for tuition relief, refunds, and reinstatement for military students who withdrew from enrollment in a public institution of higher education due to service in a "defense crisis" provisions addressing (i) procedures for the required reenrollment of students whose call to active duty military service precluded their completion of a semester or equivalent term and (ii) policies providing for the required reenrollment of such military students.
The current SCHEV guidelines direct the institutions to "detail the circumstances under which a student shall be allowed to re-enroll" and state that "[g]enerally, a student who is called to active duty or is mobilized should be assured a reasonable opportunity to re-enroll ... without having to re-apply for admission if the student returns to the same institution within one year ...."
Patron: Baskerville
Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program and Fund. Creates the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program for the purpose of assisting students who were enrolled in the public schools of Virginia between 1954 and 1964, in jurisdictions in which such public schools were closed to avoid desegregation, in obtaining a high school diploma, the General Education Development certificate, career or technical education or training, or an undergraduate degree from a public institution of higher education in Virginia. The State Council of Higher Education shall administer the Program. The Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Awards Committee, established in the legislative branch of state government, is composed of legislators and nonlegislative citizen members appointed by the Joint Rules Committee and the Governor and is authorized to award the scholarships and govern the Program. The Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program Fund, a special nonreverting fund, is established on the books of the Comptroller to receive appropriations, gifts, grants, donations, and bequests for the Program. The bill also establishes student eligibility for such scholarships and stipulates that scholarships may be used only for payment of tuition charges. In addition, the bill provides that (i) the Program does not establish any legally enforceable right or entitlement on the part of any person or any right or entitlement to participation in the program; and (ii) scholarships must be awarded to the extent funds are made available or as directed by the appropriation act.
This bill also allows individuals entitled to an income tax refund to contribute a portion, at least $1, or all of the refund to the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Fund for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2004.
The second enactment clause provides that educational terms used in the act shall be construed as defined in Titles 22.1, 23, and 40.1.
This bill is supported by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.
Patron: Reese
School division consolidation. Directs the Board of Education, consistent with its authority pursuant to Article VIII, § 5 of the Constitution of Virginia to designate school divisions to promulgate regulations that provide for a process whereby school divisions may submit proposals for the consolidation of school divisions. Such regulations shall provide for, among other things, a public notice and hearing process to be conducted by the applicant school divisions.
School division proposals must include, among other things, (i) evidence of the cost savings to be realized by such consolidation; (ii) a plan for the transfer of title to school board property to the resulting school board; (iii) procedures and a schedule for the proposed consolidation, including completion of current division superintendent and school board member terms; (iv) a plan for proportional school board representation of the localities comprising the new school division, including details regarding the appointment or election processes currently ensuring such representation and other information as may be necessary to evidence compliance with federal and state laws governing voting rights; and (v) evidence of local support for the proposed consolidation.
For five years following completion of such consolidation, the computation of the state and local share for an educational program meeting the standards of quality for school divisions resulting from consolidations shall be the lower composite index of local ability-to-pay of the applicant school divisions, as provided in the appropriation act.
Patron: Rust
Virginia Educational Ventures Consortium. Creates the Virginia Educational Ventures Consortium to facilitate the development of innovative and cost-effective distance learning instructional initiatives that address underserved constituencies. Comprised of participating public and private institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, the Consortium is to (i) establish and administer agreements with public and private institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth and other entities to conduct studies examining the need for distance learning initiatives and to develop and execute, on a continuing basis, strategies to address such distance learning needs of underserved constituencies in the Commonwealth and (ii) enter into contracts for distance learning program development.
The gubernatorial-appointed 13-member Board of Trustees is comprised of eight members to be nominated by the participating institutions, five of whom shall represent participating members of the Consortium and three citizen members, all of whom shall have expertise in information technology systems or instructional systems design and delivery; the Director of the State Council of Higher Education, the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, the Secretary of Technology, and the Secretary of Education, as ex officio members with full voting privileges; and one non-voting representative of the Office of the Attorney General.
This measures expires on July 1, 2009.
Patron: Dillard
At-Risk Student Academic Achievement Program. Creates the At-Risk Student Academic Achievement Program and Fund, to provide noncompetitive grants to public school divisions to implement research-based programs or programs identified as best practices that are designed to (i) improve the academic achievement of at-risk public school students on the Standards of Learning assessments; (ii) decrease the rate of dropout among at-risk public school students; and (iii) increase the number of such students obtaining the advanced studies diploma. The amount of grants and required local matching funds shall be determined as provided in the appropriation act. Funds received through this Program shall be used to supplement, not supplant, any local funds currently provided for at-risk programs within the school division.
Patron: Dillard
Standards of Quality. Reorganizes the Standards of Quality and makes substantive amendments that would (i) increase from one half-time to one full-time principal in elementary schools with fewer than 300 students; (ii) provide one full-time assistant principal for each 400 students in each school, regardless of grade level; (iii) require five elementary resource positions per 1,000 students in kindergarten through grade five for art, music, and physical education; (iv) lower the pupil-teacher ratio from 25:1 to 21:1 in middle and high schools, to ensure the provision of scheduled teacher planning time; (v) reduce the required speech pathologist caseload from 68 to 60 students; (vi) require one full-time reading specialist for each 1,000 students in average daily membership; (vii) require two technology support positions per 1,000 students in kindergarten through grade 12 divisionwide; and (viii) modify the current funding mechanism for remediation.
A second enactment clause provides that the amendments requiring additional state funding (such as increasing principals or lowering pupil-teacher ratios) will not become effective unless funded in the 2004 appropriation act.
The measure also includes a number of technical and editorial changes.
The Board of Education proposed and approved these changes on June 25, 2003. Because the Virginia Constitution grants the General Assembly "ultimate authority" over educational policy and provides that the Standards are to be "prescribed from time to time by the Board of Education" but are subject to revision "only by the General Assembly," legislation is necessary to enact the Board's proposals.
Patron: Dillard
Family life education. Adds steps to take to avoid sexual assault and the availability of counseling and legal resources, and, in the event of such sexual assault, the importance of immediate medical attention and advice, as well as legal requirements to those items that the Board of Education is to include in its curriculum guidelines for family life education. Pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (8 VAC 20-131-170), local school boards are authorized to implement the Standards of Learning for the Family Life Education program promulgated by the Board of Education or a Family Life Education program consistent with the Board's guidelines, which shall have the goals of "reducing the incidence of pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases and substance abuse among teenagers."
Patron: Dillard
Alternatives to student dissection of animals. Requires school divisions to provide students with alternatives to animal dissection in relevant public school courses or curriculum and directs the Board of Education to develop guidelines for such alternatives addressing (i) the use of detailed models of animal anatomy and computer simulations as alternatives to dissection; (ii) notification of students and parents of the option to decline to participate in animal dissection; and (iii) such other issues as the Board deems appropriate.
Statutes addressing alternatives to animal dissection have been enacted in several states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
Patron: Hamilton
Teachers; local eligibility license. Prohibits the issuance of local eligibility licenses to teachers providing instruction in special education, and limits the issuance of these licenses to those teachers providing instruction in courses that do not represent core academic areas as defined by P.L. 107-110 (the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)).
The measure is designed to comply with NCLB provisions addressing "highly qualified" teachers. The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NCLB requires, among other things, that schools receiving certain federal Title I funds ensure that "highly qualified" teachers are in place in all core academic subjects by 2005-2006. In addition, beginning with the 2002-2003 school year, all new hires must be "highly qualified." To satisfy the "highly qualified" classification, teachers must be fully licensed; emergency or similar temporary licensure will not suffice. In addition, new and current teachers must hold undergraduate degrees and meet various state testing and subject matter competency requirements.
Patron: Weatherholtz
School board policies prohibiting firearms. Authorizes school divisions to establish disciplinary policies prohibiting the possession of firearms on school property, school buses, and at school-sponsored activities by students, and authorizes school divisions to take disciplinary actions against students who violate such policies. The measure indicates that the act is declaratory of existing law.
The measure would allow school boards to establish policies to discipline students who carry weapons on school property, including an unloaded firearm in a closed container.
An October 2003 opinion of the Attorney General indicated that a school board "has authority to discipline, in the context of the complete analysis of this opinion, a student whose action is in conformance with the language of Chapter 619 of the 2003 Acts of Assembly (the "2003 amendment"), which amends and reenacts § 18.2-308.1(B), pertaining to the possession of an unloaded firearm in a locked vehicle trunk." While noting that the "interaction between §§ 18.2-308.1(B) and 22.1-277.07(A) is not a model of clarity," the Attorney General stated that "[a]s long as the regulations of the school authorities are not inconsistent with the 2003 amendment, school authorities are authorized to promulgate reasonable regulations that may result in the discipline of a student whose action is in conformance with the language of the 2003 amendment pertaining to the possession of an unloaded firearm."
The 2003 amendment to subsection B of § 18.2-308.1 permits a student to possess a firearm that is unloaded and in a closed container, which "includes a locked vehicle trunk," on school property or at a school-sponsored activity.
Patron: Dillard
Rehiring of retired teachers; designation of critical need areas. Directs local school boards to annually survey their respective divisions to identify critical shortages of teachers and administrative personnel by subject matter, and report such critical shortages to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and to the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). The school board may delegate this duty to the division superintendent. Retired persons rehired as teachers and administrators for such identified shortage positions may elect to continue to receive VRS benefits.
Under current law, only the Superintendent of Public Instruction is empowered to identify the critical shortage areas; this authority expires on July 1, 2005. Similarly, additional enactment clauses create a corresponding July 1, 2005, sunset for this measure, and an emergency clause makes it effective upon final passage.
EMERGENCY
Patron: Hull
Standards of Quality; School Performance Report Card. Directs the Board of Education, in its requirements related to the School Performance Report Card, to require the reporting of the Standards of Learning assessment scores and averages for each year. The Board shall make such reports available to the public within three months of the receipt of the scores, which shall be disaggregated for each school by gender, and by race or ethnicity. These reports shall (i) be posted on the portion of the Department of Education's website relating to the School Performance Report Card, in a format and in a manner that allows year-to-year comparisons, and (ii) may include the National Assessment of Educational Progress state-by-state assessment.
Currently, the School Performance Report Card is required by the Board's Standards of Accreditation for Public Schools (8VAC20-131-270). The report card is to include information for the most recent three-year period that sets forth, among other things, (i) SOL test scores and scores on the literacy and numeracy tests required for the Modified Standard Diploma for the school, school division, and state; (ii) percentagesof students tested, as well as the percentage of students not tested, to include a breakout of students with disabilities and limited English proficient students; (iii) student attendance and dropout rates; (iv) school safety data; (v) teacher qualifications; and (vi) percentages of students in alternative programs that do not lead to a Standard, Advanced Studies, or Modified Standard Diploma and in academic year Governor's Schools
Patron: Reid
Enforcement of school corrective action plans. Modifies the current school corrective action plan process within the Standards of Quality (SOQ) to (i) authorize the Board of Education to require an academic review, consistent with criteria to be established by the Board, of any school division upon obtaining evidence through the school academic review process that school failure is related to division level failures to implement the SOQ; (ii) require the reviewed school division to submit for approval by the Board a corrective action plan setting forth specific actions and a schedule designed to ensure that schools within its school division achieve full accreditation status; (iii) add such corrective action plans to relevant school division's six-year improvement plan; (iv) allow the Board to pursue circuit court enforcement of the development or implementation of such plans by noncompliant school divisions; and (v) delete the current mandamus process.
The Administrative Process Act is amended to provide an exemption for the determination of accreditation or academic review status of a public school or public school division or Board approval of a school division corrective action plan.
Finally, a second enactment clause directs the Board to promulgate regulations to implement the act to be effective within 280 days of its enactment.
Patron: Marrs
Compulsory school attendance enforcement; parental responsibility; use of contempt power, summons; penalty. Strengthens the mechanisms for enforcement of the compulsory school attendance law. The bill removes the restriction on the court's use of contempt power in enforcing compulsory school attendance and parental responsibility provisions. The court's authority to order the child or the parent, or both, into programs, such as extended day programs and summer school or other educational programs and treatment, such as counseling, is clarified and reinforced. The court is given the authority to summon and force a parent to appear in court with the child. The parental responsibility and involvement statute is amended to include compliance with compulsory school attendance. The parent may be charged with a Class 3 misdemeanor for violating the provisions of the parental responsibility law.
Patron: Griffith
School calendar. Adds to the "good cause" circumstances for which school divisions may be granted a waiver from the regular post-Labor Day school opening schedule a school division surrounded by a school division or divisions that have already received a waiver for other current "good cause" (severe weather, certain shared or innovative programs) and has at least 10 percent of its average daily membership comprised of nonresident students and shares program and curricula with other said school divisions.
Patron: Baskerville
Admission of certain persons to the public schools. Provides that students living with a parent (or guardian or other person have control or charge of the student), not solely for school purposes, pursuant to a Special Power of Attorney executed under §1044b of Title 10 of the United States Cod by the custodial parent while such parent is deployed outside of the school division as a member of the Virginia National Guard or as a member of the United States Armed Forces are entitled to free public education in the public schools of the division in which the student resides.
The bill is designed to addresses the problem created when a custodial parent receives orders to report for military service and the child out of necessity must live with the noncustodial parent or other legal guardian in a different school division, and is denied the right to continue his attendance in the public schools where he normally resides and is not eligible for or is denied admission to the public schools as a nonresident of the school division where the noncustodial parent resides. This bill also contains a technical amendment to correct the cross reference in § 22.1-270 to subdivision 6 in § 22.1-3.