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2004 SESSION

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SB 145 Teachers; procedure for licensure and supension and revocation of licenses.

Introduced by: Ken T. Cuccinelli, II | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Hearings for teacher dismissal and licensure revocation. Permits local school boards and teacher grievance fact-finding panels to hear a recommendation for dismissal and make a determination whether to make a recommendation to the Board of Education regarding the suspension or revocation of the teacher's license at the same hearing or hold a separate hearing for each action. This bill supersedes current Board of Education regulations requiring a local school board hearing on revocation of the teacher's license when the teacher has been dismissed in addition to a subsequent action by the Board of Education (8 VAC 20-21-660).

SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE:

Hearings for teacher dismissal and licensure revocation. Requires the Board of education's regulations on teacher licensure to include the requirements for application for and the issuance, denial, renewal and reinstatement of licenses and a single due process hearing by which the Board may suspend or revoke such licenses. The Board's regulations must include the appropriate grounds for such suspensions or revocations and a mechanism for filing and processing complaints against licensees. The Board's suspension and revocation procedure must be in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.). This bill places the responsibility for revocation hearings solely on the Board of Education and supersedes current Board of Education regulations requiring a local school board hearing on revocation of the teacher's license when the teacher has been dismissed in addition to a subsequent action by the Board of Education. (8 VAC 20-21-660).

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Hearings for teacher dismissal and licensure revocation. Codifies current Board of Education authority to provide, within teacher licensure regulations, provisions addressing license revocation and renewal that include procedures for the revocation of a teacher license upon receipt from a local school board of (i) a petition for such revocation and (ii) the record of the local school board hearing regarding such petition. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is to review and make recommendations regarding such petition and record, upon the request of the Board, and the Board shall make a final determination regarding such revocation within 60 days of receipt of the petition.

Teacher grievance procedures are amended to require teacher dismissal and licensure revocation petitions to be addressed together, whether at a hearing before the school board or fact-finding panel. The measure is designed to avoid duplicative hearings, as the grounds for dismissal and licensure revocation are the typically identical.

Current Board of Education regulations addressing revocation provide that a complaint "may be filed by anyone, but it shall be the duty of a division superintendent, principal or other responsible school employee to file a complaint in any case in which he has knowledge that a holder of a license is guilty of any offense" warranting revocation. The regulations provide for teacher notification for revocation of a license, a local school board hearing, and subsequent action by the Board of Education, and indicate that the Board retains the right to act directly in certain revocation situations (8 VAC 20-21-660).