SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2008 SESSION

087308256
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 55
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Rules
on January 25, 2008)
(Patrons Prior to Substitute--Senators Locke and Northam [SJR 79])
Establishing a joint subcommittee to study the teacher shortage in the Commonwealth. Report.

WHEREAS, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, a nonprofit group that seeks to increase the retention of quality teachers, estimated from a survey of several districts that teacher turnover was costing the nation's districts some $7 billion annually for recruiting, hiring, and training; and

WHEREAS, demographers agree that education is one of the fields hardest hit by the departure of hundreds of thousands of baby boomers from the work force, particularly because a slowdown in hiring in the 1980s and 1990s raised the average age of those in the teaching profession; and

WHEREAS, the confluence of such retirements with the departure of disillusioned young teachers is exacerbating the shortage; and

WHEREAS, absenteeism, attrition, and turnover among teachers are key obstacles in providing an adequate educational opportunity for all students; and

WHEREAS, higher salaries in the business world and more opportunities for women are drawing recruits with strong academic backgrounds away from the teaching field who might in another era have proven to be talented teachers ; and

WHEREAS, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future has calculated that nearly a third of all new teachers leave the profession after just three years, and that after five years almost half are gone; and

WHEREAS, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Education statistics, approximately 269,000 of the nation's 3.2 million public school teachers, or 8.4 percent, quit the field in the 2003-2004 school year; 30 percent of them retired, and 56 percent said they left to pursue another career because they were dissatisfied; and

WHEREAS, the federal No Child Left Behind law requires schools and districts to put a qualified teacher in every classroom; and

WHEREAS, in 2005, Virginia's teacher preparation institutions, both public and private, prepared only 3,066 teachers for Virginia's classrooms; and

WHEREAS, the Virginia Department of Education has identified the following critical teacher shortage areas: special education, mathematics, career and technical education, elementary education, foreign language, middle school, reading specialist, earth science, history and social sciences, and English; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That a joint subcommittee be established to study the teacher shortage in the Commonwealth. The joint subcommittee shall have a total membership of 11 members that shall consist of eight legislative members, two nonlegislative citizen members, and one ex officio member. Members shall be appointed as follows: three members of the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; five members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates in accordance with the principles of proportional representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates; and two nonlegislative citizen members, one of whom shall be a local school board representative, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one of whom shall be a current teacher, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates. The Superintendent of Public Instruction or his designee shall serve ex officio with voting privileges. Nonlegislative citizen members of the joint subcommittee shall be citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Unless otherwise approved in writing by the chairman of the joint subcommittee and the respective Clerk, nonlegislative citizen members shall only be reimbursed for travel originating and ending within the Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of attending meetings. If a companion joint resolution of the other chamber is agreed to, written authorization of both Clerks shall be required. The joint subcommittee shall elect a chairman and vice chairman from among its membership, who shall be members of the General Assembly.

In conducting its study, the joint subcommittee shall (i) review current teacher certification and licensure requirements, as well as teacher preparation programs in Virginia; (ii) examine the effectiveness of existing programs designed to recruit and retain teachers, including Teach for America and other alternative certification routes; (iii) identify barriers to teaching as a career choice and possible solutions; (iv) evaluate other states' initiatives aimed at teacher recruitment and retention; (v) identify incentives for bringing out-of-state teachers to Virginia; (vi) examine the salary levels of beginning and veteran teachers in Virginia;  (vii) review methods and initiatives employed by other states to increase and maintain competitive teacher salaries; and (viii) evaluate the feasibility of and identify appropriate sources for creating a dedicated revenue stream to fund teacher salaries.

Administrative staff support shall be provided by the Office of the Clerk of the Senate. Legal, research, policy analysis, and other services as requested by the joint subcommittee shall be provided by the Division of Legislative Services. Technical assistance shall be provided by the Department of Education. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the joint subcommittee for this study, upon request.

The joint subcommittee shall be limited to four meetings for the 2008 interim and four meetings for the 2009 interim, and the direct costs of this study shall not exceed $8,800 for each year without approval as set out in this resolution. Approval for unbudgeted nonmember-related expenses shall require the written authorization of the chairman of the joint subcommittee and the respective Clerk. If a companion joint resolution of the other chamber is agreed to, written authorization of both Clerks shall be required.

No recommendation of the joint subcommittee shall be adopted if a majority of the Senate members or a majority of the House members appointed to the joint subcommittee (i) vote against the recommendation and (ii) vote for the recommendation to fail notwithstanding the majority vote of the joint subcommittee.

The joint subcommittee shall complete its meetings for the first year by November 30, 2008, and for the second year by November 30, 2009, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the next Regular Session of the General Assembly for each year. Each executive summary shall state whether the joint subcommittee intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summaries and reports shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.

Implementation of this resolution is subject to subsequent approval and certification by the Joint Rules Committee. The Committee may approve or disapprove expenditures for this study, extend or delay the period for the conduct of the study, or authorize additional meetings during the 2008 and 2009 interim.