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2009 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Public Education

Blevins (Chairman), Howell, Ruff, Locke, Miller, J.C.

Clerk: Jocelyn R. Lance
Staff: Jessica Eades, Brenda Edwards
Date of Meeting: February 16, 2009
Time and Place: Monday, 1/2 hr. after Senate adj., 4 E Conf. Rm, Gen. Assembly Bl

H.B. 1980 Family life education; right of parents to review certain materials.

Patron: McClellan

Family life education; right of parents to review certain materials.  Requires school divisions to distribute a summary already required by law to be made available to parents and guardians to assist them in understanding the family life education program implemented in the school division and include a statement that states: (i) parents and guardians have the right to review all written and audiovisual educational materials used in the program, and (ii) parents and guardians have the right to remove the child from all or part of family life education instruction.

H.B. 2070 Classroom placement of twins or multiples; school board to develop policies to allow parental input.

Patron: Scott, E.T.

Local school board policies; classroom placement of siblings.  Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies to allow a parent of siblings to request that the children be placed in the same classroom or separate classrooms if they are in the same grade level at the same elementary school.

H.B. 2166 Schools; delayed implementation of certain statutes, etc. upon which accreditation is based.

Patron: Lohr

Accreditation of schools; delayed implementation of certain statutes and regulations, etc.  Provides for the delayed implementation of statutes and regulations, upon which the accreditation of schools or school divisions in the Commonwealth is based that are not already in effect on June 30, 2008, until July 1, 2010, unless such statutes or regulations are also specifically required by federal code, federal regulation, or court action.

H.B. 2224 Braille; certification of instructors.

Patron: Knight

Braille; certification of instructors.  Requires the Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired, together with the Department of Education, to promulgate regulations for the certification of individuals providing Braille instruction in the Commonwealth.  This bill provides that such regulations shall include a requirement that all individuals providing Braille instruction be certified as having passed the National Literary Braille Competency Test by July 1, 2011.

H.B. 2304 Special education; one year to appeal due process hearing decisions.

Patron: Griffith

Special education; one year to appeal due process hearing decisions.  Provides that any party aggrieved by a decision made in a due process hearing may appeal to a circuit court for a period of one year.

H.B. 2341 Suspension of a student, short-term; pending superintendent's decision on alternative education.

Patron: Amundson

Short-term suspension of a student; alternative education program.  Provides that pending the decision by the division superintendent or his designee as to whether to require that a student charged with an offense involving intentional injury to another student of the school division attend an alternative education program, a local school board may impose a short-term suspension upon such student. Additionally provides that a school board may require a student charged with certain juvenile offenses that are required to be disclosed to the superintendent of the school division to attend an alternative education program.

H.B. 2474 Planning time for school teachers; Superintendent to ensure elementary school teachers are provided.

Patron: Hugo

Planning time for school teachers. Requires school boards to ensure that all elementary school teachers are provided an average of 30 minutes a day of planning time upon certification from the Superintendent of Public Instruction that existing Standards of Quality staffing allocations of resource teachers and librarians or other appropriate instructional positions are sufficient to provide an average of 30 minutes per day as planning time to all elementary teachers.