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2014 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health

Chairman: L. Louise Lucas

Clerk: Patty Lung, Wesley Bland
Staff: Thomas Stevens, Ryan Brimmer
Date of Meeting: February 27, 2014
Time and Place: 8:30 a.m. - Senate Room B
Revised to add HB 764

H.B. 132

Patron: Lingamfelter

Commissioned officers; tuition-free instruction. Adds the departments of emergency management, emergency services, public safety, and disaster management to the list of departments at state institutions of higher education in which commissioned officers of the organized militia and the Governor's military staff may receive instruction for a period not exceeding 10 months without being required to pay any fee or charge for tuition. The bill requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in consultation with the Department of Veteran Affairs, to establish guidelines for the implementation of such additions.

H.B. 190

Patron: Bell, Richard P.

Athletic trainers; possession and administration of oxygen. Provides that prescribers may authorize licensed athletic trainers to possess and administer oxygen for use in emergency situations.

H.B. 197

Patron: Landes

Supplementary written materials on documents of Virginia history and the United States Constitution. Requires teachers to ensure that all supplementary written materials used to teach the Declaration of American Independence, the general principles of the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, the charters of the Virginia Company of April 10, 1606, May 23, 1609, and March 12, 1612, and the Virginia Declaration of Rights contain accurate restatements of the principles contained in these documents and directs the Board of Education to develop guidelines for such supplementary written materials used by teachers. The bill contains technical amendments.

H.B. 205

Patron: Landes

Boards of visitors; student-athlete discipline policies. Requires the board of visitors or other governing board of each public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to establish policies for the discipline of students who participate in varsity intercollegiate athletics. The bill requires such policies to include a provision requiring an annual report by the administration of the institution to the board of visitors or other governing board regarding enforcement actions taken pursuant to such policies.

H.B. 206

Patron: Hope

Four-year public institutions of higher education; mental health resources. Requires each four-year public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth to create and feature on its website a page with information dedicated solely to the mental health resources available to students at the institution. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2015.

H.B. 258

Patron: Lingamfelter

Restrictions on student speech at institutions of higher education; limitations. Prohibits public institutions of higher education from imposing restrictions on the time, place, and manner of student speech that occurs in the outdoor areas of the institution's campus and is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution unless the restrictions (i) are reasonable, (ii) are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech, (iii) are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and (iv) leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.

H.B. 324

Patron: Bell, Richard P.

Virginia Virtual School established. Establishes the Board of the Virginia Virtual School as a policy agency in the executive branch of state government for the purpose of governing the online educational programs and services offered to students enrolled in the Virginia Virtual School. The Secretary of Education is responsible for such agency. The 13-member Board is given operational control of the School and assigned powers and duties. The bill requires the School to be open to any school-age person in the Commonwealth and provide an educational program meeting the Standards of Quality for grades kindergarten through 12. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2015.

H.B. 373

Patron: Anderson

School speech-language pathologists; licensure. Removes the Board of Education as a licensing entity for school speech-language pathologists and leaves the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology as the only licensing entity. The bill puts mechanisms in place for the transition in licensing.

H.B. 465

Patron: Massie

University of Virginia Board of Visitors; executive committee. Increases from six to seven the maximum number of members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors permitted to serve on the executive committee.

H.B. 501

Patron: Lingamfelter

Counting students granted in-state tuition for certain purposes. Requires (i) students who live outside the Commonwealth, have been employed full time inside Virginia for at least one year, and were granted in-state tuition and (ii) any active duty members, activated guard or reservist members, or guard or reservist members mobilized or on temporary active orders for six months or more residing in Virginia who were granted in-state tuition to be counted as in-state students for the purposes of determining college admissions, enrollment, and tuition and fee revenue policies. The bill requires (a) any person who is enrolled in certain programs, domiciled in, and entitled to reduced tuition charges in a Southern Regional Education Compact member state that has similar reciprocal provisions for persons domiciled in Virginia, (b) any student from a foreign country who is enrolled in a foreign exchange program during the same period that an exchange student from the same state institution entitled to in-state tuition is attending the foreign institution, and (c) any high school or magnet school student who is enrolled in courses specifically designed as part of the high school or magnet school curriculum in a community college pursuant to a dual enrollment agreement, granted in-state tuition to be counted as out-of-state students for the purposes of determining college admissions, enrollment, and tuition and fee revenue policies.

H.B. 515

Patron: Minchew

Suspension and expulsion of students; parental notification. Requires the school principal or his administrative designee to exercise reasonable efforts to notify the parents of any student who violates a school board policy or the compulsory school attendance requirements when such violation could result in the student's suspension, long-term suspension, or expulsion or the filing of a court petition.

H.B. 573

Patron: Cox

Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program; grants. Makes several changes to the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program (Program), including adding requirements that (i) each student eligible for the Program receive an award from the institution's appropriations for undergraduate student financial assistance before grants are awarded to students with equivalent remaining need,(ii) each eligible student receive an award in an amount greater than other grants awarded to students with equivalent remaining need, (iii) each eligible student receive an award in an amount greater than the award of each eligible student with equivalent remaining need in the next-lowest class level, and (iv) each award be determined by a proportionate award schedule adopted by each institution and vary according to each student's remaining need and the total of tuition, fees, and other necessary charges, including books.

H.B. 751

Patron: Rust

Expulsion of students for certain drugs offenses. Permits the school board to expel from school attendance any student whom the school board has determined to have brought a controlled substance, imitation controlled substance, or synthetic cannabinoids onto school property or to a school-sponsored activity. Under current law, the school board is required to expel such students unless the board determines that special circumstances exist and another disciplinary action is appropriate.

H.B. 754

Patron: Rust

Student discipline; modifying long-term suspensions and expulsions. Permits a school board or a committee thereof to reduce the long-term suspension or expulsion of a student or students who received a greater punishment in cases in which the school board or committee determines that (i) two or more students have engaged in closely related offenses arising out of the same incident or circumstances that lead to each student's expulsion or suspension, (ii) the cases resulted in highly disparate disciplinary decisions in which at least one student received a lesser punishment, and (iii) no rational basis exists for the disparate disciplinary decisions. The bill provides that such decisions of the school board or a committee thereof are not subject to judicial review.

H.B. 764

Patron: Kory

Assistant speech-language pathologists. Provides for the regulation of assistant speech-language pathologists. The bill permits a person to practice as an assistant speech-language pathologist upon satisfying all educational, training, and registration requirements prescribed in regulations promulgated by the Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.

H.B. 786

Patron: Wilt

Dismissal of teachers and other school board employees; grounds. Provides that no school board employee shall be dismissed or placed on probation solely on the grounds that (i) he possessed an unloaded firearm that is in a closed container in or upon his vehicle or in the locked trunk of his vehicle, a knife having a metal blade in or upon his motor vehicle, or an unloaded shotgun or rifle in a firearms rack in or upon his motor vehicle or (ii) the employee, who has a valid concealed handgun permit, possessed a concealed handgun while in his motor vehicle in a parking lot, traffic circle, or other means of vehicular ingress or egress to the school.

H.B. 886

Patron: Peace

State Council of Higher Education; postsecondary education and employment data. Requires the State Council of Higher Education to disseminate to each public high school and each institution of higher education in the Commonwealth for which the Council has student-level data a link on its website to certain published postsecondary education and employment data. The bill requires each institution of higher education to publish the link on its website and each local school board to provide annual notice on its website to each enrolled high school student and his parents about the availability of such data.

H.B. 887

Patron: Peace

Board of Education; Academic-Year Career and Technical Education Governor's School. Requires the Board of Education to develop model criteria and procedures for establishing a jointly operated high school with a career and technical education focus to be recommended to the Governor and the General Assembly for funding as a Governor's Career and Technical Education School.

H.B. 926

Patron: Greason

Behavior analysis; licensure. Establishes the Advisory Board on Behavior Analysis to advise the Board of Medicine on issues related to licensure of behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts and provides that a student enrolled in an accredited behavior analysis education program may perform behavior analysis as part of his program of study.

H.B. 930

Patron: Greason

Standards of Learning assessments; reform. Provides that the number and type of Standards of Learning assessments shall not exceed 17 specified assessments in grades three through eight. The bill requires each local school board to certify that is has provided instruction and administered an alternative assessment, in conformance with Board guidelines, for each subject area in which the Standards of Learning assessment was not administered. The bill also requires the Secretary of Education to establish the Standards of Learning Innovation Committee to periodically review the Standards of Learning and assessments.

H.B. 1086

Patron: Bell, Richard P.

Special education; full-time virtual school programs. Requires each local school board to provide free and appropriate special education for each student with a disability who attends a full-time virtual school program in the school division but resides in another school division in the Commonwealth. The bill provides that the school division in which the student resides shall (i) be released from the obligation to provide free and appropriate special education for such student and (ii) transfer to the school division in which the student attends a full-time virtual school program state and federal funds for the education of such students.

H.B. 1109

Patron: Bulova

Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments; membership. Increases the membership of the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments from seven to eight by adding one faculty member of a public institution of higher education as a nonvoting member.  The bill sets the quorum for the Commission at three voting members.

H.B. 1110

Patron: Toscano

Children placed in child-caring institutions or group homes; reimbursement of costs to educate. Requires a school division to be reimbursed by the school division in which a child's custodial parent or guardian or most recent custodial parent or guardian resides for the costs of educating such child, whether disabled or not, who has been placed, not solely for school purposes, in a licensed child-caring institution or group home that is located within the geographical boundaries of the school division to be reimbursed.

H.B. 1115

Patron: Greason

Virtual Virginia; local school divisions; shared online courses. Permits the Department of Education to contract with one or more local school boards that have created online courses to make such courses available to other school divisions through Virtual Virginia. The bill permits such school divisions to charge a per-student or per-course fee, subject to Board of Education approval. The bill requires the Department to establish the Virtual Learning Advisory Committee to advise the Department on (i) online courses, in-service training, and digital instructional resources that school divisions need to meet the Commonwealth's graduation requirements and (ii) strategic planning to expand blended and online learning opportunities in Virginia's public schools. The bill permits the Department to charge school divisions requesting to offer a course through Virtual Virginia and multidivision online providers an application fee.

H.B. 1137

Patron: Cox

Public institutions of higher education; unfunded scholarships. Adds graduate assistants to the number of graduate students used to calculate the total value of unfunded scholarships annually awarded to graduate students and clinical faculty.

H.B. 1177

Patron: Austin

Safe drinking water; local private well testing requirements. Adds the County of Bedford to the list of localities, the governing bodies of which may establish reasonable testing requirements to determine compliance with existing drinking water quality standards prior to the issuance of building permits.

H.B. 1229

Patron: Landes

Grading system for individual school performance; delay. Delays the implementation of the A-to-F school grading system by one year.