SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

2015 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 558
Requesting the Virginia Department of Education and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to examine shortages of qualified teachers generally and in certain teaching endorsement areas and to recommend strategies for addressing these shortages. Report.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 9, 2015
Agreed to by the Senate, February 24, 2015

 

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth is experiencing a shortage of qualified teachers generally and a critical shortage of qualified teachers in certain teaching endorsement areas; and

WHEREAS, paragraph G 1 a of Item 138 of Chapter 806 of the Acts of Assembly of 2013 (the Appropriation Act), as amended, requires the Department of Education (the Department) to report on the critical shortage teaching endorsement areas in the public elementary and secondary schools of the Commonwealth for the 2014-2015 school year; and

WHEREAS, in fulfillment of its reporting requirement, the Department has determined that the 2014-2015 school year's most critical teaching endorsement areas are, in order: special education, elementary education preK-6, middle education grades 6-8, career and technical education, mathematics grades 6-12, school counselor preK-12, foreign languages preK-12, health and physical education preK-12, English, and history and social sciences; and

WHEREAS, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (the Council), in fulfillment of its statutory duty in § 23-9.6:1 of the Code of Virginia, has developed a new statewide strategic plan for higher education in the Commonwealth and, over the course of developing such plan in 2014, the Council has also identified shortages and gaps in the supply of qualified teachers in the public elementary and secondary schools of the Commonwealth and its regions; and

WHEREAS, the Council is developing performance measures, indicators, and targets to monitor and assess progress toward achievement of the statewide strategic plan's goals, which include advancing the economic and cultural prosperity of the Commonwealth and its regions; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative to the future of the Commonwealth's children, public system of education, and economic and cultural well-being for the higher education community and the elementary and secondary education community to examine and address the general shortage of qualified teachers and any specific statewide and regional deficiencies identified in teaching endorsement areas; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Virginia Department of Education and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia be requested to examine shortages of qualified teachers generally and in certain teaching endorsement areas and to recommend strategies for addressing these shortages.

The Virginia Department of Education and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary and report of their progress in meeting the requests of this resolution no later than the first day of the 2016 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary and report shall be submitted for publication as a report document 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.