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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2016 SESSION
Carrico (Chairman), Dunnavant, Garrett, Howell, Locke
Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens, Ryan Brimmer
Date of Meeting: January 28, 2016
Time and Place: Thurs. 1/2 Hr. After Adj. - 3rd Floor East
Patron: Miller
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The bill requires the Board of Education to adopt and implement a transition plan over two years beginning with the 2017-2018 school year.
Patron: Miller
Public schools; tobacco. Requires each school board, by July 1, 2017, to develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use of tobacco products on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity. The bill also replaces the term "electronic cigarette" with a defined term, "nicotine vapor product".
Patron: Wexton
Certain school divisions; plan to fund and phase in full-day kindergarten. Requires each local school board that does not offer a full-day kindergarten program for each kindergarten student in the school division to develop a plan to fund and phase in such program over the course of five school years, including benchmarks for progress at the two-, three-, and four-school year intervals, and submit the plan to the General Assembly in advance of the 2017 Regular Session of the General Assembly.
Patron: Barker
Public schools; kindergarten instructional time. Directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations by July 1, 2018, establishing standards for accreditation that include a requirement that the standard school day for students in kindergarten average at least 5.5 instructional hours in order to qualify for full accreditation. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2018.
Patron: Miller
Board of Education; high school graduation requirements. Removes existing provisions related to standard and advanced studies diplomas and standard and verified units of credit and requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to (i) develop and implement, in consultation with stakeholders representing elementary and secondary education, higher education, and business and industry in the Commonwealth and including parents, policymakers, and community leaders in the Commonwealth, a Profile of a Virginia Graduate that identifies the knowledge and skills that students should attain during high school in order to be successful contributors to the economy of the Commonwealth, giving due consideration to critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship; (ii) emphasize the development of core skill sets in the early years of high school; and (iii) establish and require students to follow in the later years of high school alternative paths toward college and career readiness that include internships, externships, and credentialing. The bill requires the Board of Education to establish such graduation requirements no later than September 1, 2017, and specifies that such requirements shall apply to each student who enrolls in high school as (a) a freshman after July 1, 2018, (b) a sophomore after July 1, 2019, (c) a junior after July 1, 2020, or (d) a senior after July 1, 2021.
Patron: Wexton
Family life education; child sexual abuse. Requires the Board of Education to include in its standards of learning for family life education standards for age-appropriate instruction in the prevention, recognition, and awareness of child abduction, child abuse, child sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse. The bill also requires such standards to be taught in kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Patron: Miller
Standards of Learning assessments; students who refuse to take. Prohibits the Board of Education from including in its calculation of the passage rate of a Standards of Learning assessment for the purposes of state accountability any student who has refused to take such Standards of Learning assessment.
Patron: Miller
Standards of Learning assesments; administration time frame. Provides that, beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, the Standards of Learning assessments in grades three through five shall be administered over two consecutive school days and limited to two hours each day.
Patron: Edwards
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Patron: McEachin
Public schools; suspensions. Provides that a student may only be suspended after all feasible alternatives to suspension have been considered.
Patron: Sturtevant
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Patron: Sturtevant
Standards of Learning assessments; reporting results. Requires the Department of Education to report the results of individual students on the Standards of Learning assessments to the local school divisions by June 30 of each year.
Patron: McPike
Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Reduces the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.
Patron: Surovell
Students with limited English proficiency; alternative to the eleventh grade Standards of Learning end-of-course English reading assessment. Requires the Board of Education to authorize the use of an English language proficiency assessment such as the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment as an alternative to the eleventh grade Standards of Learning end-of-course English reading assessment for students with limited English proficiency.
Patron: Edwards
Early childhood education. Requires, on and after July 1, 2021, all school divisions to provide early childhood education programs for four-year-olds and five-year-olds who are not eligible to attend kindergarten or at-risk early childhood education programs and whose parents voluntarily wish to enroll them in such programs. These mandated early childhood education programs must be coordinated with the current at-risk early childhood programs, must be consistent with the Department of Education guidelines for early childhood education, and must meet the standards established by the Board of Education. The bill requires the Board of Education to promulgate regulations to implement the orderly phase-in of the required programs with the current voluntary programs for at-risk four-year-olds and at-risk five-year-olds who are not eligible to attend kindergarten. Implementation and funding of the required public school early childhood education programs is contingent on funding in the appropriation act. The grants for the at-risk programs may continue to be provided to public schools or other local agencies; however, the Standards of Quality funding of early childhood education will be provided only to public schools.
Patron: Barker
Students with limited English proficiency; alternative to the eleventh grade Standards of Learning end-of-course English reading assessment. Requires the Board of Education to authorize the use of an English language proficiency assessment such as the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs assessment as an alternative to the eleventh grade Standards of Learning end-of-course English reading assessment for students with limited English proficiency.
Patron: Cosgrove
Standards of Learning; history and social science. Requires the Board of Education to include in the Standards of Learning for history and social science instruction on the importance of the Battle of Great Bridge.
Patron: Favola
Standards of Quality; instructional positions. Increases, from 17 to 22 the number of full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency for which state funding is provided to local school divisions.
Patron: Favola
Teacher dismissal; hearing officer. Requires a school board that elects to appoint a hearing officer to conduct teacher dismissal hearings to appoint such hearing officer for a one-year term at its first meeting of the school year. Under current law, hearing officers are appointed on a per-hearing basis. The bill also requires the school board, prior to appointing the hearing officer, to obtain public comment through a public hearing at least 10 days after reasonable notice to the public in a newspaper of general circulation in the school division. The bill prohibits school boards from appointing as a hearing officer an employee of the appointing school board or the spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or sibling of (i) any member of the appointing school board or (ii) the school superintendent. Finally, the bill provides that in the event that the hearing officer or his relative is involved in the recommendation of dismissal as either a witness or representative, the school board shall conduct the requested hearing.