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2016 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Public Education

Carrico (Chairman), Dunnavant, Garrett, Howell, Locke

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens, Ryan Brimmer
Date of Meeting: February 4, 2016
Time and Place: Thursday, 30 min. after adjournment in 3rd Floor East

S.B. 224

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".

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-79.5 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public schools; tobacco products.

16101813D

S.B. 428

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.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Standards of Learning assessments; administration time frame.

16101538D

S.B. 505

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.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Standards of Learning assessments; reporting of results.

16101027D

S.B. 740

Patron: Surovell

Access to electronic textbooks and adequate connectivity. Prohibits school boards from making electronic textbooks available for use by students in their residence unless the school board adopts a plan to ensure that by July 1, 2019, every student in the local school division will have access to (i) a personal computing device capable of supporting such textbooks and (ii) adequate connectivity, which the bill defines as bandwidth of at least 1 megabit per second per student. The bill permits a local school board to establish a pilot program for the use of electronic textbooks at any secondary school in the local school division provided that (a) each student at the secondary school has access to a personal computing device capable of supporting such textbooks, (b) each student at the secondary school has access to adequate connectivity, and (c) the secondary school is receiving federal funds pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or no more than five percent of the students in the local school division or 300 students, whichever is greater, participate in the pilot program.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-241 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-241.1, relating to access to electronic textbooks and adequate connectivity.

16100132D

S.B. 759

Patron: Black

Public schools; dyslexia advisor. Requires each local school board to employ one full-time equivalent advisor who specializes in the identification of, and the appropriate interventions accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-253.13:2 and 22.1-274 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public schools; personnel; dyslexia advisor.

16103103D

S.B. 763

Patron: Dance

Special education; recording of classrooms. Requires a local school division, upon written request by a parent or school board employee, to place, operate, and maintain one or more cameras in each self-contained classroom or other special education setting in which a majority of the students in regular attendance are (i) provided special education and related services and (ii) assigned to a self-contained classroom or other special education setting for at least 50 percent of the instructional day.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-215.2, relating to special education; recording of classrooms.

16103864D

S.B. 776

Patron: Barker

Public schools; residency of children in kinship care. Allows a child receiving kinship care from an adult relative to enroll in the school division where the kinship care provider resides. The bill also allows local school divisions to require one legal parent and the kinship care provider to sign affidavits detailing the kinship care arrangement as well as a power of attorney authorizing the adult relative to make educational decisions regarding the child.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-3, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, relating to determining residency of public school students.

16104536D