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2017 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Public Education

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

Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: February 13, 2017
Time and Place: 9:00 a.m. - 3rd Floor East Conf. Room

H.B. 1408

Patron: Ware

Student vision screenings. Requires (i) the principal of each public elementary school to cause the vision of students in kindergarten and grade two or grade three to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and (ii) the principal of each public middle school and high school to cause the vision of students in grade seven and grade 10 to be screened unless certain exceptions apply and permits any such screening to be conducted by a qualified nonprofit vision health organization that uses a digital photoscreening method pursuant to a comprehensive vision program. The bill defines "qualified nonprofit vision health organization" and "comprehensive vision program." Under current law, the frequency of such vision screenings is determined by the Board of Education pursuant to regulations. Current law is silent on the method and provider of such vision screenings.

H.B. 1414

Patron: Austin

Standards of Learning assessments; partial credit. Requires the Department of Education to collaborate with the existing educational advisory committees in the Commonwealth that advise on student assessments to review multipart Standards of Learning assessment questions and determine the feasibility of awarding students partial credit for correct answers on one or more parts of such questions.

H.B. 1490

Patron: Marshall, R.G.

School board members who engage in war service or are called to active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States; appointment of acting school board members. Requires each school board member who is relieved from the duties of his office by reason of engaging in the war service of the United States when called forth by the Governor or being called to active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States to submit to the school board a list of names of suitable persons to perform the duties of such office as acting school board member during the period in which the regular school board member is engaged in such war service or active duty, in which case the school board is required to appoint an acting school board member from such list of names. The bill provides that during such period, the acting school board member shall be vested with all the powers, authority, rights, and duties of the regular school board member for whom he is acting.

H.B. 1661

Patron: Greason

Administration of medications to treat adrenal crisis. Provides that a prescriber may authorize an employee of (i) a school board, (ii) a school for students with disabilities, or (iii) an accredited private school who is trained in the administration of injected medications for the treatment of adrenal crisis resulting from a condition causing adrenal insufficiency to administer such medications to a student diagnosed with a condition causing adrenal insufficiency when the student is believed to be experiencing or about to experience an adrenal crisis pursuant to a written order or standing protocol issued within the course of the prescriber's professional practice and with the consent of the student's parents and provides that an employee of a school board, a school for students with disabilities, or an accredited private school who is trained in the administration of injected medications for the treatment of adrenal crisis resulting from a condition causing adrenal insufficiency who administers or assists in the administration of such medications to a student diagnosed with a condition causing adrenal insufficiency when the student is believed to be experiencing or about to experience an adrenal crisis in accordance with the prescriber's instructions shall not be liable for any civil damages for ordinary negligence in acts or omissions resulting from the rendering of such treatment.

H.B. 1708

Patron: Filler-Corn

Board of Education; standards of accreditation; industry certification credentials obtained by high school students. Requires the Board of Education (the Board) to consider for inclusion in the student outcome measures included in the Standards of Accreditation the number of industry certification credentials, as defined by the Board, obtained by high school students.

H.B. 1709

Patron: Filler-Corn

School boards; policies and procedures prohibiting bullying; parental notification. Requires the policies and procedures prohibiting bullying that are contained in each school board's code of student conduct to direct the principal to notify the parent of any student involved in an alleged incident of bullying of the status of any investigation within 14 school days of the allegation of bullying.

H.B. 1829

Patron: Dudenhefer

Teacher licensure; certification or training in emergency first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the use of automated external defibrillators; hands-on practice. Specifies that the certification or training in emergency first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the use of automated external defibrillators that is required of every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license as a teacher shall include hands-on practice of the skills necessary to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

H.B. 1981

Patron: Greason

School Divisions of Innovation. Requires the Board to promulgate regulations for the designation of School Divisions of Innovation in which the local school board in the local school division so designated shall, pursuant to a plan of innovation, be exempted from certain regulatory provisions and be permitted to adopt alternative policies for school administrators, teachers, and staff to meet the diverse needs of students and to improve student learning; educational performance; and college, career, and citizenship readiness skills in the local school division or any portion thereof.

H.B. 1982

Patron: Greason

Graduation requirements; verified units of credit; satisfactory score on the PSAT examination. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing graduation requirements, to provide for the award of verified units of credit for a satisfactory score, as determined by the Board, on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) examination.

H.B. 2142

Patron: LeMunyon

Redesigned high school graduation requirements; implementation; one-year delay. Delays by one year the implementation of the redesigned high school graduation requirements established pursuant to Chapter 750 of the Acts of Assembly of 2016.

H.B. 2174

Patron: Murphy

School boards; pupil/teacher ratios; public report. Requires each school board to annually report to the public the actual pupil/teacher ratios in middle school and high school.

H.B. 2191

Patron: Landes

School boards; procedures; sexually explicit instructional materials or related academic activities. Requires each school board's procedures for handling challenged controversial instructional materials to include procedures for (i) annually notifying the parent of any student enrolled in a course in which the instructional materials or related academic activities may include sexually explicit content of the potential for such sexually explicit content in such course and (ii) providing, as a replacement for instructional materials or related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional materials or related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests. The bill defines "sexually explicit content" as content that involves any criminal sexual assault defined and punishable as a felony under Article 7 (§ 18.2-61 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 18.2 of the Code of Virginia.

H.B. 2218

Patron: Miyares

Public charter school applications and charter agreements; findings by the Board of Education. Permits the Board of Education to communicate any Board finding relating to the rationale for the local school board's denial of a public charter school application or revocation of or failure to renew the charter agreement based on documentation submitted by the school board in any school division in which at least half of the schools receive funding pursuant to Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.

H.B. 2341

Patron: Landes

Board of Education; membership. Requires at least two of the nine members of the Board of Education to represent business and industry in the private sector in the Commonwealth.

H.B. 2352

Patron: Freitas

Teacher licensure by reciprocity; professional teacher's assessments. Exempts from any professional teacher's assessment requirements any individual who has obtained a valid out-of-state license, with full credentials and without deficiencies, that is in force at the time the application for a Virginia license is received by the Department of Education, subject to the approval of the division superintendent or the school board in the school division in which such individual is employed. The bill requires the Department of Education to analyze the current requirements for teacher licensure by reciprocity in the Commonwealth, including the statutory and regulatory requirements for such licensure, and report its findings, including any recommendations for changes to such requirements, to the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 1, 2017.