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2018 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: January 18, 2018
Time and Place: 30 Min. After Adj.- Sen. Subcom. Room 2, 5th Floor

S.B. 126

Patron: Cosgrove

Driver education programs; parent/student driver education component. Requires all school divisions to administer a minimum 90-minute parent/student driver education component as part of the driver education curriculum. Currently, such component is required only in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia). The bill allows for school divisions to administer such component in-person or online, except for schools in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia), where the component must still be administered in-person.

S.B. 169

Patron: Stanley

Public schools; robotics team competition program. Prohibits a public school from becoming a member of any organization or entity whose purpose is to regulate or govern interscholastic programs unless such organization or entity has, by July 1, 2020, established a varsity level robotics team competition program that includes regional, super-regional, and state championships.

S.B. 205

Patron: Stuart

Children's Services Act; special education programs. Expands eligibility for services under the Children's Services Act to students who transfer from an approved private school special education program to a public school special education program established and funded jointly by a local governing body and school division located within Planning District 16 for the purpose of providing special education and related services when (i) the public school special education program is able to provide services comparable to those of an approved private school special education program and (ii) the student would require placement in an approved private school special education program but for the availability of the public school special education program.

S.B. 229

Patron: Hanger

School bus personnel; training program; autism spectrum disorders. Requires the Board of Education to establish a training program for school board employees who assist in the transportation of students on school buses, including individuals employed to operate school buses and school bus aides, on autism spectrum disorders, including the characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, strategies for interacting with students with autism spectrum disorders, the use of positive behavior supports, the use of restraint and seclusion, appropriate responses to bullying and unexpected changes, and collaboration with other employees who assist in the transportation of students on school buses. The bill requires each school board employee who assists in the transportation of students on school buses, including each individual employed to operate school buses and school bus aide, to participate in such training program.

S.B. 273

Patron: Petersen

Public schools; instructional time; recreational time. Authorizes local school boards to include and requires the Board of Education to accept, for grades one through six, unstructured recreational time that is designed to develop teamwork, social skills, and overall physical fitness in any calculation of total instructional time or teaching hours.

S.B. 303

Patron: Marsden

Public schools; tobacco products and nicotine vapor products. Requires each school board to (i) develop and implement a policy to prohibit the use of tobacco products and nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity and (ii) include in its code of student conduct a prohibition against possessing tobacco products or nicotine vapor products on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity.

S.B. 343

Patron: Peake

School boards; employment of certain individuals. Prohibits any school board from employing (i) any individual who has been convicted of any felony offense against a child; a certain act of violence or violent felony; or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child or (ii) any other individual who has been convicted of any other felony offense unless such individual has had his civil rights restored by the Governor and at least 5 years have passed since such conviction.

S.B. 456

Patron: McClellan

Superintendent of Public Instruction; school climate survey. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and make available annually to each public elementary and secondary school teacher in the Commonwealth a voluntary and anonymous school climate survey to evaluate school-level teaching conditions and the impact such conditions have on teacher retention and student achievement. The bill requires such survey to include questions regarding school leadership, teacher leadership, teacher autonomy, demands on teachers' time, student conduct management, professional development, instructional practices and support, new teacher support, community engagement and support, and facilities and other resources.

S.B. 476

Patron: Reeves

School principals; incident reports. Provides that school principals are not required to report criminal misdemeanors or status offenses to law enforcement if in the principal's discretion, based on a totality of the circumstances and consistent with Board of Education guidelines, such report is not warranted. The bill requires the Board of Education, in consultation with the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Office of the Attorney General, and any interested stakeholders, to update its Student Conduct Policy Guidelines to provide guidance for principals in exercising such discretion.

S.B. 557

Patron: Hanger

School bus operators; training. Codifies hourly requirements that (i) decrease from 24 to six the number of hours currently required in regulation for behind-the-wheel training for school bus operator applicants who do not possess a commercial driver's license; (ii) decrease from 24 to four the number of hours currently required in regulation for classroom training and from 24 to three the number of hours currently required in regulation for behind-the-wheel training for applicants currently possessing a commercial driver's license; and (iii) decrease from 24 to four the number of hours currently required in regulation for classroom training and from 24 to three the number of hours currently required in regulation for behind-the-wheel training for applicants previously trained and approved to operate a school bus who were not removed for cause from a prior position operating a school bus. Current law leaves the setting of such hourly requirements to the Department of Education. The bill contains technical amendments.

S.B. 658

Patron: Wagner

Literary Fund; application for loans by regional and joint schools. Clarifies that school boards of school divisions participating in a regional or joint school may jointly apply to the Board of Education for a loan from the Literary Fund to benefit the regional or joint school.

S.B. 713

Patron: Dunnavant

Standards of Quality; mathematics intervention services. Requires local school divisions to identify students in grades 10, 11, and 12 who are at risk of graduating without the necessary skills to take college-level mathematics coursework, as demonstrated by their individual performance on a Standards of Learning assessment, the PreACT, PSAT/NMSQT, ACT, or SAT, the Virginia Placement Test, or any diagnostic test that has been approved by the Department and to provide mathematics intervention services to such students. The bill requires such intervention services to be aligned with the developmental math curriculum offered by the Virginia Community College System and provides that local school divisions may partner with a local comprehensive community college to provide such intervention services.