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2019 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 17, 2019
Time and Place: 30 min. after Adj., Subcommittee Room 2, 5th Fl. Pocahontas Bldg.

S.B. 1138

Patron: Favola

School Divisions of Innovation; performance-based assessments. Allows a local school board, when applying for its school division to be designated as a School Division of Innovation, to apply to the Board of Education (the Board) to replace certain Standards of Learning assessments with performance-based assessments. The bill requires the Board to determine if the local school board has the capacity to administer and score performance-based assessments and provides criteria for such determination. The bill requires any proposed performance-based assessment to be an adequate replacement of the relevant Standards of Learning assessment and requires students to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required by the relevant Standards of Learning and one or more of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, or citizenship. The standards of learning assessments eligible for replacement are (i) Virginia Studies, (ii) Civics and Economics, (iii) elementary school science, and (iv) middle school science. The bill further requires the Board to promulgate any necessary regulations and to submit to the U.S. Department of Education any necessary amendments to its consolidated state plan.

S.B. 1218

Patron: Newman


Public high schools; Standards of Learning assessments. Requires the Standards of Learning assessments administered to students in grades nine through twelve to include reading, writing, mathematics, science, and Virginia and U.S. history. The bill requires each such Standards of Learning assessment to consist of a Board-developed end-of-course assessment and prohibits such from being performance-based. The bill requires each school board to annually certify that it has provided instruction and administered an alternative assessment, consistent with Board guidelines, to students taking other high school courses in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history and social science. The bill requires such Board guidelines to ensure that such assessments produce quantifiable metrics and performance measures that are comparable across school divisions and years. The bill requires the Department of Education to perform reviews and performance audits on such locally administered alternative assessments for high school courses. The bill requires the Board, in its graduation requirements, to require students to earn a verified unit of credit in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and Virginia and U.S. History. The bill requires each such verified credit to be earned only by (i) the successful completion of a Board-developed end-of-course Standards of Learning assessment; (ii) achievement of a passing score on a Board-approved standardized test administered on a statewide, multistate, or international basis that measures content that incorporates or exceeds the Standards of Learning content in the course for which the verified credit is given; or (iii) achievement of criteria for the receipt of a locally awarded verified credit from the local school board in accordance with criteria established in Board guidelines when the student has not passed the corresponding Standards of Learning assessment.

S.B. 1348

Patron: Newman

Department of Education; energy career cluster. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with representatives from pertinent industries such as renewable energy, natural gas, nuclear energy, coal, and oil, to establish an energy career cluster. The bill requires the Department of Education to base the knowledge and skill sets contained in such energy career cluster on the energy industry competency and credential models developed by the Center for Energy Workforce Development in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill further requires the Department of Education to report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than December 1, 2019, on its progress toward establishing such energy career cluster.

S.B. 1392

Patron: Wagner

Standards of Achievement Career and Technical Education Committee; established. Directs the Board of Education to establish the Standards of Achievement Career and Technical Education Committee (Committee) to make recommendations to the General Assembly and the Board of Education to facilitate the development of career and technical education Standards of Achievement, including accreditation standards, assessment testing, and course content and curriculum for participating schools, with a focus on (i) rigorous standards and course content and curriculum that align workforce skills with industry-recognized standards; (ii) robust business and industry engagement and responsiveness to labor market needs; (iii) strategies to remove the stigma from career and technical education, including early exposure to career options and life skills; (iv) work-based learning and apprenticeships; (v) innovative high school models; and (vi) leveraging existing resources and programs in the Commonwealth. The Committee shall identify any necessary changes to statutory and regulatory provisions, including existing requirements regarding (a) instructional programs; (b) instructional, administrative, and, support personnel; (c) accreditation; (d) assessments; (e) graduation requirements; (f) teacher licensure; and (g) dual enrollment. The bill requires the Committee to report its findings and recommendation to the General Assembly and the Board of Education by November 1, 2019.

S.B. 1406

Patron: Dance

School boards; staffing ratios; guidance counselors. Changes the name of guidance counselors to school counselors and requires school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: (i) effective with the 2019-2020 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof; (ii) effective with the 2020-2021 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one hour per day additional time per 60 students or major fraction thereof; in middle and high schools, one period per 55 students, one full-time at 275 students, one additional period per 55 students or major fraction thereof; and (iii) effective with the 2021-2022 school year, in elementary, middle, and high schools, one hour per day per 50 students, one full-time at 250 students, one additional hour per day per 50 students or major fraction thereof.

S.B. 1419

Patron: Sturtevant

Department of Education; establishment of microcredential program. Permits the Department of Education to establish a microcredential program for the purpose of permitting any public elementary or secondary school teacher who holds a renewable or provisional license or any individual who participates in any alternate route to licensure program to complete additional in-person or blended coursework and earn microcredentials in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) endorsement areas, including computer science, for which there is a high need for additional qualified teachers. The bill requires the Department of Education to establish a microcredential committee to determine how any microcredential awarded pursuant to any such program will be used to award add-on endorsements and certifications for teachers in such STEM endorsement areas. The bill provides certain conditions in which in-person coursework in a microcredential program not contributing to an endorsement is eligible for professional development points towards the renewal of a teaching license.

S.B. 1472

Patron: Deeds

Public schools; Mental Health First Aid training. Requires each school board to adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and other relevant personnel, as determined by the school board, employed on a full-time basis, to complete a Mental Health First Aid training or similar program. The bill requires each school board to provide such training and provides that a school board may contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, a community services board, a behavioral health authority, a nonprofit organization, or other certified trainer to provide such training.

S.B. 1502

Patron: Carrico


Public schools; electives on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament and the New Testament. Requires local school boards to offer as an elective in grades nine through 12 with appropriate credits toward graduation a course on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible or the New Testament of the Bible or a combined course on both. The bill requires the Board of Education to develop Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for such courses. The bill provides that the purpose of such courses is to introduce students to biblical content, characters, poetry, and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy. The bill prohibits students from being required to use a specific translation of a religious text when taking the courses and provides that such courses shall maintain religious neutrality and shall not endorse, favor, promote, disfavor, or show hostility toward any particular religion or nonreligious perspective.

S.B. 1525

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, P.L. 89-10, as amended. The bill requires the Department of Education to calculate any potential or realized savings from the implementation of the bill and to report the amount of such savings to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and Senate Committee on Finance by November 1, 2020. Such amount shall be included in the total for Direct Aid to Public Education in any general appropriation act for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

S.B. 1545

Patron: Sturtevant

Public schools; alternative accountability process. Allows a school board to adopt an alternative accountability process to provide a principal and parties involved in an incident involving assault or assault and battery without bodily injury that occurs on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored event an option to enter into a mutually agreed upon mediation process between the involved parties as an alternative to reporting such incident to law enforcement. The bill requires a principal in a school division with such a process to attempt to engage the parties involved in such an incident in the alternative accountability process prior to reporting such incident to the local law-enforcement agency. The bill prohibits a principal from reporting such an incident when the parties successfully complete the alternative accountability process.

S.B. 1585

Patron: Suetterlein

Department of Education; division-level performance assessments; resource guide. Requires the Department of Education to develop and distribute to each local school division a resource guide on the local development and implementation of performance assessments that includes (i) detailed recommendations for methods of ensuring (a) the quality, validity, and reliability of such assessments, such as assurances, sampling, and auditing, and (b) the alignment of such assessments with the desired student outcomes of critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and citizenship and (ii) a collection of division-level performance assessment exemplars.

S.B. 1590

Patron: Dunnavant

Virtual Virginia. Requires that the Virtual Virginia program, the statewide electronic classroom established by the Department of Education, be made available to all public schools. Currently, the program is available only to high schools. The bill requires the Department to utilize a learning management system for the purposes of implementing Virtual Virginia. The bill also authorizes the Department to charge a per-student fee to school divisions for each student enrolled in a full-time Virtual Virginia program beyond an initial allotment of 15 such students per school division and prohibits the Department from limiting the total number of such students by school division.

S.B. 1591

Patron: Dunnavant

Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; guidelines on information sharing. Directs the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (the Center) to convene a work group to develop guidelines and best practices for the sharing of information between a local school board or public institution of higher education and law enforcement regarding a student whose behavior may pose a threat to the safety of a school or institution or the community. Such guidelines and best practices shall seek to balance the interests of safety and student privacy and shall be consistent with the provisions of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, as applicable. The bill requires the Center to develop such guidelines and best practices, report to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and make such guidelines available to local school boards, public institutions of higher education, law enforcement, and the public by October 1, 2019.

S.B. 1629

Patron: McPike

Local school boards; lead testing; report. Requires each local school board to submit its plan to test and remediate certain potable water sources and report the results of any such test to the Department of Health.

S.B. 1632

Patron: Sturtevant

Cannabidiol oil and THC-A oil; use at school. Requires local school boards to adopt and implement policies permitting a student who has been issued a valid written certification for the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil to use such oils while at school. The bill prohibits a school board from suspending or expelling such a student for such use. The bill prohibits a school nurse employed by a local school board, person employed by a local health department who is assigned to the public school pursuant to an agreement between the local health department and the school board, or other person employed by or contracted with a local school board to deliver health-related services from being prosecuted for possession or distribution of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil or for storing, dispensing, or administering cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, in accordance with the policy adopted by the local school board, to a student who has been issued a valid written certification for its use. Finally, the bill requires the Department of Health Professions, in coordination with the Department of Education, to develop and make available to school boards, a standardized form to be completed by the certification issuing physician and the dispensing pharmaceutical processor.