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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 24, 2019
Time and Place: 30 min. after Adj., Subcommittee Room 2, 5th Fl. Pocahontas Bldg.
Correction in meeting date

S.B. 1130

Patron: Locke


School resource officers; training and certification; memoranda of understanding. Requires each school resource officer to be trained and certified by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. The bill expands the topics on which school security officers are required to be trained. The bill also requires any school board that agrees to place school resource officers in any school in the school division and the relevant local law-enforcement agency to establish and annually review and update a memorandum of understanding (MOU) governing the use and duties of school resource officers, and ensure that all relevant parties receive initial and ongoing training on the contents of such MOU.

S.B. 1147

Patron: Petersen

Public high schools; graduation requirements; credit for work-based learning experiences. Requires the Board of Education in its graduation requirements to permit students in locally approved internships, externships, apprenticeships, credentialing programs, certification programs, licensure programs, and other work-based learning experiences to receive credit, up to a full course load, based on time spent in such programs. The bill also requires the Board to permit students in grade twelve to earn the equivalent of a full course load and to substitute each credit earned in such a program for a standard unit of credit in English, mathematics, science, or history and social science.

S.B. 1214

Patron: Newman

School boards; local law-enforcement agencies; memorandums of understanding. Requires the school board in each school division in which the local law-enforcement agency employs school resource officers to enter into a memorandum of understanding with such local law-enforcement agency that sets forth the powers and duties of the school resource officers. The bill requires each such school board and local law-enforcement agency to review and amend or affirm the memorandum at least once every five years.

S.B. 1278

Patron: Barker

Public schools; kindergarten instructional time. Increases from 540 hours to 990 hours the minimum instructional hours in a school year for students in kindergarten. The bill directs the Board of Education to promulgate regulations by July 1, 2021, 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, 2021.

S.B. 1299

Patron: Barker

School resource officers; training and certification; memoranda of understanding. Requires each school resource officer to be trained and certified by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. The bill expands the topics on which school security officers are required to be trained. The bill also requires any school board that agrees to place school resource officers in any school in the school division and the relevant local law-enforcement agency to establish and annually review and update a memorandum of understanding (MOU) governing the use and duties of school resource officers, and ensure that all relevant parties receive initial and ongoing training on the contents of such MOU.

S.B. 1434

Patron: McClellan

Public high schools; clock hours of instruction; experienced-based learning. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit time spent by students in locally approved courses aligned with the Standards of Learning, service learning opportunities, internships, externships, apprenticeships, credentialing programs, certification programs, licensure programs, and other work-based learning experiences, to be included in the 140 clock hours of instruction required for the relevant course.

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. 1522

Patron: Ruff

Dual enrollment and graduation requirements; postsecondary credential, certification, or license attainment. Requires local school boards and comprehensive community colleges to enter into dual enrollment agreements for postsecondary credential, certification, or license attainment concurrent with a high school diploma. The bill also requires the Board of Education to include in its graduation requirements provisions for the award of standard units of credit for successfully completing such a program at a comprehensive community college through a dual enrollment agreement.

S.B. 1530

Patron: Deeds

Department of Criminal Justice Services; school resource officers; school administrators; training. Directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services (Department) to establish compulsory minimum training standards for law-enforcement officers serving as school resource officers that may include (i) relevant state and federal laws; (ii) school and personal liability issues; (iii) security awareness in the school environment; (iv) mediation and conflict resolution, including de-escalation techniques; (v) disaster and emergency response; (vi) awareness of cultural diversity and implicit bias; (vii) working with students with disabilities, behavioral health or substance abuse disorders, or trauma experiences; and (viii) student behavioral dynamics, including child and adolescent development. The bill also directs the Department, in consultation with the Department of Education and the Virginia State Crime Commission, to include such similar minimum training standards for school security officers. The bill requires each school board to ensure that every public school employs at least one school administrator who has attended school safety training conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in school safety, anti-bullying tactics, and effective identification of students who may be at risk for violent behavior and are in need of special services or assistance.

S.B. 1551

Patron: Surovell


School resource officers; memorandums of understanding. Requires the school board in each school division in which the local law-enforcement agency employs school resource officers to enter into a memorandum of understanding with such local law-enforcement agency that sets forth the respective roles and responsibilities of the school board and the law-enforcement agency and the roles and responsibilities of such school resource officers. The bill requires that the memorandum of understanding be consistent with the model memorandum of understanding developed by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety. The bill requires that the model memorandum contain provisions that prohibit school resource officers from (i) conducting a search of a student's person or property while on school property unless such resource officer has probable cause to conduct such a search and either has a judicial warrant authorizing the search or has identified exigent circumstances necessitating a warrantless search; (ii) participating in any request for assistance from a federal agency without a subpoena or warrant; (iii) inquiring as to whether a student was born in a country other than the United States or is a citizen of a country other than the United States, unless such inquiry is in connection with an kidnapping or extortion investigation; and (iv) absent exigent circumstances, questioning any student without prior notification to the parent or guardian of such student's right to refuse to be questioned or searched. The bill also provides that the model memorandum of understanding shall contain provisions regarding the use of translators or appropriate guardians to assist students in responding to questions from a school resource officer. The bill requires each such school board and local law-enforcement agency to review the memorandum of understanding every four years or at any time upon request of either party and provides that the memorandum of understanding may be revised as agreed to by the parties. The bill provides that such memorandum shall be made available for public review and comment at least 30 days prior to its adoption. The bill also redefines school resource officer to specifically prohibit a school resource officer from investigating or enforcing violations of school board policies, including student conduct codes.

S.B. 1563

Patron: Lewis

School boards; local law-enforcement agencies; memorandums of understanding. Requires the school board in each school division in which the local law-enforcement agency employs school resource officers to enter into a memorandum of understanding with such local law-enforcement agency that sets forth the respective roles and responsibilities of the school board and the law-enforcement agency and the roles and responsibilities of such school resource officers. The bill requires each such school board and local law-enforcement agency to (i) review the memorandum of understanding every two years or at any time upon the request of either party and may revise such memorandum at any time as agreed by the parties and (ii) ensure that all relevant personnel employed by either party are informed of and review the provisions of the memorandum of understanding, including any revisions to the memorandum of understanding. The bill also requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to develop a model memorandum of understanding that may be used by local school boards and local law-enforcement agencies to satisfy the new requirements put forth in the bill.

S.B. 1575

Patron: Ebbin

Teacher licensure; exemption for certain teachers. Permits any school board to employ any individual, who is employed by an accredited institution of higher education as an instructor, to teach career and technical education courses or dual enrollment courses in the local school division, regardless of whether such individual holds a license issued by the Board of Education.

S.B. 1646

Patron: Boysko

Menstrual supplies; certain school buildings.

S.B. 1647

Patron: Boysko

School boards; prospective school security officers; background investigation.

S.B. 1713

Patron: Vogel

School bus operators; training. Requires the Board of Education to include in its training program for school bus operators safety protocols for responding to adverse weather conditions, unsafe conditions during loading and unloading of students, students on the wrong bus, and other circumstances, as determined by the Board, where student safety is at risk.

S.B. 1718

Patron: Black

Standards of Quality; reading diagnostic tests. Requires that the first reading diagnostic test administered in the school year to a student in kindergarten through grade three include a rapid automatized naming component and that local school divisions report the results of reading diagnostic tests, including subset scores, to parents.

S.B. 1753

Patron: DeSteph

School boards; race and ethnicity data. Prohibits a local school board from using a student's race or ethnicity information for any purpose other than compliance with federal law, when the local school board requires a student or his parent to disclose such information and because of such federal law does not give an option for the student or his parent to designate "other" for the student's race or ethnicity. The bill also requires that for the purposes of a student's permanent record each local school board shall obtain information related to such student's race or ethnicity in a manner that provides such option to designate "other."