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2022 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Public Education

Hashmi (Chair), Howell, Locke, Dunnavant, Peake

Date of Meeting: January 27, 2022
Time and Place: 30 mins. after adj. / Subcommittee #2 -5th Floor Pocahontas
https://virginia-senate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3

S.B. 20

Patron: Hackworth

Treatment of transgender students; model policies. Eliminates the requirement that each school board adopt policies that are consistent with the model policies developed by the Department of Education concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-23.3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to treatment of transgender students; policies.

22100849D

S.B. 178

Patron: Peake

Public school teachers; probationary term of service, grounds for dismissal, and dismissal hearings. Permits each school board to extend for up to two additional years the three-year probationary term of service that is required for each teacher in the school division before the issuance of a continuing contract and prohibits each school board from reemploying a teacher whose performance evaluation during such probationary period is not satisfactory. The bill provides that, for the purpose of the dismissal of a teacher for cause, the term "incompetency" may be construed to include consistent failure to meet the endorsement requirements for the position or one or more unsatisfactory performance evaluations. The bill also eliminates the option for a school board to conduct a teacher dismissal hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel, requires each such hearing to be set no later than 15 days after the request for the hearing, and reduces from 10 days to five days the minimum period of advance written notice to the teacher of the time and place of such hearing.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-303, 22.1-307, 22.1-311, and 22.1-313 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public school teachers; probationary term of service, grounds for dismissal, and dismissal hearings.

22103200D

S.B. 265

Patron: Hashmi

Language development for children who are deaf or hard of hearing; assessment resources for parents and educators; advisory committee; report. Requires the Department of Education, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, to (i) select, with input from an advisory committee that the bill establishes, language developmental milestones and include such milestones in a resource for use by parents of a child from birth to age five who is identified as deaf or hard of hearing to monitor and track their child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy; (ii) disseminate such resource to such parents; (iii) select existing tools or assessments for educators for use in assessing the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing; (iv) disseminate such tools or assessments to local educational agencies and provide materials and training on their use; and (v) annually produce a report that compares the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing with the language and literacy development of their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing and make such report available to the public on its website.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-217.04, relating to language development for children who are deaf or hard of hearing; assessment resources for parents and educators; advisory committee; report.

22104072D

S.B. 356

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 (George Washington Regional) 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.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 2.2-5211 and 2.2-5212 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Children's Services Act; special education programs.

22102236D

S.B. 384

Patron: Dunnavant

Department of Education; Statewide Learning Management System established. Directs the Department of Education to establish the Statewide Learning Management System (VaLMS). The VaLMS shall be available to each public school in the Commonwealth. The bill allows school boards to utilize the VaLMS as an alternative to a multidivision online provider in the provision of virtual school programs.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1 of Chapter 13 of Title 22.1 a section numbered 22.1-212.2:4, relating to Department of Education; Statewide Learning Management System established.

22104125D

S.B. 430

Patron: Dunnavant

Department of Education; assessing individual student growth. Requires the Department of Education to create or request proposals for a system for value-added modeling to assess growth of students in public schools. The bill requires each school board in the Commonwealth to, upon the creation of such system, implement the system and make reports made by the system available to parents or guardians for their child's report and the Department.

A BILL to require the Department of Education to create or request proposals for a system for value-added modeling to assess growth of students in public schools and to require each school board to implement such system.

22104126D

S.B. 431

Patron: Dunnavant

Board of Education; COVID-19; test-to-stay guidelines. Requires the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Department of Health, to (i) recommend as best practice the shortest duration of quarantine possible, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for students and employees at public schools who contract COVID-19 and (ii) develop test-to-stay guidelines for such schools and recommend such guidelines to schools for use as an alternative to quarantine for students and employees who contract COVID-19. The bill also provides that all guidelines established pursuant to the bill shall be immediately distributed to local school boards and shall reflect the most updated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to limit the amount of time out of the classroom to be as short as possible, including no quarantine, as recommended for asymptomatic individuals who have been fully vaccinated either within six months or have a boosted vaccination status. The bill contains an emergency clause.

A BILL to direct the Board of Education to recommend as best practice the shortest duration of quarantine possible for students and employees who contract COVID-19 and to develop and recommend to schools test-to-stay guidelines for use as an alternative to quarantine for students and employees who contract COVID-19.

22104124D

EMERGENCY

S.B. 570

Patron: Kiggans

Public elementary and secondary schools; curricula and instruction including inherently divisive concepts prohibited. Requires each public elementary or secondary school principal to ensure that no curriculum utilized or instruction delivered in the school includes inherently divisive concepts, as that term is defined in the bill, regardless of whether such curriculum or instruction is provided by a school board employee or any other individual or entity.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-208.03, relating to public elementary and secondary schools; curricula and instruction including inherently divisive concepts prohibited.

22103754D

S.B. 598

Patron: Pillion

College partnership laboratory schools; application and establishment. Permits any public institution of higher education, private institution of higher education, or private business to apply to the Board of Education (the Board) to establish a college partnership laboratory school as a new school or through the conversion of all or part of an existing school. Under current law, only public and private institutions of higher education that operate approved teacher education programs are permitted to apply to the Board to establish such a school and no explicit provision is made for the conversion of an existing school. The bill requires the Board, in reviewing such applications, to give substantial preference to any application from a historically black college or university and any application to establish a college partnership laboratory school in an underserved community, which the bill defines as a geographical area that is served by public schools in which a high percentage of students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch, as determined by the Board.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-349.1, 22.1-349.5, 22.1-349.6, 22.1-349.9, 22.1-349.10, and 22.1-349.11, of the Code of Virginia, relating to college partnership laboratory schools; application and establishment.

22104003D

S.B. 600

Patron: Pillion

School safety audits; law-enforcement officers. Requires each local school board to require its schools to fully collaborate with the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee when conducting required school safety audits. Under current law, the division superintendent is required to make the results of such audits available to the chief law-enforcement officer upon request, and his approval is not needed. The bill also requires that the completed walk-through checklist using the standardized checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality or his designee. Current law requires that the completed walk-through checklist be made available to the chief law-enforcement officer or his designee upon request.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-279.8 of the Code of Virginia, relating to school safety audits; law-enforcement officers.

22103761D

S.B. 656

Patron: Dunnavant

Board of Education; policy on sexually explicit instructional material. Requires the Board of Education to establish, and each local school board to comply with, a policy to require each public elementary or secondary school to (i) notify the parent of any student whose teacher reasonably expects to provide instructional material that includes sexually explicit content, (ii) permit the parent of any student to review instructional material that includes sexually explicit content upon request, and (iii) provide, as an alternative to instructional material and related academic activities that include sexually explicit content, nonexplicit instructional material and related academic activities to any student whose parent so requests.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-16.8, relating to the Board of Education; policy on sexually explicit instructional material.

22100756D

S.B. 724

Patron: Pillion

School boards; broadband; annual report. Requires each school board to submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development that lists each student's 9-1-1 address that does not have broadband service, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission, to the home beginning in the fall of 2022 through the 2025 school year.

A BILL to require each school board to submit an annual report to the Virginia Department of Education and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development listing each student's 9-1-1 address that does not have broadband service to the home beginning in the fall of 2022 through the 2025 school year.

22103409D

S.B. 737

Patron: Boysko

Early childhood care and education entities; administration of epinephrine. Requires the Board of Education to amend its regulations to require each early childhood care and education entity to implement policies for the possession and administration of epinephrine in every such entity, to be administered by any nurse at the entity, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine to any child believed to be having an anaphylactic reaction. The bill mandates that such policies shall require that at least one school nurse, employee at the entity, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine has the means to access at all times during regular facility hours any such epinephrine that is stored in a locked or otherwise generally inaccessible container or area. This bill shall be known as Elijah's Law.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 8.01-225, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, and 54.1-3408 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 8 of Chapter 14.1 of Title 22.1 a section numbered 22.1-289.059, relating to early childhood care and education entities; administration of epinephrine.

22103738D

S.B. 738

Patron: Morrissey

Department of Education; State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; instruction concerning post-graduate opportunities for high school students. Requires the Department of Education to collect and distribute to public schools and publicly post on its website information that assists high school students in making more informed decisions about their futures after graduating from high school and in doing so ensure that such students are aware of the costs and benefits of different educational and certificate programs. The bill directs the Department to annually collect and compile such information in consultation with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and any other entity that can assist the Department with collecting and compiling such information and to update its distribution materials accordingly each year. The bill requires the Department to post and distribute the information to school boards, with any relevant updates, no later than October 1 each year and requires each school board to ensure that the information is readily available to each high school student and distributed to each high school student who expresses an interest in attending an institution of higher education or completing another training program as described in the bill.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 23.1-203 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-206.1, relating to Department of Education; State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; instruction concerning post-graduate opportunities for high school students.

22104832D

S.B. 739

Patron: Dunnavant

Public elementary and secondary schools and public school-based early childhood care and education programs; student instruction. Requires, except in the case of the 10 unscheduled remote learning days otherwise permitted by law, each school board to offer in-person instruction, as defined in the bill, to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary or secondary school for at least the minimum number of required annual instructional hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the instructional time provided pursuant to such program.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-2.1, relating to public elementary and secondary schools and public school-based early childhood care and education programs; student instruction.

22104603D

S.B. 766

Patron: Kiggans

Schools; athletics; participation in female sports; civil cause of action. Requires each elementary or secondary school or a private school that competes in sponsored athletic events against such public schools to designate athletic teams, whether a school athletic team or an intramural team sponsored by such school, based on biological sex as follows: (i) "males," "men," or "boys"; (ii) "females," "women," or "girls"; or (iii) "coed" or "mixed." Under the bill, male students are not permitted to participate on any school athletic team or squad designated for "females," "women," or "girls"; however, this provision does not apply to physical education classes at schools. The bill provides civil penalties for students and schools that suffer harm as a result of a violation of the bill. Such civil actions are required to be initiated within two years after the harm occurred.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-23.4, relating to schools; athletics; participation in female sports; civil cause of action.

22103466D