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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2024 SESSION
VanValkenburg (Chair), Locke, Peake, Pekarsky, Craig
Clerk: Hobie Lehman
Staff: Julia Bergamini, Hannah Yates
Date of Meeting: February 22, 2024
Time and Place: 30 minutes after the Senate Adjourns/Senate Room C, 3rd Floor GAB
Updated to remove HB 187
Patron: Campbell
Public schools; fire drills; timing and frequency. Requires every public school to hold fire drills during the school session in accordance with the requirements of the Statewide Fire Prevention Code. Current law requires such fire drills to be conducted at least twice during the first 20 school days of each school session and at least twice more during the remainder of the school session.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-137 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public schools; fire drills; timing and frequency.24105455D
Patron: Convirs-Fowler
Fentanyl and other opioids; educational materials relating to risks. Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with such stakeholders and experts as it deems necessary or appropriate, to develop and distribute to each school board age-appropriate and evidence-based education materials concerning the risks to health and safety that are posed by opioids.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-273.5, relating to Department of Education; education materials concerning risks of opioids.24106151D
Patron: Keys-Gamarra
Department of Education; guidance and resources; composting programs in local school divisions. Requires the Department of Education to develop, post in a publicly accessible format and location on its website, and make available to any school board, upon request, guidance and resources relating to the establishment of local experiential learning programs on the composting of organic material, including food waste, for sustainable purposes such as horticulture or micro-farming, including guidance and resources on available grants and other sources of funding for such programs.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-212.1:3, relating to Department of Education; guidance and resources; composting programs in local school divisions.24101864D
Patron: Watts
Department of Education; development of Title IX and sexual harassment prevention training modules for high school students. Requires the Department of Education to develop culturally appropriate, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed Title IX and sexual harassment prevention training modules concerning Title IX rights and protections, consent, and sexual harassment prevention and reporting and to make such training modules available to each school board by July 1, 2025, for the education of high school students beginning in the 2025–2026 school year.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-23.4, relating to Department of Education; development of Title IX and sexual harassment prevention training modules for high school students.24101815D
Patron: McQuinn
Board of Education; Provisional (Career Switcher) License; special education. Requires the Board of Education to amend its relevant regulation to permit any career switcher who seeks a teaching endorsement preK through grade 12, including any career switcher who seeks a teaching endorsement in special education, to pursue a Provisional (Career Switcher) License through the career switcher alternate route to licensure program in accordance with all of the requirements set forth in such regulation, provided that the individual completes at least 60 percent of the endorsement requirements for special education general curriculum K-12 as part of Level I preparation and the remainder of such requirements as part of Level II and Level III preparation.
A BILL to require the Board of Education to amend certain regulations relating to the Provisional (Career Switcher) License.24101388D
Patron: McQuinn
Public elementary and secondary schools; student discipline; leveled administrative responses to student behavior. Prohibits, except in certain cases involving firearms, drugs, adjudications of delinquency, convictions of certain crimes, or certain aggravating circumstances, any public elementary or secondary school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school without considering the leveled administrative responses to student behavior, including in-school suspension, as set out in the Department of Education's "Model Guidance for Positive, Preventive Code of Student Conduct Policy and Alternatives to Suspension," and any amendments thereto.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-277 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public elementary and secondary schools; student discipline; alternatives to suspension, expulsion, and exclusion.24107237D
Patron: Bulova
Early childhood care and education system; need-based and demand-based funding; educator incentive; nonreverting fund to capture unspent early childhood care and education funding balances. Requires the Department of Education to (i) annually project and report the state general funds needed for the upcoming two fiscal years, based on a cost of quality rate per child, in order to maintain the current number of slots, increase the number of slots using a growth rate differential based on enrollment and parent demand growth in prior biennia, and increase the number of slots to fully accommodate parent demand and eliminate waitlists at early childhood care and education sites; (ii) administer an early childhood educator incentive program to be known as RecognizeB5 whereby a monetary incentive is provided to teachers who work directly with children for at least 30 hours per week at early childhood care and education sites that participate in the uniform measurement and improvement system known as VQB5, with the exception of teachers who are employed by local school boards; and (iii) administer and make distributions, for the purpose of providing certain early childhood care and education services, from the Early Childhood Care and Education Fund established in the bill, to which all balances of state general funds intended for the provision of services to families at early childhood care and education sites that are unspent at the end of each fiscal year are required to be credited instead of reverting to the general fund.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-289.03 of the Code of Virginia, relating to early childhood care and education system; need-based and demand-based funding; educator incentive; nonreverting fund to capture unspent early childhood care and education funding balances.24107520D
Patron: Cole
Student bullying; definition; characteristics of victim. Adjusts the definition of "bullying" in the context of public education to specify that the real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim that is involved in the act of bullying includes such a power imbalance on the basis of the membership of the victim in a group that is protected from discrimination pursuant to the Virginia Human Rights Act.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-276.01 of the Code of Virginia, relating to student bullying; definition; characteristics of victim.24102548D
Patron: Askew
Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; school safety audits; list of items required to be reviewed. Requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to include specific technology systems in the list of items to be reviewed and evaluated in required annual school safety audits.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-279.8 of the Code of Virginia, relating to annual school safety audits; items to be reviewed; technology systems.24106804D
Patron: Simonds
Public school teachers; daily lunch breaks; data collection; report. Requires the Department of Education to annually collect and present in the Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions school-level and division-level data on the share of teachers that are provided each working day a lunch break of at least 30 minutes in length and unencumbered by any teaching or supervisory duties.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-291.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public school teachers; daily lunch breaks; data collection; report.24107316D
Patron: Price
High school student-athletes; use of name, image, or likeness. Establishes rights, duties, and prohibitions relating to the use of the name, image, or likeness of high school student-athletes that are equivalent to those established in law for college student-athletes. The bill also requires the Department of Education to publish in a publicly accessibly format on its website information about laws that are applicable to any contract entered into by a student-athlete relating to compensation for the use of his name, image, or likeness.
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 high school student-athletes; use of name, image, or likeness.24106900D
Patron: Rasoul
Equity in public school funding; student need; English language learner and at-risk students. Amends Standard of Quality 2 by (i) requiring state funding to be provided to support ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students, based on each such student's English proficiency level, as established in the general appropriation act and (ii) (a) establishing the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at risk, including prevention, intervention, or remediation activities required pursuant to Standard 1 (§ 22.1-253.13:1); teacher recruitment programs and incentives; Dropout Prevention; community and school-based truancy officer programs; Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID); Project Discovery; programs for English language learners; the hiring of additional school counselors, testing coordinators, and licensed behavior analysts; and programs relating to increasing the success of disadvantaged students in completing a high school degree and providing opportunities to encourage further education and training and (b) requiring a portion of the state funding provided for such At-Risk Program to be allocated to school divisions on a flat per-student percentage rate set out in the general appropriation act and a portion of such funding to be allocated to school divisions on a variable rate set out in the general appropriation act based on the concentration of poverty in the school division.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-199.1, 22.1-253.13:2, as it shall become effective, and 51.1-617 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public school funding; ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students; At-Risk Program established.24106901D
Patron: Rasoul
Public education; community schools; Office of Community Schools at Department of Education; Community School Development and Implementation Planning Grant; state goal. Requires the Department of Education to establish the Office of Community Schools as an office within the Department for the purpose of supporting the development and growth of community schools throughout the Commonwealth in accordance with the Virginia Community School Framework and requires the Office to establish and administer the Community School Development and Implementation Planning Grant for the purpose of providing grants to school boards that seek to designate any school within the local school division as a community school to assist with the planning and implementation of such designation. The bill also establishes a state goal of prioritizing funding for such initiatives and grants to enable their expansion to serve the top 33 percent of public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth for highest identified student percentage, as defined in the bill, based on data from the immediately preceding school year.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-199.7 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public education; community schools; Office of Community Schools at Department of Education; Community School Development and Implementation Planning Grant; state goal.24106902D
Patron: Rasoul
Teachers; certain licenses and certificates. Makes several changes to provisions of law relating to the licensure and certification of teachers, including establishing universal licensure by reciprocity as a category of teacher licensure in the Commonwealth for certain licensed out-of-state teachers and establishing and enumerating the criteria for a three-year nonrenewable subject matter expert teaching certificate to certain individuals who have relevant work experience or expertise in a content or subject matter.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-298.1, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia and to repeal § 22.1-299.5 of the Code of Virginia, relating to teachers; certain licenses and certificates.24106822D
Patron: Simonds
Superintendent of Public Instruction; employment of certified school library specialists. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to employ in the Department of Education at least one certified school library specialist who fulfills several duties enumerated in the bill, including providing leadership and technical assistance with the implementation and use of information literacy skills to support student achievement for local school divisions, Department staff, and other stakeholders and directing the implementation of state and national school library standards and consulting with and providing technical assistance to local school divisions relating to such standards.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-23.4, relating to Superintendent of Public Instruction; employment of certified school library specialists.24101576D
Patron: Tata
Establishment of recovery high schools; authorization in certain Superintendent's regions. Authorizes any school board that governs a school division located in Superintendent's Region 2, 4, or 7 to establish a recovery high school in the relevant school division as a year-round high school (i) for which enrollment is open to any high school student who resides in the relevant Superintendent's region and is in the early stages of recovery from substance use disorder or dependency and (ii) for the purpose of providing such students with the academic, emotional, and social support necessary to make progress toward earning a high school diploma and reintegrating into a traditional high school setting.
A BILL to authorize the establishment of recovery high schools in certain Superintendent's regions.24100860D
Patron: Sewell
Teachers; renewable licenses; requirements; assessments. Requires the Board of Education to eliminate the requirement for any individual to take and receive a passing score on the Virginia Communication and Literacy Assessment as a condition of the initial award or renewal of a renewable license as a teacher in the Commonwealth.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-298.1, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, relating to teachers; renewable licenses; requirements; assessments.24105875D
Patron: Sewell
Public elementary and secondary schools; policies and requirements relating to naloxone. Requires each local school board to develop, in accordance with the guidelines developed by the Department of Health in collaboration with the Department of Education, plans and policies for each public elementary and secondary school relating to opioid overdose prevention and reversal, including (i) the procurement, storage, and maintenance of at least two unexpired doses of naloxone at each such school; (ii) the possession and administration of naloxone by school board employees; and (iii) providing, pursuant to the provisions of the bill, immunity from any disciplinary action or civil or criminal liability to any employee of a public elementary or secondary school who, regardless of whether such employee was trained and certified in the administration of naloxone, in good faith administers naloxone for opioid overdose reversal to any individual who is believed to be experiencing or about to experience a life-threatening opioid overdose, except in the case of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
The bill modifies the list of individuals who are authorized to administer naloxone or other opioid antagonists to include any school board employee who has completed training and is certified in the administration of naloxone by an organization authorized by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to provide such training and certification. Current law limits such authorization to school nurses or school board employees contracted by a school board to provide school health services.
Finally, the bill directs the Department of Health and the Department of Education to collaborate to develop guidelines and policies for the implementation of the provisions of the bill and directs the Department of Education to submit such guidelines to relevant committees of the General Assembly by January 1, 2025. The bill requires such guidelines and policies to be implemented by each school board by the beginning of the 2025–2026 school year.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 54.1-3408 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-274.4:1, relating to public elementary and secondary schools; policies and requirements relating to opioid antagonists.
24105987D
Patron: Cousins
Public school funding; At-Risk Program established. Establishes the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at risk, including prevention, intervention, or remediation activities required pursuant to Standard 1 (§ 22.1-253.13:1); teacher recruitment programs and incentives; Dropout Prevention; community and school-based truancy officer programs; Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID); Project Discovery; programs for English language learners; the hiring of additional school counselors, testing coordinators, and licensed behavior analysts; and programs relating to increasing the success of disadvantaged students in completing a high school degree and providing opportunities to encourage further education and training and requires a portion of the state funding provided for such At-Risk Program to be allocated to school divisions on a flat per-student percentage rate set out in the general appropriation act and a portion of such funding to be allocated to school divisions on a variable rate set out in the general appropriation act based on the concentration of poverty in the school division.
24106907D
Patron: Cousins
Department of Education; farm to school programs; guidance and resources. Requires the Department of Education to (i) assess existing farm to school programs, as defined in the bill, within the Commonwealth to identify and disseminate to each local school board best practices for implementing and sustaining such programs, (ii) establish and distribute to each local school board a guidance document for the establishment and operation of school garden programs, and (iii) provide information and resources to each local school board to assist it in leveraging grant funds to support farm to school programs.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-23.4, relating to Department of Education; farm to school programs; guidance and resources.24107295D
Patron: Austin
Schools boards; pupil transportation; alternatives. Expands the availability of allowable alternatives to traditional school bus transportation services relating to the transportation of students to and from school or school-related activities, including permitting any school board of a school division for which providing transportation by school bus is not cost effective to use a portion of its transportation funding to provide a grant to any parent of a student who provides student transportation to and from school, subject to certain conditions enumerated in the bill.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-176, 22.1-176.1, 22.1-177, 22.1-178, and 22.1-186 of the Code of Virginia, relating to school boards; pupil transportation; alternatives; requirements.24103262D
Patron: Lopez
Commission on Civic Education; model guidance on student participation in the work of local school boards. Requires the Commission on Civic Education, in conjunction with such stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to create and provide to each local school board no later than December 31, 2024, model guidance on the inclusion and involvement of students enrolled in the local school division in the work of the local school board, including model guidance on a process and structure for adding a student representative to the local school board.
A BILL to require the Commission on Civic Education to create model guidance on the inclusion and involvement of enrolled students in the work of local school boards.24105903D
Patron: Keys-Gamarra
School board duties; appointment and employment of division superintendents; oversight. Requires each school board to appoint, employ, and provide oversight for a division superintendent and provides that nothing in the Code of Virginia or the regulations of the Board of Education shall be construed to prohibit the school board from providing such oversight.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-79 of the Code of Virginia, relating to school board duties; appointment and employment of division superintendents; oversight.24104407D
Patron: Wilt
Department of Education; Virginia Preservice Training for Child Care Staff course; relevancy review. Requires the Department of Education to review its Virginia Preservice Training for Child Care Staff course for appropriateness based on the age range of children served by staff who are required to complete such course and shall consider excluding portions of such course that are solely relevant to providing care for students in a certain age range for staff whose duties do not include the care of children in such age range.
A BILL to require the Department of Education to review its Virginia Preservice Training for Child Care Staff course for appropriateness based on the age range of children served.24106837D
Patron: Carr
Board of Education; instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy; model policies and procedures for selection. Requires the Board of Education to make available to each local school board instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy that are based on and include peer-reviewed scientific sources. The bill requires the Board of Education to develop, adopt, and make available to each local school board model policies and procedures, based on peer-reviewed scientific sources, pertaining to the selection of instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy, including a requirement for any such selected material to accurately portray changes in weather and climate patterns over time, the impacts of human activity on changes in weather and climate patterns, and the effects of climate change on people and resources.
A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-212.1:3, relating to Board of Education; instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy; model policies and procedures for selection.24104636D
Patron: Coyner
Special education and related services; definitions; records retention; duties of Department of Education; parent engagement specialists; professional development; education preparation program coursework. Makes several changes relating to special education and related services for children with disabilities in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including (i) requiring each local school board to (a) provide high-quality professional development in instructional practices to support specially designed instruction in inclusive settings, as that term is defined in the bill, for certain teachers and administrators employed in the local school division and (b) employ at least one full-time equivalent special education parent engagement specialist to serve as a resource to parents to understand and engage in the referral, evaluation, and eligibility process if they suspect that their child has a disability and to understand and engage in the IEP process; (ii) requiring the Department of Education, among other things, to (a) elevate the position of State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education to perform certain functions, including systematically tracking and reporting questions and concerns raised by parents to the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and (b) develop, establish, review and update as necessary at least once every five years, make available to each local school board an IEP writing, facilitation, tracking, and transfer system to be referred to as the Virginia IEP; and (ii) requiring each education preparation program offered by a public institution of higher education or private institution of higher education or alternative certification program that provides training for any student seeking initial licensure by the Board of Education with certain endorsements to include a program of coursework and require all such students to demonstrate mastery in instructional practices to support specially designed instruction in inclusive settings. The bill contains a reenactment clause.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-213, 22.1-214.4, 22.1-253.13:2, as it shall become effective, 22.1-253.13:4, 22.1-253.13:5, as it shall become effective, 22.1-289, and 23.1-902.1, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 22.1-214.5 and 22.1-214.6, relating to special education and related services; definitions; records retention; duties of Department of Education; parent engagement specialists; professional development; education preparation program coursework; reports.24105902D
Patron: Seibold
Health education; menstrual education instruction permitted. Permits health education instruction for students in grades four through eight to include menstrual education instruction.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-207 of the Code of Virginia, relating to health education; menstrual education instruction permitted.24107137D
Patron: Higgins
Department of Education; communication to local school boards; JROTC; legal obligations. Requires the Department of Education to notify each school board of any obligation imposed on the school board or any public school in the local school division pursuant to any federal law or regulation relating to student eligibility to participate in Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) programs offered by any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States in public schools.
A BILL to require the Department of Education to notify school boards of any federal legal obligation relating to Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program participation.24107359D
Patron: Maldonado
Public school staffing ratios; teachers; English language learner students. Requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students based on each such student's English proficiency level, as established in the general appropriation act.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:2, as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, relating to public school funding; ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students.24106910D
Patron: Hayes
Department of Health and Department of Education; school health entrance form. Requires the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to examine the Department of Health's COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA SCHOOL HEALTH ENTRANCE FORM: Health Information Form/Comprehensive Physical Examination Report/Certification of Immunization and make such changes as they deem necessary to streamline such form and make it more user-friendly for families, physicians, and other health care professionals while continuing to gather all of the information that is necessary to comply with relevant state laws relating to student health and immunization and school attendance.
A BILL to require the Department of Education and the Department of Health to streamline the school health entrance form.24107090D
Patron: Anthony
High school graduation requirements; satisfaction of elective course credits with workforce credentials; development and maintenance of list of accepted credentials. Requires the Board of Education, in collaboration with the Virginia Community College System, Career and Technical Education directors, and industry partners, to develop and maintain a current, comprehensive, and uniform list of industry-recognized workforce credentials that students may take as a substitute for certain credits required for graduation, including industry-recognized workforce credentials that students may take as a substitute for elective credits and industry-recognized workforce credentials completed outside of regular school hours, and permits each school board to accept as a substitute for a required credit any credential listed as an accepted substitute for such required credit. This bill incorporates HB 1009.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-253.13:1, as it shall become effective, and 22.1-253.13:4 of the Code of Virginia, relating to high school graduation requirements; satisfaction of elective course credits with workforce credentials; development and maintenance of list of accepted credentials.24107044D
Patron: Phillips
Standards of Learning assessments; expedited retakes; eligibility; intervention services. Requires the Board of Education to develop policies establishing that any student in grades three through 12 who scores in the 375 to 399 range on a Standards of Learning assessment shall be eligible to retake such assessment on an expedited basis and requires any student who is eligible to retake such assessment on an expedited basis to be offered intervention services after the student retakes the assessment.
A BILL to amend and reenact § 22.1-253.13:3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Standards of Learning assessments; expedited retakes; eligibility.24100625D
Patron: Rasoul
Public schools; instructional time; competency-based education. Makes several changes relating to student instructional time in public elementary and secondary schools, including (i) defining "instructional hour" for the purpose of minimum annual instructional hour requirements; (ii) requiring the Board of Education to adopt rules for approving alternative programs for which course credit may be granted for the purpose of satisfying high school graduation requirements to any student who completes such course and masters the course content by demonstrating at least 80 percent of the competencies required by course standards, regardless of time, place, or pace; and (iii) permitting school boards that govern school divisions of innovation to adopt instructional time models that allow students to personalize the pace of learning and accelerate their learning based on the mastery of course content by demonstrating at least 80 percent of the competencies required by course standards, regardless of time, place, or pace. The bill also requires the Board of Education to update, by December 1, 2024, its "Guidelines for Graduation Requirements: Local Alternative Paths to Standard Units of Credit (Alternatives to the 140-Clock-Hour Requirement)" to include waiver pathway options to allow students time within the school day to complete work-based learning opportunities such as internships, externships, youth registered apprenticeships, clinical experiences, service learning, and other career and workforce development opportunities. This bill incorporates HB 663 and HB 1081.
24107346D