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2002 SESSION

026526444
SENATE BILL NO. 609
Offered January 17, 2002
A BILL relating to verified units of credit for certain transitional students.
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Patrons-- Houck, Barry, Blevins, Byrne, Edwards, Hanger, Howell, Lucas, Puller, Saslaw and Ticer
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Referred to Committee on Education and Health
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. Board to issue certain requirements for verified units of credit.

A. Notwithstanding any other law or regulation to the contrary, including, but not limited to, the Board of Education's Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia (8 VAC 20-131-10 et seq.), the Board of Education shall establish guidelines to authorize local school boards to award verified units of credit to students who entered the ninth grade for the first time in the 2000-2001, 2001-2002, or 2002-2003 school years; such locally-awarded verified units of credit shall count toward the standard diploma.

B. The Board's guidelines shall set forth procedures for the award of such verified units of credit by local school divisions to be counted only towards the requirements for the standard diploma and shall only apply to the four student-selected verified units of credit required to earn the standard diploma. Under no circumstances shall such guidelines apply to the two verified units of credit required in English as set forth in 8 VAC 20-131-50.

C. To be eligible to earn such verified units of credit, students in the appropriate school years shall have passed the relevant course and shall meet such additional criteria as the Board shall establish for the award of verified units of credit, which may include, but need not be limited to, Standards of Learning or other test performance indicators, including retakes of such tests, attendance and conduct requirements, and participation in remedial programs. The development of the Board's guidelines shall not be governed by the provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.); therefore, the Board shall adopt these guidelines to be effective by no later than July 1, 2002, and such guidelines shall apply retroactively to all eligible students.