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2023 SESSION
23103060DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 22.1-1, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, and 22.1-279.3 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 22.1-2.01 as follows:
§ 22.1-1. (For Expiration Date, see 2022 Acts cc. 549, 550, cl. 2) Definitions.
As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Board" or "State Board" means the Board of Education.
"Department" means the Department of Education.
"Division superintendent" means the division superintendent of schools of a school division.
"Elementary" includes kindergarten.
"Elementary and secondary" and "elementary or secondary" include elementary, middle, and high school grades.
"Governing body" or "local governing body" means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, responsible for appropriating funds for such locality, as the context may require.
"Middle school" means separate schools for early adolescents and the middle school grades that might be housed at elementary or high schools.
"Parent" or "parents" means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child who shall retain the fundamental right set forth in § 1-240.1.
"Person of school age" means a person who will have reached his fifth birthday on or before September 30 of the school year and who has not reached twenty years of age on or before August 1 of the school year.
"School board" means the school board that governs a school division.
"Superintendent" means the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
§ 22.1-1. (For Effective Date, see 2022 Acts cc. 549, 550, cl. 2) Definitions.
As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Board" or "State Board" means the Board of Education.
"Department" means the Department of Education.
"Division superintendent" means the division superintendent of schools of a school division.
"Elementary" includes kindergarten.
"Elementary and secondary" and "elementary or secondary" include elementary, middle, and high school grades.
"Evidence-based literacy instruction" means structured instructional practices, including sequential, systematic, explicit, and cumulative teaching, that (i) are based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid evidence consistent with science-based reading research; (ii) are used in core or general instruction, supplemental instruction, intervention services, and intensive intervention services; (iii) have a demonstrated record of success in adequately increasing students' reading competency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension and in building mastery of the foundational reading skills of phonological and phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, phonics, spelling, and text reading fluency; and (iv) are able to be differentiated in order to meet the individual needs of students.
"Governing body" or "local governing body" means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, responsible for appropriating funds for such locality, as the context may require.
"Middle school" means separate schools for early adolescents and the middle school grades that might be housed at elementary or high schools.
"Parent" or "parents" means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child who shall retain the fundamental right set forth in § 1-240.1.
"Person of school age" means a person who will have reached his fifth birthday on or before September 30 of the school year and who has not reached twenty years of age on or before August 1 of the school year.
"School board" means the school board that governs a school division.
"Science-based reading research" means research that (i) applies rigorous, systematic, and objective observational or experimental procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading and writing difficulties and (ii) explains how proficient reading and writing develop, why some children have difficulties developing key literacy skills, and how schools can best assess and instruct early literacy, including the use of evidence-based literacy instruction practices to promote reading and writing achievement.
"Superintendent" means the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
§ 22.1-2.01. Proper rights of parents in the education of their children; enforcement.
A. Each school board that amends or adopts a policy shall (i) document the reasons that the amended or adopted policy either impacts or does not impact the fundamental right of parents as established by § 1-240.1 and (ii) if the school board determines that the amended or adopted policy impacts such fundamental right, ensure that the amended or adopted policy is subsequently amended in such a way as to be in compliance with § 1-240.1.
B. If any school board fails to comply with any requirement set forth in subsection A, any parent of a student enrolled in the local school division or any individual member of the school board may bring a cause of action against the school board for appropriate relief in the circuit court that has jurisdiction in the local school division and any such parent or individual member who prevails in such a cause of action is entitled to an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs.
§ 22.1-279.3. Parental responsibility and involvement requirements.
A. Each parent of a student enrolled in a public school has a duty to assist the school in enforcing the standards of student conduct and compulsory school attendance in order that education may be conducted in an atmosphere free of disruption and threat to persons or property, and supportive of individual rights.
B. A school board shall provide, consistent with §
1-240.1:
1. Provide opportunities for parental and community involvement in every school in the school division, including providing to parents of students enrolled in the local school division:
a. Direct access to and an opportunity to review, upon request, the complete curricular content in the local school division, including all supplemental materials used in any educational program and its underlying courses of instruction and any procedures in effect for the educational program's documentation, review, or approval by the principal, teachers, or administrators;
b. Public access on the local school division's website to a summary of each educational program in the local school division that is designed to assist parents in understanding the relationship between the educational program's objectives, courses of instruction, course content, content extensions, textbooks, library references, supplemental material references, student participation requirements, and required or suggested instructional methods;
c. Timely access to all personal, academic, discipline, and health care records that pertain to his child; and
d. The option to opt out of policies, surveys, research studies, or programs of instruction that are inconsistent with the parent's beliefs, values, or goals and standards for his child; and
2. Ensure that procedures are in place that require the written consent of the parent of any student enrolled in the local school division in advance and prior to:
a. Taking photographs or video or voice recordings of his child, subject to applicable and explicit public safety and security exceptions or those exceptions related to an immediate health emergency;
b. Transmitting data or information that uniquely identifies the parent's child to a third party, subject to applicable and explicit public safety and security exceptions or those exceptions related to an immediate health emergency; or
c. Creating, storing, scanning, or sharing any record of his child's blood or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), except as required by general law or authorized pursuant to a court order.
C. Within one calendar month of the opening of school, each school board shall, simultaneously with any other materials customarily distributed at that time, send to the parents of each enrolled student (i) a notice of the requirements of this section; (ii) a copy of the school board's standards of student conduct; and (iii) a copy of the compulsory school attendance law. These materials shall include a notice to the parents that by signing the statement of receipt, parents shall not be deemed to waive, but to expressly reserve, their rights protected by the constitutions or laws of the United States or the Commonwealth and that a parent shall have the right to express disagreement with a school's or school division's policies or decisions.
Each parent of a student shall sign and return to the school in which the student is enrolled a statement acknowledging the receipt of the school board's standards of student conduct, the notice of the requirements of this section, and the compulsory school attendance law. Each school shall maintain records of such signed statements.
D. The school principal may request the student's parent or parents, if both parents have legal and physical custody of such student, to meet with the principal or his designee to review the school board's standards of student conduct and the parent's or parents' responsibility to participate with the school in disciplining the student and maintaining order, to ensure the student's compliance with compulsory school attendance law, and to discuss improvement of the child's behavior, school attendance, and educational progress.
E. In accordance with the due process procedures set forth in this article and the guidelines required by § 22.1-279.6, the school principal may notify the parents of any student who violates a school board policy or the compulsory school attendance requirements when such violation could result in the student's suspension or the filing of a court petition, whether or not the school administration has imposed such disciplinary action or filed a petition. The notice shall state (i) the date and particulars of the violation; (ii) the obligation of the parent to take actions to assist the school in improving the student's behavior and ensuring compulsory school attendance compliance; (iii) that, if the student is suspended, the parent may be required to accompany the student to meet with school officials; and (iv) that a petition with the juvenile and domestic relations court may be filed under certain circumstances to declare the student a child in need of supervision.
F. No suspended student shall be admitted to the regular school program until such student and his parent have met with school officials to discuss improvement of the student's behavior, unless the school principal or his designee determines that readmission, without parent conference, is appropriate for the student.
G. Upon the failure of a parent to comply with the provisions of this section, the school board may, by petition to the juvenile and domestic relations court, proceed against such parent for willful and unreasonable refusal to participate in efforts to improve the student's behavior or school attendance, as follows:
1. If the court finds that the parent has willfully and unreasonably failed to meet, pursuant to a request of the principal as set forth in subsection D of this section, to review the school board's standards of student conduct and the parent's responsibility to assist the school in disciplining the student and maintaining order, and to discuss improvement of the child's behavior and educational progress, it may order the parent to so meet; or
2. If the court finds that a parent has willfully and unreasonably failed to accompany a suspended student to meet with school officials pursuant to subsection F, or upon the student's receiving a second suspension or being expelled, it may order the student or his parent, or both, to participate in such programs or such treatment, including, but not limited to, extended day programs, summer school, other educational programs and counseling, as the court deems appropriate to improve the student's behavior or school attendance. The order may also require participation in a parenting, counseling or a mentoring program, as appropriate or that the student or his parent, or both, shall be subject to such conditions and limitations as the court deems appropriate for the supervision, care, and rehabilitation of the student or his parent. In addition, the court may order the parent to pay a civil penalty not to exceed $500.
H. The civil penalties established pursuant to this section shall be enforceable in the juvenile and domestic relations court in which the student's school is located and shall be paid into a fund maintained by the appropriate local governing body to support programs or treatments designed to improve the behavior of students as described in subdivision G 2. Upon the failure to pay the civil penalties imposed by this section, the attorney for the appropriate county, city, or town shall enforce the collection of such civil penalties.
I. All references in this section to the juvenile and domestic relations court shall be also deemed to mean any successor in interest of such court.