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2023 SESSION
23103030DWHEREAS, the Commonwealth is facing an acute and persistent shortage of qualified teachers in its public elementary and secondary schools; and
WHEREAS, one potential way to address these teacher shortages would be to expand the number and type of institutions of higher education that educate and train teachers; and
WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has a high-quality system of 23 comprehensive community colleges that offer a variety of educational programs that lead to employment in high-demand occupations throughout the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, while comprehensive community colleges in other states such as Florida and Washington offer baccalaureate-level education preparation programs, comprehensive community colleges in the Commonwealth are not currently authorized to do so; and
WHEREAS, consistent with its mission to give everyone the opportunity to learn and develop the right skills so lives and communities are strengthened, it is imperative that the Virginia Community College System explore the possibility of addressing and eliminating teacher shortages by preparing more teachers to enter the profession; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Virginia Community College System be requested to study the feasibility of pursuing the approval of education preparation programs to be offered by comprehensive community colleges in the Commonwealth.
In conducting its study, the Virginia Community College System shall examine best practices from other states in which community colleges offer education preparation programs, survey each comprehensive community college within the Virginia Community College System to determine its capacity for and interest in adding an education preparation program, and identify all programmatic, degree level, and other approvals and accreditations that would be necessary to achieve this purpose and any barriers thereto.
Technical assistance shall be provided to the Virginia Community College System by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Board of Education, and each comprehensive community college. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Virginia Community College System for this study, upon request.
The Virginia Community College System shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2023, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2024 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.