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2024 SESSION

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24104885D
HOUSE BILL NO. 777 Offered January 10, 2024 Prefiled January 9, 2024 A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-3.4 and 22.1-289 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal § 63.2-900.3 of the Code of Virginia, relating to enrollment of students transitioning into, between, and out of foster care and kinship care placements. ---------- Patron-- Callsen ---------- Referred to Committee on Education ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 22.1-3.4 and 22.1-289 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-3.4. Enrollment of students transitioning into, between, and out of foster care and kinship care placements.

A. As used in this section:

"Foster care placement" and "kinship care" have the same meanings as provided in § 63.2-100.

"Receiving school division" means the school division in which a student who has transitioned placement now resides.

"Sending school division" means the school division in which a student who has transitioned placement last attended school.

"Student" means a person of school age, as that term is defined in § 22.1-1, or a student who was in foster care upon reaching 18 years of age but who has not yet reached 22 years of age.

"Student who has transitioned placement" means any student who has transitioned into, between, or out of a foster care placement or a kinship care placement made by a local social services agency and such transition results in such student residing in a different school division.

B. Whenever a student who has been placed in foster care by a local social services agency and the placing social services agency transitioned placement is unable to produce any of the documents required for enrollment pursuant to § 22.1-3.1, 22.1-270, or 22.1-271.2, the student shall immediately be enrolled; however, the person enrolling the student shall provide a written statement that, to the best of his knowledge, sets forth (i) the student's age, (ii) compliance with the requirements of § 22.1-3.2, and (iii) that the student is in good health and is free from communicable or contagious disease.

B. C. The sending and receiving school divisions shall cooperate in facilitating the enrollment of any child placed in foster care student who has transitioned placement across jurisdictional lines for the purpose of enhancing continuity of instruction. The child A student who has transitioned placement as defined in this section shall be allowed to continue to attend the school in which he was enrolled prior to the most recent foster care placement, transition upon the joint determination of the placing social services agency and the local school division that such attendance is in the best interest of the child student. A student who has transitioned placement out of foster care or out of a kinship care placement made by the local social services agency may attend a sending or receiving school division school under the provisions of this section for a period not to exceed the remainder of the academic year in progress at the time of the transition.

C. D. In the event the student continues to attend the school in which he was enrolled prior to the most recent foster care placement transition, the receiving school division shall be accorded foster children education payments pursuant to § 22.1-101.1, if applicable; further, the receiving school division may enter into financial arrangements with the sending school division pursuant to subsection C of § 22.1-5. Under no circumstances shall a child placed in foster care be charged tuition regardless of whether such child is attending the school in which he was enrolled prior to the most recent foster care placement or attending a school in the receiving school division.

D. For the purposes of subsections A, B, and C:

"A child or student placed in foster care" means a pupil who is the subject of a foster care placement through an entrustment or commitment of such child to the local social services board or licensed child-placing agency pursuant to clause (ii) of the definition of "foster care placement" as set forth in § 63.2-100.

For the purposes of this section:

"Receiving school division" means the school division in which the residence of the student's foster care placement is located.

"Sending school division" means the school division in which the student last attended school.

E. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections A, B, and C or any provision of this section or § 22.1-3 or 22.1-5, no person of school age who is the subject of a foster care placement, as such term is defined in § 63.2-100, or a kinship care placement or who was in foster care upon reaching 18 years of age but who has not yet reached 22 years of age shall be charged tuition to attend public school.

F. The provisions of this section shall apply to any student who was in foster care upon reaching 18 years of age but who has not yet reached 22 years of age.

§ 22.1-289. Transfer and management of scholastic records; disclosure of information in court notices; penalty.

A. As used in this section:

"Scholastic record" means those records that are directly related to a student and are maintained by an educational agency or institution or by a party acting for the agency or institution. These include, but are not limited to, documentation pertinent to the educational growth and development of students as they progress through school, student disciplinary records, achievement and test data, cumulative health records, reports of assessments for eligibility for special education services, and Individualized Education Programs. Such records may be recorded in any way, including, but not limited to, handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm, and microfiche.

A notice of adjudication or conviction received by a superintendent relating to an incident which did not occur on school property or during a school-sponsored activity shall not be a part of a student's scholastic record.

The term "scholastic record" also shall not include records of instructional, supervisory, administrative, and ancillary educational personnel that are kept in the sole possession of the maker of the record and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a temporary substitute for the maker of the record.

B. Whenever a pupil transfers from one school division to another, the scholastic record or a copy of the scholastic record shall be transferred to the school division to which the pupil transfers upon request from such school division. Permission of the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student shall not be required for transfer of such scholastic record to another school or school division within or outside the Commonwealth.

C. Any notice of disposition received pursuant to § 16.1-305.1 shall not be retained after the student has been awarded a diploma or a certificate as provided in § 22.1-253.13:4.

D. Every student's scholastic record shall be available to the student and his parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student for inspection during the regular school day. Permission of the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student, or of a student who is 18 years of age or older, shall not be required for transfer of such scholastic record to another school or school division within or without this Commonwealth.

Consistent with federal law and regulation, each school shall annually notify parents of students currently enrolled and in attendance of their rights under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g) and related regulations.

A school responding to a request for the transfer of the scholastic record from another school division need not provide written notice of the transfer of the record, including the identity of the requester, to the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the student, or to a student who is 18 years of age or older, if the school has previously included in the annual notice required by this subsection a statement that it forwards such records to such requesting school divisions.

E. Whenever the division superintendent is notified by the Department of Juvenile Justice, pursuant to § 16.1-287, or by a school division employee responsible for education programs in a local jail or a detention center, that a pupil who last attended a school within the school division is a pupil in a school of a juvenile correctional center of the Department of Juvenile Justice, or a pupil in an educational program in a local jail or detention center, the school division superintendent or his designee shall transfer the scholastic record of such pupil to the designated juvenile correctional center or local jail or a detention center, as the case may be, within five work days. The Department of Juvenile Justice shall transfer the scholastic record of a student who has been discharged from a juvenile correctional center to the relevant school division within five work days of the student's discharge.

The Board of Education shall adopt regulations concerning the transfer and management of scholastic records from one school division to another, to the learning centers of the Department of Juvenile Justice, and to educational programs in local jails and detention centers.

Upon receiving notice of a foster care placement of a student across jurisdictional lines, the Each sending school division and the receiving school division, as such school divisions are that term is defined in subsection D A of § 22.1-3.4, shall expedite the transfer of the scholastic record of the a student who has transitioned placement, as that term is defined in subsection A of § 22.1-3.4, to the receiving school division, as that term is defined in subsection A of § 22.1-3.4, in which such student now attends school, if applicable.

F. The division superintendent or his designee shall notify the local police or sheriff's department for investigation as a possible missing child of any enrolled pupil whose scholastic record he is unable to obtain within 60 days or sooner, if the division superintendent or his designee has reason to suspect that the pupil is a missing child.

G. Superintendents and their designees shall be immune from any civil or criminal liability in connection with any notice to a police or sheriff's department of a pupil lacking a scholastic record or failure to give such notice as required by this section.

H. Except as provided in §§ 16.1-309 and 22.1-287 and this section, a superintendent or his designee, or other school personnel who unlawfully discloses information obtained pursuant to § 16.1-305.1 shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

2. That § 63.2-900.3 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.