General Assembly Update - Final Legislation recap
Excerpted from the April 14th General Assemby K-12 Education Update, written by David Blount. Read the full update on our
website.
Finance
HB 1529 (Ward) and
SB 1018 (Barker) extend the sunset date for the sales tax holiday periods for school supplies and clothing, Energy Star and WaterSense products, and hurricane preparedness products to July 1, 2022.
HB 2014 (Keam) changes from even-numbered years to odd-numbered years the biennial review of the Standards of Quality (SOQ) that is required of the Board of Education (BOE).
Governance and Operations
HB 1392 (Lingamfelter) authorizes a school security officer to carry a firearm in the performance of his duties under certain conditions, including that the local school board solicits input from the chief law-enforcement officer of the locality regarding the officer’s qualifications, and that it has granted the officer authority to carry a firearm.
HB 1490 (R.G. Marshall) allows a school board member who cannot serve due to being called for military service to submit suggested replacements to the school board, and if the school board does not appoint someone from the submitted list, it must notify the member of its rationale.
HB 1552 (Bulova) requires school boards to notify students and their parents of the availability of career and technical education programs and to provide annual notice on their website of the opportunity for students to obtain a nationally-recognized career readiness certificate.
HB 2141 (LeMunyon) expands a current requirement that the BOE include in its annual report, a listing of each report required to be submitted by school divisions, and explanations and recommendations about the need to retain the report or reduce/eliminate such report.
HB 2174 (Murphy) requires school boards to annually report to the public the actual pupil/teacher ratios in middle school and high school, by school, for the current school year; currently, such a report is required only for elementary schools.
HB 2218 (Miyares) permits the BOE to communicate any Board finding about the rationale for a local school board's denial of a charter school application, based on documentation submitted by the school board, in any school division in which at least half of the schools receive federal Title I funding.
HB 2431 (Bulova) permits school boards to locate and operate retail fee-based electric vehicle charging stations on school property; use of such stations during the school day is restricted to school employees, students and visitors.
SB 1239 (Hanger) among other things, exempts local government and school division-run recreational and after-school type programs from state licensure requirements, but does require them to register with and report to the state and to comply with basic health and safety requirements.
SB 1359 (McPike) requires local school boards to develop and implement a plan to test and remediate potable water from sources identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as high priority for testing; schools built before 1986 shall be given priority.
Instruction, Assessment and Accountability
HB 1414 (Austin) requires the Department of Education (DOE) to collaborate with existing educational advisory committees that advise on student assessments, to review multipart Standards of Learning (SOL) test questions and determine the feasibility of awarding students partial credit for correct answers on one or more parts. It prohibits the DOE from taking action on awarding partial credit prior to the next General Assembly session. A report is due by November 1.
HB 1708 (Filler-Corn) requires the BOE to consider for inclusion in the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) student outcome measures the number of industry certification credentials obtained by high school students, but to not do so prior to the 2018 General Assembly.
HB 1981 (Greason) directs the development of regulations for "School Divisions of Innovation,” applicable to school divisions that have developed a plan of innovation to improve student learning; educational performance; and college, career, and citizenship readiness skills in their schools. Upon approval by the BOE, the school division would be exempt from selected regulatory and statutory provisions and be permitted to adopt alternative policies for school administrators, teachers and staff to meet the diverse needs of students.
HB 1982 (Greason) allows the BOE, in establishing graduation requirements, to award verified units of credit for a satisfactory score, as determined by the Board, on the Preliminary ACT or Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
HB 2257 (Filler-Corn) permits any high school family life education (FLE) curriculum offered by a local school division to incorporate age-appropriate elements of effective and evidence-based programs on the law and meaning of consent.
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Read the full update on our
website.
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