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Education

P Passed

P HB637

School board salaries. Provides that any elected school board may pay each of its members an annual salary that is consistent with the salary procedures and no more than the salary limits provided for local governments in Article 1.1 (§ 15.2-1414.1 et seq.) of Chapter 14 of Title 15.2 or as provided by charter. The specific salary limits that are currently provided for most school boards in Virginia are eliminated for elected school boards; however, for appointed school boards the specific salary limits are retained. Title 15.2 sets specific salary caps for city councils and boards of supervisors by population brackets; town councils may set their own salary levels. This bill also provides that the annual amount a school board, whether elected or appointed, may pay its chairman will be increased from $1,100 to $2,000 and retains the restriction that no school board can be awarded a salary increase, unless a specific salary increase is approved by affirmative vote of that school board. The salary of the Northumberland County School Board is addressed in the second enactment because a referendum for an elected school board was just approved by the voters in November 2000; however, no election has taken place. The Northumberland school board is required to adhere to its current cap of $2,400 until such time as its members are elected and duly sworn into office as authorized by the referendum held in 2000.
Patron - Dillard

P HB1226

Publication of procedure for changing special education placements. Directs the Board of Education to publicize and disseminate, to parents of students who are enrolled in special education programs or for whom a special education placement has been recommended, information regarding current federal law and regulation addressing procedures and rights related to the placement and withdrawal of children in special education. Pursuant to a second enactment, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must apprise local school boards of the provisions of this act by Superintendent's Administrative Memorandum no later than 30 days after its enactment. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Overrepresentation of African-American Students in Special Education Programs.
Patron - McEachin

P HB1587

School safety audits. Requires schools to submit their respective school safety audits to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent is required to collate and submit these school safety audits to the Virginia Center for School Safety. The Virginia Center for School Safety will join the Department of Education in providing technical assistance to school divisions in the development of school crisis and emergency management plans. The Virginia Center for School Safety was created, within the Department of Criminal Justice Services pursuant to legislation passed by the 2000 Session of the General Assembly, to provide training for Virginia public school personnel in school safety and the effective identification of students who may be at risk for violent behavior; serve as a resource and referral center providing information regarding current school safety concerns; and collect, analyze, and disseminate various Virginia school safety data, including school safety audit information, collected by the Department. This bill is identical to SB 1334.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB1691

Internet access in public schools. Requires, as part of the acceptable Internet use policies that must be filed every two years for public school divisions by each division superintendent, a technology be selected for the division's computers having Internet access to filter or block Internet access through such computers to child pornography and obscenity as defined in Title 18.2. In addition, this bill requires the principal or other chief administrator of any private school that satisfies the compulsory school attendance law and accepts federal funds for Internet access (E-rate funds) to select a technology for its computers having Internet access to filter or block Internet access through such computers to child pornography and obscenity.
Patron - Black

P HB1706

Exclusion from public school attendance. Allows school boards to exclude from attendance students who have been suspended for more than 30 days or expelled by another school division or for whom private school admission has been withdrawn regardless of the offense for which the disciplinary action was imposed. To exclude a student, the school board must find that the student presents a danger to the other students or staff of the school division after providing notice to the student and his parents of the possibility of exclusion and after the superintendent reviews the case. Current law specifies that the offense warranting exclusion must be one involving a violation of school board policies related to destruction of school property or privately-owned property while located on school property, weapons, alcohol or drugs, or for the willful infliction of injury to another person. The present exclusion period for expulsion cannot be for longer than one year and for greater-than-30-day suspensions may not exceed the length of the suspension. This bill eliminates the one-year cap for the period of time a student who has been expelled or for whom admission has been withdrawn may be excluded from school attendance in another school division. A date upon which the student may petition for readmission must be issued by the relevant school board, committee thereof, or superintendent or designee rendering the initial exclusion, and, upon denial of the petition, a date for subsequent petitions set by the school board. This provision allows school divisions excluding students who have been expelled from another school division in the Commonwealth to accept or reject any or all of any conditions for readmission that may have been imposed on the student by the expelling school division. The excluding school division cannot impose additional conditions for readmission. Current law permits local school boards to impose conditions for readmission to school on expelled students.
Patron - Amundson

P HB1707

School board action regarding school property. Authorizes school boards to take action against a student for actual breakage of or destruction of or failure to return school property that is caused or committed by a pupil in pursuit of his studies. Present law requires the pupil to reimburse the school board for property damage; in addition, current civil procedure statutes limit recovery from parents for willful or malicious destruction of or damage to property by minors to $2,500.
Patron - Amundson

P HB1724

School bus driver qualifications. Provides that the character reference statement required of applicants for school bus driver positions may be signed by two reputable persons who may reside in the applicant's community or in the hiring school division. Current law limits these signatures to those of two reputable residents of the hiring school division.
Patron - Black

P HB1882

Instruction regarding alcohol abuse and drunk driving. Provides that instruction concerning the public safety hazards and dangers of alcohol abuse, underage drinking, and drunk driving must be provided in the public schools. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control must provide educational materials to the Department of Education. The Department of Education must review and distribute such materials as are approved to the public schools.
Patron - Albo

P HB1885

School board salaries. Increases the maximum annual salary for school board members in the following jurisdictions: Lancaster, from $3,000 to $6,000; Louisa, from $3,600 to $4,800; Russell, from $1,800 to $3,600; the City of Portsmouth, from $2,700 to $5,000; and the City of Salem, from $1,700 to $3,600.
Patron - Rhodes

P HB1908

Virginia Public School Authority; bonds and notes for grants. Authorizes the Virginia Public School Authority to pledge to certain bonds and notes issued for grants to local school boards any general funds appropriated for such purpose. The Governor's annual budget bill must contain a sum sufficient appropriation to cure any shortfall on any debt service payment date on the bonds or notes. This bill requires the VPSA to report to the Governor and the chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Finance and the Senate Committee on Finance detailing the total amount of the VPSA's outstanding bonds and notes secured by such sum sufficient and describing any instances where such sum sufficient has been used.
Patron - Callahan

P HB1983

Notification of reduction in force for teachers. Directs the school boards of Arlington, Fairfax, and Falls Church (identified by form of government or by population) to notify by May 15 those teachers who may be subject to a reduction in force due to a decrease in the school board's budget as approved by the appropriating body. An emergency clause makes the bill effective upon passage. The act expires on July 1, 2003. Currently, the statute targets only the Prince William school board. This bill incorporates HB 1788 and HB 2172.
Patron - Watts

P HB1996

Criminal records checks for school board employees. Provides that the criminal records history obtained by school boards for applicants who are offered or who accept school board employment, whether on a temporary, permanent, or part- or full-time basis, address all felony and Class 1 misdemeanor convictions and equivalent offenses in other states. Currently, the records are searched for all felonies and any misdemeanors involving drugs, abuse or neglect of children, moral turpitude, obscenity offenses, and sexual assault. In addition, reports of all arrests of school employees, not just the currently enumerated serious crimes, will now be reported to school boards; these employees must then submit to fingerprinting and a criminal history records check, also expanded in this measure to include all felony and misdemeanor convictions. The information obtained through the records check of current employees is used for dismissal and suspension purposes; however, the criminal convictions warranting these disciplinary actions remain limited to specified serious crimes. Pursuant to § 22.1-296.1, applicants for school employment must currently certify they have not been convicted of a felony, crime of moral turpitude, or other specific crimes involving the abuse of a child.
Patron - Parrish

P HB2123

Professional teacher's examination. Directs the Board of Education, in setting passing scores for the professional teacher's examination required for initial licensure, to establish an alternative for the Praxis I assessments. Currently, applicants for initial licensure must pass the Praxis I: Academic Skills Assessments, which includes mathematics, reading, and writing tests, each of which has a specified passing score. In addition, a passing score in a specialty area is also required for initial licensure; the Praxis II tests fulfill this latter requirement, which is necessary for endorsement in a teaching specialty. This bill incorporates HB 2558.
Patron - Darner

P HB2395

Commercial, promotional and corporate partnerships and sponsorships relating to public schools. Requires each school board to develop and implement and authorizes them to revise, from time to time, a policy relating to commercial, promotional, and corporate partnerships and sponsorships involving public schools in the division. It is noted in the preambles of this bill that commercial activities have increased significantly in schools during the past decade; that most school officials and parents agree that corporate and business involvement in education is desirable and that the contributions of business and industry have made many activities into reality that would not otherwise have been possible; that some ethical questions have, however, arisen concerning apparel companies and others and their influence on the lifestyles and choices of young people; that incidents in other states have made it clear that the time has come to clarify the rules on such activities; that the Commonwealth wishes to nurture and encourage its business and industry community to become involved in and to contribute to its public schools in appropriate and positive ways; and that, in order to protect the school divisions and students of Virginia from any unwanted influences and to avoid the difficulties that have occurred in other states while stimulating desirable business and industry involvement, Virginia school boards must develop policies on these issues designed to meet their local needs, circumstances, and standards. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Commercial Promotional Activities in High Schools pursuant to HJR 239 of 2000.
Patron - Tata

P HB2401

Standard 4 of the Standards of Quality; Literacy Passports, diplomas, and certificates; class rankings. Authorizes each local school board to devise, vis-a-vis the award of diplomas to secondary school students, a mechanism for calculating class rankings that takes into consideration whether the student has taken a required class more than one time and has had any prior earned grade for such required class expunged.
Patron - Tata

P HB2439

Charter schools. Clarifies that, prior to receiving applications for any public charter school, a local school board must provide public notice of its intent to accept or not to accept applications for public charter schools and may, upon providing such public notice, alter its decision to accept or not to accept such applications. The current and obsolete date of December 31, 2000, for local school boards to indicate their intent to accept or reject charter schools' applications is struck. This bill is identical to SB 1393.
Patron - Harris

P HB2512

Student discipline. Reorganizes the student discipline statutes and moves some sections to other articles of Title 22.1. The measure makes the following substantive changes: (i) adds definitions for the various student disciplinary actions; (ii) requires division superintendents, in making recommendations for expulsion for violations other than those involving weapons or drugs, to consider various factors, such as the student's age, grade level, academic and attendance records, and disciplinary history, and the appropriateness and availability of an alternative education placement or program; (iii) requires subsequent confirmation or disapproval of a recommended student expulsion by the school board, or a committee thereof, regardless of whether the pupil exercised the right to a hearing; (iv) allows school boards to exclude from attendance students who have been suspended for more than 30 days or expelled by another school division or for whom private school admission has been withdrawn regardless of the offense for which the disciplinary action was imposed, upon a finding that the student presents a danger to the other students or staff of the school division and upon compliance with a hearing process; (v) eliminates the one-year cap for the period of time a student who has been expelled or for whom admission has been withdrawn may be excluded from school attendance in another school division, and provides that the date upon which the student may re-petition for admission must be issued by the relevant school board, committee thereof, or superintendent or designee rendering the initial exclusion, and, upon denial of the petition, a date for subsequent petitions set by the school board; (vi) permits school divisions excluding students who have been expelled from another school division in the Commonwealth to accept or waive any or all of any conditions for admission that may have been imposed by the expelling school division; however, the excluding school division cannot impose additional conditions for admission; (vii) allows school boards to permit students who have been expelled, excluded, are subject to a long-term suspension, or have been found guilty or not innocent of a crime which could have resulted in injury to others or for whom a court disposition is required to be reported, to attend an alternative education program provided by the school division; (viii) permits school boards to take action against students for actual breakage or destruction of or failure to return school property; and (ix) requires school boards to establish, by regulation, a schedule pursuant to which expelled students may apply and reapply for readmission to school. The schedule would be designed to ensure that the hearing and ruling on any initial petition for readmission, if granted, would enable the student to resume school attendance one calendar year from the date of the expulsion. This bill is similar to SB 1359.
Patron - Reid

P HB2514

Teacher proficiency; continuing contract status. Provides that any teacher hired on or after July 1, 2001, will be required, as a condition of achieving continuing contract status, to have successfully completed training in instructional strategies and techniques for intervention for or remediation of students who fail or are at risk of failing the Standards of Learning assessments. Local school divisions will be required to provide the training at no cost to teachers employed in their division. In the event a local school division fails to offer the training in a timely manner, no teacher will be denied continuing contract status for failure to obtain such training. This bill is identical to SB 1304.
Patron - Reid

P HB2588

Reciprocity for criminal history records check. Authorizes local school boards to exchange information obtained from a criminal history records check of an applicant conducted within the previous 90 days, if the applicant has requested and given permission in writing that another school board to which he has applied for employment may be informed of the results. Criminal history record information pertaining to an applicant may only be exchanged between school boards in the Commonwealth with current reciprocity agreements. The agreements must provide for the apportionment of the costs of fingerprinting and the criminal record check between the applicant and the school board, as currently provided by law; however, the applicant may not be charged by each school board for conducting the criminal history records check.
Patron - Christian

P HB2589

Virginia Teacher Scholarship Loan Program. Moves and amends the Virginia Teacher Scholarship Loan Program, § 22.1-212.2:1, to a more appropriate section in Title 22.1. The amendment to the provision requires the Board of Education and the State Council of Higher Education to make available to parents, students, teachers, guidance counselors, and academic advisors and financial aid administrators at institutions of higher education information concerning the Program, eligibility criteria for loans, and the terms and conditions under which loans are awarded in order that students seeking careers in the teaching profession may be informed of the availability of such financial aid. The amendment to the companion section in Title 23, pertaining to the State Council of Higher Education's role and responsibilities in the Program, is identical to the amendment to the provisions of the Program in Title 22.1. Further, moving the Program to another section in Title 22.1 places it in proximity to other sections to which it is related, provides the Program greater visibility and makes it easier to find in the Code of Virginia, and relieves the congestion around sections in Title 22.1 where it was originally assigned. Many of the extensive amendments to the statutory provisions and the appropriations act in 2000 were the recommendations of the Commission on Access and Diversity in Higher Education to address the supply and demand of classroom teachers in critical teacher shortage disciplines, the dearth of male and minority teachers, and the shortage of classroom teachers in certain rural and urban areas of the Commonwealth. This bill is also the recommendation of the Commission on Access and Diversity in Higher Education.
Patron - Christian

P HB2674

Standard diploma. Restores language in the Standards of Quality (SOQ) that was unintentionally deleted by the merging of legislation reorganizing Standard 3 in the 2000 Session. Standard 3, as with several of the SOQ statutes, is set out twice in the Code of Virginia; this bill amends the version of Standard 3 that will become effective on July 1, 2003. The inserted language provides that, effective July 1, 2003, the requirements for a standard diploma must include at least two sequential electives.
Patron - Orrock

P HB2777

Standards of Learning resource guides. Directs, in order to provide appropriate opportunity for input from the general public, teachers, and local school boards, the Board of Education to solicit public comment prior to revising or adopting Standards of Learning resource guides. Thirty days prior to soliciting such public comment, the Board must publish notice of its intended action. Interested parties must be given reasonable opportunity to be heard and present information prior to final action of the Board. The Board must make such resource guides available for public inspection at least thirty days prior to final adoption or revision, as the case may be.
Patron - Dillard

P HB2786

School board; definition. Adjusts the definition of "school board" to note that such body "governs" a school division and revises the definition of "governing body" or "local governing body" in the education title to be like the definition in the local government title, i.e., "the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require."
Patron - Blevins

P SB814

School board salaries. Increases the maximum annual salary for the following school boards: Greene County from $3,600 to $5,800; Lancaster County from $3,000 to $6,000; Louisa County from $3,600 to $4,800; Russell County from $1,800 to $3,600; the City of Portsmouth from $2,700 to $5,000; and the City of Salem from $1,700 to $3,600. All boards receiving increases purported to have followed the statutory procedures required for increasing their salaries. This bill incorporates SB 1148 and SB 1364.
Patron - Houck

P SB954

Virginia Retirement System; retirees hired as teachers. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to at least annually survey all local school divisions to identify critical shortages of teachers by geographic area, by school division, or by subject matter. The bill also provides that retired persons who are members of the Virginia Retirement System may be hired as teachers or administrative personnel without interrupting their retirement benefits under the following conditions: (i) the person's retirement allowance is based on his service as a licensed instructional or administrative employee; (ii) the person has been receiving such retirement allowance for a period of time consistent with federal tax laws, preceding his employment; (iii) the person had not retired pursuant to an early retirement incentive; and (iv) the person is to be employed to fill the critical shortage identified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The provisions of this act are effective from its passage but will expire on July 1, 2006. This bill incorporates SB 1248.
Patron - Couric

P SB1022

School and institutional crisis and emergency management plans. Requires public schools to institute tornado drills every school year to familiarize students with drill procedures to safeguard their health, safety, and welfare. The definition of "school crisis and emergency management plan" has been modified to include "tornados" among the natural disasters and severe weather conditions that must be considered. The Board of Education and the State Council of Higher Education must consult with the Virginia Center for School Safety and the Coordinator of Emergency Management in the development and revision of their respective model crisis and emergency management plans for public schools and public and private two-year and four-year institutions of higher education. The duties of the Department of Emergency Management and of the Coordinator have been extended to provide consultation services to the Board of Education and the State Council of Higher Education in the development and revision of crisis and emergency management plans, which would include disaster and preparedness activities that should be followed in the event of a tornado.
Patron - Houck

P SB1033

P SB1055

Career and technical education. Changes the name of vocational technical education in the Code of Virginia to refer to "career and technical" education, in conformance with the currently accepted national view. The name, career and technical education reflect the increased status and complexity of vocational education programs; for example, complex diagnostic computers for auto mechanics and computer technician certification programs that qualify graduates for profitable careers. Enactment clauses clarify that no public school need change its name; however, regardless of the name, a vocational school must continue to comply with the relevant requirements in law and regulation. Further, no stationery, logo, pamphlets or other printed materials or websites must be redesigned and, where any name change is dictated in this bill, all materials with the current name may be used up before being redesigned or reprinted. No additional services are required in any state or local program by reason of this name change. References to vocational education will be synonymous with and subsumed by "career and technical" education. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Continuing and Vocational/Technical Education.
Patron - Quayle

P SB1056

Substitution of certain tests. Authorizes the Board of Education to substitue industry certification and state licensure examinations for Standards of Learning assessments for the purpose of awarding verified units of credit for career and technical education courses, where appropriate. This bill also amends Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality to allow the Board to provide, in the requirements for the verified units of credit stipulated for obtaining the standard or advanced studies diploma, that appropriate and relevant industry certification or state licensure examinations may be substituted for correlated Standards of Learning examinations and that students completing career and technical education programs that are designed to enable such students to pass such industry certification examinations or state licensure examinations may be awarded, upon obtaining satisfactory scores on such industry certification or licensure examinations, appropriate verified units of credit for one or more career and technical education classes into which relevant Standards of Learning for various classes taught at the same level have been integrated. Such industry certification and state licensure examinations may cover relevant standards of learning for various required classes and may, at the discretion of the Board, address various standards of learning for several required courses.
Patron - Quayle

P SB1057

Educational technology in career and technical education programs. Clarifies that funds provided for educational technology may be used for career and technical education, i.e., vocational programs as well as academic programs. This bill also clarifies that the Board of Education's six-year technology plan must integrate the Standards of Learning into career and technical education programs as well as academic programs, and that local school division technology plans must be designed to integrate educational technology into the career and technical education programs as well as the academic programs. A second enactment specifically notes that school boards may use any educational technology funds for career and technical education programs, including, but not limited to, funding allocated for professional development in educational technology. This provision is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Continuing and Vocational/Technical Education.
Patron - Quayle

P SB1144

Optional education programs for kindergarten through grade five. Authorizes local school boards to establish optional age-appropriate education programs for young students in grades kindergarten through five who require guidance, supervision, and discipline in a structured learning environment and who need to be re-directed toward appropriate classroom decorum and acceptable personal behavior. The programs must provide instructional and support services that will enable students to maintain academic achievement, attain basic skills and academic proficiencies, and otherwise benefit from a public education, during the time that they may be removed from the regular classroom. The programs shall also be designed to (i) accommodate students within the school building to which they have been assigned, (ii) facilitate the efficient transition of students between the optional education program and their regular classroom, (iii) provide for the continuity of instruction, a nurturing environment, necessary guidance and supervision, and the participation of the student's parents in correcting his behavior. Local school boards must ensure that the programs are adequately staffed by licensed teachers or other persons with demonstrated qualifications to instruct and manage students with a range of academic gifts and deficiencies, disciplinary problems, and the need to develop and use appropriate social skills. These programs may not be used as an appropriate alternative placement for students who have been removed from special education programs or classes for disciplinary purposes.
Patron - Lambert

P SB1163

Advisory Commission on the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Increases the membership of the Advisory Commission on the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind from 10 to 12 members by adding two additional citizen members to be appointed by the Speaker, thus bringing the Speaker's citizen appointments to three. Currently, the Commission has two citizens, both of whom are either former students of either of the schools or the parents of former or present students of either of the schools. This provision requires that one of the additional appointees be a parent of a sensory impaired multidisabled student who is currently attending or has attended the Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled at Hampton, and that the other new appointee be a current member of the Board of Education. The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections will continue to appoint one citizen member who is either a former student of either of the schools or a parent of a current or former student of either of the schools.
Patron - Hanger

P SB1201

School; preschool physicals. Adds a physician assistant who is acting under the supervision of a licensed physician to the list of those practitioners who are qualified to perform a comprehensive physical exam of students prior to their entering kindergarten or elementary school.
Patron - Forbes

P SB1207

Access to high schools and high school students for military recruiters. Requires any school board that provides access to one or more of its high schools and contact with such high school's student body or other contact with its high school students during a school or school division-sponsored activity whether conducted on school board property or other property to persons or groups for occupational, professional or educational recruitment to provide equal access on the same basis to official recruiting representatives of the military forces of the Commonwealth and the United States. This bill notes that Standard 1 of the Standards of Quality requires all school boards to implement career education programs promoting knowledge of careers and various employment opportunities, including, but not limited to, military careers.
Patron - Forbes

P SB1210

The Virginia World War II Veterans Appreciation Week; certain honorary diplomas. Establishes the first full week in September, i.e., the week that was the first full official week of peace in 1945 (the war was officially over on September 2, 1945, upon the formal surrender of Japan aboard the United States battleship, Missouri) as the Virginia World War II Veterans Appreciation Week and provides for the application for and award of honorary state high school diplomas by the Board of Education if the veteran served in any branch of the United States Armed Forces during the years between 1939 and 1945; the veteran was drafted or did enlist while still enrolled as a secondary school student in any school in any state or territory of the United States or any school located on or associated with a United States military base or embassy; and the veteran was unable to resume his secondary education upon returning to civilian life.
Patron - Forbes

P SB1304

P SB1331

Pledge of Allegiance. Requires (i) all students to be required to learn the Pledge of Allegiance and to demonstrate such knowledge and (ii) each school board to require the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in each classroom of the school division and to ensure that an American flag is in place in each classroom. Each school board must determine the appropriate time during the school day for the recitation of the Pledge. During the Pledge of Allegiance, students must either stand and recite the Pledge while facing the flag with their right hands over their hearts or in an appropriate salute if in uniform; however, no student can be compelled to recite the Pledge if he, his parent or legal guardian objects on religious, philosophical, or other grounds. Students who are thus exempt from reciting the Pledge must remain quietly standing or sitting at their desks while others recite the Pledge and must not make any display that disrupts or distracts others who are reciting the Pledge. School boards must provide appropriate accommodations for students who are unable to comply with these procedures due to disability. School board codes of conduct shall apply to disruptive behavior during the recitation of the Pledge in the same manner as provided for other circumstances of similar behavior. The Office of the Attorney General must intervene on behalf of local school boards and must provide legal defense of these provisions.
Patron - Barry

P SB1334

School safety audits. Requires schools to submit their respective school safety audits to the relevant school division superintendent. The division superintendent is to collate and submit these school safety audits to the Virginia Center for School Safety. The Center for School Safety is to join the Department of Education in providing technical assistance to school divisions in the development of school crisis and emergency management plans. Created within the Department of Criminal Justice Services pursuant to legislation passed by the 2000 Session of the General Assembly, the Virginia Center for School Safety is to provide training for Virginia public school personnel in school safety and the effective identification of students who may be at risk for violent behavior; serve as a resource and referral center providing information regarding current school safety concerns; and collect, analyze, and disseminate various Virginia school safety data, including school safety audit information, collected by the Department. This bill is identical to HB 1587.
Patron - Newman

P SB1340

P SB1359

Student discipline. Reorganizes the student discipline statutes and moves some sections to other articles of Title 22.1. The measure makes the following substantive changes: (i) adds definitions for the various student disciplinary actions; (ii) requires division superintendents, in making recommendations for expulsion for violations other than those involving weapons or drugs, to consider various factors, such as the student's age, grade level, academic and attendance records, and disciplinary history, and the appropriateness and availability of an alternative education placement or program; (iii) requires subsequent confirmation or disapproval of a recommended student expulsion by the school board, or a committee thereof, regardless of whether the pupil exercised the right to a hearing; (iv) allows school boards to exclude from attendance students who have been suspended for more than 30 days or expelled by another school division or for whom private school admission has been withdrawn regardless of the offense for which the disciplinary action was imposed, upon a finding that the student presents a danger to the other students or staff of the school division and upon compliance with a hearing process; (v) eliminates the one-year cap for the period of time a student who has been expelled or for whom admission has been withdrawn may be excluded from school attendance in another school division, and provides that the date upon which the student may re-petition for admission must be issued by the relevant school board, committee thereof, or superintendent or designee rendering the initial exclusion, and, upon denial of the petition, a date for subsequent petitions set by the school board; (vi) permits school divisions excluding students who have been expelled from another school division in the Commonwealth to accept or waive any or all of any conditions for admission that may have been imposed by the expelling school division; however, the excluding school division cannot impose additional conditions for admission; (vii) allows school boards to permit students who have been expelled, excluded, are subject to a long-term suspension; found to have committed a serious offense or repeated offenses in violation of school board policies; found guilty or not innocent of an offense related to weapons, alcohol or drugs, or a crime that could have resulted in injury to others; or for whom a court disposition is required to be reported, to attend an alternative education program provided by the school division; (viii) permits school boards to take action against students for failure to return school property, including seeking reimbursement from the student or the student's parent; and (ix) requires school boards to establish, by regulation, a schedule pursuant to which expelled students may apply and reapply for readmission to school. The schedule would be designed to ensure that the hearing and ruling on any initial petition for readmission, if granted, would enable the student to resume school attendance one calendar year from the date of the expulsion. This measure is a recommendation of the Commission on Youth. This measure is similar to HB 2512.
Patron - Rerras

P SB1391

Accreditation of schools. Amends the two versions of Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality to require the Board of Education to authorize, as an elective in grades nine through 12 with appropriate credits toward graduation, a comparative religion class that focuses on the basic tenets, history, and religious observances and rites of world religions.
Patron - Potts

P SB1393

Charter schools. Eliminates the now out-dated requirement that a local school board must provide public notice by December 31, 2000, of its intent to accept or not to accept applications for public charter schools. The bill provides the school boards must, prior to receiving applications for any public charter school, provide public notice of its intent to accept or not to accept applications for public charter schools and may, upon providing such public notice, alter its decision to accept or not to accept such applications. This measure is identical to HB 2439.
Patron - Newman

F Failed

F HB1557

Daily observance of one minute of silence. Eliminates the reference to prayer within the current Code provision requiring the daily observation of a one-minute moment of silence in every classroom in the public schools in Virginia. During this period, students may, "in the exercise of his or her individual choice," meditate or engage in any other silent activity that does not interfere with, distract, or impede other pupils in the like exercise of individual choice. Legislation adopted by the 2000 Session of the General Assembly (SB 209) amended the statute to make such observance mandatory. The Office of the Attorney General is to intervene and provide legal counsel for defense of this provision.
Patron - Darner

F HB1564

School calendar. Makes local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening of the school year, and eliminates the post-Labor Day opening requirement and the "good cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education might grant waivers of this requirement. Amendments adopted in 1998 (SB 425) delineated the three "good cause" situations that may justify a waiver: the applicant school division must (i) have been closed an average of eight days per year during any five of the past 10 years because of severe weather conditions or certain other emergency situations; (ii) be providing an instructional program or programs in one or more of its elementary, middle or high schools, excluding the electronic classroom, which are dependent on and provided in one or more elementary, middle or high schools of another school division that qualifies for such waiver (waiver applicable only to the opening date for those schools where the dependent programs are provided); or (iii) be providing an experimental or innovative program approved by the Department of Education pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (waiver only applicable to the opening date for schools where the experimental or innovative programs are offered generally to the student body).
Patron - Parrish

F HB1613

Posting of certain statement. Requires all school boards to post prominently in a conspicuous place in each of their schools for all students to read the phrase, "In God we trust," which is the national motto of the United States pursuant to 36 U.S.C. § 186 (1999).
Patron - Marshall

F HB1654

Temporarily employed teachers. Revises the definition of "temporarily employed teacher." This bill eliminates the requirement that those individuals hired to fill a teacher vacancy for a period of time serve no longer than 90 days. The bill authorizes school boards to determine the time period necessary to employ a teacher to fill a vacancy for the purpose of addressing a shortage of qualified teachers in a specific grade level or content area. The Board of Education's regulations must require that long-term substitutes hold a college degree or demonstrate equivalent work experience. Current law requires that temporarily employed teachers be at least eighteen years of age and hold a high school diploma or a general educational development (GED) certificate. The provision expires on July 1, 2004.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB1788

Notification of reduction in force for teachers. Directs the Falls Church school board (the school board of a city that is adjacent to, but not completely surrounded by, a county having the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax)) to notify by May 15 those teachers who may be subject to a reduction in force due to a decrease in the school board's budget as approved by the appropriating body. Currently, the statute targets only the Prince William school board. This measure was incorporated in HB 1983.
Patron - Hull

F HB1841

High school on the Internet. Requires the Board of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Technology, and Old Dominion University, to establish a comprehensive program of instruction in the Standards of Learning for English, History and Social Studies, Mathematics, and Science, which shall be available to school-age students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, and to other students in the school divisions who are eligible to attend the public schools. Development of curricula for the content areas, teacher preparation in integrating technology in instruction, adequate program staffing, the development of procedures and criteria for determining student eligibility for the programs, and the identification of costs and infrastructure needs of the school divisions to support the programs and deliver instructional services are the responsibility of the Board of Education.
Patron - Marshall

F HB1977

Salaries of instructional personnel. Provides that, effective in the 2002-2004 biennium, in determining the statewide prevailing salary for instructional positions to be funded within the Standards of Quality, the Department of Education shall base such prevailing salaries on the actual salary paid to individual positions equivalent to positions required by the Standards of Quality and the actual number of such positions. For the purposes of these statewide prevailing salary calculations, "instructional positions" shall include those of elementary and secondary teachers, principals, assistant principals, instructional aides, counselors, and librarians.
Patron - McClure

F HB2041

Fees for licenses and certificates of proprietary schools. Authorizes the Board of Education to assess fees for new licenses and certificates and license and certificate renewal as follows: a fee not exceeding $100 for any school whose student enrollment is 100 students or fewer, and a fee not exceeding $500 for any school whose student enrollment is greater than 100 students.
Patron - Rust

F HB2084

Requirements for full funding of summer remedial programs. Requires the Board of Education to develop and implement a formula to provide funding for remedial summer school consistent with the method of funding basic instructional programs. The formula must include a mechanism to allow local school divisions to recover the costs of such programs and services provided to students attending these programs who are enrolled in the public schools of another school division. The Board must require compliance with its standards for full funding of remedial summer school, as provided in the Standards of Quality in subsection C of § 22.1-253.13:1. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Educational Accountability's Task Force on Remediation.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB2085

Options to the employment of additional teachers. Allows school boards to use funds appropriated for the employment of additional classroom teachers to increase the compensation of licensed in-service teachers who agree to teach either (i) Standards of Learning courses, (ii) reading classes for students with poor reading skills and ability, (iii) remediation courses, (iv) extended hours to tutor at-risk students, or (v) in schools with low student performance on the Standards of Learning assessments, or in schools that have not attained full accreditation, pursuant to Board regulations governing the accreditation of public schools. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Educational Accountability's Task Force on Remediation.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB2086

Remediation programs and services. Clarifies which students the division superintendent shall require to attend remedial summer school or another form of remediation, and which students he may require to attend these programs or special prevention and intervention programs. This bill clarifies that transportation services are a part of the full costs of remediation programs and that transportation must be provided by local school divisions to any student required to attend remediation programs, whether such programs are offered in the summer, before and afterschool, or during the school day, if the program is outside the school that the student attends. Students required to attend remediation programs may not be charged for transportation services by the school division. The bill also requires school divisions to monitor the academic achievement of students required to attend remediation programs in accordance with the methodology that must be developed by the Board of Education to track the linear academic progress of such students. School divisions must also report the cost effectiveness of intradistrict and regional remediation programs. As a condition for full funding of summer remedial programs, Board of Education standards must require the provision of transportation services, the use of master teachers, the development of an educational plan specific to the instructional needs of the student, linear tracking of student achievement, and the use of one or more school reform models under the federal Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program, designed to raise student achievement, which have been approved by the Board of Education. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Educational Accountability's Task Force on Remediation.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB2111

Early Intervention Reading Initiative Program and Fund. Creates the Early Intervention Reading Initiative Program and Fund to support grants to public schools to administer diagnostic testing, and instructional time to provide intervention or remediation to identified students in kindergarten through grade three, using pedagogical strategies supported by research. The intervention and remediation may include before- and after-school programs, Saturday school, or in-school tutoring sessions. Programs also may include contributions of services, resources, materials, volunteer manpower and funds from community organizations, faith-based organizations, businesses and local governments. The Department of Education is to provide school divisions with diagnostic tests to identify (i) the number of students requiring intervention and remediation services through the Program and (ii) effective reading intervention and remediation programs and strategies, as appropriate. Grant amounts shall be based on the percentage of students in each school division who are identified as requiring services as indicated by results of diagnostic pretests administered in the previous year. Local school divisions and eligible schools may supplement grants from the Fund with local funds and private contributions and gifts, but may not support existing programs with funds granted pursuant to the Program. Grants from the Fund shall be issued to schools upon approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the school's plan, certified by the division superintendent and the school principal, for the use of the grant. The Department of Education may audit a school's program to ensure compliance with the school plan, Program requirements, and Board guidelines. This bill is identical to SB 1313.
Patron - Suit

F HB2122

Graduation requirements. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing course and credit requirements for graduation, to establish guidelines for local school boards to provide for additional criteria to determine the award of a verified unit of credit to students in grades six through nine in the 2000-2001 school year who obtain a passing grade for a course but fail the relevant Standards of Learning assessment twice. Such guidelines shall be designed to ensure consistency and fairness in the selection and administration of any such additional criteria and are exempt from the Administrative Process Act. Currently, the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) do not specifically make the awarding of diplomas contingent upon the passage of SOL tests; however, beginning with the ninth grade class of 2003-4, students must earn six verified units of credit from specific courses for a standard diploma. During a transition period for the ninth grade classes of 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2002-03, students must earn six verified units (two in English and four additional units). Beginning with the ninth grade class of 2000-01, students must earn nine verified credits in specific courses to earn an advanced studies diploma. (8 VAC 20-131-50 B, C). Verified units are earned upon passage of the course and the relevant SOL test. (8 VAC 20-131-110 B).
Patron - Darner

F HB2151

Salaries of instructional personnel. Provides that, in determining the average statewide salary for instructional positions to be funded within the Standards of Quality, the Department of Education is to base such averages on the actual salary paid to individual positions equivalent to positions required by the Standards of Quality and the actual number of such positions. For the purposes of these statewide average salary calculations, "instructional positions" shall include elementary and secondary teachers, principals, assistant principals, instructional aides, counselors, and librarians.
Patron - Dillard

F HB2163

Standards of Accreditation; multiple criteria. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing the Standards of Accreditation for elementary, middle, and high schools, to incorporate the use of multiple criteria in determining the accreditation status of schools. The criteria for the accreditation of all schools shall include results of the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments, excluding the scores of students pursuing alternative education; improvement in SOL assessment scores; and student attendance rates. The criteria for accrediting all schools shall also provide for the awarding of additional credit to be counted toward attaining a particular accreditation status for (i) a disparity in the aggregated Standards of Learning assessment scores of majority and minority students of 10 points or fewer that results from increased assessment scores of all students and (ii) the percentage of teachers who are assigned to positions for which they have an endorsement. The Board shall assign a weight to each criterion to obtain a numerical rating for determining accreditation status; however, in no event shall the results of any SOL assessments account for more than three-quarters of a school's rating for accreditation purposes. In addition, the accreditation standards for high schools shall include, but not be limited to, school drop out rates, with data distinguishing verified transfers and students participating in a GED program and the percentage of students who do not receive a diploma but either (a) pass an examination in a career and technical education field that confers certification from a recognized industry, or trade or professional association, or (b) acquire a professional license in a career and technical education field from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additional criteria for the accreditation of middle schools shall include, but not be limited to, school drop out rates, with data distinguishing verified transfers. Additional criteria for the accreditation of elementary schools shall include, but not be limited to, the number of students who have been retained for more than one year in grades two through five. The criteria for accrediting elementary schools shall also include, as an additional credit that might be counted toward attaining a particular accreditation status, the percentage of students achieving above the fiftieth percentile on the Stanford 9 assessment. At the request of the relevant school board, alternative education schools and full-day programs designed to increase educational opportunities for at-risk students shall be evaluated pursuant to standards appropriate to such school or program and approved by the Board of Education. Each school's performance on the various criteria and any awards of additional credit shall be included in the School Performance Report Card required by the Standards of Accreditation.
Patron - Jackson

F HB2172

Notification of reduction in force for teachers. Directs any school board in a county having the county manager plan form of government (Arlington) to notify by May 15 those teachers who may be subject to a reduction in force due to a decrease in the school board's budget as approved by the appropriating body. Currently, the statute targets only the Prince William County school board. This measure was incorporated in HB 1983.
Patron - Brink

F HB2353

Cultural diversity competency training of school personnel. Requires all persons subject to the Virginia Licensure Regulations for School Personnel to complete cultural diversity training as a condition of licensure and license renewal, effective July 1, 2003. Due to current and projected demographic changes in Virginia's population, which have resulted in greater racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity among citizens and school-age children, school personnel require an understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures represented in the public schools. Currently, certain initiatives in progress or under consideration at the Department of Education reflect the necessity to provide cultural diversity competency training in professional staff development of school personnel, including proposed revisions to the licensure regulations. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Overrepresentation of African-American Students in Special Education Programs.
Patron - McEachin

F HB2359

Fingerprinting of certain school board employees. Excludes applicants for adult education instructional positions in which there is no contact with minors, from the criminal records check and fingerprinting requirements now applicable to all applicants for school board employment, whether for full- or part-time, permanent or temporary positions. Reports of arrests of any school board employees, rather than applicants, regardless of position, however, would still be reported to division superintendents and fingerprinting of the employee then required.
Patron - Weatherholtz

F HB2365

Virginia Banking-at-School Demonstration Program. Creates the Virginia Banking-at-School Demonstration Program as a resource to provide learning opportunities and practical experiences that allow students to apply knowledge and skills, thus reinforcing conventional classroom efforts at attaining those objectives of the Standards of Learning for Mathematics, English, History and Social Studies, and Computer Technology. Only public schools are eligible to receive grants for demonstration projects that establish school banks operated, administered, and managed for students by students. The Board of Education must establish guidelines, in consultation with the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Financial Institutions, the State Council of Higher Education, and the Virginia Bankers Association, for the governance of school banks and other components of the demonstration projects. Public schools desiring awards for demonstration projects must, among other things, establish partnerships with financial institutions and public or private institutions of higher education, and designate qualified school employees to supervise school banks and to work with participating students. Student participation in the school bank is voluntary; however, students must provide written permission from a parent to participate as a "student bank employee" or student customer. Public schools must also develop connections between the SOL objectives, the school bank, and class instruction and assignments to reinforce learning and the application of knowledge and skills. Parents of participating students are required to participate in and support the school bank. They must also agree to be responsible for helping students understand their responsibilities and obligations as "student bank employees" and student customers. Further, parents must agree to accept financial responsibility for any obligation incurred by the students while participating in the school bank. Partner institutions of higher education are required to provide both rigorous supplementary academic programs to identified "student bank employees" who have demonstrated the potential and interest in pursuing a career in business or finance and mentors for student customers. Such institutions must also provide related coursework to participating school and bank employees. The coursework for licensed school employees must qualify to be used toward credits required for license renewal. Partner financial institutions are required to establish school banks and to train "student bank employees" and participating school employees concerning the operation and administration of financial institutions, business and personnel management, entrepreneurships, simple and compound interest, investments, good work habits and other personal skills, oral and written communications, interest rate-setting, stocks, bonds, money markets, electronic transfers and online banking, the American and Virginia economic systems, global economics, and other matters pertaining to the world of business, economics, and finance. The provisions of the bill expire on July 1, 2005. This bill, substantially revised, was the recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Status and Needs of African-American Males in Virginia in the 2000 Session.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB2385

Volunteer Activities Coordinator Incentive Grants Program and Fund. Establishes the Volunteer Activities Coordinator Incentive Grants Program and Fund. Administered by the Board of Education, the Program will award grants on a competitive basis to public schools to support the employment of a volunteer activities coordinator and the training of volunteers to assist in the delivery of initiatives addressing early childhood and accelerated reading, remediation related to the Standards of Learning assessments, and other initiatives as may be identified by Board of Education guidelines. The Board is to establish criteria for making grants from the Fund and procedures for determining amounts for grants to eligible public schools. The Board may issue guidelines governing the Program as it deems necessary and appropriate.
Patron - Pollard

F HB2391

Use of Standards of Learning assessments for school accreditation. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing accreditation requirements for schools, to create a sliding scale for the inclusion and consideration of the results of Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments. The sliding scale must provide for the consideration of other indicators of school performance, and is to weight any such Standards of Learning assessment scores to benefit the particular school. Currently, the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) provide that "evaluation of the performance of schools shall take into consideration" the percentage of eligible students achieving a passing score on SOL assessments or other tests used to obtain verified units of credit; the percentage of students passing the literacy and numeracy tests required for the Modified Standard Diploma; the percentage of students whose Individualized Education Plans (IEP) specify participation in an alternate assessment who obtain a score of "proficient"; the school's attainment of certain provisional accreditation benchmarks; and the number of students who successfully complete a remediation recovery program and subsequently pass SOL tests in English and/or mathematics during any scheduled administration by the end of the following school year (8 VAC 20-131-280). More specifically, however, the SOA provide that accreditation ratings will be based on the percentage of students passing SOL tests or approved additional tests or on a trailing three-year average that includes the current year's scores and the scores from the two most recent years in each applicable academic area, or the current year's scores, whichever is higher (8 VAC-20-131-280 C 3). The SOA ultimately phase in four accreditation levels after the year 2009. These ratings are based solely on pass rates on the SOL assessments for the four core subject areas (8 VAC 20-131-300).
Patron - Dillard

F HB2392

School accreditation; SOL scores of certain students. Provides that scores on Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments of students who (i) have transferred into a school during the school year in which they are required to take the assessment; (ii) have been identified as having limited English proficiency (LEP); or (iii) have been identified as disabled and whose education is subject to an individualized education plan (IEP) may be considered in the determination of the relevant school's accreditation rating only if such inclusion benefits the school's rating. The Board of Education is to include in the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) the terms and conditions under which such scores of these students may be considered in determining the school's accreditation rating. The SOA now provide that the scores of LEP and transfer students will be used in the calculation of a school's accreditation rating if it will benefit the school and authorize the Board to alter the inclusions and exclusions from the accountability calculations by providing adequate notice to local school boards (8 VAC 20-131-280 E 8, 9). Students whose IEP provides for their participation in SOL testing are included among "eligible students" whose SOL scores are considered for school accreditation purposes. (8 VAC 20-131-280 C 4). These regulations, however, also provide that the scores of all students who transfer within a school division shall be counted in the calculation of the school's accountability (accreditation) rating (8 VAC 20-131-280 E 5). The SOA delineate special consideration for the SOL test scores of other transfer students. The scores of those who (i) transfer into a Virginia school from another Virginia school division, another state, or another country, in grades kindergarten through eight after the 20th instructional day following the opening of school; (ii) transfer into a Virginia middle or high school from another state or country and enroll in a course for which there is an end-of-course SOL test after 20 instructional hours per course have elapsed following the opening of school or beginning of the semester; or (iii) enroll on the first day of school and subsequently transfer to a school outside of the division for a total amount of instructional time equal to or exceeding 50 percent of a current school year or semester, and return during the same school year may be used in calculating the school accreditation rating. The SOA also detail "tolerances" for LEP, special education, and transfer students in calculating passing rates on SOL assessments. Of these students, LEP students have a one-time exemption in each of the four core areas for SOL tests for grades K-8. The scores of LEP students enrolled in Virginia public schools fewer than 11 semesters may be removed from the calculation used for school accreditation.
Patron - Dillard

F HB2393

Standards of Quality; elementary school guidance counselors and reading specialists. Amends the Standards of Quality to require, within the Standards of Accreditation, guidance counselors in elementary schools at the following staffing levels: one hour per day per 100 students, one full time at 500 students, and one hour per day additional time per 100 students or major fraction thereof. In addition, elementary schools must employ one full-time reading specialist; currently, these positions are filled "at the discretion of the local school board."
Patron - Dillard

F HB2394

Diploma requirements. Directs the Board of Education, in awarding verified credits for performance on Standards of Learning assessments, to establish a formula whereby a student may earn a verified credit based upon such test performance in combination with the student's end-of-course grade in instances in which a student has been allowed to retake a Standards of Learning assessment and has scored within the established margin of error for such assessment. Such formula shall be applicable to students enrolled in grades six through nine in 2000-2001.
Patron - Dillard

F HB2396

Algebra Readiness Initiative Program and Fund. Creates the Algebra Readiness Initiative Program and Fund to support grants to public schools to provide mathematics intervention or remediation to identified students in grades six through nine, using pedagogical strategies supported by research. The intervention and remediation may include before- and after-school programs, Saturday school, or in-school tutoring sessions, and will address one or more grade levels. Programs also may include contributions of services, resources, materials, volunteer manpower and funds from community members and organizations, faith-based organizations, businesses and local governments. Grant amounts shall be based on the number of seventh and eighth grade students multiplied by the percentage of students in grade eight who have failed the eighth grade Standards of Learning test the previous year. Local school divisions and eligible schools may supplement grants from the Fund with local funds and private contributions and gifts, but may not support existing programs with funds granted pursuant to the Program. Grants from the Fund shall be issued to schools upon approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the school's plan, certified by the division superintendent and the school principal, for the use of the grant. The Department of Education may audit a school's program to ensure compliance with the school plan, Program requirements, and Board guidelines. This bill is identical to SB 981.
Patron - Tata

F HB2402

Standard 4 of the Standards of Quality; Literacy Passports, diplomas and certificates; high school transcripts. Requires the transcripts of each student awarded a diploma by a local school board to indicate, concisely and plainly, any instance in which the student has taken a required class and earned a grade in such class more than one time, regardless of the recorded grade on such class. No transcript will be required to indicate any grade other than the recorded grade. The indication of grade expungement may be accomplished by designation of a symbol or other notation.
Patron - Tata

F HB2465

Part-time admission and enrollment of nonpublic school students in Governor's Schools. Authorizes local school boards to develop policies, consistent with their constitutional and statutory responsibilities for providing public education, for the part-time admission and enrollment in Governor's Schools of students who are either enrolled in a nonpublic school or receiving home instruction. The policies must address attendance zones, evidence of residence, equitable student selection, and compliance by such students with all relevant public school policies during attendance time. In addition, the policies shall require that the parent apply for the desired class or classes to the division superintendent of the Governor's School to be attended, and shall require the parent to obtain permission for such part-time enrollment from the chief administrator of the relevant nonpublic school in which the student is enrolled on a full-time basis. Approval for part-time admission and enrollment shall only be granted if the student meets admissions criteria and the school has space in the desired class or classes after accommodating the qualified pupils who are regularly enrolled in the school or in the participating school divisions. These students would be included in average daily membership in the relevant school division on a pro rata basis. The measure is not to be construed as requiring school divisions to establish or participate in the operation of a Governor's School. Under current law, nonpublic school students who are enrolled in public school on a less than full-time basis in any mathematics, science, English, history, social science, vocational education, fine arts, foreign language, health education, or physical education course are counted in the average daily membership in the relevant school division on a pro rata basis as provided in the appropriation act. No such student will be counted as more than one-half of a student. The 2000 Appropriation Act supports this requirement (Item 143 A 1 d).
Patron - O'Brien

F HB2498

Education Certificate Act. Establishes the Education Certificate Act to create a local option voucher system to provide choice in education for children in grades K-12 eligible for free or reduced lunch. The bill establishes certain parameters for the use of vouchers and places conditions on public and nonsectarian private schools that choose to participate. The measure provides that all public schools participate in the program; specific standards are set forth governing private school participation in the initiative. Participating schools must execute an agreement with the Board of Education guaranteeing that the participating school will provide a child who is accepted for enrollment, and who presents a certificate, a supplementary tuition payment in an amount sufficient to satisfy any remainder of the participating school's tuition and fees, and an education equivalent to that provided other children attending the school. All or part of the funds for such supplementary tuition payment may be secured from the individual student's personal education account established under the provisions of this article. Participating private schools must demonstrate that no funds generated through the acceptance of the certificates are used for classes in religious instruction, and in no case shall such funds constitute aid to any church, sect, or religious denomination, or aid in any way any sectarian institution for which the acceptance and use of public funds is prohibited. The value of a certificate for any student awarded a certificate to attend a participating school shall not be worth less than 80 percent of the basic aid appropriated for the support of public education in the school division. No certificate shall be redeemed for more than the amount of the tuition and fees regularly charged by the participating school for providing educational services. The measure also includes various provisions addressing a phase-in period for the initiative.
Patron - Robinson

F HB2540

Governor's Academic Challenge Program and Fund. Creates the Governor's Academic Challenge Program and Fund to support grants to public schools Accredited with Warning or Provisionally Accredited/Needs Improvement pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) to provide intervention or remediation. The intervention and remediation may include before- and after-school programs, Saturday school, or tutoring sessions, and shall increase the student's net instructional time in school. Programs also may include contributions of services, resources, materials, volunteer manpower and funds from community members and organizations, faith-based organizations, businesses and local governments. Grant amounts shall be based on the school's accreditation status for the year. Local school divisions and eligible schools may supplement grants from the Fund with local funds and private contributions and gifts, but may not support existing programs with funds granted pursuant to the Program. Grants from the Fund shall be issued to schools upon approval by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the school's plan, certified by the division superintendent and the school principal, for the use of the grant. The Department of Education may audit a school's program to ensure compliance with the school plan, Program requirements, and Board guidelines. This bill is identical to SB 1138.
Patron - Spruill

F HB2541

Home instruction requirements. Provides that persons providing home instruction must have a high school diploma; currently, a baccalaureate degree is required. In addition, the bill provides that a licensed teacher engaged by a parent authorized to home school his child or children may determine that a program of study or curriculum meets the requirements established by the Commonwealth for home instruction. The bill also provides that in addition to the battery of achievement tests approved by the Board of Education for evaluating the home schooled student's academic progress, the parent may offer the results of a battery of achievement tests approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or an evaluation which, in the opinion of a licensed teacher engaged by the parent, indicates an adequate level of educational growth. Currently, this latter evaluation option is limited to evaluations assessed by the division superintendent.
Patron - Katzen

F HB2558

Restricted license for teachers. Directs the Board of Education, within its teacher licensure regulations, to provide for the issuance of a restricted teaching license to an individual who (i) has not completed a teacher education program and (ii) holds a master's degree or its equivalent in the subject area in which he seeks licensure and endorsement. These individuals shall not be required to take professional teacher examinations in disciplines other than such the subject area of endorsement. The restricted license shall only be valid for instructional positions in the relevant area of endorsement. This measure was incorporated in HB 2123.
Patron - O'Brien

F HB2561

School calendar; year-round schedule. Exempts from the post-Labor Day opening requirement and waiver process those schools operating on a year-round calendar basis. The "year-round calendar" is defined to include those school-year calendars that provide for no less than 180 regular teaching days, at least 28 of which are scheduled to occur between June 15 and August 31. Such year-round schedules may incorporate intersession or enrichment courses but shall not include any regular or remedial summer school programs.
Patron - O'Brien

F HB2590

Financial assistance to certain students for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations. Requires local school boards to provide financial assistance to students to cover the costs of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations, if the students are enrolled full-time in the public schools, have been placed in or meet the qualifications for placement in Advanced Placement courses and the International Baccalaureate program, and are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Students who meet the aforementioned qualifications, but are ineligible to receive free or reduced lunch, are also eligible for such financial assistance, if they have been identified by a teacher, school principal, guidance counselor or other school personnel as unable to afford the costs of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations due to the unemployment of a parent, the serious or life-threatening illness of an immediate family member, the inability of a parent to afford the costs of such examinations for more than one eligible student, or other substantiated family financial exigency. This bill also establishes which students shall be eligible for the assistance; requires local school boards to establish policies to implement the law; sets out the procedure by which school boards will receive funding to assist needy students; and requires local school boards to report after the close of each school year the number of students served, those unable to be served due to lack of resources, the type of examination taken by and the score credited to the student, and the total costs of such examinations to the Department of Education. The Department of Education must use this information to establish a profile of students receiving financial assistance and baseline data to calculate and project the need for future state funds to support the program.
Patron - Christian

F HB2591

Termination of special education services. Clarifies that the right to special education services terminates for disabled students who graduate from high school with a regular diploma, as provided in federal regulations governing eligibility for special education services. However, because graduation is considered a change in placement under federal law, the parents of a disabled student must be notified in writing concerning the student's graduation before such transition commences. Reevaluation of the student is not required in this instance. This bill also provides that the General Education Diploma (GED) is deemed to be a regular diploma only, when awarded to a student who has been identified as disabled for educational purposes. The provisions of this bill do not affect the criteria for high school graduation and the awarding of diplomas in the Standards of Quality and the Standards of Accreditation.
Patron - Christian

F HB2644

Student conduct policies. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing guidelines for model student conduct policies, to include standards for school board policies regarding the appropriate manner of addressing teachers and administrators in the school setting. Local school boards are required to adopt student conduct policies consistent with Board guidelines, and may create policies that are more stringent than the guidelines. Currently, the Board's guidelines address, among other things, criteria for the removal of a student from a class; the use of suspension, expulsion, and exclusion as disciplinary measures; and standards for school board policies regarding alcohol and drugs, vandalism, trespassing, threats, search and seizure, disciplining of students with disabilities, and intentional injury of others.
Patron - Black

F HB2687

Suffolk school board salary increase. Authorizes the school board of the City of Suffolk to establish an increase in its member salaries effective in 2001 by providing a one-time exemption from the statutory requirement that a local school board representing a city or town may establish a salary increase prior to December 31 in any year preceding a year in which members are to be elected or appointed. Currently, such increase shall become effective on July 1 of the year in which the election or appointment occurs. Although the 2000 Session increased the maximum salary for Suffolk school board members, the school board will not have an election until 2002. Under current law, an increase could be established by December 31, 2001, but would not be effective until July of 2002.
Patron - Spruill

F HB2715

Family Literacy Grants Program and Fund. Creates the Family Literacy Grants Program, to be administered by the Board of Education, to award grants on a competitive basis to school divisions to support programs designed to address one or more of the following objectives: to (i) increase the literacy skills and educational levels of parents through instruction in basic skills, high school credentialing programs, English as a second language, workplace training, and parenting; (ii) enhance parents' understanding of child development and the parent's role as first teacher; (iii) assist parents in gaining the motivation, skills, and knowledge necessary to improve employability or to pursue further education and training; and (iv) increase the developmental skills of preschool children for preparation for academic and social success in school. Grants cannot support adult education initiatives already required by the Standards of Quality. The Board will establish procedures for determining grant amounts and is to issue guidelines governing the Program as it deems necessary and appropriate, including provisions addressing the coordination of any adult literacy and education efforts for which a grant is sought pursuant to this section with the biennial state plan for adult education and literacy developed by the Virginia Advisory Council for Adult Education and Literacy.
Patron - Plum

F HB2727

Multiple measures of student achievement. Directs the Board of Education, within the Standards of Accreditation (SOA), to provide that the accreditation status of public schools shall be based on (i) multiple measures of student achievement, including (a) the results of locally developed classroom and other direct assessments of student work over time, such as projects, portfolios, and teacher-made tests designed to improve as well as measure student learning; (b) scores on Standards of Learning assessments and other standardized tests; and (c) external reviews of student work, as appropriate; (ii) availability to students of high quality curricula and instruction designed to meet diverse needs, abilities, and interests; (iii) access to up-to-date facilities, equipment, materials, and a safe and clean learning environment; (iv) attendance, retention, dropout, and graduation rates, including on-time graduation rates; (v) postsecondary education and employment rates and successes; (vi) teacher education and licensure and endorsement in subjects taught; (vii) opportunities for and participation in ongoing professional development in best instructional and assessment practices; (viii) available school and community resources, including per pupil expenditures; (ix) school demographic factors; (x) student mobility; (xi) opportunities for and level of parental involvement; and (xii) periodic self-evaluations and external reviews and evaluations by school quality review teams. The SOA shall also provide that student promotion and retention, course placement, and requirements for a high school diploma shall be based primarily on these multiple measures of student achievement.
Patron - Day

F HB2741

Education; funding for the state Standards of Quality. Provides that notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commonwealth shall fund at least 55 percent of the total actual costs of public education. The Standards of Quality and the formulas used by the Commonwealth to distribute funds to localities to meet the Standards of Quality shall be reviewed and revised biennially to meet such requirement. Beginning with the budget for fiscal year 2002, the Governor shall include in his budget recommendations adequate funds to meet the requirements of this bill. This is a recommendation of the Commission on the Condition and Future of Virginia's Cities.
Patron - Moss

F HB2755

Driver education programs. Eliminates classroom and behind-the-wheel driver training for any student who is not enrolled full time in the public schools. This bill also provides that students who complete Board of Education approved correspondence courses for the classroom training component of driver education shall receive the behind-the wheel driver training from a licensed, commercial, driver training school.
Patron - O'Brien

F HB2793

Board of Education; membership. Requires the Governor to appoint one domiciliary resident of each of the eight regional superintendents' study areas and one member at large as the nine members of the Board of Education. As provided in the second enactment, this bill will not require new appointments prior to the expiration of any term of office for a member of the Board on and after January 1, 2002. Beginning with the 2002 appointments, the Governor must phase in the demographic distribution according to the eight regional superintendents' study areas in any manner he deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, reappointment of eligible individuals who represent one of the eight regions. However, with each expiration of term, beginning on January 1, 2002, the successive appointments must be made to represent a different region until each of the eight regions is so represented.
Patron - Bennett

F HB2794

Independent review of Standards of Learning assessments. Directs the Board of Education to appoint an independent committee of testing experts to evaluate annually the application and uses of these assessments for student promotion, retention, remedial placement, and graduation requirements, as well as for school accreditation. This evaluation shall include a consequential validity analysis to assess the effects of the assessments and the technical characteristics of validity, reliability, and fairness of the uses of such assessment results. In conducting such consequential validity analysis, the committee shall consider the findings and recommendations of the Standards of Learning Test Technical Advisory Committee set forth in its Review of Selected Technical Characteristics of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Assessments. The committee shall also make recommendations regarding the need for any additional state or local assessment mechanisms designed to improve instruction and to assess knowledge and skills required by the Standards of Learning and not reflected in the Standards of Learning assessments. The committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the Board of Education, the House Committee on Education, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1 of each year. The first such report shall address the assessments administered in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001, and shall be delivered by November 1, 2001. This bill is identical to SB 1372.
Patron - Bennett

F HB2816

Multiple criteria for remediation of elementary and secondary school students. Requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines to assist local school boards in identifying students for remediation and special programs of prevention and intervention. The guidelines must include multiple criteria for determining whether such students will be required to attend remediation programs or special programs of prevention and intervention. The multiple criteria must include, but not be limited to, teacher observations and evaluations; class work and grades during the school year; scores on the Standards of Learning assessments and Virginia State Assessment Program Tests; the student's reading proficiency; the effects of social, economic, cultural, or familial conditions on the student's learning; whether the student is working on grade level or has been retained in a grade due to poor academic achievement; whether the student has experienced disciplinary problems; whether the student has attended remediation or special programs of prevention and intervention; and whether the student's academic achievement can be improved with consistent tutoring, more time on tasks, or supervised assistance to complete class assignments. School divisions are prohibited from recommending or placing students in remediation programs and special programs of prevention and intervention solely on the basis of scores on the Standards of Learning assessments and Virginia State Assessment Program Tests.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB2822

Transfer of funds to teacher tax-sheltered annuities. Directs the local treasurer or comparable officer to provide for the transfer of funds designated by licensed instructional and administrative employees for tax-sheltered annuities, including, but not limited to, any local deferred compensation plan, to occur within 24 hours of the established employee salary payment date.
Patron - Grayson

F HB2823

Educators' Higher Education Opportunity Program. Creates the Educators' Higher Education Opportunity Program, comprised of the voluntary contributions of educators employed on a full-time basis as licensed instructional or administrative personnel in good standing by a public school board in Virginia, to fund savings trust accounts pursuant to the Virginia College Savings Plan. The Board of Education must make an annual contribution to the Fund on behalf of eligible educators who have completed five years of full-time employment in a seven-year period. Savings trust account funds cannot be disbursed prior to an eligible educator or designee being admitted and enrolled at an eligible institution. The Board, in consultation with the Board of the Virginia College Savings Plan, shall establish regulations addressing (i) minimum amounts of educator contributions to the Fund; (ii) amounts of annual Board contributions to accounts in which the educator's interest has vested; (iii) changes in employing school boards; (iv) the voluntary participation of local school boards in making contributions to the Fund on behalf of employees; and (v) such other matters as it deems necessary for the implementation of the Program. The program expires on July 1, 2006.
Patron - Byron

F HB2831

Standards of Quality; diploma requirements. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing diploma requirements, to require multiple criteria through the accumulation of standard and verified units of credit. Standard units of credit shall be awarded upon (i) the successful completion of the 140-hour class and any projects, portfolios, writing assignments, demonstrations, homework, classroom tests, reports, and teacher evaluations as prescribed by the local school board or individual school; or (ii) without completing the 140-hour class, upon demonstration of mastery of the course content and objectives, as may be permitted by the division superintendent as currently provided in Standard 3. Verified units of credit shall be awarded upon earning the standard unit of credit and obtaining a passing score on the relevant Standards of Learning assessment or other objective measure of student achievement approved by the Board of Education for such purpose. For the purpose of meeting the combined credit requirements for a high school diploma, standard and verified units shall have the same numeric value. Standard units of credit shall comprise at least 70 percent of the combined required credits, and verified units shall comprise no more than 30 percent of such combined credits. No student shall be denied a diploma based solely on the failure to achieve a passing score on the single administration of an assessment approved for the award of a verified unit of credit. The Board shall provide, by regulation, for multiple opportunities for students to retake such failed assessments and for alternative forms of assessment for those courses for which verified units of credits are required. In addition, a second enactment clause provides that, applicable only to students enrolled in grades six through nine in the 2000-2001 school year, the Board will establish guidelines for local school boards to provide for additional criteria to determine the award of a verified unit of credit. Such guidelines shall be designed to ensure consistency and fairness in the selection and administration of any such additional criteria. The issuance of such guidelines shall be exempt from the provisions of the Administrative Process Act, except that the Board shall provide for public review and comment. Currently, the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) require 22 standard units of credit, with six verified units of credit, for a Standard Diploma; 24 standard units of credit, with nine verified units of credit, for an Advanced Studies Diploma; and 20 standard units of credit for a Modified Standard Diploma (8 VAC 20-131-50).
Patron - Reid

F HB2847

Standards of Learning Assessment Advisory Commission. Creates the 14-member Standards of Learning Assessment Advisory Commission (the Commission) as a legislative agency of the Commonwealth. Comprised of one Senator, three Delegates, and 10 citizen members including educators and administrators, testing experts, and citizens at large, the Commission is to examine and make recommendations regarding any revisions to and ongoing implementation of the Standards of Accreditation for public schools, the Standards of Learning, the use and application of statewide and divisionwide student assessments, and other matters related to the delivery of quality education in the public schools of the Commonwealth. The Commission may establish advisory committees composed of persons with expertise in the matters under consideration by the Commission.
Patron - Landes

F HB2857

Virginia Teachers and School Administrators of Tomorrow Recruitment and Retention Program. Creates the Virginia Teachers and School Administrators of Tomorrow Recruitment and Retention Program for the purpose of addressing the problem of teacher and school administrator supply and demand in the public schools of the Commonwealth, and ensuring a diverse and well-qualified teaching and administrative force, consisting of licensed teachers and school administrators. The Program consists of the following components: (i) the Teacher Cadet Academy to provide internships for academically able students who possess the personal qualities and leadership skills for success in teaching, and who demonstrate an interest in children, to consider careers in teaching; (ii) incentives to attract new teachers and retain experienced teachers and school administrators, particularly in urban and rural school divisions experiencing difficulty in attracting and retaining teachers and administrators; (iii) a database containing the announcements of open positions for teachers and administrators throughout the Commonwealth; (iv) strategies to increase the supply of minority teachers and school administrators; (v) linkages between public schools, institutions of higher education, and business and industry to provide mentorships and business-school exchange programs; and (vi) the use of the statewide teacher and administrator survey data to identify critical administrator and teacher shortages, and the disciplines and geographical regions of the Commonwealth in which they occur so that recruitment efforts can be effectively targeted. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Access and Diversity in Higher Education.
Patron - Jones, J.C.

F SB944

Standard 3, Accreditation, other standards and evaluation, of the Standards of Quality. Adds, on July 1, 2002, to the minimum staffing requirements required in the Board of Education's regulations on accrediting schools, a requirement for attendance officers and secretaries adequate to implement the compulsory school attendance law. The Board of Education is required to promulgate emergency regulations to implement this new requirement. The statute authorizing attendance officers is amended to require appointment of attendance officers and secretaries, in accordance with the Board of Education's ratio requirements as set forth in the regulations on accrediting schools. This new requirement will take effect on July 1, 2002.
Patron - Colgan

F SB981

F SB1105

Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program; combination state and local awards. Adds a sixth component to the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program relating to combination state and local awards. The new set of awards is established to assist local school boards in resolving teacher shortages and will consist of one-third state funds, one-third local government funds, and one-third local private funds that have been specifically designated as accruing for a named local school division as funding for combination state and local awards. To the extent funds are adequate, the combination state and local awards will cover the costs of the student's tuition and fees for no more than four years at a Virginia institution of higher education that has an approved teacher education program in a discipline identified by the relevant local school board as a teacher shortage discipline in its schools. Local government and local private funds will be deposited into the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Fund and earmarked for the relevant school division. All recipients of combination state and local awards for teaching scholarship loans will be subject to all requirements of law, including the contract provisions. However, upon graduation, the scholarship recipient must begin teaching in the public schools of the school division of the locality contributing the one-third local funds in the first full academic year after graduating from college and becoming eligible for a teaching license, and must thereafter teach continuously in such school division for at least a three-year period. The three-year teaching commitment will be required regardless of the number of state and local combination awards received by the scholarship recipient. Further, upon failure to teach in the relevant school division for three years, the scholarship recipient must repay the total scholarship funds. Any repaid funds will be deposited into the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Fund to be used for combination state and local awards. The new provision must not be construed to guarantee any initial or continuing scholarship award to any student or applicant or to ensure eligibility of any student for an award because there is a teacher shortage in the student's teacher education discipline. Further, awards will only be made to the extent funds are available and for students agreeing to teach in the designated local school division. Local school boards and local governing bodies will be responsible for soliciting and obtaining local private funds.
Patron - Colgan

F SB1137

Employment, training, and certification of school safety and security specialists. Requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services to establish compulsory minimum, in-service, and advanced training standards for school safety and security specialists. This bill also defines school safety and security specialists as law-enforcement officers, and authorizes local school boards to establish a school safety and security department or office and to employ qualified persons as school safety and security specialists. School safety and security specialists must enforce the laws of the Commonwealth and local school board student conduct policies, provide security for school facilities and property, maintain order in school facilities and at school-sponsored activities, and prevent and detect crime in school facilities, on school property, and at school-sponsored activities. In addition, school boards may establish and seek approval of training programs for school safety and security specialists by the Department of Criminal Justice Services, as well as certification of such specialists who meet the Department's qualifications for law-enforcement officers.
Patron - Marsh

F SB1138

F SB1148

School board salary; Russell County. Increases the maximum annual salary for school board members in Russell County from $1,800 to $3,600. This bill has been incorporated into SB 814.
Patron - Puckett

F SB1239

Teacher licensure by reciprocity. Requires the Board of Education to issue a license by reciprocity to teachers holding licenses in other states and in good standing with the relevant regulatory body. Teachers who are duly licensed in another state or the District of Columbia and in good standing with the relevant out-of-state regulatory board must be deemed to be qualified to hold and must be issued a license by reciprocity by the Board of Education to teach in the relevant endorsement area in Virginia. The license by reciprocity must be issued regardless of conflicting provisions of the Licensure Regulations for School Personnel, any interstate agreements relating to acceptance of teaching endorsements from other states for licensure, and the statutory requirements for the professional examination and training. Upon the issuance of a license by reciprocity, such teachers cannot be required to comply with the statutory testing and training requirements or the Board's regulations relating to a minimum of two years of full-time experience in a public school or an accredited private school and the professional teacher's examinations, known as PRAXIS I and II.
Patron - Barry

F SB1240

Programs for limited English proficiency students. Prohibits school boards, when designing programs to promote the education of children with limited English proficiency and to enhance achievement through a proven instructional method, from operating bilingual programs or English as a Second Language courses that are content oriented and conducted in a language other than English. This bill requires the school boards to implement English-immersion programs exclusively. This provision must not, however, be construed to prohibit or restrict school boards in using bilingual teachers or other bilingual personnel and volunteers in communicating with limited English proficiency students and their families in their native or first language.
Patron - Barry

F SB1265

School accreditation and pupil performance; multiple criteria. Provides that the results of any Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments cannot be the sole or primary basis for the promotion or retention of students or for the awarding of diplomas. In addition, the Board of Education is to provide, in the Standards of Accreditation (SOA), for the use of multiple criteria in determining school accreditation status. Included among these criteria for school accreditation are consideration of access to high quality curricula and instruction designed to meet diverse needs, abilities, and interests; attendance, dropout, and graduation rates; student reading levels; school safety audits; postsecondary education and employment rates; school and divisionwide demographic factors; school and community resources; and parental involvement levels. In establishing accreditation standards and determining requirements for graduation and student achievement, the Board shall seek the assistance and input of teacher education faculty at the Commonwealth's public institutions of higher education, professional educators, parents, and community members.
Patron - Edwards

F SB1266

Standards of Quality; elementary school guidance counselors. Amends the Standards of Quality to require, within the Standards of Accreditation, guidance counselors in elementary schools at the following staffing levels: one hour per day per 100 students, one full-time at 500 students, and one hour per day additional time per 100 students or major fraction thereof. Currently, the Standards of Accreditation (8 VAC 20-131-240 A 4) provide for guidance counselors or reading specialists in elementary schools at one hour per day per 100 students, one full-time at 500, and one hour per day additional time per 100 or major fraction. However, the Standards of Quality are silent regarding guidance counselors in elementary schools.
Patron - Edwards

F SB1267

Lottery Proceeds Fund. Establishes the Lottery Proceeds Fund, as will be authorized on July 1, 2001, in Section 7-A of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia. The Fund will consist of the net revenues of any lottery conducted by the Commonwealth and will be appropriated to localities to use for public education purposes. This bill also establishes authorization for an escrow account for the moneys appropriated from the Fund to localities. Several relevant lottery statutes are amended to note the dedication of the proceeds to the Fund.
Patron - Edwards

F SB1303

Educational opportunity programs. Increases, in the statute regarding educational opportunity programs, the program for at-risk four-year-olds to cover 100 percent of the eligible children and to provide funding to those localities that have been delivering this program on at least a half-day basis prior to the enactment of this statute and the provision of funding in the appropriation act. Those localities that have previously implemented these programs through local and federal moneys and have not received any state grants for at-risk four-year-old programs would be eligible for funding in the 2001-2002 fiscal year. If the local funding in 2000-2001 was more than the required local match for state funds in the 2001-2002 fiscal year, reduction of the local funding would not be construed as supplanting of state funds.
Patron - Newman

F SB1313

F SB1341

Local eligibility licenses for teachers. Provides that teacher candidates seeking a three-year local eligibility license must not have been employed as a teacher by a Virginia local school board during the previous three years. This measure would address those teachers who have held a three-year provisional license issued by the Board of Education as well as those whose licenses have expired or have been revoked or suspended during the three-year period.
Patron - Potts

F SB1342

Home instruction. Permits a parent having an associate degree to provide home instruction. Currently, a parent must either (i) have a baccalaureate degree, (ii) be a teacher, (iii) enroll the child in an approved correspondence course, or (iv) provide a program of study meeting the Standards of Learning and provide evidence of his ability to provide an adequate education for the child. In addition, the bill adds to those tests providing evidence of a home-instructed child of performance in or about the fourth stanine those tests approved by the division superintendent. Currently, these tests are those approved by the Board of Education for use in the public schools.
Patron - Martin

F SB1369

School board salary; Greene County. Increases the maximum annual salary for school board members in Greene County from $3,600 to $5,800. This bill has been incorporated into SB 814.
Patron - Couric

F SB1372

Independent review of Standards of Learning assessments. Directs the Board of Education to appoint an independent committee of testing experts to evaluate annually the application and uses of these assessments for student promotion, retention, remedial placement, and graduation requirements, as well as for school accreditation. This evaluation shall include a consequential validity analysis to assess the effects of the assessments and the technical characteristics of validity, reliability, and fairness of the uses of such assessment results. In conducting such consequential validity analysis, the committee shall consider the findings and recommendations of the Standards of Learning Test Technical Advisory Committee set forth in its Review of Selected Technical Characteristics of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) Assessments. The committee shall also make recommendations regarding the need for any additional state or local assessment mechanisms designed to improve instruction and to assess knowledge and skills required by the Standards of Learning and not reflected in the Standards of Learning assessments. The committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the Board of Education, the House Committee on Education, and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1 of each year. The first such report shall address the assessments administered in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001, and shall be delivered by November 1, 2001.This bill is identical to HB 2794.
Patron - Reynolds

F SB1388

Part-time admission and enrollment of nonpublic school students in Governor's Schools. Directs local school boards to develop policies, consistent with their constitutional and statutory responsibilities for providing public education, for the part-time admission and enrollment in Governor's Schools of students who are enrolled in a nonpublic school. The policies shall provide that the nonpublic school students must be treated as any resident full-time public school student for the purpose of meeting any admissions criteria. The policies must also address compliance by such students with all relevant public school policies during attendance time. In addition, the policies shall require that the parent apply for the desired class or classes to the division superintendent of the Governor's School to be attended, and shall require the parent to obtain permission for such part-time enrollment from the chief administrator of the relevant nonpublic school in which the student is enrolled on a full-time basis. These students would be included in average daily membership in the relevant school division on a pro rata basis. The measure is not to be construed as requiring school divisions to establish or participate in the operation of a Governor's School.
Patron - Rerras

F SB1395

Fingerprinting of certain school board employees. Excludes applicants for adult education instructional positions in which there is no contact with minors from the criminal records check and fingerprinting requirements now applicable to all applicants for school board employment, whether for full- or part-time, permanent or temporary positions. Reports of arrests of any school board employees, rather than applicants, regardless of position, however, would still be reported to division superintendents and fingerprinting of the employee then required.
Patron - Hanger

F SB1396

Teacher employment database. Requires the Department of Education to collect and maintain teacher employment data from the various school divisions. The Department shall maintain a database with division-specific data identifying, among other things, teacher employment levels; teacher endorsements and qualifications, including positions filled by temporary teachers, teachers assigned outside their endorsement areas, and individuals with provisional and local eligibility licenses; and specific hiring needs and employment opportunities in the Commonwealth's school divisions. In addition, the Department must coordinate with national and regional teacher employment databases; develop a uniform teacher employment reporting mechanism for school divisions; project the need for teachers in specific disciplines and geographic areas of the Commonwealth; identify and analyze effective teacher recruitment and retention strategies and disseminate among school divisions information regarding such strategies; and assist school divisions in analyzing particular employment needs.
Patron - Hanger

F SB1397

Teacher and other school personnel contracts and licensure. Strikes the provision authorizing revocation of teachers' licenses for breach of contract. Current law provides that, in the event that the board or the division superintendent declines to grant the teacher's request for release from the contract on the grounds of insufficient or unjustifiable cause, and the teacher breaches such contract, disciplinary action, which may include revocation of the teacher's license, may be taken pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Board of Education.
Patron - Hanger

F SB1424

Standards of Learning assessments. Provides that Standards of Learning assessments may not be administered for any subject area under review or revision by the Board of Education.
Patron - Lambert

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