CONTENTS | < PREVIOUS | NEXT > | BILL INDEX

Education

Passed

P HB46

School crisis and emergency management plans. Adds incidents involving acts of terrorism to those crises and events that must be addressed in the school crisis and emergency plan to be developed by each public school in the Commonwealth. Currently, the crises and events to be addressed include various natural disasters; medical emergencies; student or staff member deaths; explosions; bomb threats; gun, knife or other weapons threats; spills or exposures to hazardous substances; the presence of unauthorized persons or trespassers; the loss, disappearance or kidnapping of a student; hostage situations; violence on school property or at school activities; and other incidents posing a serious threat of harm to students, personnel, or facilities. This bill is identical to SB 442.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB90

Policies regarding medication recommendations by school personnel. Requires the Board of Education to develop and implement policies prohibiting school personnel from recommending the use of psychotropic medications for any student. The policies will not prohibit school health staff from recommending that a student be evaluated by an appropriate medical practitioner, or prohibit school personnel from consulting with such practitioner, with the written consent of the student's parent. "Psychotropic medications" is defined as those medications the prescribed intention of which is to alter mental activity or state, including, but not limited to, antipsychotic, antidepressant, and anxiolytic medication and behavior-altering medication. Medications such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine) would be included in this classification. HB 754 is incorporated into this bill.
Patron - Welch

P HB108

Posting of certain statement. Requires all school boards to post the statement "In God We Trust, the national motto, enacted by Congress in 1956," prominently and in a conspicuous place, in each of their schools for all students to read. "In God We Trust" is presently codified as the national motto of the United States pursuant to 36 U.S.C. § 186 (1999). This bill is identical to SB 608.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

P HB159

Standards of Learning; website for suggested improvements. Directs the Department of Education to make available and maintain a website, either separately or through an existing website utilized by the Department, enabling public elementary, middle and high school educators to submit recommendations for improvements relating to the Standards of Learning, when under review by the Board according to its established schedule, and related assessments required by the Standards of Quality.
Patron - Lingamfelter

P HB177

The Miller School of Albemarle. Increases the membership of the Board of Trustees of The Miller School from nine to 15 members. Five appointments each will be made by the Governor, the Judge of the Circuit Court of Albemarle County, and by the entire Board. The bill also deletes language restricting the Board's selection of banking institutions to those entities doing business in the Commonwealth.
Patron - Abbitt

P HB295

Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program. Provides eligibility for the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program (VGAP) for children of active duty military personnel stationed outside Virginia (but claiming Virginia as their residence) by eliminating the requirement that these students graduate from a Virginia high school. The student must still have maintained the requisite grade point average and meet other VGAP requirements. VGAP awards are based on financial need and evidence of satisfactory academic progress. HB 475 is incorporated into this bill.
Patron - McDonnell

P HB334

Joint schools. Clarifies that school boards may operate comprehensive schools offering all-day academic programs and career and technical education as joint schools. Regional career and technical education (CTE) centers are most often operated on half-day rotations, with students being transported to the career and technical school for their training while receiving academic programs in another school for the other portion of the day.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB335

Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education. Establishes the 17-member Advisory Council on Career and Technical Education in the legislative branch to recommend an integrated and coordinated multi-agency approach for the delivery of quality career and technical education programs and services in the public schools. The Council must facilitate the coordination of public school career and technical services with workforce training programs and efforts among agencies and institutions of the Commonwealth; receive information and advice from state agencies, authorities and other organizations addressing career and technical education and workforce development as necessary; recommend those policies, legislation, and funding that are needed to support career and technical education in the Commonwealth; promote public/private partnerships and collaboration for career and technical programs throughout the Commonwealth; and promote career and technical services for adults in need of such services. The Council must submit recommendations for career and technical education that shall include policies and goals for career and technical education services, identify career and technical education needs and gaps in services, and address identified needs for career and technical education programs annually to the Governor and the General Assembly.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB357

School board policies; student surveys. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies to prohibit the administration of questionnaires or surveys to public school students during the regular school day or at school-sponsored events without written, informed parental consent for the student's participation in such questionnaire or survey when participation may subsequently result in the sale for commercial purposes of personal information regarding the individual student. This bill incorporates HB 397.
Patron - Reese

P HB427

Assault exception for school personnel. Expands the current teacher exception to the "simple assault" and "assault and battery" definitions to include a principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor or public school security officer.
Patron - Black

P HB434

Employment of division superintendents. Prohibits school boards from renegotiating a superintendent's contract during the period following the election or appointment of new members and ending on the date such new members are qualified and assume office. This bill is identical to SB 439.
Patron - Janis

P HB435

Criminal records checks; private school employees. Expands the list of crimes for which criminal records must be searched for persons seeking employment in a private school by referencing those crimes to any offense set forth in § 63.1-198.1 or § 63.1-248.7:2--barrier crimes for child welfare agencies, private child-placing agencies, and juvenile residential facilities.
Patron - Janis

P HB493

Diploma requirements; verified units. Directs the Board of Education to develop guidelines for local school boards to award verified units of credit for a standard diploma for "transition" students: students entering the ninth grade in the 2000, 2001, and 2002 school years using criteria different from the current Standards of Accreditation diploma requirements. The guidelines address students in these classes who passed the relevant coursework and who meet such additional criteria as the Board shall establish for the award of such verified units, which may include, but shall not be limited to, performance on Standards of Learning assessments or other tests, including subsequent administrations of such assessments or tests; attendance and conduct requirements, and participation in remediation programs. The guidelines are applicable only to the award of the four student-selected verified units of credit required for a standard diploma pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) (8 VAC 20-131-50 B). Students must still earn the two verified units of credit in English for a standard diploma as provided in the Standards of Accreditation. The guidelines issued by the Board shall not be subject to the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) and apply, retroactively and prospectively, to students entering the ninth grade for the first time in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Currently, the 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). This bill is identical to SB 609 and incorporates HB 47.
Patron - Reid

P HB498

School safety personnel. Defines a school resource officer as a trained, certified law-enforcement officer hired by a local law-enforcement agency to provide law-enforcement and security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools and a school security officer as an individual who is employed by the local school board for the singular purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of school board policies, and detaining and apprehending students violating the law or school board policies on school property or at school-sponsored events and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety, security, and welfare of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the assigned school. The measure also directs the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in consultation with the Department of Education and the Virginia State Crime Commission, to establish compulsory minimum standards for employment and job-entry and in-service training curricula and certification requirements for school security officers; the training and certification will be administered by the Virginia Center for School Safety. School security officers are precluded from appointment as conservators of the peace and as special police officers. A second enactment clause provides that the training and employment standards will be applicable to persons employed as school security officers on and after September 15, 2003. This bill is identical to SB 295.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB686

Driver education; organ and tissue donor awareness. Adds organ and tissue donor awareness to the topics that must be included in instruction for driver education. Currently, the Board of Education's standardized program for driver education must include instruction regarding alcohol and drug abuse, aggressive driving, and motorcycle awareness. The Department of Health is added to those entities cooperating in the development of the curriculum.
Patron - Tata

P HB692

Reporting of certain acts to school authorities. Adds theft or attempted theft of student prescription medications to those incidents required to be reported to school authorities, that, in turn, are to be reported to the division superintendent for annual reporting to the Department of Education. Principals are required to report the enumerated acts to law enforcement if constituting a criminal offense. Current law limits these various reporting requirements to actions involving weapons, violence, and conduct involving alcohol, marijuana, a controlled substance, imitation controlled substance, or an anabolic steroid on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity. This bill is a recommendation of the HJR 660 Joint Subcommittee to Investigate the Improper Prescription and Illegal Use and Diversion of Ritalin and OxyContin and to Study the Effects of Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on Student Performance.
Patron - Tata

P HB695

School board receipt of payment by credit card. Authorizes school boards to receive payment for services and goods by credit or debit cards. School boards accepting credit or debit card payments may, in addition to any penalties and interest, add to such payment a sum as a service charge for the acceptance of such method of payment. This bill is identical to SB 439.
Patron - Tata

P HB696

Notification of reduction in force for teachers. Directs all school boards, within two weeks of approval of the school budget by the local governing body, but no later than June 1, to notify 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 this measure effective upon passage and the measure expires on July 1, 2003. Current law authorizes the school boards of Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Prince William to provide this notification by May 15.
Patron - Tata

P HB710

Western Virginia Public Education Consortium. Adds the Counties of Bath, Henry and Patrick and the City of Martinsville to the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium and deletes the requirement that the Consortium's offices be housed at Radford University. This bill is identical to SB 559.
Patron - Armstrong

P HB734

Charter schools. Modifies the charter schools statutes by requiring the Board of Education to add the number of charters denied to its annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly and by clarifying that institutions of higher education may submit charter applications, and that the charter school and its governing body are entitled to immunity "to the same extent as a public school and its school board" and its employees and volunteers to such immunity "to the same extent as the employees and volunteers in a public school."
Patron - Sears

P HB755

Satellite public education facilities. Authorizes school boards to enter into agreements with private business and industry for the establishment, installation, renovation, remodeling, or construction of satellite classrooms for grades kindergarten through three on a site owned by the business or industry and leased to the school board at no cost. The local school board may adopt procedures for the enrollment of children of employees of the private industry who reside outside the attendance zone for such classrooms. Such procedures shall be designed to ensure compliance with all federal and state laws and regulations and constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination that are applicable to public schools and with any court-ordered desegregation plan in effect for the school division. Agreements for such satellite classrooms shall include, among other things, (i) a detailed description of the satellite site, the site development necessary for new construction, remodeling, or renovation for the accomplishment of the project, and any facility to be constructed; (ii) a plan for the reimbursement of the school division by the private industry or business upon premature termination of any such lease agreement; (iii) an enrollment plan, including grade levels to be served; and (iv) a description of any waivers to be requested from the Board of Education for the operation of such satellite classrooms. This bill also authorizes in the tax code the relevant local government, by ordinance, to provide an exemption, in whole or in part, from the licensure tax for private businesses and industries entering into these agreements.
Patron - Amundson

P HB794

Textbook selection. Directs the Board of Education, in approving basal textbooks for reading in kindergarten and first grade, to establish a minimum decodability standard based on words that students can correctly read by properly attaching speech sounds to each letter to formulate the word at seventy percent or above for such textbooks.
Patron - Bolvin

P HB884

Standards of Quality; reporting. Directs the Board of Education to include, in its annual fall report on public education needs and schools failing to meet the Standards of Quality (SOQ), a complete listing of the current SOQ, justification for each standard, how long each such standard has been in its current form, and whether the Board recommends any changes to the SOQ.This bill is identical to SB 350.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB886

School crisis and emergency management plans. Directs the Virginia Center for School Safety, the Coordinator of Emergency Management, and the Board of Education to include, within the model school crisis and emergency management plan for public schools, effective procedures and means by which parents can contact the relevant school or school division regarding the location and safety of their schoolchildren and by which school officials may contact parents, with parental approval, during a critical event or emergency. This bill is identical to SB 230.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB966

Banking-at-School Partnership Program. Authorizes local school boards to establish a Banking-at-School Partnership Program, consisting of school banks or school credit unions on the premises of public schools within the school division that have been developed and are operated jointly by a public school and a financial institution authorized to conduct business in the Commonwealth. The Program will be designed to provide a multidisciplinary method to reinforce, augment, and support the objectives of the relevant Standards of Learning and career and technical education competencies through practical experiences that (i) allow students to apply mathematical concepts, communication and computer technology skills, and knowledge of economic principles; (ii) allow students to develop proficiency in basic life skills pertaining to money management, personal finance, banking, commerce and trade, and investments; (iii) facilitate financial literacy and an understanding of the American economic system, Virginia's economy, the global economic system, and the effect of personal finance decisions on the national and state economic systems; and (iv) permit students to explore entrepreneurships and career options in banking and finance. The Program will be funded solely by gifts, grants, donations, in-kind services, and bequests received by a public school from its licensed partner financial institution. The Department of Education is to develop guidelines for these programs in consultation with the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Financial Institutions, the Virginia Bankers Association, and the Virginia Credit Union League. Parental permission is required for student participation in these programs. Schools with high concentrations of at-risk and disadvantaged studented will be encouraged to participate in the Banking-at School Partnership Program. Enactment clauses provide that this act will not affect the continuation or operation of any existing school bank or school credit union established, prior to its effective date, by public schools and licensed financial institutions in the Commonwealth, and also sunset this act on July 1, 2006.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

P HB991

Annual organizational meetings of school boards. Requires the school board serving a city or town constituting a school division to hold its annual organizational meeting in January or July, if its members are appointed or elected or any combination thereof. This bill is identical to SB 279.
Patron - Hall

P HB1136

Standards of Quality; certain elementary school personnel. 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 may employ one full-time reading specialist "at the discretion of the local school board."
Patron - Dillard

P HB1141

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 Isle of Wight County School Board is addressed in the second enactment because, in November 2001, voters approved a referendum for an elected school board; however, no election will take place until 2003. The Isle of Wight school board is required to adhere to its current cap until such time as its members are elected and duly sworn into office.
Patron - Dillard

P HB1206

Family life education; adoption. Adds instruction in the benefits of adoption as a positive choice in the event of an unwanted pregnancy to the family life education curriculum guidelines. In addition, this bill states that the Board of Education, in establishing requirements for appropriate training for teachers of family life education, must include training in instructional elements to support the various curriculum components.
Patron - Reese

P HB1272

School board salaries. Increases the maximum annual salary for school board members in the County of Appomattox, from $3,000 to $5,000; in the County of Fluvanna, from $2,400 to $3,400; in the County of York, from $4,000 to $6,000; and in the City of Newport News, from $5,000 to $12,000. Under current law, no school board can request the General Assembly to consider an increase in its annual salary limit unless the school board has taken an affirmative vote on the requested increase. Further, no school board whose membership is elected in whole or in part can be awarded a salary increase unless a specific salary increase is approved by affirmative vote by that school board. No salary increase may become effective during an incumbent member's term of office; however, this restriction will not apply if the school board members are elected or appointed for staggered terms. This bill is similar, but not identical, to SB 200.
Patron - Abbitt

P HB1277

Standards of Quality; sequential electives. Directs the Board of Education to provide that the requirements for the standard high school diploma must include at least two sequential electives chosen from a concentration of courses selected from a variety of options that may be planned to ensure the completion of a focused sequence of elective courses. Students may take such focused sequence of elective courses in consecutive years or any two years of high school. Such focused sequence of elective courses must provide a foundation for further education or training or preparation for employment and must be developed by the school division, consistent with Board of Education guidelines and as approved by the local school board.
Patron - Orrock

P HB1338

School board composition. Provides that when a county contains a town that is a separate school division, the county school board will have no member representing the town. Instead, the county school board will be comprised of one member elected or appointed from all of the election districts except those districts having more than five percent of town residents and an additional member elected or appointed at large from the entire county, excluding the town. This bill applies solely to Westmoreland County and the Town of Colonial Beach, and King William County and the Town of West Point. This bill is identical to SB 160.
Patron - Pollard

P HB1346

Virginia Teaching Loan Scholarship Program. Extends eligibility for the Virginia Teaching Loan Scholarships to persons identified by local school boards with a shortage of teachers in any discipline or at any grade level in which the local school board determines that a shortage of teachers exists. The bill clarifies that students enrolled in any area of an approved teacher education program who are seeking endorsements in elementary or middle school education and who meet the program's requirements are also eligible to receive such awards.
Patron - Christian

P SB50

Lottery Proceeds Fund. Establishes the Lottery Proceeds Fund that is authorized as of 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. The lottery revenues will be transferred to the Lottery Proceeds Fund in two parts, i.e., on or before June 30, the Comptroller will transfer the State Lottery Fund balances for the fiscal year, based on an estimate determined by the State Lottery Department and no later than 10 days after receipt of the annual audit report on the lottery, the Comptroller will transfer the remaining audited balances of the State Lottery Fund for the fiscal year. If an annual audit discloses that the actual revenue is less than the estimate on which the June 30 transfer was based, the State Comptroller will transfer the difference between the actual revenue and the estimate from the Lottery Proceeds Fund to the State Lottery Fund.This bill is identical to HB 438 and incorporates SB 286.
Patron - Edwards

P SB92

Teacher licensure. Requires persons seeking initial licensure or license renewal as teachers on and after July 1, 2004, to complete study in child abuse recognition and intervention. Curriculum guidelines for this study are to be developed by the Board of Education, as relevant to specific teacher licensure routes, in consultation with the Department of Social Services.
Patron - Howell

P SB160

Composition of certain county school boards. Sets out the membership composition of a county school board in counties that contain a town that is a separate school division. The school board for such county, regardless of whether it is elected or appointed, will not include any member representing the town and will be comprised of one member elected or appointed from all of the election districts within the county, excluding the election district that has more than five percent of town residents, and an additional member elected or appointed at large from the entire county, excluding the town. This bill is identical to HB 1338.
Patron - Chichester

P SB191

Staggered terms for elected school board members; Bath County. Provides, subject to adoption of an authorizing local ordinance, that the elected school board in Bath County shall serve for staggered terms following the November 2003 election with three members elected for four-year terms and two members elected for two-year terms. Under general law, elected school board members must serve the same terms as the members of the local governing body, and the entire Bath County Board of Supervisors is elected every fourth year. Other local school boards exempted from the general law requirement and permitted to have staggered terms are Rockbridge County, pursuant to 1993 legislation, and Loudoun and Pulaski Counties pursuant to 1994 legislation.
Patron - Deeds

P SB200

School board salaries. Increases the salary limits of several school boards, as follows: the Chesapeake School Board from $5,000 to $10,000; the Fredericksburg School Board from $3,600 to $7,500; and the Newport News School Board from $5,000 to $12,000. City school boards are required to establish salary increases prior to December 31 in any year preceding an election or appointment of the members. This bill is similar to HB 1272.
Patron - Houck

P SB201

Standards of Quality revisions. Requires, to ensure the integrity of the Standards of Quality, the Board of Education to exercise its constitutional authority to determine and prescribe the standards, subject to revision only by the General Assembly, by (i) reviewing the standards and (ii) either proposing amendments to the standards or (iii) making a determination that no changes are necessary. In any odd-numbered year in which the Board proposes changes to the standards of quality, the budget estimates that are statutorily required to be reported pursuant to § 2.2-1504 must take into consideration the Board's proposed standards of quality. Prior to 1984, the Board was required to revise the standards every two years in the odd-numbered year. With the codification of the standards in 1984, this requirement was removed.
Patron - Houck

P SB230

P SB236

Licensure of school personnel. Defines the term "accredited institution" for the purposes of the law and the Board of Education's regulations on licensure of school personnel to mean an institution of higher education accredited by a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, or by a state approval process. Presently, the Board's regulations are keyed to only regional accrediting agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education.
Patron - Hanger

P SB279

P SB295

School safety personnel. Defines a school resource officer as a certified law-enforcement officer hired by a local law-enforcement agency to provide law enforcement and security services to Virginia public elementary and secondary schools and a school security officer as an individual who is employed by the local school board for the singular purpose of maintaining order and discipline, preventing crime, investigating violations of school board policies, and detaining students violating the law or school board policies on school property or at school-sponsored events and who is responsible solely for ensuring the safety, security, and welfare of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors in the assigned school. The measure also directs the Department of Education and the Virginia State Crime Commission to establish compulsory minimum standards for employment and job-entry and in-service training curricula and certification requirements for school security officers; the training and certification will be administered by the Virginia Center for School Safety. The training standards will include, but not be limited to, the role and responsibility of school security officers, relevant state and federal laws, school and personal liability issues, security awareness in the school environment, mediation and conflict resolution, disaster and emergency response, and student behavioral dynamics. The Department of Education must establish an advisory committee consisting of local school board representatives, principals, superintendents, and school security personnel to assist in the development of these standards and certification requirements. No person employed by a local school board as a school security officer will be eligible for appointment as a special police officer or conservator for purposes of maintaining safety in a public school. A second enactment clause provides that the training and employment standards will be applicable to persons employed as school security officers on and after September 15, 2003. This bill is identical to HB 498.
Patron - Norment

P SB334

Career and technical education; annual plans. Modifies the existing requirement within the Standards of Quality for local school boards to develop plans for career and technical education to provide for the input of area business and industry representatives and local community colleges in the plan's development. In addition, the plan must be submitted to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System annually.
Patron - Wagner

P SB350

Standards of Quality; reporting. Directs the Board of Education to include, in its annual fall report on public education needs and schools failing to meet the Standards of Quality (SOQ), a complete listing of the current SOQ, justification for each standard, how long each such standard has been in its current form, and whether the Board recommends any changes to the SOQ. This bill is identical to HB 884.
Patron - Howell

P SB365

Virginia Korean War Veterans Appreciation Week; certain honorary high school diplomas. Establishes the first full week in November as the Virginia Korean War 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 1950 and 1953, the veteran was drafted or enlisted 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. Upon filing the required application, the Board of Education will award the veteran a Commonwealth of Virginia Korean War Veteran Honorary High School Diploma during the appreciation week.
Patron - Blevins

P SB373

P SB439

Certain contractual matters regarding division superintendents. Amends the law relating to appointments and terms of division superintendents to provide that no school board can renegotiate a superintendent's contract during the period following the election or appointment of new members and ending on the date such new members are qualified and assume office. This bill is identical to HB 434.
Patron - Williams

P SB442

School crisis and emergency management plans. Adds incidents involving acts of terrorism to the specific events that must be addressed in the school crisis and emergency management plans. These plans include the procedures, operations, and assignments to prevent, manage, and respond to any critical event or emergency. This bill is nearly identical to HB 46.
Patron - Williams

P SB477

Substitution of certain tests. Authorizes the Board of Education to substitute industry certification and state licensure examinations for Standards of Learning assessments for the purpose of enhancing the quality of career and technical education and 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. A second enactment clause notes that this provision is not to be construed to restrict or change the authority and discretion of the Board for establishing school accreditation standards and the requirements for obtaining a diploma or to require the Board to authorize the award of verified units of credit for any specific industry certification or state licensure examination.
Patron - Quayle

P SB559

Western Virginia Public Education Consortium. Adds the Counties of Bath, Henry, and Patrick and the City of Martinsville to the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium and deletes the requirement that the Consortium's offices be housed at Radford University. This bill is identical to HB 710.
Patron - Trumbo

P SB597

Driver Education. Adds instruction concerning distracted driving to the requirements for driver education in the public schools and requires the Department of Motor Vehicles' driver improvement clinic programs to include instruction concerning alcohol and drug abuse, aggressive driving, distracted driving, and motorcycle awareness.
Patron - Norment

P SB604

System of accounting in public schools. Establishes contingency reserves as a major classification of school funds.
Patron - Potts

P SB608

P SB609

Diploma requirements; verified units. Directs the Board of Education to develop guidelines for local school boards to award verified units of credit for a standard diploma for "transition" students: students entering the ninth grade in the 2000, 2001, and 2002 school years using criteria different from the current Standards of Accreditation diploma requirements. The guidelines address students in these classes who passed the relevant coursework and who meet such additional criteria as the Board shall establish for the award of such verified units, which may include, but shall not be limited to, performance on Standards of Learning assessments or other tests, including subsequent administrations of such assessments or tests; attendance and conduct requirements, and participation in remediation programs. The guidelines are applicable only to the award of the four student-selected verified units of credit required for a standard diploma pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) (8 VAC 20-131-50 B). Students must still earn the two verified units of credit in English for a standard diploma as provided in the Standards of Accreditation. The guidelines issued by the Board shall not be subject to the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) and apply, retroactively and prospectively, to students entering the ninth grade for the first time in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Currently, the 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). This measure incorporates HB 47 and is identical to HB 493.
Patron - Houck

P SB625

Charter schools. Clarifies that institutions of higher education may submit applications to form charter schools, requires all school boards to accept and review public charter school applications, and requires the inclusion of the charter school students in fall membership for purposes of calculating the state and local shares for the Standards of Quality.
Patron - Barry

Failed

F HB47

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 2001-2002 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). This bill is incorporated in HB 493.
Patron - Darner

F HB88

Crimes against nature; school board policies. Provides that the family life education curriculum guidelines must prohibit presentations, classroom discussions, and delivery of information regarding acts considered crimes against nature. School boards must develop policies prohibiting presentations, classroom discussions, school-sponsored assemblies and student meetings, and delivery of information or materials describing or depicting crimes against nature. The policies must provide guidelines for guidance counselors, school nurses, and instructional personnel for appropriate discussion of such acts when approached by a student seeking counseling or guidance as a potential victim of these acts, which include incest and sodomy.
Patron - Welch

F HB135

Moment of silence. Directs local school boards to develop policies to ensure that students are informed at least three times a year of the purpose of the observance of the daily minute of silence in public school classrooms. The policies are to provide guidance for school personnel in the development of any informational materials and appropriate methods of presenting such information.
Patron - Black

F HB136

Display of United States flag. Requires the display of the U.S. flag in each public school classroom. Local school board policies are to address the respectful display of the flag; classroom and assembly spaces in which the flag is to be displayed to facilitate instruction regarding the flag and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance; the identification of spaces, such as resource rooms and other areas, in which the flag need not be displayed; and other issues as may be deemed necessary and appropriate.
Patron - Black

F HB158

Access to public school libraries by home-schooled students. Requires school boards to adopt policies, consistent with their constitutional and statutory responsibilities for providing public education, to provide access to public school libraries for students residing in the school division who receive home instruction. The policies shall require that (i) daily access of a minimum of two consecutive hours during the regular school year be provided on a grade-appropriate basis; (ii) the home-school student reside in the attendance zone for the school whose library he desires to use; and (iii) that the parent of the home-school student submit evidence of residence and compliance with § 22.1-254.1. In addition, such policies shall establish procedures for compliance by such students with all relevant public school policies during library use and address the use of volunteers to help ensure the maintenance of order and effective library operations.
Patron - Lingamfelter

F HB161

Posting of Ten Commandments in public schools. Directs the Board of Education, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, to develop guidelines regarding the display of the Ten Commandments in the public schools, the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, the first two clauses of Article I, Section 16 of the Constitution of Virginia, and the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This bill refers to these materials, collectively, as "transcendent values in historical texts." Local school boards may authorize the display of transcendent values in historical texts in a manner consistent with such guidelines. The Board's guidelines must include, but must not be limited to, provisions that address relevant state and federal constitutional concerns, such as freedom of religion and speech, separation of church and state, and federal and state judicial decisions addressing the permissible and appropriate display of transcendent values in historical texts. The guidelines are not subject to the requirements of the Administrative Process Act; however, this bill incorporates a notice and public hearing process for the development of the guidelines. The Attorney General must provide legal defense of this law as well as any legal defense to the adopted guidelines and to any local school board that displays the documents pursuant to the guidelines.
Patron - Lingamfelter

F HB170

Preschool eye examinations. Adds an eye examination conducted by an optometrist or opthamologist to the preschool health examination requirements for enrollment in kindergarten or elementary school. Similar to the current practice for the required physical examination, the eye examination must be offered by local health departments free of charge for medically indigent children. In addition, the current exemption on religious grounds applicable to the physical examination is extended to the eye examination. This bill is similar, but not identical, to HB 517.
Patron - Hargrove

F HB189

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 HB231

Opening of the school year. Repeals the law requiring local school boards to set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend school is after Labor Day, thus reverting the discretion to establish the school calendar to local school boards.
Patron - Ware

F HB307

Qualifications of school bus drivers. Directs school boards to require successful completion of the American National Red Cross first-aid course or its equivalent as a condition of employment as a school bus driver. Currently, school boards have discretion in adopting such a requirement.
Patron - McDonnell

F HB336

Eligibility for certain student participation in interscholastic activities. Provides that no public high school student whose individualized education plan (IEP) provides for the completion of high school studies over a period exceeding eight semesters can be denied eligibility for participation in interscholastic activities on the basis of such extended attendance period; however, the student is not entitled to additional eligibility if he has participated in eight semesters of interscholastic activities or if he has reached age 19 on or before August 1 of the school year in which he wishes to compete.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB358

School board budgets. Modifies the school board budget process to require the division superintendent to prepare and submit an estimate of the amount of money needed during the next fiscal year no later than 60 days before the proposed adoption date for the estimate. The Board of Education is to develop budget format guidelines that require school boards to include in the estimate not only the moneys needed by major classification, but also an identification of all programs in the school division, written goals and objectives for each program; written indices of success for each program; a program evaluation cycle and access to past program evaluations; the amount estimated for the current fiscal year and amounts actually spent in the past three fiscal years for each such program; and the number of employees, both full- and part-time, supporting each program.
Patron - Reese

F HB397

Release of certain student information. Requires local school boards to (i) obtain written parental consent for the release of student directory information and (ii) develop and implement policies to prohibit the administration of questionnaires or surveys to public school students during the regular school day or at school-sponsored events without written, informed parental consent for the student's participation in such questionnaire or survey when participation may subsequently result in the sale of personal information regarding the individual student. The current provision (§ 22.1-288) authorizing the release of student names and addresses to a public or private school, college, or university, private business or professional school or college, or to recruiting representatives of the military forces of the Commonwealth and the United States remains unchanged. These entities are prohibited from using this data "for purposes not directly related to the academic or professional goals of the institution or the military force." This bill is incorporated into HB 357.
Patron - Sears

F HB460

Transportation of students. Requires any local school division or other entity transporting public or private elementary or secondary school students to or from any public or private school, school-related activity, or child care facility to transport these students in a vehicle meeting federal school bus safety standards, as set forth in federal statute and regulations. School divisions and other entities may still use common carriers if the carrier is designed to transport at least 30 passengers. Codifying "Jacob's Law," enacted in South Carolina, the measure would, in effect, preclude the use of passenger vans and other vehicles for transporting public and private school pupils. The measure does not prohibit the transportation of children to or from child care in nonconforming vehicles by a Virginia human services provider, or by a public transportation authority if each child is accompanied by his parent, for whom such transportation is necessary for his work, education, or training. The measure provides for a transition period; any vehicle purchased by such school division or entity before July 1, 2002, may continue to be used until July 1, 2007. Vehicles purchased on and after July 1, 2002, must meet the federal "school bus" definition. School divisions and other entities may purchase conforming vehicles pursuant to state contracts for the purchase of such vehicles. Parents of students using public school bus transportation have the option of designating a child care center or other before- or after-school program as such students' origin or destination for such transportation. Under current law, pupil transportation is not a required service for public school. Board of Education regulations address vehicle size and other safety concerns. The regulations contemplate several types of school buses, with designated passenger capacity for each. The regulations state that "[a] standard or mini-size passenger van which has not been reconstructed to meet Virginia state and federal school vehicle construction standards does not meet this definition." (8 VAC 20-70-10).
Patron - Griffith

F HB461

Reading assessments. Requires the Board of Education to select a nationally normed reading assessment for administration to first, second and third graders and directs each school division to administer the reading assessments according to a schedule established by the Board to ensure that such testing occurs during the last three months of the school year. The Board shall report the results of such tests to local school divisions and shall publish the results by school division in a manner that facilitates comparisons of performance by schools, school divisions, and school years.
Patron - Reese

F HB512

Student discipline. Amends student suspension and expulsion requirements by prohibiting the imposition of disciplinary actions against students, unless required to comply with federal Gun-Free Schools provisions, for (i) reasonable actions taken in good faith by a student in defense of himself or others; to prevent harm to property; or in response to provocation; (ii) possession of a bona fide eating or food service utensil, personal grooming device, or mechanical tool, unless such utensil, device, or tool is brandished or employed as a weapon or otherwise to effect or to threaten an act of violence against another or against property; and (iii) possession or use of nonprescription medication, regardless of whether school personnel have knowledge of such possession or use, if such nonprescription medication is held with the prior or subsequent approval of the pupil's parent. No student who has received notice of an intended suspension or expulsion who asserts these particular actions can be suspended or expelled until school administrators conduct a preliminary factual inquiry regarding the validity of such assertion. School boards shall adopt procedures consistent with due process requirements of this article for the conduct of such inquiry.
Patron - Marrs

F HB754

Policies regarding medication recommendations by school personnel. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies prohibiting school personnel from recommending the use of psychotropic medications for any student. The policies will not prohibit school health staff from recommending that a student be evaluated by an appropriate medical practitioner, or prohibit school personnel from consulting with such practitioner, with the written consent of the student's parent. "Psychotropic medications" is defined as those medications the prescribed intention of which is to alter mental activity or state, including, but not limited to, antipsychotic, antidepressant, and anxiolytic medication and behavior-altering medication. Medications such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), Prozac (fluoxetine), and Paxil (paroxetine) would be included in this classification. In the summer of 2001, Connecticut enacted legislation directing local boards to adopt policies prohibiting school personnel from recommending the use of psychotropic drugs for a student. Similarly, Minnesota has recently adopted a statute prohibiting conditioning readmission to school following suspension or expulsion conditioned on use of these medications. The statute also provides that parental refusal to provide the child with "sympathomimetic medications does not constitute educational neglect." Related legislation has also been considered in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, and Oregon. This bill is incorporated into HB 90.
Patron - Amundson

F HB792

Textbook selection. Directs the Board of Education to develop lists of approved textbooks that correlate with the Standards of Learning and for which a correlation has been established between the use of such textbooks and improved student academic achievement as measured by performance on national standardized tests. The Board is to make such lists available to local school boards for review and reference.
Patron - Bolvin

F HB793

Instructional materials in phonics. Directs local school boards to make available to all teachers employed in grades prekindergarten through three, special education, and in English as a second language, or as reading specialists, materials to assist in the provision of instruction in systematic and explicit phonics. The Standards of Learning for English require instruction in phonics at the second grade level (Standards of Learning, English, 2.7).
Patron - Bolvin

F HB949

Joint schools. Allows two or more school boards, with the consent of the State Board, to establish joint or regional high schools, including regional public charter schools, to offer, in addition to a comprehensive high school curriculum, specialized training to students desiring to pursue careers in law enforcement, firefighting, emergency and rescue services, and other occupations addressing public safety and welfare. These schools may be designed to incorporate the instructional services of retired or disabled emergency, fire, rescue, and law enforcement personnel and internships with local agencies and organizations providing such emergency, fire, rescue, and law enforcement services. This bill is identical to SB 494.
Patron - Ware

F HB971

Zero tolerance policies in public schools. Revises various student expulsion statutes to require school boards to promulgate guidelines for determining what constitutes special circumstances in expulsion cases involving weapons or drugs for expulsions issued for drug violations. The guidelines must include consideration of the (i) nature and seriousness of the violation; (ii) the degree of danger to the school community; (iii) student's disciplinary history, including the seriousness and number of previous infractions; (iv) appropriateness and availability of an alternative education placement or program; (v) student's age and grade level; (vi) results of any mental health, substance abuse, or special education assessments; (viii) student's attendance and academic records; and (viii) such other matters as are deemed appropriate. Currently, these factors are to be considered in expulsion cases other than those involving the "drug-free" and federal Gun-Free Schools provisions. The Gun-Free statutes, while "requiring" expulsion for the specified offenses, grant school administrators the discretion to determine that "special circumstances exist and [that] no disciplinary action or another disciplinary action or term of expulsion is appropriate." Similarly, the drug-free statute cites "special circumstances"; however, while it permits the recommendation of another disciplinary action, it does not include the "no disciplinary action" option.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB1011

Virginia Professional Standards Board for Education. Eliminates the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure and establishes the 19-member Virginia Professional Standards Board for Education, responsible for the licensure of teachers and other professional staff, authority presently held by the Board of Education. The Board of Education would continue to license principals and supervisors and to determine eligibility for appointment as division superintendent. Comprised of teachers, administrators, representatives of higher education, business, and parents appointed by the Governor, the Board also includes as ex officio, nonvoting members the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Director of the State Council of Higher Education, and the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System or their respective designees. The new Board cannot, as a condition of licensure, require any act or conduct that conflicts with statutes prohibiting collective bargaining and denial of work on the basis of union membership. Members of the Professional Standards Board are not compensated but shall be reimbursed for actual expenses. In addition to its licensure powers, the Board is authorized to promulgate regulations pursuant to the Administrative Process Act, adopt standards for teacher preparation programs, establish and collect licensure fees, employ an executive director, and appoint advisory committees. The Board's offices shall be located within the Department of Education.
Patron - Van Yahres

F HB1110

Standards of Learning assessments. Provides that the results of any Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments cannot be considered in the promotion or retention of students, the awarding of diplomas, or in the accreditation of schools until the validity, reliability, and fairness of such assessments have been certified to the Board of Education by an independent assessment expert following appropriate field testing. In no case can the SOL assessment results constitute the primary basis for student promotion or retention. The current Standards of Accreditation (SOA) provide that results of SOL assessments in grades K-8 are to be "part of a set of multiple criteria for determining the promotion or retention of students." The regulations are silent as to promotion/retention policies for grades 9-12, grades in which verified units of credit (earned by passing SOL assessments and successfully completing courses) are required for a diploma. The division superintendent must "certify to the Department of Education that the division's promotion/retention policy does not exclude students from membership in a grade or participation in a course in which SOL tests are to be administered" (8 VAC 20-131-30 A, B). The SOA do not specifically make the awarding of diplomas contingent upon the passage of SOL tests; however, the accumulation of a specific number of standard and verified units of credit, will be required for standard and modified diplomas, beginning with the ninth grade class of 2001 (graduating class of 2003). The standard unit of credit is based on the minimum 140 clock hours of instruction and "successful completion of the requirements of the course." The verified unit of credit is awarded upon passage of the relevant SOL test, or additional tests approved by the Board of Education, as well as the course (8 VAC 20-131-110 A, B). During a transition period, beginning with the ninth grade classes of 2001, 2002, and 2003 (graduating classes of 2004-2006), students must earn 22 standard units of credit in specified courses, and two verified units of credit in English and four verified units "of the student's own choosing" to obtain a Standard Diploma. For the ninth grade class of 2004 (graduating class of 2007), receipt of a Standard Diploma will be based on 22 standard units of credit in specific courses, and six verified units--two in English, one each in mathematics, science, history, and one in a course of the student's choosing (8 VAC 20-131-50 B). The SOA state that schools shall be accredited based primarily on student achievement, as evidenced by SOL test scores (8 VAC 20-131-280 C). More specifically, accreditation ratings are 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 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). Special purpose schools are to be evaluated "on standards appropriate to the programs offered in the school and approved by the Board...." (8 VAC 20-131-280 D). After a transition period ending in 2009, schools will ultimately be awarded one of four accreditation ratings: Fully Accredited, Conditionally Accredited, Accredited with Warning, and Accreditation Denied (8 VAC 20-131-300 A). Provisional accreditation benchmarks establish passing rates for schools through 2003.
Patron - Christian

F HB1135

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 2001-2002.
Patron - Dillard

F HB1162

Remediation; textbooks and curriculum. Requires the Board of Education to approve and make available textbooks and curriculum models for remediation programs for schools accredited with a warning. Local school boards must provide training in the implementation of such textbooks and curriculum for teachers providing remediation instruction.
Patron - Reese

F HB1200

School board policies; equal access. Prohibits local school boards providing access and opportunity to use school facilities or to distribute literature from denying equal access or fair opportunity to use such school facilities or to distribute literature, or from otherwise discriminating against the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of the USA, or any youth group listed in Title 36 of the U.S. Code as a patriotic or national organization that desires to conduct a meeting or distribute literature, on the basis of membership or leadership criteria or oath of allegiance to God and country. Nothing in the measure is to be construed to require any school or school division to sponsor the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of the USA, or other such youth group or to exempt any such group from school board policies governing access to and use of school facilities and distribution of literature. The measure tracks language considered by Congress in a variety of bills.
Patron - Black

F HB1217

Estimate of public education funds. Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in preparing and submitting estimates for budgetary purposes relative to the Basic School Aid Formula to each school division and to the local governing body of each county, city and town that operates a separate school division, to enumerate all state funding to be received by the school division, whether from basic aid or other state programs, and include a per pupil amount based on the projected average daily membership for the relevant school division for the coming fiscal year. Within 10 days of providing such estimate, the Superintendent is to publish, for three consecutive days in a newspaper of general circulation within each such school division, a complete listing of such estimates for all school divisions and must provide the list to each school division.
Patron - Petersen

F HB1314

School board salaries. Increases the maximum annual salary for school board members in the City of Newport News from $5,000 to $12,000. Under current law, no school board can request the General Assembly to consider an increase in its annual salary limit unless the school board has taken an affirmative vote on the requested increase. Further, no school board whose membership is elected in whole or in part can be awarded a salary increase unless a specific salary increase is approved by affirmative vote by that school board. No salary increase may become effective during an incumbent member's term of office; however, this restriction will not apply if the school board members are elected or appointed for staggered terms. This bill is incorporated into HB 1272.
Patron - Crittenden

F HB1321

Charter schools; judicial review. Authorizes judicial review of school board decisions to accept or not to accept charter school applications and grants, denials, revocations, and failures to renew charter school applications. This bill is incorporated into HB 734.
Patron - Christian

F HB1333

Public education appropriations; teacher salaries. Provides that any increase in state funding for public education shall include an appropriation to support increases in teacher salaries and that the appropriate proportionate percentage of such increased funding to be directed for such salary increase shall be stipulated in the appropriations act.
Patron - Ware

F HB1345

Fingerprinting and criminal records checks. Excludes from the crimes included in the criminal records check for private school employees any first offense drug possession or distribution convictions occurring five years or more before the date of the report of the Central Criminal Records Exchange.
Patron - Hall

F HB1371

Instruction in certain historic and patriotic freedoms, music, and observances. Requires, in a manner consistent with the Constitutions and laws of Virginia and the United States, that local school divisions ensure that students receive age-appropriate instruction in the recognition of the texts and music to traditional American patriotic songs, including the national anthem and other songs and the historical significance of patriotic holidays, including Veterans' Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Independence Day, Martin Luther King's birthday, and Presidents' Day. Local school boards must develop and implement policies addressing the respectful display of the flag; classroom and assembly spaces in which the flag is to be displayed to facilitate instruction regarding the flag and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance; the identification of spaces, such as resource rooms and other areas, in which the flag need not be displayed; and such other issues as may be deemed necessary and appropriate. In addition, character education programs must include appreciation for the unique nature of the American culture's valuing of and belief in freedom and respect for individual rights and liberties, including political, economic, and religious freedom, and freedom of speech, as contrasted with other societies' and cultures' lack of such freedoms. Such citizenship concepts must be incorporated in appropriate portions of the K-12 curriculum, including the Standards of Learning.
Patron - O'Brien

F SB51

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 SB52

Planning time for elementary school teachers. Requires school boards to ensure that all elementary school teachers have a period of unencumbered planning time during each regular student school day. Currently, school boards are to "seek to ensure" that elementary school teachers have three hours of planning time each week. Pursuant to the Standards of Accreditation (SOA), middle school teachers with more than 25 class periods per week must have "one period per day unencumbered of any teaching or supervisory duties," and all full-time secondary school classroom teachers receive "one class period each day, unencumbered by supervisory or teaching duties... for instructional planning time." The SOA are silent as to planning time for elementary school teachers; however, schools are to report "the extent to which an unencumbered lunch is provided for all classroom teachers" (8 VAC 20-131-240 D, E, G).
Patron - Edwards

F SB55

After-School/Out-of-School Incentive Grants Program. Establishes the After-School/Out-of-School Incentive Grants Program to provide grants on a competitive basis to public school divisions for the provision of after-school and out-of-school programs designed to promote positive developmental outcomes for public school students. The Board of Education is to establish guidelines and procedures for making grants from the Fund, including program content and eligibility criteria; the contracting for such after- and out-of-school programs with private organizations; the assessment of any charges for attendance in such after- and out-of-school programs; procedures for determining amounts for grants to eligible public school divisions; and such other guidelines as it deems necessary and appropriate. This act will not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating its purposes is included in the 2002 Appropriation Act passed during the 2002 Session of the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor. This bill is identical to HB 949.
Patron - Edwards

F SB172

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. 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 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. Although other scholarship loan recipients are chosen by the institution of higher education in which they are enrolled, the relevant local governments of the jurisdictions providing the one-third local government funding will nominate the recipients for the combination state and local awards designated as accruing for named local school divisions. All recipients of combination state and local awards for teaching scholarship loans will be subject to all other requirements of law, including the contract provisions. The provisions of this act will not become effective unless an appropriation effectuating its purposes is included in the 2002 Appropriation Act passed during the 2002 Session of the General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor.
Patron - Colgan

F SB217

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 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 programs for at-risk four-year-olds would be eligible for funding in the 2002-2003 fiscal year. If the local funding in 2001-2002 was more than the required local match for state funds in the 2002-2003 fiscal year, reduction of the local funding would not be construed as supplanting of state funds.
Patron - Ticer

F SB281

Cultural diversity policies for local school boards and institutions of higher education. Requires the Board of Education, local school boards, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and the Board for Community Colleges to promote racial, ethnic and cultural diversity and the knowledge and appreciation of other cultures in the public schools and institutions of higher education. The Board of Education and the State Council for Higher Education must establish guidelines for cultural diversity policies to assist local school boards and institutions of higher education in implementing such policies. In view of the growing number of immigrants in Virginia and the country, and given the current national security crisis concerning terrorism, cultural diversity policies instituted by local school boards and colleges and universities should be designed to (i) prepare students to live and participate effectively in a global community and an increasingly pluralistic society; (ii) facilitate racial harmony and tolerance; (iii) reduce barriers among individuals of different races and cultures through meaningful interaction; (iv) improve campus climate, student retention and the academic performance of students; (v) contribute to the robust exchange of ideas; (vi) reinforce the principle of the worth and value of all human beings; and (vii) increase the representation of minority persons in positions in which they have been traditionally underrepresented. The Board of Education and the State Council of Higher Education are also required to identify best practices, within and without Virginia, that effectively promote cultural diversity and the knowledge and appreciation of other cultures. The State Council of Higher Education's authority to provide advisory services regarding specific matters to certain private, accredited and nonprofit institutions of higher education has been broadened to include advisory services concerning cultural diversity policies. This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Access and Diversity in Higher Education.
Patron - Marsh

F SB364

Salary for Chesapeake School Board. Increases the maximum annual salary that members of the Chesapeake School Board may receive from $5,000 to $10,000. This bill is incorporated into SB 200.
Patron - Blevins

F SB366

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 - Blevins

F SB409

Standards of Quality revisions. Requires the Board of Education to propose revisions to the Standards of Quality in the odd-numbered years that reflect the prevailing practices of the Commonwealth's school divisions. The annual report on public education must contain the revised standards of quality prescribed by the Board for the school divisions of the Commonwealth. In addition, the budget estimates reported pursuant to § 2.2-1504 must take into consideration the Board's revised standards of quality. This bill is incorporated into SB 201.
Patron - Rerras

F SB448

Salary for Newport News School Board. Increases the maximum annual salary that members of the Newport News School Board may receive from $5,000 to $12,000. This bill is incorporated into SB 200.
Patron - Williams

F SB494

F SB509

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 2002-2003 fiscal year. If the local funding in 2001-2002 was more than the required local match for state funds in the 2002-2003 fiscal year, reduction of the local funding would not be construed as supplanting of state funds.
Patron - Newman

F SB570

Character education; participation in community service. Provides that character education programs in the public schools may include opportunities for voluntary participation in community service activities, pursuant to guidelines developed by the Board of Education.
Patron - Edwards

F SB624

Educational opportunities; reading improvement. Adds to the programs that are currently provided under the rubric of educational opportunities a pilot project to increase literacy, ensure that all students can read, and encourage academic achievement among at-risk schools. The Board of Education will select three school divisions, each having at least two elementary schools, at least one middle school, and at least one high school, that are "Accredited with Warning" and will offer, with such funds as may be available for such purpose, the three selected school divisions the opportunity to participate in a two-year pilot public/private partnership project as part of each school's required three-year School Improvement Plan. Each participating school division must contract with private sector reading specialists to offer reading instruction to underachieving students who are reading below grade level, as defined in the Board's regulations. To improve the reading levels of the underachieving students and to implement an innovative approach to student achievement in schools "Accredited with Warning," each participating school division must designate two elementary schools, one middle school, and at least one high school having such accreditation rating to receive the contracted reading instruction and require such schools to provide parents of underachieving students, as defined in the Board's regulations, with the names of reading specialists in the private sector. The Department of Education must evaluate each pilot project by comparing the baseline reading scores of the participating students at the beginning of the project to the reading scores of the participating students at the conclusion of the project.
Patron - Barry

F SB644

Actions for school bus liability. Provides that claims naming the school board alone or jointly with the driver for actions involving school bus liability may be filed only in the locality or localities, as the case may be, comprising the school division that the school board governs or in which the accident prompting the claim occurred.
Patron - Watkins

Carried Over

C HB7

Independent analysis of school performance. Directs the Board of Education, to supplement and enhance the accreditation process, to contract with a person, organization, or corporation with expertise in school evaluation for the purpose of conducting an annual independent analysis and evaluation of school performance for each public school division in the Commonwealth. The contract for services shall provide for, among other things, (i) the use of performance variables that shall include various academic, financial, and demographic indicators; (ii) comparative benchmarks among school divisions; (iii) annual reporting to each school division of its performance and areas requiring improvement; (iv) identification of performance trends over time and best practices; and (v) recommendations for technical assistance, remediation, intervention, and other measures to improve school performance.
Patron - Purkey

C HB45

Temporarily employed teachers. Revises the definition of "temporarily employed teacher" and eliminates the 90-day limitation on the period of time that those individuals hired as long-term substitutes to fill a teacher vacancy may serve. 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 baccalaureate degree or demonstrate relevant work experience. Current law requires that all temporarily employed teachers (regardless of time served) be at least eighteen years of age and hold a high school diploma or a general educational development (GED) certificate. The bill expires on July 1, 2005.
Patron - Hamilton

C HB48

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 - Darner

C HB250

School calendar; closure on election days. Requires school boards to set the school calendar to ensure that public schools used as precincts for national, state, and local election purposes will not be open for regular student attendance on such election days. The calendar may provide, however, that such schools be open for teacher working days and other school purposes.
Patron - Sears

C HB330

Administration of assessments for certain nonpublic school students. Requires students enrolled in any nonpublic school in the Commonwealth receiving state funds or in which any students receive state funds for education, other than any state funds that may be associated with students who are enrolled as part of an individualized education plan (IEP) or who participate in federal free and reduced meal programs, to participate in the Standards of Learning assessments prescribed by § 22.1-253.13:1. The Board of Education shall develop any additional procedures that may be required to facilitate the administration of such assessments.
Patron - Darner

C HB333

Standards of Quality; early intervention reading programs. Requires local school boards, within the Standards of Quality, to provide early reading intervention services to students in kindergarten through the third grade who demonstrate deficiencies reflected in each student's performance on a diagnostic screening tool approved by the Department of Education or the state-provided diagnostic screening instrument, PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) administered in the fall to all students in kindergarten through third grade and in the spring to students who received intervention services. Such services shall consist of at least two and one-half hours of additional instruction each week for an estimated number of students in each school division at a student-to-teacher ratio of five-to-one. The estimated number of students in each school division shall be based on the actual percentage of students who are determined to need services based on the results of diagnostic pretests administered in the fall of the preceding year. The measure codifies the Early Intervention Reading Initiative currently set forth in the Appropriations Act as an incentive grants program.
Patron - Hamilton

C HB443

Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality. Requires the Board of Education to include requirements for each school, in its regulation relating to the School Performance Report Card, to report, in addition to the Standards of Learning assessment scores and averages, each year's required test results, including the National Assessment of Education Progress state-by-state assessment, where applicable, and nationally normed student test score averages on Virginia State Assessment Program tests, which may include the Stanford 9 test, analyzed by quartile data and pass rates, when available. Such reports must be made available to the public within three months of the receipt of the scores and shall be reported to the public for each school in the aggregate and broken down for each school division by gender, and by race or ethnic group. These reports must also be posted separately from the Standards of Learning assessment data in a standard, downloadable, importable spreadsheet format and in a manner that allows year-to-year comparisons on that portion of the Department of Education's website relating to the School Performance Report Card and must include, but need not be limited to, the results from Virginia State Assessment Program tests, which may include the Stanford 9 and the National Assessment of Education Progress state-by-state assessment.
Patron - Hull

C HB517

Preschool eye examinations. Adds a comprehensive eye examination conducted by an optometrist or ophthalmologist to the preschool health examination requirements for first-time enrollment in kindergarten or elementary school. Referrals for these examinations must include names of optometrists and ophthalmologists participating in FAMIS or Medicaid. Forms for reporting comprehensive eye examinations, to be developed by the Departments of Education and Health, shall include a statement that such examination may be provided by a qualified optometrist or ophthalmologist licensed by the Commonwealth of the parent's choosing. Such forms shall be available to the public through electronic mail or websites maintained by the Departments of Education and Health and shall be used by the examining optometrist or ophthalmologist to report the results of the comprehensive eye examination. The Department of Medical Assistance Services, within both the Medicaid program and FAMIS Plan, shall continue to provide coverage for comprehensive eye examinations, including, but not limited to, children of kindergarten age. The Department of Medical Assistance Services shall revise its regulations to offset any proportional increase in costs resulting from any increased utilization of covered vision care services by amending the period of time and frequency for which comprehensive eye examinations are available as a covered service for children of preschool age. The Departments of Education and Health shall seek advice from the Virginia Optometric Association and the Virginia Society of Ophthalmology in the development of the form for reporting of a comprehensive eye examination. Similar to the current practice for the required physical examination, the eye examination must be offered by local health departments free of charge for medically indigent children. In addition, the current exemption on religious grounds applicable to the physical examination is extended to the eye examination. This bill is similar, but not identical, to HB 170.
Patron - Devolites

C HB642

School board policies; solicitation of funds. Requires local school boards to develop and implement, no later than January 1, 2003, policies to prohibit school personnel from soliciting funds from public school students and their parents to support instructional programs and services required by statute or Board of Education regulations. Such policies may, however, permit the solicitation of private or corporate donations in support of such required instructional programs and services.
Patron - O'Brien

C HB756

Remediation for certain students. Requires school boards to provide programs of prevention, intervention, and remediation for students failing an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit needed by the student for graduation and requires these students to participate in such prevention, intervention, and remediation. School divisions are to add these students to their existing remediation report requirements. Corresponding amendments address the authority of superintendents to enforce compulsory attendance requirements for these students. Currently, required remediation targets students who are "educationally at risk including, but not limited to, those whose scores are in the bottom national quartile on Virginia State Assessment Program Tests and those who fail to achieve a passing score on any Standards of Learning assessment in grades three, five, and eight."
Patron - Amundson

C HB758

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 2003, the Governor shall include in his budget recommendations adequate funds to meet the requirements of this bill.
Patron - Amundson

C HB795

Instructional materials in phonics. Directs local school boards to make available to all teachers employed in grades prekindergarten through two, special education, and in English as a second language, or as, or as reading specialists, materials to assist in the provision of instruction in systematic and explicit phonics. The Standards of Learning for English require instruction in phonics at the second grade level (Standards of Learning, English, 2.7).
Patron - Bolvin

C HB1024

Commencement of school day in certain school divisions. Directs the school board of any county having the urban county executive form of government (Fairfax) to set the school day schedule to ensure that the commencement of the regular school day for students at all grade levels begins no earlier than 7:30 a.m.
Patron - Scott

C HB1038

Elementary school instruction. Codifies the regulatory requirement in the Standards of Accreditation that each elementary school provide instruction in art, music, and physical education and health (8 VAC 20-131-80) and provides that funding for elementary school resource teacher positions for art, physical education and health, and music shall be provided from basic school aid on the basis of prevailing statewide costs.
Patron - Crittenden

C HB1047

Funding for elementary and secondary educational programs. Modifies the Standards of Quality to (i) require the assignment of instructional personnel in a manner that produces schoolwide ratios of students in average daily memberships to full-time equivalent teaching positions of twenty-one to one in middle schools and high schools and to (ii) codify the regulatory requirement in the Standards of Accreditation that each elementary school provide instruction in art, music, and physical education and health (8 VAC 20-131-80) and provides that funding for elementary school resource teacher positions for art, physical education and health, and music shall be provided from basic school aid on the basis of prevailing statewide costs. In addition, the bill 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 2003, the Governor shall include in his budget recommendations adequate funds to meet the requirements of this bill. Finally, the measure 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 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 programs for at-risk four-year olds would be eligible for funding in the 2002-2003 fiscal year. If the local funding in 2001-2002 was more than the required local match for state funds in the 2002-2003 fiscal year, reduction of the local funding would not be construed as supplanting of state funds. These amendments reflect several of the recommendations offered by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study of elementary and secondary school funding, released in fall 2001.
Patron - Darner

C HB1049

C HB1070

Equal Education Opportunity Plan. Requires the Secretary of Education to develop and implement a statewide plan to provide for equal education opportunity in Virginia for all students in pre-kindergarten through grade twelve, undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and professional and post-doctorate degree programs. Among other things, the Plan must provide (i) strategies to assist local school boards and public two-year and four-year institutions of higher education in diversifying their personnel, (ii) strategies to increase college admissions, retention, and graduation rates of minority students at the undergraduate and graduate degree levels, particularly in disciplines in which they are under-represented, (iii) the effect of the escalating costs of college on the enrollment of minority students, (iv) an analysis of the preparation of minority students for college-level work, (v) an evaluation of the impact of financial assistance, institutional admissions and retention policies, and public policies as inducements and obstacles to college education, (vi) a 10-year projection of minority enrollment and graduation rates at public institutions of higher education, and (vii) an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Plan. The Plan, including recommendations to address issues and modifications of strategies, must be reported by the Secretary, biennially, to the Governor and the General Assembly, beginning December 1, 2002. The Equal Education Opportunity Plan, although never implemented, was required initially as a result of Adams v. Richardson, 480 F2d 1159 (DC Cir. 1973) and Adams v. Califano, 430 F. Supp. 118 (DC 1977), concerning the desegregation of Virginia colleges and universities, and has been incorporated in the Virginia Plan for Equal Opportunity in State-Supported Institutions of Higher Education since 1973, Item 131.10 of the 2001 Budget communicated by the Governor. The Plan provides evidence of Virginia's good faith effort to comply with the new agreement entered into by the Commonwealth with the U. S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on November 7, 2001, to work toward resolution of the five-year federal compliance review precipitated by the U. S. Supreme Court's decision in Ayers v. Fordice, (505 US 717, 112 S.Ct. 2727, 1992). This bill is a recommendation of the Commission on Access and Diversity in Higher Education.
Patron - Jones, J.C.

C HB1171

Standards of Quality; funding. Modifies the Standards of Quality to provide that state funding shall support a total of six full-time equivalent elementary school resource teacher positions for art, physical education and health, and music per 1,000 students in average daily membership in the elementary grades, and to provide, within the minimum staffing requirements set forth in the Standards of Accreditation, (i) one full-time principal in each elementary school; and (ii) assistant principals in elementary schools, one half-time per 550 students, and one full-time at 800 students, and, for assistant principals in middle schools and high schools, one full-time at 400 students. These amendments reflect several of the recommendations offered by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study of elementary and secondary school funding, released in fall 2001. The principal and assistant principal staffing requirements are drawn to address current practices throughout school divisions.
Patron - Dillard

C HB1262

Standards of Learning assessments. Directs local school divisions to include in reports of student scores on the Standards of Learning (SOL) assessments provided to parents the established margins of error for such assessments, score ranges, and explanations of such data.
Patron - Petersen

C HB1352

Teacher licensure by reciprocity. Directs the Board of Education to waive the requirement for passage of a professional teacher's assessment for such individuals holding a valid out-of-state teaching license and national certification if the individual has completed at least one year of successful, full-time experience as a teacher in an accredited public or nonpublic school outside the Commonwealth and subsequently completes one year of full-time teaching in an accredited public or nonpublic school in the Commonwealth, at the end of which the individual shall be subject to review by the employing local school board, which may then recommend to the Board of Education the waiver of the professional teacher's assessment requirement and the award of a license by reciprocity. Currently, the Board's Professional Teacher's Assessment Requirement (October 10, 2001) provides that persons who "have completed a minimum of two years of full-time successful teaching experience in an accredited public or nonpublic school (kindergarten through grade 12) in a state other than Virginia are exempted from the assessment requirement. Experience as a substitute teacher or as a teacher's aide is not acceptable experience to meet this exemption.
Patron - Saxman

C SB216

C SB408

Compulsory school attendance. Incorporates, into the provisions concerning truancy and compulsory school attendance, habitual and without justification partial day absences by (i) adding this concept to the criteria for determining the student is "a child in need supervision"; (ii) requiring notification of such partial-day absence if there is no indication that the student's parent is aware of such absence; (iii) triggering an effort to make direct contact if the efforts to notify the parent have failed and such absences have occurred in five scheduled school days; (iv) scheduling a conference with the parent if an additional partial day absence occurs after this contact or attempt to contact; (v) maintaining a record of partial day absences; (vi) defining "truant" to include students who are habitually and without justification absent from school for an entire day or any part thereof; (vii) explicitly authorizing law enforcement or attendance officers to pick such students up and deliver them to the appropriate site; (viii) requiring school boards to include in the material distributed to parents at the opening of school information on the requirements of the compulsory school attendance law; and (ix) including school attendance in the penalty provisions of the parental responsibility and involvement law.
Patron - Rerras

C SB585

Data-based management system required in school divisions. Requires the Board of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Information Technology, to select and require each school division to utilize an existing data-based management system that provides accurate accounting of subclassifications of expenditures of school funds for any expenditure categories identified by the Board as appropriate for activity-based budgeting analyses. The Board is already required to establish a modern system of accounting and to designate classifications of expenditures for budgeting. For the purposes of this provision, the Board's subclassifications may include, but need not be limited to, special education, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), food services, maintenance, and transportation. The data-based management system must be utilized statewide in order to (i) ensure accountability for school funds, (ii) provide the General Assembly and the taxpayers with accurate comparisons of how state funds are being used in the Commonwealth's school divisions, and (iii) allow evaluation of cost effective mechanisms for containing such expenditures.
Patron - Barry

C SB606

Health of public school students. Prohibits public schools, public school divisions or school boards from contracting for, allowing or continuing the use of vending machines in elementary schools dispensing soft drinks having empty calories and high sodium and caffeine content or solid foods that are not recommended for a nutritional diet for children. The Board of Education must enforce this provision and will withhold funds as may be allocated to any school division until the vending machines are removed from the noncompliant elementary schools.
Patron - Marye

C SB631

The Standards of Quality and staffing ratios for attendance officers and secretaries. Adds, on July 1, 2003, 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, 2003.
Patron - Colgan

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