General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2007>Education


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Education

Passed

P HB 1707

Local school boards; contractors. Provides that as a condition of awarding a contract for the provision of services that require the contractor or his employees to have direct contact with students on school property during regular school hours, the school board must require the contractor to provide certification that all employees who will have direct contact with students have not been convicted of a felony or any offense involving the sexual molestation or physical or sexual abuse or rape of a child. The bill also provides that the requirement be waived in emergency situations when it is reasonably anticipated that the contractor or his employees will have no direct contact with students. This bill is identical to SB 1346.
Patron - Lingamfelter

P HB 1810

Local school boards; tie vote procedure. Authorizes any popularly elected school board to appoint a qualified voter who is a resident of the county, city, or town to cast the deciding vote in case of a tie vote of the school board.
Patron - Dance

P HB 1913

Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program; revisions. Revises and reorganizes the section to make it consistent with language in the general appropriation act. The bill revises the intent of the Program, so that it is established to (i) increase the number of teacher candidates pursuing careers in critical teacher shortage areas, as defined by the Board of Education; (ii) expand eligibility to teacher candidates, including graduate students and paraprofessionals, enrolled full-time or part-time in approved teacher education programs; and (iii) increase diversity of persons pursuing careers in teaching, including male teacher candidates enrolled in elementary or middle school education programs and minority teacher candidates enrolled in any teaching endorsement area. The bill also eliminates the Diversity in Teaching Initiative, as it has not been funded.
Patron - Ward

P HB 1916

Family life education. Requires the Board of Education to incorporate instruction on dating violence and the characteristics of abusive relationships into its curriculum guidelines for family life education.
Patron - Ward

P HB 1920

School bus safety hotline. Provides that local school boards may display decals relating to local school division bus safety hotlines. Local school divisions must bear the cost of such decals.
Patron - Peace

P HB 1962

Due process; students with disabilities. Provides that due process procedures prescribed by the Board of Education must require that testimony be given under oath or affirmation administered by the hearing officer. This bill is identical to SB 847.
Patron - O'Bannon

P HB 1978

Standard 4; local school board reporting. Requires local school boards to include in their annual report to the Board of Education, the number of career and technical education completers that graduated. The bill defines a "career and technical education completer" as a student who has met the requirements for a career and technical concentration or specialization and all requirements for high school graduation or an approved alternative education program. This bill incorporates HB 2026 and is identical to SB 1148.
Patron - Lohr

P HB 2039

Technical diploma; established. Directs the Board of Education to establish the requirements for a technical diploma. The diploma must meet or exceed the requirements of a standard diploma and include a concentration in career and technical education. This bill is identical to SB 1147.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB 2092

Regulations concerning admission of certain persons to schools; tuition charges. Eliminates the requirement that a student must have been attending a public school in the Commonwealth while residing with his custodial parent prior to the parent's deployment outside the United States in order to attend school without paying tuition. The bill clarifies that children of parents who have been deployed outside the United States may continue to attend school in the Virginia school division they attended immediately prior to the deployment without paying tuition. The bill eliminates the conflict between § 22.1-3 and § 22.1-5.
Patron - Tata

P HB 2214

Childhood obesity. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Health Commissioner to work together to combat childhood obesity and other chronic health conditions that affect school-age children. This bill is identical to SB 974.
Patron - Armstrong

P HB 2216

Driver education programs and fees. Provides that the Board of Education may authorize a local school board's request to assess a surcharge in order to further recover program costs that exceed state funds distributed through basic aid to school divisions offering driver education programs.
Patron - Amundson

P HB 2271

School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans. Requires that local school boards annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans and that the local division certify that review in writing to the Virginia Center on School Safety no later than August 31 of each year.
Patron - Ebbin

P HB 2302

Transportation services for nonpublic schools. Permits local school boards to enter into agreements with nonpublic schools in the school division to provide student transportation for a fee to and from the nonpublic schools.
Patron - Cole

P HB 2311

Public Charter School Fund. Establishes the Public Charter School Fund for the purposes of establishing or supporting public charter schools in the Commonwealth. The Board of Education must establish criteria for making distributions from the Fund to a public charter school requesting moneys from the Fund.
Patron - Lingamfelter

P HB 2350

Literary Fund. Provides that a school board's application to the Board of Education for a loan from the Literary Fund must be authorized by the governing body and the school board. The Board may not disburse any proceeds of any approved loan before its receipt of the concurrent approval of the governing body at the time of initial disbursement and an acceptable opinion of bond counsel obtained by the local governing body as to the validity of the loan. The bill also repeals §§ 22.1-154 through 22.1-157, that provide for: (i) the examination of title to property on application for loan, (ii) the certificate of the clerk of court or copy of lease on the application for a loan, and (iii) the submission of the application and certificate of title to the Attorney General.
Patron - Tata

P HB 2371

Management of funds for a joint school; fiscal agent. Authorizes the participating school boards of a joint school, including academic year Governor's Schools operated by two or more school divisions, to select the fiscal agent for the joint school from among the treasurers of the participating localities. The participating school boards must agree and the respective local governing bodies must approve any such selection. This bill contains an emergency clause.
Patron - Tata

P HB 2542

No Child Left Behind. Requires the Board of Education to request a waiver from those provisions of NCLB that are fiscally and programmatically burdensome to school divisions and are not instructionally sound or in the best interest of children. This bill is identical to SB 1212.
Patron - Landes

P HB 2601

Board of Education; commemoration of Veterans Day. Requires the Board of Education to make information available to local school divisions regarding the commemoration of Veterans Day.
Patron - Plum

P HB 2627

Department of Correctional Education; literacy program. Raises the standard of the functional literacy program from the eighth grade level to the twelfth grade or GED level. The bill also requires the program to include a strategic plan for encouraging enrollment in college or an accredited vocational training program or other accredited continuing education program.
Patron - Reid

P HB 2628

Board of Correctional Education; composition. Requires the Governor to endeavor to select qualified appointees for the Board of Correctional Education. Modifies the ex officio membership of the Board by removing the chairman of the Virginia Parole Board and adding the Assistant Superintendent for Special Education and Student Services in the Department of Education and the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System. Also, the bill allows ex officio members to designate someone to serve in their place. A second enactment clause ensures that notwithstanding the provisions of the bill, members appointed prior to July 1, 2007 will serve until the expiration of their terms.
Patron - Reid

P HB 2631

Student records; disclosure. Provides that school personnel are authorized to disclose identifying information from a student's education records for the purpose of furthering the ability of the juvenile justice system to effectively serve the student prior to adjudication. Identifying information may be disclosed to attorneys for the Commonwealth, court services units, juvenile detention centers or group homes, mental and medical health agencies, state and local children and family service agencies, and the Department of Juvenile Justice and to the staff of such agencies. This bill is identical to SB 915.
Patron - Reid

P HB 2837

Public education; George Washington's birthday. Requires the Department of Education to make information available to local school divisions regarding the commemoration of George Washington's birthday.
Patron - Amundson

P HB 2893

Student information; public schools, public institutions of higher education. Authorizes public schools and public institutions of higher education in Virginia to retain copies of enrolled students' birth certificates as part of the students' records.
Patron - Phillips

P HB 3191

Department of Correctional Education; online learning. Empowers the Board of Correctional Education to develop programs to provide restricted Internet access to online secondary education or adult education and literacy programs leading to a diploma or the General Education Development (GED) program and testing.
Patron - McClellan

P SB 751

Civics education diploma seal. Clarifies that the Board of Education must include the types of activities that qualify as community service and the number of hours required in its criteria for voluntary participation in community service or extracurricular activities.
Patron - Williams

P SB 795

Standards of Quality; changes in provisions. Provides for the phasing out of the eighth grade cumulative history test in the 2007-2008 school year, and the implementation of the United States History to 1877, United States History: 1877 to the Present, and Civics and Economics tests in the 2008-2009 school year. Adds effective classroom management to the listing of professional development programs to be provided to teachers and principals. Requires local school divisions to post a current copy of the school division policies, including the Student Conduct Policy, on the local division's website while ensuring that printed copies of such policies are available, as needed, to citizens who do not have Internet access. Makes technical changes to Standards 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Standards of Quality.
Patron - Potts

P SB 847

Special education; due process procedure. Requires testimony given during due process procedures developed by the Board of Education to be sworn. This bill is identical to HB 1962.
Patron - Lambert

P SB 902

Salary of school board members. Increases the annual salary of members of the Northampton County School Board from $1,800 to $3,000.
Patron - Rerras

P SB 915

Student records; disclosure. Provides that the principal or his designee may disclose identifying information from a pupil's scholastic record for the purpose of furthering the ability of the juvenile justice system to effectively serve the pupil prior to adjudication. Identifying information may be disclosed to attorneys for the Commonwealth, court services units, juvenile detention centers or group homes, mental and medical health agencies, state and local children and family service agencies, and the Department of Juvenile Justice and to the staff of such agencies. This bill is identical to HB 2631.
Patron - Lambert

P SB 974

Childhood obesity. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Health Commissioner to work together to combat childhood obesity and other chronic health conditions that affect school-age children. This bill incorporates SB 744 and is identical to HB 2214.
Patron - Edwards

P SB 1147

Technical diploma; established. Directs the Board of Education to establish the requirements for a technical diploma. The diploma must meet or exceed the requirements of a standard diploma and include a concentration in career and technical education. The bill is identical to HB 2039.
Patron - Wagner

P SB 1148

Standard 4; local school board reporting. Requires local school boards to include in their annual report to the Board of Education, the number of career and technical education completers that graduated. The bill defines a "career and technical education completer" as a student who has met the requirements for a career and technical concentration or specialization and all requirements for high school graduation or an approved alternative education program. This bill is identical to HB 1978.
Patron - Wagner

P SB 1212

No Child Left Behind. Requires the Board of Education to continue seeking waivers from the provisions of NCLB that are fiscally and programmatically burdensome and are not instructionally sound or in the best interest of children. Also requires the Board to report on the status of all such waivers by October 1, 2007; this report is to be transmitted to the Virginia Congressional delegation for its consideration in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Board must make a recommendation regarding Virginia's continued implementation of such Act and if the Commonwealth withdraws from NCLB, the bill allows the Board and Office of the Attorney General of Virginia to bring suit against the United States Department of Education if federal funds are inappropriately withheld as a result of the withdrawal. This bill is identical to HB 2542.
Patron - Hanger

P SB 1346

Local school boards; contractors. Provides that as a condition of awarding a contract for the provision of services that require the contractor or his employees to have direct contact with students on school property during regular school hours, the school board must require the contractor to provide certification that all employees who will have direct contact with students have not been convicted of a felony or any offense involving the sexual molestation or physical or sexual abuse or rape of a child. The bill also provides that the requirement be waived in emergency situations when it is reasonably anticipated that the contractor or his employees will have no direct contact with students. This bill is identical to HB 1707.
Patron - Newman

Failed

F HB 1442

Graduation requirements; standard diploma. Expands the requirements for earning a standard diploma to include a career and technical education two credit sequence of courses. This bill was incorporated into HB 2039.
Patron - Nutter

F HB 1617

Education; expenditures and reports on instructional spending. Requires each local school division to allocate 65% of its operating budget to instructional spending. Local school boards must report annually to the Board of Education the percentage of their operating budgets allocated to instructional spending. Any school division that fails to meet the 65% requirement must present a plan to the Board of Education to increase instructional spending by 0.5% in the following year. School divisions failing to submit such a plan must be audited by the Auditor of Public Accounts who in turn must submit recommendations to the Board including instruction on how such school divisions can increase their instructional spending to 65%. In addition, the Board must annually report to the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations the amount of spending allocated by the local school divisions to instructional spending based on the reports submitted annually by the local school boards.
Patron - Frederick

F HB 1636

Kindergarten programs. Expands the eligibility for kindergarten in school divisions implementing pre-kindergarten or transitional first grade programs, to include children whose fifth birthday occurs between October 1 and June 30, rather than the current cutoff of December 31.
Patron - McClellan

F HB 1702

Education; computation of composite index. Requires the General Assembly to modify the current Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding formula and calculation of composite index of local ability to pay to incorporate within the real estate indicator of local wealth the land-use taxation value for those properties within a land-use plan. The current composite index of local ability to pay incorporates the "true value" of real property (rather than any special use assessed values) weighted 50%, with adjusted gross income weighted at 40%, and taxable retail sales weighted at 10%, as indicators of local wealth.
Patron - Lingamfelter

F HB 1719

Health services; local school boards. Requires local school boards to employ one licensed nurse for each school. This bill was incorporated into HB 2479.
Patron - Lewis

F HB 1727

Local school board; student organizations. Requires that local school boards either provide notice and an opportunity for parents or legal guardians to opt their children out of participation in any school-sponsored club or organization or require the prior express written permission of parents or legal guardians to be filed with the school before any student may be a member of a school-sponsored club. This bill incorporates HB 3047.
Patron - Lohr

F HB 1737

Local school boards; safety hotline established. Directs local school boards to establish a division safety hotline for students, parents, or school personnel to anonymously report specific threats of imminent violence or other suspicious or criminal conduct.
Patron - Fralin

F HB 1752

Local school boards; unexpended funds. Provides that any funds appropriated by the locality to a local school board that are not expended in any fiscal year must not revert to the locality but shall be reappropriated to the local school board.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB 1875

Waiver of Standards of Learning requirements for certain students. Requires that the Standards of Learning requirements and all related assessments must be waived for any student enrolled in an advanced placement class at the high school level who scores three or above on the advanced placement test for that subject.
Patron - Caputo

F HB 1884

Public school funds. Provides that any locality may, by ordinance, assess impact fees for residential development when the locality determines that existing school facilities in such locality are inadequate to support new residential development, provided that the school board of a school division comprising such locality adopts, prior to any such assessment, a resolution declaring that such school facilities are inadequate to support such new residential development. The locality shall make such determination at the time of submission of a plat or plan, or a preliminary plat or plan where preliminary plats or plans are required, and fees shall be assessed no later than at the time the building permit is issued. Prior to any assessment of impact fees, the locality shall have in place a capital improvement program that provides a reasonable basis for determining the extent or level of inadequacy of such school facilities in the area of the proposed residential development. Any fee assessed shall represent a pro rata share of the costs of reasonable and necessary capital improvements attributable to the proposed residential development. A locality may only assess impact fees under this bill against persons constructing five or more residential structures per calendar year in such locality.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB 1891

Composite index of local ability to pay. Provides that a locality whose composite index exceeds 0.5000 must be considered as having an index of 0.5000 for purposes of distributing all payments based on the composite index.
Patron - Albo

F HB 2026

Standards of Quality; Standard 4. Requires school boards to annually report to the Board of Education the number of graduating career and technical education completers and to include this information as a category on the School Performance Report Card. This bill was incorporated into HB 1978.
Patron - Sherwood

F HB 2093

Standards of Quality; changes in provisions. Revises the instructional personnel provisions to require that local school boards employ: (i) one full-time reading specialist for each 1,000 students in average daily membership for the school division; (ii) one full-time principal in every elementary, middle, and high school; (iii) one full-time assistant principal for each 600 students in every elementary, middle, and high school; (iv) one speech-language pathologist for every 60 cases; (v) one full-time mathematics specialist for each 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through eight; (vi) one full-time data manager or test coordinator for each 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12; and (vii) instructional and paraprofessional staff for the blind or vision impaired. Provides for the phasing out of the eighth grade cumulative history test in the 2007-2008 school year, and the implementation of the United States History to 1877, United States History: 1877 to the Present, and Civics and Economics tests in the 2008-2009 school year. Adds effective classroom management to the listing of professional development programs to be provided to teachers and principals. Requires local school divisions to post a current copy of the school division policies, including the Student Conduct Policy, on the local division's website while ensuring that printed copies of such policies are available, as needed, to citizens who do not have Internet access. Makes technical changes to Standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Standards of Quality.
Patron - Tata

F HB 2104

Standards of Quality; Standard 1; gifted education programs. Requires the identification of students in kindergarten and throughout the public school grades for enrollment in gifted education programs. Students who demonstrate exceptional intellectual aptitude, or specific aptitude in mathematics, the sciences, English language, history or social studies, technical and practical arts, or visual or performing arts, in accordance with Board of Education standards, must be enrolled in gifted education programs. School boards must either meet or exceed the standards established by the Board.
Patron - Ware, R.L.

F HB 2151

School administrators; licensure. Revises the qualifications for school administrators so that the only licensure necessary for such positions is a collegiate professional license.
Patron - Poisson

F HB 2166

Education; expenditures and reports on instructional spending. Requires each local school division to allocate 67% of its operating budget to instructional spending. Local school boards must report annually to the Board of Education the percentage of their operating budgets allocated to instructional spending. Any school division that fails to meet the 67% requirement must present a plan to the Board of Education to increase instructional spending by 0.5% in the following year. School divisions failing to submit such a plan must be audited by the Auditor of Public Accounts who in turn must submit recommendations to the Board including instruction on how such school divisions can increase their instructional spending to 67%. In addition, the Board must annually report to the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Appropriations the amount of spending allocated by the local school divisions to instructional spending based on the reports submitted annually by the local school boards.
Patron - Cline

F HB 2194

Daily recess for elementary school students. Provides that local school boards shall prohibit the denial of daily outdoor recess or unstructured play to a student for disciplinary reasons, unless the parent of the student notifies the school principal in writing that the student may be excused from all or part of recess as a means to discipline the student.
Patron - Hull

F HB 2199

Standards of Quality; Standard 2. Eliminates the requirement for school boards to employ one full-time technology support position per 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12 and one full-time instructional technology resource teacher per 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12.
Patron - Wardrup

F HB 2268

Local school boards; policies regarding certain activities. Allows local school boards to develop and implement policies regarding the acceptance by a teacher, or other employee of a local school board, of an award or payment in honor of meritorious or exceptional services performed by the teacher or employee.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB 2278

Education; Computation of composite index. Codifies the current Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding formula and calculation of composite index of local ability to pay, and modifies the formula that determines each locality's ability to pay for its share of providing an educational program meeting the prescribed SOQ to (i) incorporate tax values and population estimates for the fiscal year ending one year prior to the fiscal biennium in which the distribution takes place; (ii) provide for a population density adjustment in certain localities; and (iii) incorporate median, rather than average, adjusted gross income. In addition, the respective weights granted to the various wealth indicators are updated to use 1997 figures. This measure reflects certain recommendations included in the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) Review on Elementary and Secondary School Funding (February 2002).
Patron - Watts

F HB 2473

Literary Fund; distributions. Raises the maximum limit for any loan from the Literary Fund from $7.5 million to $12 million.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB 2479

Health services; local school boards. Requires local school boards to employ one licensed nurse for each school building and each nurse shall serve no more than 750 students.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB 2549

Student contact information privacy. Requires that the notice to parents or guardians required by federal law and regulations and the regulations of the Board of Education concerning the release of directory information be included on the emergency contact information form, which shall also include a statement printed in conspicuous, bold type that advises parents or guardians that giving consent for the release of the directory information concerning their child may result in release of such information to an official recruiting representative of the military forces of the Commonwealth or the United States. Such statement shall also advise parents or guardians of their right to deny consent to release directory information concerning their child or to limit the persons to whom such information may be released. Such statement shall also include the manner in which denial or limitation of consent may be effectuated.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB 2556

Textbooks; availability for home use. Provides that each local school division shall, in providing textbooks and workbooks free of charge for each child attending public schools, ensure that such textbooks and workbooks are available in sufficient quantity to provide each student an individual copy that may be used at home.
Patron - Frederick

F HB 2564

Standards of Quality; Standard 1; gifted education programs. Requires local school boards to identify and enroll students gifted in general intellectual aptitude or specific academic aptitude in mathematics, the sciences, the English language, and history or the social sciences. This bill provides that school boards must determine whether to offer identification and enrollment of students gifted in general intellectual aptitude or students gifted in specific academic aptitude, or identification and programs for both groups of students. Further, the bill states that school boards may provide identification and differentiated instructional programs for students gifted in technical and practical arts, or visual or performing arts aptitude. For students in kindergarten and at every grade level through 12th grade, school boards are required to identify gifted students and enroll them in appropriate programs, in accordance with standards established by regulations of the Board of Education. School boards must either meet or exceed the standards established by the Board.
Patron - Ware, R.L.

F HB 2613

Standards of Quality; Standard 2; pupil-teacher ratios. Reduces the current pupil-teacher ratio in kindergarten from an average daily membership of 24:1 to 21:1 and in grades one, two, and three from 24:1 to 20:1. This bill also provides that the pupil-teacher ratio may not exceed 25:1 in average daily membership in grades four through six, and 24:1 in average daily membership in English in grades six through 12.
Patron - Watts

F HB 2657

Local school board policies; teacher harassment. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies by January 1, 2008, to ensure that parents are encouraged to participate in their children's education in ways that do not unnecessarily harass teachers, principals, administrators, or other school employees.
Patron - Marsden

F HB 2847

Standards of Quality; average teacher salary. Requires that the state average teacher salary not be less than the annual national average teacher salary in order to ensure high-quality instructional personnel in the public schools.
Patron - Moran

F HB 2851

Board of Education; Children's Services Ombudsman. Directs the Board of Education to appoint for each local school division a Children's Services Ombudsman as a resource for parents of special needs children, for the purpose of resolving and mediating complaints regarding any activity, practice, policy, or procedure of any program operated by a local school board affecting the health, safety, welfare, or rights of any school-age special needs child. The bill also contains an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for investigations conducted by the Ombudsmen.
Patron - Moran

F HB 2883

Teacher experience credit. Requires local school boards to grant one year of teaching experience credit to licensed teachers for each year of active-duty military service for which teachers are granted credit under the provisions of the Virginia Retirement System.
Patron - Phillips

F HB 2903

Safety belts in school buses. Requires school buses purchased by, or for use by, any school or school division on or after January 1, 2008, to be equipped with safety belts or safety belts and shoulder harnesses of types approved by the Superintendent of State Police. The Board of Education must adopt policies, guidelines, and regulations to ensure that all passengers, including the school bus driver, wear belts or harnesses or both whenever the bus is in motion.
Patron - Spruill

F HB 2932

Public school; proof of immigration status. Adds that the person enrolling a pupil for the first time must present other proof of actual citizenship or immigration status, if there is no certified copy of a birth certificate or affidavit explaining the absence of a certified copy of a birth certificate. If it is determined that the child was born outside of the United States, a parent of the child must present evidence of his own actual citizenship or immigration status. Requires (i) each school to submit an annual report to the Board of Education listing all of the immigration information obtained; and (ii) the Board of Education to submit an annual report to the Secretary of Education regarding the impact of the quality of education provided to children who are lawful residents of Virginia, because of the enrollment of children who are not lawfully present in the United States.
Patron - Miller, J.H.

F HB 3047

Local school boards; school-sponsored clubs. Provides that prior to a student participating in a school-sponsored club, local school boards must notify the parent and require that the written permission of a parent or legal guardian be filed with the school. This bill was incorporated into HB 1727.
Patron - Cole

F HB 3172

Waiver of Standards of Learning requirements for certain students. Requires that the Standards of Learning requirements and all related assessments must be waived for any student enrolled in an advanced placement class at the high school level who scores three or above on the advanced placement test for that subject.
Patron - Hugo

F SB 744

Childhood obesity. Requires the Board of Education, in cooperation with the State Health Department, to promulgate regulations establishing standards to facilitate the prevention and reduction of childhood obesity in the public schools. The bill also requires school boards to include nutrition and physical education in its professional development programs and requires that a body mass index (BMI) measurement be taken for every student entering a public kindergarten or elementary school for the first time. The bill also allows school boards to continue to annually monitor student BMIs, with regulations developed by the Board of Education. This bill was incorporated into SB 974.
Patron - Miller

F SB 759

Tuition Assistance Grant Program for Students with Disabilities; established. Establishes a tuition assistance grant program for students with disabilities. The program provides grants of no more than $10,000 a year to a Virginia nonsectarian private school of choice for students with disabilities for whom an individual education plan has been written. The bill requires that in order to receive the grant the following conditions be satisfied: (i) the student has attended a public school in the Commonwealth and has received special education services for at least one year prior to the receipt of the grant; (ii) the parent has obtained acceptance for admission of the student to an eligible private school; (iii) the parent has requested the grant of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and notified the division superintendent of that request; and (iv) the parent has executed and submitted to the division superintendent a written statement asserting his dissatisfaction with the student's progress and acknowledging that the public school has offered or implemented an individualized educational program that is reasonably calculated to provide educational benefit. The Board of Education is required to promulgate regulations to administer the Grant Program within 280 days of enactment.
Patron - Stosch

F SB 863

At-risk students; afterschool programs. Allows local school boards to establish afterschool programs designed to prevent at-risk youth from engaging in illegal or gang-related activities for students who attend elementary, middle, or high schools. To be eligible to attend one of these programs, a student must be enrolled in a public school in the relevant school division. State and local funds appropriated for educational purposes may be used to support such programs.
Patron - Miller

F SB 1038

Data on convictions of certain crimes; public school contract employees. Requires school boards to obtain certification, from a contractor or employee of a contractor, that all employees who will have direct unsupervised contact with students (i) have not been convicted of a felony or any offense involving the sexual molestation or physical or sexual abuse or rape of a child; and (ii) have not been convicted of a misdemeanor involving actual or threatened harm to any person or property, or of any offense listed in subsection G of §16.1-260, prior to awarding a contract for services requiring direct unsupervised contact with students. The bill also provides that the requirement be waived in emergency situations where it is reasonably anticipated that the contractor or his employees will have no direct contact with students. This bill was incorporated into SB 1346.
Patron - O'Brien

F SB 1075

Literary Fund; amount of loans. Increases the loan amount available to a school division that, in the interest of efficiency, consolidates two or more existing schools into one new school building. The division shall then be eligible for a separate loan for each school being consolidated.
Patron - Ruff

F SB 1197

Board of Education regulations; eliminating trans fats. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop guidelines with the goal of eliminating foods containing trans fatty acids from public schools. The gradual elimination shall begin with their elimination from vegetable oils used in school cafeterias. The final goal shall be to eliminate trans fats in all (i) foods sold as part of the official school breakfast and lunch programs, (ii) foods sold in vending machines on school grounds, and (iii) competitive foods sold during school hours.
Patron - Edwards

F SB 1213

Standards of Quality; Standard 1; gifted education programs. Requires the identification of students in kindergarten and throughout the public school grades for enrollment in gifted education programs. Students who demonstrate exceptional intellectual aptitude, or specific aptitude in mathematics, the sciences, English language, history or social studies, technical and practical arts, or visual or performing arts, in accordance with Board of Education standards, must be enrolled in gifted education programs. School boards must either meet or exceed the standards established by the Board.
Patron - Hanger

F SB 1243

Composite index of ability to pay. Authorizes each locality whose K through 12 student membership growth has exceeded five percent for any two of the three most recently ended years to elect to have its composite index of local ability to pay reduced by 10% for the current year. The locality would receive its state share of basic aid based on the reduced composite index, and the additional amount required for the state share for basic aid would be paid from general funds of the Commonwealth that are not otherwise designated for public education.
Patron - Herring

F SB 1276

Character education; humane education. Adds that humane education, including compassion and responsibility in the treatment of companion animals, may be covered in character education programs.
Patron - Whipple

F SB 1338

Standards of Quality; Standard 1; gifted education programs. Requires local school boards to identify and enroll students gifted in general intellectual aptitude or specific academic aptitude in mathematics, the sciences, the English language, and history or the social sciences. This bill provides that school boards must determine whether to offer identification and enrollment of students gifted in general intellectual aptitude or students gifted in specific academic aptitude, or identification and programs for both groups of students. Further, the bill states that school boards may provide identification and differentiated instructional programs for students gifted in technical and practical arts, or visual or performing arts aptitude. For students in kindergarten and at every grade level through 12th grade, school boards are required to identify gifted students and enroll them in appropriate programs, in accordance with standards established by regulations of the Board of Education. School boards must either meet or exceed the standards established by the Board.
Patron - McDougle

F SB 1419

Tuition Assistance Grant Program for Students with Disabilities; established. Establishes a tuition assistance grant program for students with disabilities. The program provides grants of no more than $10,000 a year to a Virginia nonsectarian private school of choice for students with disabilities for whom an individual education plan has been written. The bill requires that in order to receive the grant the following conditions be satisfied: (i) the student has attended a public school in the Commonwealth and has received special education services for at least one year prior to the receipt of the grant; (ii) the parent has obtained acceptance for admission of the student to an eligible private school; (iii) the parent has requested the grant of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and notified the division superintendent of that request; and (iv) the parent has executed and submitted to the division superintendent a written statement asserting his dissatisfaction with the student's progress and acknowledging that the public school has offered or implemented an individualized educational program that is reasonably calculated to provide educational benefit. The Board of Education is required to promulgate regulations to administer the Grant Program within 280 days of enactment.
Patron - Stosch

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