General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Education

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Education

Passed

P HB97

Advanced technical diploma. Clarifies the diplomas available to students who complete both the requirements for an advanced studies diploma and a concentration in career and technical education.
Patron - Purkey

P HB137

Textbook purchasing contracts. Permits local school boards to enter into contracts with publishers for the purchase of textbooks. The bill expands the definition of textbook to include print and electronic media. The bill reorganizes the textbook purchasing process and repeals several sections of outdated code. Also provides that if consumable materials are sold to students, the local school board must provide those materials at a reduced price, or free of charge, to students who are unable to afford them. This bill is identical to SB 356.
Patron - Peace

P HB241

Board of Education supervision of programs for school-age children in certain hospitals. Requires the Board of Education to supervise provision of education and training to school-aged children who are patients at the children's hospital associated with the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority. This bill contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to SB 357.
Patron - O'Bannon

P HB242

Standards of Learning; physical fitness program. Requires local school boards to provide a physical fitness program with a goal of 150 minutes per week for all students.
Patron - O'Bannon

P HB246

Department of Education; best practices database. Requires the Department of Education to develop a database of local school divisions' best practices regarding nutrition and physical education, including results of wellness-related fitness assessments. The database shall be accessible to all local school divisions and the Department of Health, and no school division shall be required to submit information to the database. This bill is identical to SB 61.
Patron - O'Bannon

P HB259

Students transferring out of a local school division. Requires a local school division to obtain written documentation of a student's transfer before making any status classification in an information management system.
Patron - Fralin

P HB354

Textbook purchasing contracts. Permits local school boards to enter into contracts with publishers for the purchase of textbooks. The bill (i) expands the definition of textbook to include print and electronic media; (ii) reorganizes the textbook purchasing process and repeals several sections of outdated Code; (iii) provides that if consumable materials are sold to students, the local school board must provide those materials at a reduced price, or free of charge, to students who are unable to afford them; and (iv) allows any private school to purchase from a local school board's contract with the publisher, with the approval of both the local school board and the publisher.
Patron - Cole

P HB506

Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program. Expands the scholarship program to award scholarships to students in an approved teacher education program leading to an endorsement in career and technical education. This bill is identical to SB 169.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB767

Home instruction of children. Eliminates (i) the requirement that correspondence courses must be approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction in order to qualify as a suitable program for home instruction and (ii) the provision allowing parents to provide programs that are judged by the division superintendent to include the standards of learning objectives for language arts and mathematics. In addition, the bill allows for the provision of home instruction if the parent provides a program through distance learning or if the parent provides evidence that he is able to provide an adequate education for the child.
Patron - Tata

P HB769

Literary Fund; memoranda of lien. Provides that upon request of a locality, any memoranda of lien deposited with the State Treasurer on behalf of the Literary Fund prior to July 1, 2007, shall be released.
Patron - Tata

P HB770

System of accounting in public schools. Establishes technology as a major classification of school funds.
Patron - Tata

P HB771

Joint and regional schools. Provides that any joint, regional, or regional charter school in operation prior to July 1, 2008, may request a waiver from any new regulation requirements promulgated after that date. Also, the bill provides that any joint or regional school, such as academic year Governor's Schools, may set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend school will comport with the calendar of any of the participating school divisions, including those granted a waiver to start before Labor Day. This bill contains an emergency clause.
Patron - Tata

P HB777

Commission on Civics Education. Extends the sunset provision applicable to the Commission from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2010. This bill is identical to SB 306.
Patron - Tata

P HB809

Provisional and local eligibility licenses; military personnel. Permits the Board of Education to extend a three-year provisional license an additional year for each school year or portion thereof for which a teacher is activated or deployed for military service. The bill provides that local school divisions may offer a similar extension to teachers holding three-year local eligibility licenses. This bill contains an emergency clause.
Patron - Ward

P HB936

Local composite index; number of students. Increases from 350 to 1,100 the maximum number of students allowed for a school division to qualify to have its state share of aid adjusted, based on a cost-sharing agreement with a neighboring school division. In addition, only those school divisions located in a locality with a composite index of .6000 or greater that has at least 65 percent of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes would qualify. The bill provides that no additional supplemental basic aid payments shall be made prior to July 1, 2010, and the sum of the basic aid payment and any supplemental basic aid payment would not exceed the basic aid payment appropriated to the locality by the 2007 session of the General Assembly.
Patron - Gilbert

P HB1135

Expression of religious viewpoints in the public schools. Provides that a student's voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject must be not be discriminated against by local school divisions.
Patron - Fralin

P HB1183

Requirements for home instruction of children. Provides that an appropriate evaluation that a parent may submit to the division superintendent in order to indicate an adequate level of educational growth and progress includes: (i) an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach in any state, or a person with a master's degree or higher in the field of education, having knowledge of the child's academic progress, stating that the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress; or (ii) a report card or transcript from a community college or college, college distance learning program, or home education correspondence school.
Patron - Lingamfelter

P HB1242

Physical or sexual abuse of a child; school employees. Prohibits the employment of an applicant for employment requiring direct contact with students if such applicant is the subject of a founded case of physical or sexual abuse of a child. Additionally, the bill requires the dismissal of a teacher who while employed by a local school board, becomes the subject of a founded case of physical or sexual abuse of a child and has exhausted all available appeals. This bill also requires the Department of Social Services to report any founded complaints of sexual abuse of a child to a school board, where the subject of the report is a full-time, part-time, permanent or temporary teacher in a school division located within the Commonwealth.
Patron - Bell

P HB1425

No Child Left Behind; withdrawal. Requires the Board of Education to make a recommendation to the General Assembly on whether Virginia should withdraw from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, unless reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provides the necessary revisions in the NCLB Act that allow Virginia's existing educational accountability system, as set forth in the Standards of Quality, Standards of Learning, and Standards of Accreditation, to substantially meet the accountability requirements of the federal law. If the Board recommends withdrawing from participation in NCLB, the Board must develop a plan for withdrawal and must submit such plan to the Governor and the General Assembly for their consideration by June 30, 2009. This bill is identical to SB 490.
Patron - Landes

P HB1439

School employees; criminal acts. Requires the court clerks to notify the Superintendent of Public Instruction when a person known to be licensed by the Board of Education is convicted of a felony drug crime or certain felony sex crimes involving a child victim. The bill also requires (i) local school boards to develop policies and procedures to address complaints of sexual abuse of a student by a teacher or other school board employee; (ii) the Board of Education to include requirements for the denial, suspension, cancellation, revocation, and reinstatement of licensure in its regulations; (iii) notification by the local school board to the Board of Education when a licensed employee of a school board is dismissed or resigns because of certain criminal convictions or a founded child abuse or neglect case; (iv) notification by the local department of social services to the Superintendent of Public Instruction when the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse or neglect is known to hold a license from the Board of Education; and (v) the Board of Education to revoke the license of any person who has resigned because he has been convicted of a felony, sex offense, drug offense or because he is the subject of a founded case of child abuse or neglect. This bill incorporates HB 1067. This bill is identical to SB 241.
Patron - Frederick

P SB44

At-risk students; after school programs. Allows local school boards to establish after school programs designed to prevent at-risk youth from engaging in illegal or gang-related activities for school aged children. Local funds appropriated for educational purposes may be used to support such programs.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

P SB61

P SB169

P SB306

Commission on Civics Education. Extends the sunset provision applicable to the Commission from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2010. This bill is identical to HB 777.
Patron - Reynolds

P SB326

Career and technical education; industry certification. Requires the Board of Education to develop a plan for increasing the number of students receiving industry certification and state licensure as part of their career and technical education.
Patron - Wagner

P SB356

Textbook purchasing contracts. Permits local school boards to enter into contracts or issue purchase orders with publishers for the purchase of textbooks. The bill reorganizes the textbook purchasing process and repeals several sections of outdated code. Also provides that if consumable materials are sold to students, the local school board must provide those materials at a reduced price, or free of charge, to students who are unable to afford them. This bill is identical to HB 137.
Patron - Watkins

P SB357

Programs and teachers in regional detention homes, agencies, and institutions. Requires the Board of Education to supervise the program of evaluation, education and training provided to school-age children by the teaching hospital associated with the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority. This teaching hospital is added to the list of those education and training programs provided by agencies and institutions that the Board is required to prepare and supervise. This bill contains an emergency clause. This bill is identical to HB 241.
Patron - Watkins

P SB376

Local school divisions; annual budget. Requires local school divisions to publish their annual budget on the local school division website. If there is no local school division website, the budget must be available in hard copy. This bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2009.
Patron - Stuart

P SB490

P SB559

Local composite index; number of students. Increases from 350 to 1,100 the maximum number of students allowed for a school division to qualify to have its state share of aid adjusted, based on a cost-sharing agreement with a neighboring school division. In addition, only those school divisions located in a locality with a composite index of .6000 or greater that has at least 65 percent of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes, would qualify. The bill provides that no additional supplemental basic aid payments shall be made prior to July 1, 2010, and the sum of the basic aid payment and any supplemental basic aid payment would not exceed the basic aid payment appropriated to the locality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly.
Patron - Obenshain

P SB640

Family life education; mental health. Adds mental health education and awareness to the list of topics to be covered in family life education curricula.
Patron - Ticer

Failed

F HB60

Require 65% of each education dollar be spent in the classroom. 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 percent 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 HB92

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 HB107

Public schools; grade placement test. Requires the Board of Education to develop or approve a standardized test to be used to determine the appropriate grade placement for a student transferring from a private school to a public school.
Patron - Cole

F HB120

Education; computation of composite index. Requires the General Assembly to adjust the state share of providing an educational program meeting the Standards of Quality, for all localities that have adopted a land-use plan. The state share for such localities will be increased by an amount equivalent to the state share if a real property tax value indicator of local wealth were used that incorporates the land-use assessment value for those properties within a land-use plan.
Patron - Lingamfelter

F HB150

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 HB209

Standards of Quality; support personnel. Requires each local school board to establish a collaborative agreement with a local law-enforcement agency to employ one full-time school resource officer for each school.
Patron - Cole

F HB255

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 "good cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education might grant waivers of this requirement.
Patron - Fralin

F HB283

Family life education; parental notification. Requires school divisions to distribute to the parents or guardians of a student participating in the family life education program a summary of the program implemented by the school division. In addition, the summary language is included.
Patron - Toscano

F HB291

Local school boards; duties. Requires local school boards to develop written plans prescribing a procedure for: (i) designating school bus stop locations; and (ii) ensuring that no school bus stops shall be located within 50 feet of the home of an individual required to be registered as a sex offender pursuant to § 9.1-901.
Patron - Englin

F HB355

General Education Development testing program. Lowers the age for the General Education Development (GED) testing program from 18 to 16 years of age with the written permission of a parent.
Patron - Cole

F HB375

Nonpublic school students; participation in interscholastic sports. Directs a nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 to organize and govern interscholastic activities among the public high schools to provide an exception to its rules allowing eligibility for participation in interscholastic sports by any nonpublic school student who is eligible for free tuition in a public school in Virginia.
Patron - Carrico

F HB417

Certain information required on birth certificates for entrance to public schools. Requires principals or their designees to record in the pupil's permanent school record the place and country of birth collected from information obtained on the birth certificate or affidavit submitted in lieu of the birth certificate. This bill also requires each school board to collect and report from the birth certificates and affidavits, the number of pupils without identifiable information enrolled in the public schools of the school division, by place and country of birth. Local school boards and the Superintendent of Public Instruction must also collect similar information during the triennial school census and report the findings on their websites and make the information available in writing upon request.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB419

Computation of composite index. Requires the General Assembly to reduce a county or city's composite index 0.0100 for every five hundred students with limited English proficiency attending public school in that county or city.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB449

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 - Rust

F HB494

Project Lead the Way Launch Program. Provides matching state funding to a local school division that launches the Project Lead the Way Program in a division high school. Awards from the fund must be matched on at least a dollar-for-dollar basis by the respective local school division, with private funds, or any combination thereof, for the purposes of initiating a Project Lead the Way Program in a division's high school. This bill is a recommendation from the Joint Subcommittee to Study Science, Math, and Technology Education in the Commonwealth at the Elementary, Secondary, and Undergraduate Levels (HJR 25, 2006).
Patron - Cosgrove

F HB566

Literary Fund; distributions. Raises the maximum limit for any loan from the Literary Fund from $7.5 million to $14 million. This bill was incorporated into HB 923.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB569

Professional registered nurse; local school boards to employ. Requires each school board to employ at least one experienced professional registered nurse to supervise the nursing services provided throughout the school division.
Patron - Crockett-Stark

F HB570

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 HB613

Licensure of certain school personnel. Provides that only classroom teachers must be licensed to teach in the public schools and removes the licensure requirements for division superintendents, principals, and assistant principals. This bill provides that, effective July 1, 2008, Board regulations and local school board policies may establish minimum requirements for such positions, but may not require the completion of a degree or coursework or specialized training currently required for licensure as a division superintendent, principal, and assistant principal. The bill also provides that any person holding a license in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Virginia and the regulations of the Board of Education may teach in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Persons who would teach in the public schools must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher education with a majority of the credit hours earned for the degree concentrated in a subject taught in the public schools. The Board's regulations must also require that a majority of credit hours earned, or coursework or in-service training hours completed for the renewal of a license must be concentrated in a subject taught in the public schools. Further, the Board of Education may not require more than nine credit hours in pedagogical or noninstructional related courses as a condition of licensure or licensure renewal. The licensure requirements of other professionals employed by local school boards who are licensed to practice their professions by other professional boards in the Commonwealth remain in effect.
Patron - Poisson

F HB614

Public charter school; definition. Amends the definition of "public charter school" to include a publicly chartered individual department or a program in math, science, or other critical shortage discipline area, to exist within a public school.
Patron - Poisson

F HB654

Math, Science, and Career and Technical Education Grant Program and Fund. Establishes the Math, Science, and Career and Technical Education Grant Program and Fund to award competitive grants to current teachers in Virginia to obtain master's degrees.
Patron - Moran

F HB671

Parental notification; student's receipt of mental health treatment. Requires parental notification from administrative or instructional personnel and school counselors and psychologists who as a result of direct communication with a student have reason to believe that such student is suicidal or is at risk of harming others. In addition, requires parental notification of a student's receipt of mental health treatment for suicidal tendencies or other behavior indicating that such student may be an imminent danger to others. This bill is incorporated into HB 1005.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB722

Local school board policies; classroom placement of twins or higher order multiples. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies to allow a parent of twins or higher order multiples to request that the children be placed in the same classroom or separate classrooms if they are in the same grade level at the same elementary school.
Patron - Scott, E.T.

F HB863

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 HB896

Preadmission physical examinations. Provides that prior to a student entering public preschool, kindergarten, or first grade for the first time, such student must furnish a comprehensive physical examination performed within the 12 months prior to the date such pupil first enters such public preschool, kindergarten, or elementary school.
Patron - Lohr

F HB984

Math specialist pilot program. Requires the Department of Education to establish a math specialist grant program to provide grants to six geographically diverse school divisions across the Commonwealth for the purposes of hiring math specialists. The purpose of the project is to determine the long-term feasibility of requiring at least one permanent math specialist for every school division in the Commonwealth. The funding for the pilot program shall be from such funds as are provided for that purpose in the general appropriations act.
Patron - Nutter

F HB1048

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. 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 HB1053

Standards of Quality; Standard 2. Increases the requirement for state-supported instructional positions for students identified as having limited English proficiency from 17 full-time equivalent positions for each 1,000 students to 30 full-time equivalent positions for each 1,000 students. This bill was incorporated into HB 437.
Patron - Scott, J.M.

F HB1094

Standards of Quality; instructional programs. Requires local school boards to provide an opportunity for every high school student to integrate approved online lessons or instruction or an online experience into required courses.
Patron - Sickles

F HB1216

Planning time for school teachers. Requires school boards to ensure that all school teachers are provided at least three hours a week of unencumbered, self-directed planning time.
Patron - Tyler

F HB1272

Financial literacy education. Provides that local school boards must require the completion of 12 class hours of instruction in financial literacy as a condition for graduation from the public schools in the Commonwealth.
Patron - Spruill

F HB1403

Family life education. Requires instruction on the use of Food and Drug Administration approved methods of contraception to be added to the family life education curriculum in public schools.
Patron - McClellan

F HB1440

Kidney disease screening for public school students. Directs each school board to provide parent educational information or, within time periods specified in Board of Education regulations, to implement a program of regular screening for kidney disease for pupils at all grade levels, unless such students are pupils admitted for the first time to a public school and have been tested as part of the required comprehensive physical examination, or the parents of such students have indicated their preference that their children not participate in such screening. Local school boards are to develop procedures for parents to indicate their desire to "opt out." The Board of Education is to promulgate regulations for the implementation of the screening program, which shall address, but shall not be limited to, requirements and training for school personnel and volunteers who may conduct such screenings; procedures for the notification of parents when evidence of kidney disease is detected; and such other provisions as the Board deems necessary. Local school divisions may seek volunteers from among health care professionals.
Patron - Hull

F HB1481

Contractors on school property. Provides that a contractor or his employee may request a waiver from disqualification of providing services because of a felony conviction under certain conditions. The felony conviction must have occurred at least five years prior to the date of the waiver request, and the felony must not have involved: (i) the sexual molestation or physical or sexual abuse or rape of a child; (ii) any crime against the person under Chapter 4 of Title 18.2; or (iii) health and safety under Articles 1 or 1.1 of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2.
Patron - Ware, O.

F SB48

Planning time for school teachers. Requires school boards to ensure that all school teachers are provided an average of 30 minutes a day of planning time.
Patron - Whipple

F SB124

Superintendent of Public Instruction; eliminating trans fats. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop guidelines, based on the FDA's standards for trans fats, with the goal of eliminating foods containing trans fatty acids from public schools. The gradual elimination shall begin with the elimination of trans fats 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 SB155

F SB267

Teacher compensation; goal. States that it is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive with the national average teacher salary.
Patron - Deeds

F SB435

Education; computation of composite index. Modifies the current Standards of Quality 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 assessed and taxed at their use value. 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 - Vogel

F SB438

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 - Vogel

F SB537

Local school boards; grade-changing policies. Requires local school boards to develop and implement policies specifying the criteria and procedures for changing any grade given to a student.
Patron - Barker

F SB542

Public schools; abortion services prohibited. Prohibits school divisions and their employees from providing abortion services. The bill also prohibits any provider of abortion services from providing information or course materials related to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion services means (i) performing, inducing, or assisting in the performance or inducing of an abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother; (ii) encouraging a patient to have an abortion or referring a patient for an abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother; or (iii) developing or dispensing drugs, chemicals, or devices intended to be used to induce an abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother.
Patron - Obenshain

F SB557

Preadmission physical examinations. Provides that a pupil's comprehensive physical examination completed within the 24 months prior to the date such pupil first enters a public kindergarten or elementary school is acceptable so long as the physical examination was performed prior to the pupil's attending a public pre-kindergarten program.
Patron - Obenshain

F SB567

Standards of Quality; LEP teachers. Increases from 17 to 30 the number of full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency.
Patron - Saslaw

F SB655

Contractors; employees having direct contact with students on school property; penalty. Provides that the contractor must certify that all persons having direct contact with students on school property under a contract for the provision of services have not been convicted of a felony barrier crime.
Patron - Newman

F SB721

Competitive foods in public schools; report. Requires the Board, in cooperation with the Department of Health, to promulgate and periodically update regulations setting nutritional guidelines for all competitive foods sold during the school day. Also requires (i) the Board to adopt the Governor's Nutrition and Physical Activity Scorecard's nutritional guidelines as the statewide standard for competitive foods; (ii) the Board to report to the General Assembly on the final regulations by December 1, 2010; and (iii) local school boards to report to the Department of Education on their plan to implement the final regulations by 30 days prior to the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.
Patron - Barker

F SB732

Reports of Class 1 misdemeanors to school authorities. Provides that local law-enforcement authorities shall report to the school division superintendent and to the principal or his designee all offenses, wherever committed, by students enrolled in the school if such offense would be a Class 1 misdemeanor if committed by an adult.
Patron - Smith

F SB745

Legal presence verification; public schools and higher education. Requires all public schools to verify each child's legal presence, and, if appropriate, to develop a plan to assist the child in attaining legal presence, or to take other appropriate action as determined by the locality. Specifies that no child shall be denied admission to a public school for failure to provide evidence of legal presence. Also requires public institutions of higher education to require proof of legal presence prior to enrollment.
Patron - Hanger

Carried Over

C HB273

Interscholastic activities; baseball bats. Requires any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 that currently organizes and governs interscholastic activities among the public high schools to develop, implement, and enforce rules requiring the exclusive use of wood or wood composite baseball bats in interscholastic baseball or softball activities.
Patron - Miller, P.J.

C HB379

Public schools; permitted fees and charges. Allows local school boards to withhold a student's report card or diploma because of nonpayment of a fee or charge related to loss or damage of a textbook.
Patron - Marshall, D.W.

C HB395

Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. Establishes a compact to remove barriers to educational success imposed on children of military families because of frequent moves and deployment of their parents. The compact becomes effective when 10 states enact the compact into law.
Patron - Cole

C HB437

Composite index formula for basic state aid to public schools. Requires division superintendents to include the number of students enrolled in the public schools of the school division for whom English is a second language in estimating the amount of money that will be needed during the next fiscal year for the support of the public schools of the school division. Also, the Department of Education must include the percentage of such students in the public schools of each school division when calculating the composite index of local ability-to-pay. In addition, the Superintendent of Public Instruction must prepare or cause to be prepared the calculation of the composite index of local ability-to-pay to include the percentage of such students in every school division. This bill incorporates HB 1053.
Patron - Frederick

C HB749

Apportionment of state and local share; adjustments for English as a second language and special education programs. Directs that the General Assembly, in apportioning the state and local share for the costs of providing an educational program meeting the Standards of Quality shall, as provided in the appropriation act, modify the formula that determines each locality's ability to pay for its share of providing an educational program meeting the prescribed Standards of Quality to incorporate statewide average teacher salaries and to provide adjustments for the number of special education students and students receiving English as a second language instruction.
Patron - Caputo

C HB759

Annual report of expenditures; local school boards. Requires the annual report of expenditures provided by the school board to the appropriate governing body to also be made available to the public in sufficient detail for citizens to readily identify how appropriated funds have been spent.
Patron - Poindexter

C HB808

Special education services; parental consent. Provides that parental consent must be obtained by a local school division in order to reevaluate a child receiving special education and related services in order to determine the child's continued eligibility, unless the division can demonstrate that it has taken reasonable measures to obtain consent and the parent has failed to respond. Parental consent is also required to terminate services or find that the child is no longer eligible for special education and related services.
Patron - Englin

C HB878

Expenditures and reports on instructional spending. Requires each local school board to allocate 65 percent 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 percent requirement must present a plan to the Board of Education to increase instructional spending by 0.5 percent in the following fiscal year. School divisions failing to submit such a plan must be audited by the Auditor of Public Accounts, who is required to submit recommendations to the Board, including instruction concerning how failing school divisions can increase their instructional spending to 65 percent. 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 - Loupassi

C HB1234

Standards of Learning; growth model for student academic achievement. Requires the Board of Education to develop and implement a growth model to assess and measure individual academic performance and achievement from grade to grade. The Board must ensure that the growth model emphasizes instruction and the students' mastery of curriculum content, ensures proficiency in core Standards of Learning subjects, is consistent with the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and provides flexibility in allowing school divisions to select evaluation and testing instruments to measure student academic performance and achievement, including for state assessment programs.
Patron - Vanderhye

C HB1263

Truancy and school dropout prevention. Provides that local school boards must implement school dropout prevention programs and services that include an emphasis on truancy prevention. The bill amends relevant Code sections pertaining to compliance with the compulsory school attendance law to strengthen the authority of local school boards.
Patron - Hall

C HB1538

C SB408

Literary Fund; distributions. Raises the maximum limit for any loan from the Literary Fund from $7.5 million to $14 million.
Patron - Puckett

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Education

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