Education Passed HB63 Seals on high school diplomas. Requires the Board of Education to develop criteria for recognizing exemplary performance in vocational studies by students who have completed the requirements for a standard or advanced studies diploma and to award seals on the diplomas of students meeting such criteria. The Standards of Accreditation are Board of Education regulations which now provide for Board of Education and Governor's Seals on the diplomas of students meeting certain diploma and grade average requirements. Currently, students may also receive other seals or awards for exceptional academic, vocational, citizenship, or other exemplary performance in accordance with criteria defined by local school boards. Patron - Orrock HB138 School maintenance program established. Provides that, in compliance with the provisions of the appropriation act relating to the maintenance supplement program and with such funds as are appropriated for such purpose, each school board must establish a program for ongoing school maintenance needs. This bill codifies the maintenance supplement program which has been operating for some years pursuant to provisions of the appropriation act. The 1997-1998 per pupil amount for this equalized program is $15 per student in average daily membership. Every school board receives funds through this popular program which can be used for various operating expenses related to maintenance needs in schools. Patron - Dickinson HB184 Pupil-teacher ratios. Directs the division superintendent to report annually to the local school board regarding divisionwide pupil-teacher ratios. The report is to indicate the ratio of regular classroom teachers, excluding resource teachers, to students in average daily membership (ADM) for each grade. The exclusion of certain personnel from the report is designed to reflect more accurately actual class size and staffing levels. Patron - Hamilton HB211 Standards of Quality; actual pupil/teacher ratios to be reported. Requires school boards to report, annually, on or before January 1, to the public the actual pupil/teacher ratios in the current school year by elementary school classroom for the current school year. Patron - Dillard HB303 School guidance counselors. Requires the Board of Education to include in the Standards of Accreditation minimum staffing levels for licensed school guidance counselors in the following ratios: (i) one guidance counselor for one hour per day per 100 pupils, one full time at 500 pupils and one hour per day additional time per 100 or major fraction thereof in elementary schools; (ii) one guidance counselor for one period per 80 pupils, one full time at 400 pupils and one additional period per 80 or major fraction thereof in middle schools; and (iii) one guidance counselor for one period per 70 pupils, one full time per 350 pupils, and one additional period per 70 or major fraction thereof in secondary schools. Patron - Van Landingham HB313 School board salaries. Increases the maximum salaries per year for school board members for Henrico County from $7,000 to $12,000; for Loudoun County from $8,000 to $12,500; for Mathews County from $1,240 to $3,000; for Stafford County from $2,400 to $7,500; for Alexandria from $5,000 to $7,500; for Newport News from $3,000 to $5,000; and for Virginia Beach from $3,600 to $6,000. Patron - Bloxom HB356 Standards of Accreditation; student outcome measures. Requires the Board of Education to include in the student outcome measures, which are required by the Standards for Accreditation, tests for various grade levels and classes, as determined by the Board, in accordance with the Standards of Learning. These Standards of Learning assessments must include, but need not be limited to, tests for English, mathematics, science, and social studies. A second enactment requires the Board to develop and implement, as a component of the student outcome measures required by § 22.1-253.13:3 B, currently known as Standards of Learning assessments, an end-of-course test for world geography which must be a separate and stand-alone test and not part of or paired with other end-of-course social studies assessments. Patron - Cranwell HB372 Virginia Public School Authority. Provides that the issuance of bonds by VPSA may be based on debt service payments payable from appropriations from the General Assembly. The proposed budget bills and amendments are required to include a proposed appropriation of a sum sufficient, first from the Literary Fund and then from the general fund, to address any debt service shortfalls. By providing that the VPSA is not a political subdivision, the bill also allows the VPSA's board to hold electronic meetings in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. Patron - Councill HB409 Literacy Passport Tests. Phases out the current Literacy Passport testing requirement set forth in the Standards of Quality as follows: in school year 1997-98, the Literacy Passport Test (LPT) shall be administered to students in grades six, seven, and eight, and to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. For students in grade six in school year 1997-1998, the test results shall be for informational purposes only and shall not be used as a graduation requirement or for classification as a ninth grader but shall be used for remediation purposes. In school year 1998-1999, the LPT shall be administered to students in grade eight, and to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 1999-2000, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 2000-2001, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades ten through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 2001-2002, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades eleven and twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school years 2002-2003, 2003-2004, and 2004-2005, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grade twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. After school year 2004-2005, the LPT shall be administered only to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. An enactment clause also calls for the Board of Education, following the 1998 and 1999 administration of the SOL assessments, to determine the degree to which the current funding mechanisms are sufficient to address the remedial needs of students failing the SOL assessments, for the purposes of determining the future fiscal impact of requiring remediation for such students. The Board must provide, to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Education, and the Senate Committees on Finance and Education and Health, by December 1, 1998, an interim report addressing their initial findings and, by December 1, 1999, a final report on the findings for both years and any recommendations for the current remedial education and at-risk funding programs for the 2000-2002 biennial budget, to ensure access to remedial services for those students failing the SOL assessments. Patron - Reid HB426 Reading specialists. Allows school boards to employ reading specialists for each elementary school. State and local funding of such reading specialists will be apportioned as provided in the appropriation act. Patron - Dillard HB427 Standards of Quality. Revises the criteria for the Standards for Accreditation (SOA) which are cited in Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality (SOQ) to set forth minimum staffing requirements for public schools. Reading specialists in elementary schools would be optional at the discretion of the local school board. This bill incorporates into the SOQ some of the features of the SOA which drive both local and state funding. Patron - Dillard HB431 Excellence in public schools. Amends various education statutes to implement certain recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Public Education (HJR 196 of 1996). The educational opportunity programs law is revised to require the Board of Education to "strive" to incorporate technological studies within the teaching of all disciplines and to require, consistent with school board policies designed to improve school-community communications and guidelines for providing instructional assistance in the home, each school division to "strive" to establish a voice mail communication system after regular school hours for parents, families, and teachers by 2000. The remedial standards statute is amended to require reporting of data on the number of students failing the SOL assessments for grades 3, 5, and 8 to the Board of Education as well as reporting of the number of such students attending remediation programs. The students failing the SOL assessments for grades 3, 5, and 8 may be the subjects of the grant applications for the remedial education pilot program grants. Standard 1 of the SOQ is amended to require, with such funds as are made available for this purpose, the Board of Education to regularly review and revise the competencies for vocational education programs to require the full integration of English, mathematics, science and social studies SOLs. Occupational vocational programs must be aligned with industry and professional standard certification, where these standards exist. The requirement for local school boards to have programs for educationally at-risk students would include, pursuant to this bill, the students who fail to achieve passing scores on SOL tests in grades 3, 5, and 8 and high school. Students who do not pass the literacy tests or the SOL tests for grades 3, 5, and 8 will be required to attend summer school or participate in some form of remediation. State funds will be provided, as set forth in the appropriation act, for these remediation programs for students failing the literacy tests or the SOL tests in grades 3, 5, and 8. Early identification efforts must include students at risk of failing the SOL tests in grades 3, 5, and 8. Standard 3 of the SOQ is amended to require one credit in fine, performing, or practical arts for a diploma and a concentration of courses, i.e., a sequence of elective courses leading to further education or preparation for employment developed by the school division consistent with Board guidelines and approved by the local school board. The Department of Education will be required to conduct technical assistance visits to schools, with schools accredited with a warning given priority for such assistance. The assistance must include an analysis of relevant school data and the development and implementation of improvement plans to assist the schools in improving. Principals, teachers, and other professional staff in any school that experiences three or more years of provisional accreditation may be reassigned to other positions within the school division. This bill allows superintendents to enforce attendance of students in grades 3, 5, and 8 who are directed to attend summer school or other remediation the same manner as compulsory school attendance is required for regular school attendance. School boards are required to biennially review the Board's model student conduct code to incorporate a continuum of discipline options and alternatives to preserve a safe, nondisruptive environment for effective teaching and learning. An enactment clause requires school boards with one or more schools with SOL test pass rates below 70 percent to develop a comprehensive corrective action plan with and for each school by 1999-2000. The Department of Education is also required to provide technical assistance in the implementation of the plans, and the Board is required to provide "nonmonetary" recognition for schools achieving the improvement goals set out in the plan. Patron - Bennett HB432 Training and professional development of teachers, principals, and superintendents. Establishes a number of initiatives supporting professional training and development among public school personnel to implement various recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Public Education (HJR 196 of 1996). This bill amends Standard 5 of the SOQ to require the Board of Education to include, in its training and professional development activities, programs designed to strengthen educators' ability to communicate and work with families, enhance family involvement in student learning at home and in school, and fully integrate theory and application of knowledge into student learning. The Board is also required to develop leadership standards for superintendents and principals. Local school boards must sponsor or conduct leadership training programs consistent with these standards. The Board must advise local school boards regarding the provision of these leadership training programs. The licensure statute is amended to require persons seeking initial licensure on and after July 1, 2002, to have completed study in methods of improving communication between schools and families, ways of increasing family involvement in student learning at home and in school, and the integration of theory and application of knowledge into student learning. On and after July 1, 2002, individuals seeking initial licensure and graduating from Virginia colleges and universities must graduate from nationally accredited programs. This bill also amends the mentor teacher statute to require the Board of Education to establish guidelines for training programs to support the Standards of Learning, including training in English, mathematics, science, technological studies, and history and social sciences to provide support for teachers in public elementary and secondary schools and the development of leadership skills for principals, superintendents, and other administrative personnel. Local school boards are required to implement programs consistent with these guidelines from such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose. Patron - Bennett HB471 Programs to promote educational opportunities. Revises the at-risk four-year-olds program to allow school divisions with existing programs to apply for the state grant funds to support at least half-day programs conducted for the length of the school year which include both at-risk four-year-olds and five-year-olds who are not eligible to attend kindergarten. The current law allows only full-day programs that are conducted for at least the school year and focused only on at-risk four-year-olds to apply for the grants. The bill also adjusts the prohibition on supplanting any funds currently provided for preschool programs within the locality to apply only to local funds currently provided for preschool programs within the locality. In addition to local funds, localities may also use other nonstate moneys to support the required local match, e.g., federal funds. School divisions with existing programs may apply for and be granted waivers of the Department of Education's guidelines for "quality preschool education and criteria for the service components." Patron - Diamonstein HB478 Family life education. Revises the criteria for the Standards for Accreditation which are set forth in Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality and the statute setting out the requirements for the family life education program. The bill requires local school divisions to develop and implement family life education programs which include instruction, as appropriate for the age of the student, in family living and community relationships; the value of postponing sexual activity; human sexuality; human reproduction; and the etiology, prevention, and effects of sexually transmitted diseases. The programs are designed to promote parental involvement, foster positive self-concepts, and provide mechanisms for coping with peer pressure and the stresses of modern living, according to the students' developmental stages and abilities. All such programs are required to present sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity within monogamous marriage as moral obligations and not matters of personal opinion or personal choice. This bill is identical to SB 206. Patron - Diamonstein HB521 Criminal records checks; school board employees. Adds the City of Martinsville and Rappahannock County to the list of jurisdictions authorized to fingerprint applicants who accept or are offered school division employment and to submit the fingerprints and descriptive information through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain a national criminal records history. Presently, 50 (28 counties and 22 cities) of the 134 school divisions in Virginia are authorized to fingerprint applicants and search the FBI records. The applicant may be required to pay for the fingerprinting and records search. Patron - Armstrong HB543 Charter schools. Authorizes the establishment of charter schools in Virginia. After public notice, a public hearing, and adoption by the local school board of a resolution stating its intent to receive applications for the establishment of charter schools in the school division, the local school board may receive and review all charter school applications, which may be submitted by individuals or organizations. Each charter application must include a school mission statement consistent with the Standards of Quality (SOQ); goals and learning objectives that must meet or exceed the Standards of Learning (SOL); evidence of parental, teacher, and pupil support; a description of a lottery process used to determine enrollments; a statement of need; a proposed budget; a plan for displaced pupils and teachers; and a description of governance, employment conditions, and other related matters. The local school board may establish procedures for public notice, comment, or hearings on charter school applications and retains final, ultimate authority over the approval, denial, revocation, or nonrenewal of charter contracts; there is no appeals process. The contract between the charter school and the local school contains all agreements releasing of the charter school from school division policies, and is to include all requests for release of the charter school from state regulations, except for the requirements of the SOQ. As public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home-based alternative schools, charter schools remain subject not only to the SOQ, but also to state and federal anti-discrimination laws and regulations, and court-ordered desegregation plans. Tuition-free, charter schools are deemed part of the school division and are accountable to the local school board. The conversion of a private, nonpublic, religious, or home-based program into a charter school is specifically prohibited. Enrollment is open to any child residing in the school division, through a lottery process on a space-available basis. The school board may restrict the number of charters granted, and no more than two charters may be granted per division before July 1, 2000. Subsequently, the total number of charter schools shall not exceed ten percent of the school division's total number of schools or two charter schools, which ever is greater. The term of any charter, whether initial or renewed, may not exceed three years. At least half of a division's charters must be reserved for applications designed to increase opportunities for at-risk students and priority given to these applications. The funding mechanism for charter schools is similar to that for some Governor's Schools and alternative education programs: students enrolled in a charter school are included in the division's average daily membership, but the schools are not included in fall membership for purposes of calculating division SOQ costs. The proportionate share of state and federal money for disabled pupils and special education personnel as well as state and federal categorical aid must also go to the charter school. Other details for funding for the charter school are to be negotiated in the charter contract. Licensed personnel may volunteer for employment at the charter school on an annual contract basis; charter school teachers are entitled to the same benefits as noncharter school teachers. School boards must submit an annual evaluation of their charter schools to the Board of Education; the Board, in turn, must report its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly beginning in January 1999. This bill is identical to SB 318. Patron - Hamilton HB602 Integrated learning courses. Directs the Board of Education, in establishing course and credit requirements for a high school diploma, to provide for the selection of integrated learning courses meeting the Standards of Learning and approved by the Board to satisfy graduation credit requirements, to include Standards of Learning tests, as necessary. Patron - Orrock HB607 Trigon funds of local school divisions. Authorizes local governing bodies to use a portion of their school's health insurance premium fund to compensate retired school employees, including those who are now retired and those who retire in the future, for their health insurance premiums, including premiums paid for by the employees during periods they were employed by the school division and insured under a Trigon group policy. Currently, the money in this fund may be used only to offset health insurance premium expenses incurred by or on behalf of present and future school employees. Patron - Deeds HB647 Written contracts for school board employees. Requires a written contract be made by the school board with each person who is (i) employed on a full-time or part-time basis for a term of at least 10 months and (ii) not required to hold a license issued by the Board of Education. Written notice of the offer of such employment must be given to these persons not more than 10 days after the first regular school board meeting following the adoption of the school board budget by the appropriating body. Patron - Jones, J.C. HB653 Virginia Educational Excellence Incentive Reward Program. Establishes the Virginia Educational Excellence Incentive Reward Program and Fund to be administered by the Board of Education. The Fund shall be disbursed to award incentive grants to public schools meeting certain eligibility or performance criteria established by the Board and to support nonmonetary awards recognizing exemplary performance by teachers, administrators, and students at the regional and state levels. The Board's criteria for making the incentive grants are to include annual performance benchmarks for individual public schools developed with the assistance of the relevant division superintendent. The criteria are to recognize exceptional and improved educational performance in public schools and may be based upon, but shall not be limited to, various school and pupil performance indicators, such as pupil academic performance; Standards of Learning test scores; student and teacher attendance rates; graduation rates, including minority graduation rates; and parental and community involvement. In establishing the criteria, the Board may consider school and division population information, such as the percentage of students speaking English as a second language, community education and income levels, local ability-to-pay for public education, and school- and division-wide enrollments. Grants are calculated on a per teacher basis and may be used for salary bonuses, professional development, school improvement funds, or other educational initiatives or expenses approved by the Board. In addition, the Board is to establish within the Program a system of nonmonetary awards to recognize exemplary performance by teachers, administrators, and students in the public schools. Teachers, administrators, and students meeting performance criteria established by the Board are to be recognized annually at the regional and state level. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Diamonstein HB710 Effective instructional programs and practices. Establishes within the Department of Education, from such funds as may be appropriated, a unit to conduct evaluative studies and provide resources and technical assistance to increase the capacity of school divisions to deliver quality instruction. This unit must identify and analyze effective instructional programs and practices and professional development initiatives; evaluate the success of programs encouraging parental and family involvement; assess changes in student outcomes prompted by family involvement; and collect and disseminate among school divisions information regarding effective instructional programs and practices, initiatives promoting family and community involvement, and potential funding and support sources. The unit may also provide resources supporting professional development for administrators and teachers. The unit is to give priority to those school divisions demonstrating a less than 70 percent passing rate on the literacy tests and the Standards of Learning end-of-course assessment tests. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Dillard HB820 Instruction of blind and visually impaired students. Requires minimum proficiency in Braille by July 1, 2000, to be demonstrated as a condition of licensure for teachers of blind and visually impaired students; directs the Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped to assist the Board of Education and the school boards of the several school divisions with in-service training in Braille for currently employed teachers of students who are blind and visually impaired; and mandates that the Board of Education, in cooperation with the Virginia Department of the Visually Handicapped, sponsor, conduct or provide advice on inservice programs in Braille for teachers of students who are blind and visually impaired. Patron - Van Landingham HB859 Criminal records check for private school employees. Allows the governing board or administrator of an accredited private or parochial school employing or previously employing a temporary teacher or a private organization coordinating such records on behalf of the governing board or administrator, pursuant to a written agreement with the Department of State Police, to disseminate, at the written request of that temporary teacher, information as to whether or not the teacher meets the criteria for employment (that is, whether the Central Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE) indicates that the applicant has been convicted of certain specified crimes) to the governing board or administrator of another accredited private or parochial school at which the teacher has accepted employment. The transferring governing board or administrator or private organization coordinating such records will be immune from civil liability for any official act, decision or omission done or made in performance of the information transfer, when such acts or omissions are taken in good faith and are not the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct. This bill also authorizes a private organization coordinating the records information on behalf of the governing boards or administrators pursuant to a written agreement with the Department of State Police to receive the Central Criminal Records Exchange information. Although the law relating to criminal records checks for private schools has been on the books since 1996, this bill revises the date for compliance to July 1, 1998. Patron - Rhodes HB893 Suspension of students from school attendance. Modifies the hearing procedures afforded students who have been suspended for more than 10 days (a long-term suspension) by allowing a three-member committee of a local school board to confirm such long-term suspensions by unanimous decision, pursuant to school board regulations. If the committee's decision is not unanimous, the pupil or his parent may appeal the committee's decision to the full school board. The appeal must be decided by the school board within 30 days. This change mirrors the school board committee hearing procedures currently permitted to address expulsions of students. Patron - May HB896 Driver education programs. Requires driver education programs to include instruction concerning aggressive driving. Patron - May HB914 Teacher credentialing. Directs local school boards to require annual evaluations of probationary teachers which must include performance criteria such as, but not limited to, teaching methodology, classroom management, and subject matter knowledge. School boards may use the same or similar criteria for evaluating a teacher awarded continuing contract status. Patron - Hull HB918 Literary Fund loans. Provides specific authority for school boards to apply for Literary Fund loans for the construction of a school building on property subject to a long-term lease (25 years or more) with the U. S. government. The school board is required to submit to the Board evidence that both parties are fully apprised of the construction plans, a copy of such lease, certification of the approval of the local governing body and the local school board, documentation of the fiscal integrity and benefits of the arrangements, and a brief synopsis of the lease. All of this documentation, plus a certificate from the clerk, will be required for the Attorney General. The loans for these long-term leases shall constitute a specific lien on the building only and any additions thereto. Patron - Diamonstein HB968 Home instruction. Provides that parents who begin home instruction after the school year has begun are to notify the division superintendent of their action as soon as practicable. In addition, the measure eliminates the requirement that parents provide the division superintendent with an assessment showing "an adequate level" of educational progress for a home-schooled child who is under age six as of September 30 of the school year. Patron - Marshall HB977 Coalfield Educational Empowerment Program. Establishes the Coalfield Educational Empowerment Program, from such funds as may be appropriated, to be administered by the Adult Education Service of the Department of Education. The Department is to (i) seek the input of school division superintendents in the Coalfield region; (ii) enter into agreements with adult education providers in the region to perform the functions of the Program; and (iii) report to the region's local school boards, the General Assembly, the Governor, and others by November 1 of each year regarding the impact and activities of the Program. The Program's purposes are to enhance the educational attainment of adults in the region's labor force and coordinate G.E.D. activities within the region. The Coalfield region is defined to include the Counties of Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise and the City of Norton. The measure is to expire on July 1, 2003. Patron - Kilgore HB1031 Terms of school board members for the City of Williamsburg. Extends by six months the current three-year terms of the two school board members representing the City of Williamsburg, appointed in 1995 and 1996, to December 31 of 1998 and 1999, respectively, and provides that subsequent appointments for all Williamsburg school board members shall be for four-year terms, commencing on January 1. The City of Williamsburg and James City County share a seven-member school board; the county approved a referendum to elect its school board members in 1995. This bill conforms the date for taking office and the terms of office of the members from the two jurisdictions. Patron - Grayson HB1047 Increasing school board salaries. Clarifies the procedures by which school boards may elect to increase their salaries. A local school board representing a county may establish a salary increase prior to July 1 in any year in which members are to be elected or appointed, or, if such school board is elected or appointed for staggered terms, prior to July 1 of any year in which at least one-half of such members are to be elected or appointed. These increases would become effective on January 1 of the following year. A local school board representing a city or town may establish a salary increase prior to January 1 in any year in which members are to be elected or appointed; the increase would become effective on July 1 of the following year. 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. Patron - Jackson HB1060 School Nurse Incentive Grants Program and Fund. Establishes the School Nurse Incentive Grants Program and Fund, to be administered by the Board of Education. Moneys in the Fund will be disbursed to award matching grants to school boards to employ, or contract with local health departments for, nursing services to achieve the ratio of at least one nurse per 750 students in the relevant school division. The Board must establish criteria for making grants from the Fund, including procedures for determining amounts of grants and the required local match, which will be calculated on the basis of the composite index of local ability to pay. Patron - Plum HB1104 Information regarding certain offenses committed by students. Allows a principal, after he receives the information from the division superintendent, to disseminate information received from the court clerk regarding adjudications or convictions of a student for certain serious crimes to licensed instructional personnel and other school personnel providing direct educational and support services to the student who have a legitimate educational interest in such information. Under current law, the superintendent may only share adjudication and conviction information with school personnel responsible for the management of student records, specifically, the principal of the school in which the student is enrolled and other relevant school personnel, and only if the student poses a danger to himself or others or to facilitate an appropriate educational placement. This bill also removes the requirement that, for dissemination beyond the principal and record managers, the student must pose a danger to himself or others or that the disclosure will facilitate the student's appropriate educational placement or other educational services. Patron - Almand HB1111 Certification of school employees in CPR. Requires each school board to ensure, in school buildings with an instructional and administrative staff of 10 or more, that at least two instructional or administrative employees have (i) current certification in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or (ii) received CPR and emergency first aid training in the last two years. In school buildings with an instructional and administrative staff of fewer than 10, at least one instructional or administrative employee must have such current CPR certification or CPR and emergency first aid training. Patron - Griffith HB1124 Elected and appointed school boards. Clarifies that school boards are corporate bodies that may be comprised of elected as well as appointed members. Patron - Behm HB1200 Standards of Quality; technological proficiency. Revises the Standards of Quality to direct school divisions to incorporate within their programs of instruction for grades K-12 emphasis on technological proficiency. The Standards of Learning for mathematics, English, science, and history and social science, revised in 1995, include computer and technology standards for skills to be acquired by the end of grades five and eight. Patron - O'Brien HB1278 Notification of parents regarding pupil's absence. Provides that the notice to parents of a pupil's absences from school for three consecutive days or five days in one calendar month shall be given to both parents when they have been awarded joint physical custody. Patron - Hargrove HB1287 Teachers to study gifted education. Adds the study of gifted education, particularly the use of multiple criteria to identify gifted students to the requirements for licensure for classroom teachers. Currently, few teachers are prepared to identify and accommodate the educational needs of gifted students, especially such students in the elementary grades and the nontraditional gifted student. Due to the stereotypes concerning gifted students and the use of inappropriate assessment methods to identify them, too often, gifted minority and low-income students are tracked into lower level courses and are not identified for or served by gifted education programs. These factors are among many which contribute to their under-representation in such programs. This bill is the recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Educational Needs of Certain Underserved Gifted Students. Patron - Christian HB1288 Virginia Gifted Education Pilot Program. Establishes the Virginia Gifted Education Pilot Program to provide a model for school divisions, facilitate the identification of gifted students, enhance and improve existing gifted education programs, and increase the representation of gifted minority and low-income students in such programs. Effective July 1, 1998, the program shall consist of selected pilot projects geographically dispersed throughout the Commonwealth. The pilot programs are established with such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose. The act expires July 1, 2001. Patron - Christian HB1289 Gifted education programs. Requires the Board of Education to require local school boards to submit the annual report, "Programs for Gifted Education," to the Department of Education. Currently, Board of Education regulations require the submission of the annual report; however, there is no requirement for accountability on the use of state funds for gifted education, and, too often, local gifted education advisory committees do not participate in the development of the report as required. This bill is the recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Educational Needs of Certain Underserved Gifted Students. Patron - Christian HB1340 Educational planning. Provides statutory consistency for already existing policy calling for six-year plans from the Board of Education and corresponding and consistent plans from local school divisions. Although present law calls for local school boards to include a technology component in their divisionwide six-year improvement plans and the Board of Education actually has a six-year technology plan, the present law authorizes the Board of Education to have only a five-year plan for education technology. This bill transfers the reference to the Board's five-year technology plan to Standard 6 of the Standards of Quality relating to planning and public involvement and revises the reference to call for a six-year technology plan. Patron - Diamonstein HB1343 Student expulsion and searches. Directs school boards to expel from school attendance any student whom such school board has determined, in accordance with existing due process requirements, to have brought drugs onto school property or to a school-sponsored activity. A school board may, however, determine, based on the facts of the particular case, that special circumstances exist and another disciplinary action is appropriate. School boards are to revise their standards of student conduct to incorporate the requirements of this section no later than three months after the date on which this act becomes effective. This language mirrors the current Gun-Free Schools expulsion provisions of § 22.1-277.01. In addition, the Board of Education is to develop, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, guidelines for school boards for the conduct of student searches, including random locker searches, consistent with relevant state and federal laws and constitutional principles. Patron - Diamonstein HB1344 Commonwealth Character Initiative. Establishes the Commonwealth Character Initiative, a unit to provide resources and technical assistance to school divisions regarding successful character education programs. The unit is to assist school divisions in character education programs and practices designed to promote the development of personal qualities as set forth in the Standards of Quality (§ 22.1-253.13:1 B) and to improve family and community involvement in the public schools. The unit is specifically to identify and analyze effective character education programs and practices and to collect and disseminate among school divisions information regarding such programs and practices and potential funding and support sources. The unit may also provide resources supporting professional development for administrators and teachers in the delivery of any character education programs. Patron - Diamonstein SB67 Virginia Public School Authority. Provides that the issuance of bonds by VPSA may be based on debt service payments payable from appropriations from the General Assembly. The bill also provides that the VPSA is not a political subdivision and thereby allows the board to act by telephone conference if necessary. Patron - Chichester SB120 Literacy Passport Tests. Phases out the current Literacy Passport testing requirement set forth in the Standards of Quality as follows: in school year 1997-98, the Literacy Passport Test (LPT) shall be administered to students in grades six, seven, and eight, and to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. For students in grade six in school year 1997-1998, the test results shall be for informational purposes only and shall not be used as a graduation requirement or for classification as a ninth grader but shall be used for remediation purposes. In school year 1998-1999, the LPT shall be administered to students in grade eight, and to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 1999-2000, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades nine through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 2000-2001, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades ten through twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school year 2001-2002, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grades eleven and twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. In school years 2002-2003, 2003-2004, and 2004-2005, the LPT shall be administered to graded students and ungraded students, as applicable, in grade twelve, and to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. After school year 2004-2005, the LPT shall be administered only to adults and students returning to upgrade a certificate of completion or special diploma to a standard or advanced studies diploma. Effective July 1, 2003, division superintendents may require summer school attendance for students whose passage of the Standards of Learning (SOL) Assessments has been determined to be directly related to summer school attendance. Also in 2003, failure rates for the SOL Assessments will serve as a basis for providing state funding for certain instructional positions. The Board of Education is to report to the Governor and chairmen of the House Committees on Education and Appropriations and the Senate Committees on Education and Health and Finance regarding the fiscal impact of requiring remediation for students failing the SOL tests. This bill is similar, but not identical to, HB 409. Patron - Forbes SB168 Business and education partnerships. Establishes the Business and Education Grants Program and Fund, from such funds as may be appropriated for the purpose and from gifts, donations grants, bequests, etc., to support 16 matching grants to be awarded annually on a competitive basis to school divisions, with two grants for each superintendent's region, to support innovative partnerships between school divisions and local business and industry and a special nonreverting fund within the state treasury known as the Business and Education Grants Fund ("the Fund"). The Fund will be established on the books of the Comptroller, and any moneys remaining in such Fund at the end of the biennium will not revert to the general fund but will remain in the Fund. Interest earned on such funds shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it. The State Treasurer will administer and manage the Fund, subject to the authority of the Board of Education to provide for its disbursement. The Board will establish criteria for making grants from the Fund, which will include priorities for initiatives that consider curriculum revisions integrating theory and application, an accelerated academic program for all students, heightened sensitivity to student potential, interdisciplinary cooperation among teachers in planning and instruction, family involvement, additional assistance for students to meet curriculum standards, the identification of business needs, new ideas for preparing skilled employees, and creative ways to use existing resources. The Board may issue such guidelines governing the Program as it deems necessary and appropriate. This bill is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Couric SB174 Instruction in the history and principles of the flags of the United States and the Commonwealth. Requires instruction in the history and principles of the flags of the United States and the Commonwealth to include the appropriate etiquette and conventions for respecting the dignity and appropriate display of such flags. The Board of Education's guidelines for pledging allegiance must also include the appropriate etiquette and conventions for respecting the dignity of the flags. Patron - Marye SB205 Guidance counseling. Requires the Board of Education to include in the Standards of Accreditation minimum staffing levels for licensed school guidance counselors in the following ratios: (i) one guidance counselor for one hour per day per 100 pupils, one full time at 500 pupils and one hour per day additional time per 100 or major fraction thereof in elementary schools; (ii) one guidance counselor for one period per 80 pupils, one full time at 400 pupils and one additional period per 80 or major fraction thereof in middle schools; and (iii) one guidance counselor for one period per 70 pupils, one full time per 350 pupils, and one additional period per 70 or major fraction thereof in secondary schools. This bill is identical to HB 303. Patron - Saslaw SB206 Family life education. Revises the criteria for the Standards for Accreditation which are set forth in Standard 3 of the Standards of Quality and the statute setting out the requirements for the family life education program. The bill requires local school divisions to develop and implement family life education programs which include instruction, as appropriate for the age of the student, in family living and community relationships; the value of postponing sexual activity; human sexuality; human reproduction; and the etiology, prevention, and effects of sexually transmitted diseases. The programs are designed to promote parental involvement, foster positive self-concepts, and provide mechanisms for coping with peer pressure and the stresses of modern living, according to the students' developmental stages and abilities. All such programs are required to present sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity within monogamous marriage as moral obligations and not matters of personal opinion or personal choice. This bill is identical to HB 478. Patron - Woods SB270 Notification upon identification of hearing or visual impairment. Requires the Department of Education to annually prepare and distribute to local school boards packets of information describing the educational and other services available through the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the Virginia Department for the Visually Handicapped to students who are identified as hearing impaired or visually impaired. Local school boards must annually distribute this information to the parents of those students who are identified as hearing impaired or visually impaired. Patron - Hanger SB285 The Miller School of Albemarle. Modifies the membership of the Board of Trustees of The Miller School to allow the Board to consist of nine to 23 members; any additional members to the current nine-member Board are to be appointed by an appointment committee consisting of the chairman of the Board of Trustees, the president of The Miller School, and a representative selected by the Executive Board of the Alumni Association who shall not, at that time, be a member of the Board of Trustees. The bill also deletes language restricting the Board's selection of banking institutions to those entities doing business in the Commonwealth. Patron - Couric SB318 Charter schools. Authorizes the establishment of charter schools in Virginia. After public notice, a public hearing, and adoption by the local school board of a resolution stating its intent to receive applications for the establishment of charter schools in the school division, the local school board may receive and review all charter school applications, which may be submitted by individuals or organizations. Each charter application must include a school mission statement consistent with the Standards of Quality (SOQ); goals and learning objectives that must meet or exceed the Standards of Learning (SOL); evidence of parental, teacher, and pupil support; a description of a lottery process used to determine enrollments; a statement of need; a proposed budget; a plan for displaced pupils and teachers; and a description of governance, employment conditions, and other related matters. The local school board may establish procedures for public notice, comment, or hearings on charter school applications and retains final, ultimate authority over the approval, denial, revocation, or nonrenewal of charter contracts; there is no appeals process. The contract between the charter school and the local school contains all agreements releasing of the charter school from school division policies, and is to include all requests for release of the charter school from state regulations, except for the requirements of the SOQ. As public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, non-home-based alternative schools, charter schools remain subject not only to the SOQ, but also to state and federal anti-discrimination laws and regulations, and court-ordered desegregation plans. Tuition-free, charter schools are deemed part of the school division and are accountable to the local school board. The conversion of a private, nonpublic, religious, or home-based program into a charter school is specifically prohibited. Enrollment is open to any child residing in the school division, through a lottery process on a space-available basis. The school board may restrict the number of charters granted, and no more than two charters may be granted per division before July 1, 2000. Subsequently, the total number of charter schools shall not exceed ten percent of the school division's total number of schools or two charter schools, which ever is greater. The term of any charter, whether initial or renewed, may not exceed three years. At least half of a division's charters must be reserved for applications designed to increase opportunities for at-risk students and priority given to these applications. The funding mechanism for charter schools is similar to that for some Governor's Schools and alternative education programs: students enrolled in a charter school are included in the division's average daily membership, but the schools are not included in fall membership for purposes of calculating division SOQ costs. The proportionate share of state and federal money for disabled pupils and special education personnel as well as state and federal categorical aid must also go to the charter school. Other details for funding for the charter school are to be negotiated in the charter contract. Licensed personnel may volunteer for employment at the charter school on an annual contract basis; charter school teachers are entitled to the same benefits as noncharter school teachers. School boards must submit an annual evaluation of their charter schools to the Board of Education; the Board, in turn, must report its findings to the Governor and the General Assembly beginning in January 1999. This bill is identical to HB 543. Patron - Barry SB352 School board salaries; Newport News. Increases the maximum salaries per year for school board members for the various cities and counties as follows: the Cities of Alexandria from $5,000 to $7,500; Newport News from $3,000 to $5,000; and Virginia Beach from $3,600 to $6,000; and for the Counties of Chesterfield from $7,000 to $12,500; Henrico from $7,000 to $12,000; Loudoun from $8,000 to $12,500; Mathews from $1,240 to $3,000; and Stafford from $2,400 to $7,500. Patron - Williams SB362 Suspension and expulsion of students. Provides that students for whom a report has been received of an adjudication of delinquency or a conviction may be suspended or expelled from school attendance pursuant to § 22.1-277. Under current law, court clerks must notify the relevant school division superintendent when a juvenile is convicted or adjudicated delinquent of certain violent or serious crimes such as arson, homicide, or felonious assault. Patron - Couric SB397 Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Requires the Board of Education to include, in any budget recommendations to the Governor for state funding for the several school divisions which may be related to educational technology or other programs appropriate for implementation within the two schools for the deaf and the blind, state funding for such programs to be provided to the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Patron - Maxwell SB425 Opening of the school year. Delineates three "good cause" situations that may justify a waiver of the requirement that the first day of school for students follow Labor Day. These situations include a school division that (i) has been closed an average of eight days per year during any five of the last 10 years because of severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations; (ii) is providing, in the school year for which the waiver is sought, an instructional program or programs in one or more of its elementary or middle or high schools, excluding the electronic classroom, which are dependent on and provided in one or more elementary or middle or high schools of another school division that qualifies for such waiver, in which case the waiver is applicable only to the opening date for those schools where such dependent programs are provided; or (iii) is providing, in the school year for which the waiver is sought, an experimental or innovative program approved by the Department of Education pursuant the Standards of Accreditation, in which case the waiver is only applicable to the opening date for those schools where the experimental or innovative programs are offered generally to the entire student body. Patron - Saslaw SB431 Physical examinations of school bus drivers. Authorizes a licensed nurse practitioner to perform physical examinations of school bus drivers and sign reports of the results. Patron - Houck SB451 Williamsburg school board terms. Extends by six months the current three-year terms of the two school board members representing the City of Williamsburg, appointed in 1995 and 1996, to December 31 of 1998 and 1999, respectively, and provides that subsequent appointments for all Williamsburg school board members shall be for four-year terms, commencing on January 1. The City of Williamsburg and James City County share a seven-member school board; the county approved a referendum to elect its school board members in 1995. This measure includes an emergency clause. This bill is similar, but not identical to HB 1031. Patron - Norment SB527 Standards of Quality; basic skills, programs, etc. Requires the Board of Education to include, in the Standards of Learning (SOL) for mathematics, objectives to cover the skills necessary to manage personal finances and to make sound financial decisions. By July 1, 1999, the Board must develop and approve objectives for mathematics, at the middle and high school level, for personal living and finances, which will focus on money management skills for individuals and families. The objectives will require instruction in those skills necessary to handle personal business and finances, and shall include, but need not be limited to, the following: opening a bank account and how to judge the quality of a bank's services; balancing a check book; completing a loan application; the implications of an inheritance; the basics of personal insurance policies; consumer rights and responsibilities; dealing with salesmen and merchants; debt management, including retail and credit card debt; state and federal tax computation; local tax assessments; computation of interest rates by various mechanisms; understanding simple contracts; and how to contest an incorrect bill. The personal living and finances objectives shall not be required to be included in the Board's Standards of Learning, and the Board shall not be required to evaluate student achievement concerning such objectives in the SOL Assessments. Patron - Marye SB558 Reading Incentive Grants Program and Fund. Establishes the Reading Incentive Grants Program and Fund, to be administered by the Board of Education. The incentive grants would be awarded on a competitive basis to public schools demonstrating low pupil academic performance and be used to support successful reading programs, including, but not limited to, the Virginia Reading Recovery Program. The Board will establish criteria for making grants from the Fund, including school eligibility criteria and indicators of low pupil academic performance, and procedures for determining amounts for grants to eligible public schools. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Woods SB625 Funds from telephone service or credit cards. Provides that any school board may enter into a contract with a commercial institution for the issuance of a telephone service or credit card that would bear the name of the school board. The contract shall provide that a portion or percentage of the revenue generated by the use of such card will be returned to the local governing body, to be placed in a fund for public school purposes, for subsequent appropriation to the school board. Any such appropriation shall supplement, not supplant, any local funding for educational purposes. The contract shall also (i) provide that the contract is not to be interpreted as authority to license the locality name or endorse commercial products in exchange for revenue and (ii) contain language indemnifying and protecting the locality from certain legal actions. School boards entering into such agreements shall follow all applicable budget and procurement regulations and other state and local laws. Patron - Schrock SB667 Re-admission of suspended and expelled students to public schools. Requires local school boards to notify the parent of a student who has been suspended or expelled from school of the length of the suspension, information regarding the availability of community-based educational programs, alternative education programs or other educational options, and, in the case of suspensions, of the student's right to return to regular school attendance upon the expiration of the suspension. The costs of any community-based educational program, or alternative education program or educational option, which is not a part of the educational program offered by the school division shall be borne by the parent of the student. The expelled student's parent will receive similar information about educational and intervention programs and whether the student is eligible to return to regular school attendance or to attend an appropriate alternative education program approved by the school board or an adult education program during or upon the expiration of the expulsion and the terms or conditions of re-admission. If the school board determines the student to be ineligible to return to regular school attendance or to attend an alternative education program or an adult education program, the written notice must also advise the parent that the student may petition the school board for readmission after one calendar year from the date of his expulsion and of the conditions under which readmission may be granted. This bill is the recommendation of the Standing Joint Subcommittee on School Dropout Prevention. Patron - Lambert SB672 Literary Fund. Requires the Board of Education to impose a maximum limit of not more than $7.5 million on the amount of any loan from the Literary Fund. Last year, the maximum amount of the loan was increased from five to 7.5 million dollars; however, this is currently at the discretion of the Board. This bill requires the new maximum. Patron - Reynolds Failed HB186 Standard diploma in vocational/technical studies. Directs the Board of Education to establish requirements for a standard diploma in vocational/technical studies, comprised of 22 total credit units as follows: four credit units in English, one of which must be in technical writing or reading; three credit units in mathematics; two credit units in laboratory science; three credit units in history; two credit units in health and physical education; and eight credit units in vocational or technical courses. Of these 22 units of credit, a total of six verified units of credit, earned through achievement of a passing score on an end-of-course assessment based on the Standards of Learning shall be required for the standard diploma in vocational/technical studies as follows: two verified units of credit in English, and one each in mathematics, science, history, and vocational or technical courses. The Board is authorized to develop or designate an end-of-course assessment for vocational/technical studies. These new diploma requirements are distinguished from the 1997 standard diploma requirements as they subtract one science credit, one fine or practical arts credit, and six electives to comprise the eight vocational/technical credits. In addition, the elected verified credit is supplanted by the verified credit in vocational/technical studies. Verified units of credit are earned through a passing score on an end-of-course Standards of Learning (SOL) test. Students may earn verified credits in any courses for which end-of-course SOL tests are available, which now include the four core subjects. Patron - Hamilton HB258 Standards of Quality for the several school divisions. Requires the programs of instruction for grades K through 12 to include cultural diversity in Virginia and the United States. The bill amends Standards 1 and 6 to require programs that local school boards are required to implement to be developed and implemented as age-appropriate curricula focused on sensitivity to and inclusion of diversity in American society, including content standards, learning materials, instructional design and strategies, activities for staff development, and strategies for evaluation and enforcement. "Diversity in American society" includes racial, ethnic, gender, and disability variety. The divisionwide six-year improvement plan must include an educational diversity plan to create a learning environment which is sensitive to and inclusive of race, gender, ethnicity, and disability. Patron - Van Yahres HB349 Computation of composite index of local ability to pay. Provides that a city or county having a population of less than 7,000 and comprising a single school division with less than 1,100 students in average daily membership (ADM) shall be deemed to have a population of 7,000 and 1,100 students in average daily membership in such school division for purposes of computing the composite index of local ability to pay or "local composite index" (LCI) as formulated in the appropriation act. The locality's share of Standards of Quality (SOQ) costs for public education is apportioned pursuant to the composite index of local ability to pay. This weighted formula compares three local measures of wealth--real property values, adjusted gross income, and local option sales taxes--to statewide averages and adjusts these indicators by student population and total population. The appropriation act sets a composite index of .8000 as the maximum index that will be used to compute local shares, thereby guaranteeing a minimum state contribution of 20 percent in those localities with a high fiscal capacity. Patron - Katzen HB354 Standards of Quality; Standard 3, Accreditation, other standards and evaluation. Requires the Board of Education to develop and implement, as a component of those student outcome tests currently known as Standards of Learning assessments, an end-of-course test for world geography which must be a separate and stand-alone test and must not be part of or paired with other end-of-course social studies assessments. Patron - Cranwell HB414 Standards of Learning assessments. Requires students who fail Standards of Learning (SOL) end-of-course assessments to attend summer school or another form of remediation. School boards will be required to report the numbers of students failing SOL assessments to the Board of Education; currently this reporting requirement addresses students failing the Literacy Passport Test (LPT). In addition, the Virginia Innovative Remedial Education Pilot Program is amended to include programs addressing SOL test failure. Division superintendents may seek compliance with compulsory attendance laws for the remediation of these students, as they now can do for students failing the LPT. Patron - McEachin HB433 Business and education partnerships. Establishes the Business and Education Grants Program and Fund, to be administered by the Board of Education, to support 16 matching grants to be awarded annually on a competitive basis to school divisions, with two grants for each superintendent's region, to support innovative partnerships between school divisions and local business and industry. In addition, local school boards are required to establish local business advisory councils of no more than 20 members which shall consist of a broad representation from area business and industry. The councils are to evaluate educational programs in the public schools and make recommendations to the local school board to help ensure that academic standards and instructional programs effectively address employment skills. Finally, a 12-member Advisory Council on Business and Education, comprised of the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, and 10 members appointed by the Governor to include representatives of business, industry, education, and employees, including one school superintendent, one public school teacher, one school board member, and at least five representatives of private business and industry, is created to advise the Governor and the Board of Education regarding workforce readiness concerns and the educational preparation necessary for successful workforce entry. The Advisory Council is to meet quarterly and is to coordinate communications between the executive branch and business and industry regarding successful business and education partnerships and compile and review recommendations received from the local business advisory councils regarding academic standards and instructional programs. Patron - Bennett HB434 Programs designed to promote educational opportunities. Revises the statewide voluntary pupil-teacher ratio and class size reduction programs for grades K-3 in schools with high concentrations of at-risk pupils to bring schools with at least 50 percent free lunch participation from the current 18 to one pupil-teacher ratio to a 15 to one ratio and to reduce individual class sizes from 22 to 20 in these schools. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Bennett HB435 Requirements for a high school diploma. Adds a requirement of one credit in fine or performing arts for a standard or advanced studies high school diploma. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Van Landingham HB479 Elementary school guidance counselors. Amends the Standards of Quality to require that the Standards of Accreditation include one guidance counselor position in the elementary schools for one hour per day per 100 pupils and one full-time position per 500 pupils, with one hour per day additional time per 100 pupils or major fraction thereof. This measure would restore language in the Standards of Accreditation that was amended in the fall of 1997 to require an elementary guidance counselor or a reading specialist at these levels. Incorporated in HB 303. Patron - Diamonstein HB569 Standards of Quality. Codifies within the Standards of Quality administrative and support staffing levels now set out in the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) for public schools. This measure reflects the current SOA regulations of the Board of Education, which were revised in fall 1997. No new staffing requirements are imposed, and no new local fiscal impact is incurred. Incorporated in HB 303. Patron - Puller HB686 Standards of Quality. Requires, pursuant to the appropriation act's provisions on financial assistance for public education, the positions required by the Standards of Quality must include, for such subprograms as Basic Aid Payments, a minimum for each 1,000 pupils in average daily membership for each year of support of the current Standards of Quality of: 57 professional instructional positions and aide positions, one professional instructional position for education of the gifted, six professional instructional positions and aide positions for occupational-vocational education payments and special education payments, and funding must be provided to support an additional nine professional instructional positions per 1,000 students who score in the bottom national quartile on the Virginia State Assessment Program Tests or who fail the state's Literacy Passport Tests or the Standards of Learning Assessments or any successors to these tests or assessments. Patron - Tate HB704 School board salaries; Loudoun County. Increases the maximum salaries per year for school board members for Loudoun County from $8,000 to $12,500. Under current law, no school board can request the General Assembly's consideration of 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. Every proposed change in annual salaries for elected school board members must be adopted consistent with procedures applicable to salary changes for the relevant local governing body. Incorporated in HB 313. Patron - May HB709 School calendar. Repeals the requirement that local school boards set the school calendar so that the first day for students must be after Labor Day. Patron - Ware HB886 Virginia Educational Excellence Incentive Reward Program. Establishes the Virginia Educational Excellence Incentive Reward Program and Fund to be administered by the Board of Education. The Fund shall be disbursed to award incentive grants to public schools meeting certain eligibility or performance criteria established by the Board and to support nonmonetary awards recognizing exemplary performance by teachers, administrators, and students at the regional and state levels. The Board's criteria for making the incentive grants are to include annual performance benchmarks for individual public schools developed with the assistance of the relevant division superintendent. The criteria are to recognize exceptional and improved educational performance in public schools and may be based upon, but shall not be limited to, various school and pupil performance indicators, such as pupil academic performance; Standards of Learning test scores; student and teacher attendance rates; graduation rates, including minority graduation rates; and parental and community involvement. In establishing the criteria, the Board may consider school and division population information, such as the percentage of students speaking English as a second language, community education and income levels, local ability to pay for public education, and school- and division-wide enrollments. Grants are calculated on a per teacher basis and may be used for salary bonuses, professional development, school improvement funds, or other educational initiatives or expenses approved by the Board. In addition, the Board is to establish within the Program a system of nonmonetary awards to recognize exemplary performance by teachers, administrators, and students in the public schools. Teachers, administrators, and students meeting performance criteria established by the Board are to be recognized annually at the regional and state level. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Bennett HB894 School construction funding. Creates a mechanism for reimbursing localities for the costs of public school construction, enlargement, or renovation similar to the procedures in place for jail construction reimbursements. On and after July 1, 1998, the Commonwealth is to reimburse any locality up to one-half of the capital costs of a public school construction, enlargement, or renovation project upon a basis approved by the Board of Education in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The Board regulations shall include criteria for assessing need and establishing and evaluating requests for reimbursement and to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of state funds provided for this purpose. No such reimbursement may be made unless the plans and specifications, including the need for additional personnel, have been submitted to the Governor for approval. Reimbursements by the Commonwealth to localities for a portion of the capital costs of a school construction, enlargement, or renovation project, may be made in lump sum payments or over a specified period of time through a contractual agreement entered into by the Treasury Board, and approved by the Governor on behalf of the Commonwealth, and the locality or combination of localities undertaking the project. Reimbursement may be applied to actual construction costs, architectural and engineering fees, and fixed equipment, but not for site acquisition or development, furnishings and fixtures, administrative costs, or certain professional fees. Localities requesting reimbursement shall, on or before March 1 biennially in the odd-numbered years, submit to the Governor school construction, enlargement, or renovation plans and specifications, including detailed cost estimates of any such project. On or before July 1 in the odd-numbered years, such localities shall also submit to the Governor, the expected financing costs for any such project. The Governor shall submit his recommendations for funding such projects as part of the budget bill. Requests for appropriations of such funds shall be considered by the General Assembly only in even-numbered years. Patron - May HB898 Audits of school board accounts and records. Establishes procedures for audits of local school board accounts and records similar to those in place for local governing bodies. School boards shall have their accounts and records audited annually as of June 30 by an independent certified public accountant in accordance with the specifications furnished by the Auditor of Public Accounts. The certified public accountant shall present a detailed written report to the school board at a public session by the following December 31. If a school board fails to obtain the annual audit, the Auditor may undertake the audit or may employ the services of certified public accountants and charge the full cost of these services to the school board. The Auditor of Public Accounts must audit the accounts of local school boards only when (i) special circumstances require an audit or (ii) there is suspected fraud or inappropriate handling of funds which may affect the financial interests of the Commonwealth. In all instances, such audits shall be carried out with the approval of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. Although local school boards have no taxing authority, the Virginia Supreme Court has stated that school boards are vested with the use and control of school funds, whether derived from state appropriations, local taxes, or other sources, and have exclusive authority to expend funds set apart by law for public school purposes (School Bd. v. Shockley, 160 Va. 405, 168 S.E.419 (1933)). Patron - Griffith HB922 School construction projects; grants. Provides that appropriations will be made from the general fund to a school construction account and used to make matching grants to local school boards for school construction projects. In order to receive a matching grant, the chairman of the local school board must certify that the school board will spend at least an equal amount of its own funds. A single matching grant is limited to $10 million. VPSA will establish the criteria necessary to receive the grants, as well as accept applications for and make the grants. Patron - Cranwell HB1034 School board salaries; Virginia Beach. Increases the maximum salaries per year for school board members for the City of Virginia Beach from $3,600 to $6,000. Under current law, no school board can request the General Assembly's consideration of 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, upon an affirmative vote by that school board, a specific salary increase shall be approved. Every proposed change in annual salaries for elected school board members must be adopted consistent with procedures applicable to salary changes for the relevant local governing body. Incorporated in HB 313. Patron - Wagner HB1097 Criminal history records checks for school board employees. Adds Rappahannock County to the list of school boards requiring, as a condition of employment, fingerprinting and information from the national Central Criminal Records Exchange for persons who are offered or accept school board employment, whether on a temporary, permanent, or part- or full-time basis. The records are searched for felonies and misdemeanors involving drugs, abuse or neglect of children, moral turpitude, obscenity offenses, and sexual assault. In addition, localities requiring these records checks will also receive reports of arrests for these crimes for current employees, who must then submit to fingerprinting and a criminal records check. Under current law, the school board may require applicants and employees to pay for the fingerprinting and records check or may pay for these services from such funds as may be available for that purpose. Incorporated in HB 521. Patron - Katzen HB1162 School construction projects; grants. Provides that appropriations will be made from the general fund to a school construction account and be used to make matching grants to local school boards for school construction projects. In order to receive a matching grant, the chairman of the local school board must certify that the school board will spend at least an equal amount of its own funds. A single matching grant is limited to $25 million. VPSA will receive applications for and make the grants. Patron - McClure HB1182 Notification of parents regarding certain disciplinary actions. Requires school boards to provide written notification to parents when a student has been suspended, expelled, placed in an alternative educational program, or otherwise disciplined for an offense involving the use of alcohol, Schedule I or II controlled substances, or marijuana, and to request the parents to meet with school officials to discuss the student's substance abuse or alleged substance abuse. Patron - O'Brien HB1183 Single-sex education. Requires the Board of Education, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General, to develop guidelines on constitutional rights and restrictions relating to single-sex classes, single-sex grades and single-sex schools, with particular emphasis on issues relating to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and recent case law relating to single-sex education and separate and substantively comparable opportunities. In accordance with the Board's guidelines, a school board may establish single-sex classes, single-sex grades, and single-sex schools in the public schools of the school division. Patron - O'Brien HB1249 Executive Education Center for School Administrators. Establishes the Executive Education Center for School Administrators to deliver a high quality and coordinated statewide program for the professional development of principals and superintendents, and to assist them in attaining the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the revised Standards of Learning (SOLs), the Standards of Accreditation (SOAs), and the Statewide Assessment Program. The Board of Education is required to establish rules and policies for the conduct and operation of the Center and to collaborate with institutions of higher education that desire to participate in the Center to provide an annual program of study. Such program of study shall include, but not be limited to, course offerings on education law, the SOLs, SOAs, the Statewide Assessment Program, educational measurement and evaluation, school finance, effective leadership and management skills, in-service training, and school safety issues. The Department of Education is required to collect and analyze the information and data obtained from the program evaluation and to use such information to determine program needs and effectiveness. Incorporated in HB 432. Patron - Drake HB1291 Children with disabilities. Adds attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD/ADHD) to the list of disabilities for which special education services must be provided by public schools. Pursuant to the U.S. Department of Education's regulations implementing and governing the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), children who have been identified as having ADD/ADHD and whose ability to learn is affected by such learning disability are eligible for special education services in the public schools. However, existing state law does not include this disability in the eligibility list for those who must be served. Patron - Christian HB1316 Certain eligibility for students in public schools. Relates to eligibility of transfer students to participate in interscholastic activities. This bill modifies the present statute defining those students who are deemed to reside in the school division for purposes of free education and sets out specific interscholastic sports eligibility for certain transfer students who are living in a school's service area with a person in loco parentis for reasons beyond the student's control. No student who has been abandoned by his parents and has neither guardian nor other person with legal custody and who transfers from any public or private high school to a public high school while living with a person in loco parentis because of circumstances beyond such student's control will be required to attend a school to which he transfers for a full semester or to obtain a waiver of any enrollment rule to be eligible to participate in interscholastic sports as a member of a school squad or team within the school to which such student transfers. No school or student will be (i) declared ineligible for participation in interscholastic sports or (ii) disciplined, including any forfeiture of winning competitions or games, because of the participation of a transfer student who has been abandoned by his parents and has neither guardian nor other person with legal custody and who is living, not solely for educational purposes, with a person in loco parentis who actually resides in the district served by the school to which such student transferred. Any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 to organize and govern interscholastic activities among the public high schools (the Virginia High School League) must develop, implement, and enforce a compassionate exception to its transfer and enrollment rules. Such compassionate exception must provide eligibility for participation in interscholastic sports by any transfer student who because of circumstances beyond such student's control is living with a person in loco parentis who actually resides in the district served by the school to which such student has transferred. Further, such nonprofit corporation must establish and implement an appeals process which terminates in a final appeal to its legislative council. Any party aggrieved by a decision at a lower level of such nonprofit corporation's appeal process may request and must receive a hearing before such legislative council. Patron - Marshall HB1321 Suspension of certain students' driver's licenses. Provides that the local school board shall require the division superintendent to request that the Department of Motor Vehicles suspend the driver's license of any student who has 15 or more unexcused absences and who has not complied with school division efforts to ensure his regular school attendance. When the school board has determined that the student's regular school attendance has been achieved, the division superintendent must notify the Department of Motor Vehicles accordingly and request reinstatement of the student's driver's license. Patron - Marshall HB1326 Ethics and moral education. Amends the existing statute requiring focus on moral education to include ethics and to require, in the furtherance of the emphasis on ethics and moral education, all school boards to cause to be posted in a conspicuous location on the walls of the schools statements of the men and women who were leaders in Virginia's illustrious past, concerning ethics and morals, including such character traits as honesty, integrity, courage, commitment, devotion to family, friendship, faith, virtue, and responsibility. These postings shall be part of an intensive character development program which is focused on providing moral guidance through the examples of recognized statesmen and great community leaders who were born in or resided in Virginia, such as George Washington, Booker T. Washington, Maggie Walker, George Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Patrick Henry, Pocahontas, and Woodrow Wilson. In implementing such character development program, school boards shall develop and implement contests focused on the statements of Virginia's past; such competitions may be to demonstrate excellence in art, music, writing, and public speaking. Patron - Marshall HB1345 Opportunities to take certain tests. The Board of Education shall assist school divisions in providing tenth graders the opportunity to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT). Patron - Diamonstein HB1393 Certain universally held principles. Requires all school boards in Virginia to distribute to every student in the Commonwealth copies of the appendix from The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis (copyright 1944 by the Macmillan Company) and sets forth this document. The bill notes, in its preamble, that many of the world's civilizations have developed similar philosophies, religions, and legal systems, and that it is well to acknowledge our similarities and parallelisms rather than our differences and disagreements. Patron - Marshall HB1400 Transportation services for private schools. Permits local school boards to enter into agreements with eligible private schools in the school division to provide transportation to the private schools consistent with the school division's calendar year. The cost of this transportation would be paid entirely by the private school. These agreements may not interfere with existing routes. "Eligible private schools" are defined by certain enrollment and location criteria. The Board of Education is to promulgate regulations governing these transportation service agreements. Tracking language included in a January 1991 opinion of the Attorney General, the measure includes a legislative finding that there is a factual basis justifying the use of public school transportation services by private school pupils to ensure public safety. Patron - Wagner HB1421 Expulsion of students for possession of certain weapons. Provides for expulsion from public school attendance for one calendar year for those students whom a school board has determined, in accordance with established due process procedures, to have brought on to school property or to a school-sponsored activity certain specified weapons, such as a bowie knife, switchblade knife, ballistic knife, razor, slingshot, spring stick, fighting chain, throwing star, or oriental dart. A school board may, however, determine, based on the facts of the particular case, that special circumstances exist and another disciplinary action or term of expulsion is appropriate. Mirroring language in the Gun-Free Schools Act, § 22.1-277.01, the measure requires each school board to revise its standards of student conduct no later than three months after the date on which this act becomes effective to reflect this requirement. The local school board is to report annually to the Board of Education regarding a description of the circumstances pertaining to expulsions imposed under this measure. Patron - Spruill SB230 Criminal history records checks for school board employees. Adds Botetourt County to the list of school boards requiring, as a condition of employment, fingerprinting and information from the national Central Criminal Records Exchange for persons who are offered or accept school board employment, whether on a temporary, permanent, or part- or full-time basis. The records are searched for felonies and misdemeanors involving drugs, abuse or neglect of children, moral turpitude, obscenity offenses, and sexual assault. In addition, localities requiring these records checks will also receive reports of arrests for these crimes for current employees, who must then submit to fingerprinting and a criminal records check. Under current law, the school board may require applicants and employees to pay for the fingerprinting and records check or may pay for these services from such funds as may be available for that purpose. Patron - Trumbo SB486 Suspension of certain students' driver's licenses. Authorizes school boards to establish regulations requiring the division superintendent to provide written notification to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of any student who has 15 or more unexcused absences, as defined by the local school board, and has failed to comply with efforts of the school division to ensure his regular school attendance. This regulation must provide for notice to the parents and students of the potential for suspension of the student's driver's license, notice to the parents when the student has been determined to have acquired 15 or more unexcused absences, and an opportunity to appeal the school board's determination of the 15 or more unexcused absences to the division superintendent. The division superintendent's decision will be final. If the division superintendent notifies the DMV of the 15 or more unexcused absences, the student's license will be suspended until the division superintendent notifies the DMV, in writing, that the student is in regular school attendance. Patron - Colgan SB504 Approval of local school board fees. Provides that any fees charged to students and collected by a local school board, including materials fees, must be approved by the local governing body and shall be deposited into a separate account maintained by the local treasurer. Patron - Newman SB617 Salaries of school board members. Increases the maximum salary that the members of the Chesterfield County School Board may be paid from $7,000 to $12,500. Technical amendments to provide statutory consistency are also included. Patron - Watkins SB682 Transportation services for private schools. Permits local school boards to enter into agreements with eligible private schools in the school division to provide transportation to the private schools consistent with the school division's calendar year. The cost of this transportation would be paid entirely by the private school. These agreements may not interfere with existing routes. "Eligible private schools" are defined by certain enrollment and location criteria. The Board of Education is to promulgate regulations governing these transportation service agreements. Tracking language included in a January 1991 opinion of the Attorney General, the measure includes a legislative finding that there is a factual basis justifying the use of public school transportation services by private school pupils to ensure public safety. Patron - Schrock SB702 Community-Based Intervention Program for Suspended and Expelled Students. Establishes the Community-Based Program for Suspended and Expelled Students to provide interim instructional programs, intervention, and supervision for students in the public schools who have been suspended, excluded, or expelled from regular school attendance. The Board of Education shall promulgate regulations for the implementation of the program, which shall provide maximum flexibility to allow such programs to meet the unique needs of the students. The Department of Education shall administer the program. Eligible programs shall be nonprofit, tax-exempt public or private organizations and satisfy the criteria for program eligibility. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Status and Needs of African-American Males. Patron - Maxwell Carried Over HB156 Part-time admission and enrollment of nonpublic school students. Requires school boards to adopt policies, consistent with their constitutional and statutory responsibilities for providing public education, for the part-time admission and enrollment of nonpublic school students - those enrolled in nonpublic schools, taught by a teacher or tutor of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education and approved by the division superintendent, or receiving home instruction. The policies must require that the student reside in the attendance district for the school he desires to attend, that the parent or guardian of the student apply for the desired class or classes to the principal of the school and the division superintendent and, simultaneously with such application, that the parent or guardian submit evidence of residence and compliance with § 22.1-254.1. Approval for part-time admission and enrollment can only be granted if the school has space in the desired class or classes, after accommodating the pupils who are regularly enrolled in the school and the school division. The policies must establish procedures for equitable student selection, protection from potential legal liability, and compliance by such students with all relevant public school policies while attending. School divisions would include students so enrolled in average daily membership. The measure eliminates a 1997 amendment to the Standards of Quality that provided that private school and home-school students who were enrolled in public schools on a less than full-time basis in any mathematics, science, English, history, social science, vocational education, fine arts, or foreign language course would be counted in average daily membership (ADM) in the relevant school division on a pro rata basis as provided in the appropriation act. No such student was to be counted as more than one-half of a student. The 1997 appropriation act limited this calculation to students enrolled in mathematics, science, English, social science, or foreign language. Each course was to be counted as 0.25, up to a cap of 0.50 per student. Patron - Callahan HB235 Certain courses in public schools. Clarifies in the Standards of Quality that school boards must include art, music, and physical education among those subjects emphasized in programs of instruction for grades K through 12, and requires school boards to employ only licensed instructional personnel with endorsements in the relevant subject areas to provide this instruction in art, music, and physical education. Patron - Darner HB284 Inclusion of certain students in average daily membership. Provides that nonpublic and home-school students who are enrolled in public schools on a less than full-time basis in any health education or physical education course are to be included in average daily membership (ADM) in the relevant school division on a pro rata basis as provided in the appropriation act. Currently, this calculation is limited to enrollments of these students in any mathematics, science, English, history, social science, vocational education, fine arts, or foreign language course. The 1997-98 Appropriation Act did not include enrollments in history, vocational education, or fine arts, and provided that each course enrollment be counted as 0.25 with a cap of 0.5 per student. Patron - Van Yahres HB416 Standards of Quality. Requires the Board's regulations on accrediting schools to include, in the minimum staffing requirements, according to the type of school and student enrollment, requirements for employment of assistant principals in elementary schools, one half-time to 299 students, one full-time at 350 students; assistant principals in middle schools, one half-time to 299 students, one full-time at 350 students; assistant principals in secondary schools, one half-time to 299 students; one full-time for 350 students. Present regulatory requirements are: one half-time assistant principal for every elementary school with an average daily membership of 600 students, one full-time at 900 students; one full-time for each 600 students in middle schools; and one full-time for each 600 students in secondary schools. Many school divisions consider these requirements too low. Patron - Tate HB477 Educational services for certain students and report required. Requires each school board to provide educational services to any student of compulsory school attendance age who is suspended for more than 10 days, excluded, or expelled from school attendance. Such services must accommodate the student's instructional needs, and may be provided through a regional, or any local education program which satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirement. School boards may include such students in the calculation for average daily membership. However, school boards are not required to provide these services to students who have been excused from school attendance under § 22.1-257, or who violate the school board's student conduct policies, or commit offenses required to be reported to the division superintendent or law-enforcement agencies during their period of suspension, exclusion, or expulsion. Further, school boards are required to report annually the number of students receiving such educational services to the Department of Education, including the projected need and costs of such services, and the total of local funds expended to support the services. The Department of Education is required to compile and analyze the data obtained from the school divisions and report such information annually to the Governor and General Assembly, beginning December, 1999. This bill is a recommendation of the Standing Joint Subcommittee on School Dropout Prevention. Patron - Hall HB685 Standards of Quality. Requires, pursuant to the appropriation act's provisions on financial assistance for public education, any funding to increase the number of teachers in the public elementary schools by five teachers per school in the 1998-2000 biennium to be accompanied by the funds to award grants to local school boards to support a state share, consistent with the composite index of local ability to pay, for the planning, designing, and constructing of the additional classrooms needed to accommodate such teachers. Patron - Tate HB713 Compulsory school attendance. Authorizes the juvenile and domestic relations district court to charge a child with a misdemeanor who knowingly and willfully does not comply with the compulsory school attendance law. Current law requires parents to send their children to school. This bill requires children to attend school when sent by their parents. Although adults may be jailed for certain violations of this law, no child may be confined to jail for any violation; the court may, however, order the child to be detained in a local or regional detention center. The bill modifies the compulsory school attendance law to make any adult violations applicable to children under the age of 18. All such violations are misdemeanors only. The court will be required to expunge the record of any child charged solely with a compulsory school attendance violation after one year has expired from the last hearing. Patron - Dillard HB714 Compulsory school attendance age. Revises the age for compulsory school attendance from 5 through 18 years old to 5 through 17 years old. Patron - Dillard HB720 Computation of pupil-teacher ratios for certain classes in the public schools. Provides a weighted formula for calculating pupil-teacher ratios for students identified as having certain disabilities when such students are in special education and when such students are included in the regular classroom for 60 percent of the time. This weighted formula would count such students as more than one student for purposes of the divisionwide ratios required in subsection G of Standard 1 of the Standards of Quality. Patron - Dillard HB1032 Self-insurance for public school motor vehicles. Requires localities or school boards that, rather than obtaining liability and property damage insurance, acquire a certificate of self-insurance from the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide medical expense payment coverage in the minimum amount of $1,000 per person. Patron - Grayson HB1119 Education of certain adults. Modifies the adult education law to define "target population" as those residents of Virginia who, having completed the ninth grade, have never completed high school, and to require the Board of Education and those school divisions with adult education programs to work aggressively toward assisting every Virginian who is a member of the target population in obtaining a general educational development (GED) certificate. The funding formula is noted; the state's share is increased to 80 percent and the state's fixed unit costs are increased by multiplying the statewide average teacher's salary per hour by two and one-half and calculating the number of teachers and the number of hours taught in the locality. Patron - Behm HB1130 School construction fund. Funds the Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program with lottery revenues and uncollected lottery winnings. The share of lottery revenues deposited in the Grants Fund starts at up to 15 percent in fiscal year 1999 and 2000, increases to up to 25 percent in fiscal year 2001, up to 50 percent in fiscal year 2002, up to 75 percent in fiscal year 2003, and up to 100 percent thereafter. Moneys in the fund will be used for matching grants, to be allocated based on a priority list using weighted criteria to be developed by the Board of Education. The criteria will be weighted to provide funding for school divisions with the greatest educational need and fiscal stress. Patron - Jackson HB1248 Pilot discretionary programs for certain students. Establishes a grants program for pilot discretionary programs for disruptive elementary and middle school students who do not qualify for the alternative education programs established pursuant to § 22.1-209.1:2. "Disruptive student" is defined as a student whose behavior interrupts or obstructs the learning environment and results in two or more short-term suspensions or requires repeated intervention by school personnel. The Board of Education will establish criteria for these pilot discretionary programs which will require innovative approaches to resolving common disciplinary problems which occur among disruptive elementary and middle school students, such as nontraditional physical plants or locations, parental involvement and participation, part-time work or vocational training for students when appropriate, and nontraditional attendance patterns. All such innovative approaches must require, as a condition of enrollment, written agreements for parental involvement and participation in the programs. With such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose, five such grants may be awarded. Applicants must comply with the Board grant criteria; however, applicants may choose to include an interdisciplinary approach or a cooperative approach between the discretionary program and other local or state agencies and other programs or curricula within the relevant local school division or an adjacent school division. The applicants may ask for a waiver through the Board's innovative programs waiver provided in the Standards of Accreditation. Patron - Drake HB1270 Families in Education Incentive Grants Program. Establishes the Families in Education Incentive Grants Program and Fund, to be administered by the Board of Education, to support grants awarded on a competitive basis to public schools, with no more than two grants awarded per superintendent's region, to support innovative family and community involvement programs designed to facilitate parents' creation of a supportive learning environment at home and increased involvement in classroom learning and school activities. The Board shall establish criteria for making grants from the Fund and procedures for determining amounts for grants to eligible public schools. The Board may issue guidelines governing the Program as it deems necessary and appropriate. Patron - Crittenden HB1317 Education; school-based access to information infrastructure. Establishes requirements for public elementary and secondary schools providing student access to the Internet and other aspects of the electronic information infrastructure. The bill requires such schools to employ computer hardware or software inhibiting access to materials harmful to juveniles, obscene materials, child pornography and other materials inconsistent with public schools' educational mission. Where information infrastructure access is provided to students in grades K through 8, the schools must obtain hardware or software limiting such students' information infrastructure access, to the extent technically feasible, to preselected uniform resource locators, or URLs, newsgroups, or files within newsgroups determined to be consistent with public schools' educational mission, and which do not contain materials harmful to minors, obscene materials, or child pornography. The bill also stipulates that no student may access information infrastructure services via any school's computer system unless the student's parent or guardian has furnished prior, written authorization for such access. Schools are permitted by the bill to condition students' use of such services upon first obtaining written liability releases from students' parents or guardians. The bill also directs the State Board of Education to develop and distribute, on or before September 1, 1998, written guidelines for school-sponsored student access to information infrastructure services. All public schools are required to be in compliance with the provisions of this bill on and after November 1, 1998. Patron - Marshall HB1352 Standards for accreditation of public schools. Enacts into statute the present Board of Education regulations for accrediting public schools, except for the provisions relating to staffing levels, family life education, and the option of employing guidance counselors or reading specialists in elementary schools. Patron - Dillard SB122 Alternative continuing contract employment processes for public school teachers and administrators. Allows school boards to adopt a five-year probationary term of service and procedures for the establishment of an alternative continuing contract employment process requiring teachers and administrators to apply for continuing contract status. Applications may be made after three years of the initial probationary term of service in such school division. Under current law, teachers are "entitled" to continuing contracts upon completion of a probationary period, during which they demonstrated "good behavior and competent service." The Board of Education is to develop guidelines for these procedures providing for, among other things, (i) the selection, training, and use of employment review committees; (ii) required application materials, which may include evidence of the teacher's or administrator's work, employment evaluations, classroom observations, pupil academic performance, lesson plans and examinations, and other materials; (iii) procedures for obtaining assistance from other teachers and administrators in the preparation of application materials; (iv) an appeals process for denials of continuing contract status; and (v) procedures for reversion by the school board to the current teacher and administrator continuing contract processes. Patron - Couric SB165 Excellence in public schools. Revises the Standards of Quality and other education provisions to incorporate the following recommendations of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education: (i) the Board of Education is to establish Standards of Learning (SOL) for an articulated technological studies program in grades K-12; (ii) SOLs for vocational education are to require the full integration of English, mathematics, science and social studies SOLs and incorporate a process for assessments, reporting, and consequences, and all occupational vocational programs shall be aligned with industry and professional standard certification by the year 2002; (iii) SOLs in all subject areas are to be subject to regular review and revision; (iv) SOL assessments are to evaluate critical thinking and the application of knowledge and skills, and the Board, with the assistance of independent, nationally recognized testing experts, is to conduct a regular analysis and validation process for SOL assessments; (v) requirements for a standard or advanced studies high school diploma are to include one credit in fine, performing, or practical arts; (vi) requirements for a standard high school diploma are to include a concentration of courses reflecting a focused career preparation sequence in career, technical, or arts education developed by the respective school divisions consistent with Board guidelines; (vii) the Superintendent of Public Instruction is to report on the progress of Virginia's schools in improving or failing to improve student learning performance, including an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of public education programs in the various school divisions in Virginia, and make recommendations to the General Assembly for further enhancing student learning uniformly across the Commonwealth; (viii) school boards are to provide, and students who fail to achieve a passing score on the Standards of Learning exam in grades 3, 5, and 8 shall be required to attend, remediation programs held outside of normal school hours; (ix) school boards must provide summer school remediation for all elementary and middle school grades and for all high school academic courses; (x) the Board of Education is to set minimum standards for remediation courses; (xi) school boards are to biennially review the model student conduct code to incorporate a continuum of discipline options and alternatives; (xii) the Department of Education must conduct technical assistance visits to each school division on an established cycle; (xiii) school boards must employ at least one full-time educational technology expert for the school division; (xiv) school divisions must establish a voice mail communication system after regular school hours for parents, families, and teachers by the year 2000; (xv) effective for the 2004-2005 school year, promotion of any student failing the SOL end-of-course assessments for English or mathematics for grade 5 or 8 will be contingent upon the school's provision of, and the student's participation in, a structured remedial program; (xvi) principals, teachers, and other professional staff in schools experiencing three or more years of provisional accreditation may be reassigned to other schools; and (xvii) school divisions with one or more schools demonstrating a passing rate of less than 70 percent on all three Literacy Passport Tests by students taking these tests for the first time must develop comprehensive corrective action plans, including specific improvement goals, for implementation no later than 1999-2000, including specific goals for improvement; the Board may reward schools achieving specified improvement goals. Patron - Couric SB166 Training and professional development of teachers, administrators, and superintendents. Establishes several teacher training and development initiatives, such as (i) requiring the Board of Education to develop leadership standards for superintendents and principals; (ii) requiring compliance with these leadership standards as a condition of licensure for superintendents and principals on and after July 1, 2000; and (iii) conditioning initial licensure for individuals who graduate from Virginia institutions of higher education to endorsement areas offered at institutions that have been assessed by a national accrediting agency or be a state approval process on and after July 2002. This bill also establishes a two-year program for educational leadership and professional development for public school personnel that will include leadership training for division superintendents and principals and instructional training for teachers, including training in instruction in English, mathematics, science, and social studies as well as technological studies. This two-year training program is intended to assist in the implementation of the Standards of Learning and the Standards of Accreditation. The training program will be structured to provide accountability, efficient and effective use of funds, and flexibility in implementation by the local school boards, according to the school division's needs and existing programs. The Board of Education will issue guidelines for program implementation, which will not be regulations. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 196 Commission on the Future of Public Education. Patron - Couric SB167 Programs designed to promote educational opportunities. Expands four-year-old at-risk preschool programs to cover all eligible students in all schools and revises the statewide voluntary pupil-teacher ratio and class size reduction programs for grades K-3 in schools with high concentrations of at-risk pupils to bring schools with at least 50 percent free lunch participation from the current 18 to one pupil-teacher ratio to a 15 to one ratio and to reduce individual class sizes from 22 to 20 in these schools. Patron - Couric SB176 Standards of Quality; requirements in the Standards for Accrediting Schools. Eliminates the requirement for Board of Education approval of local school board requirements for obtaining a diploma. Patron - Houck SB399 Programs to promote educational opportunities. Revises the at-risk four-year-olds program to allow school divisions with existing programs to apply for the state grant funds to support half-day programs conducted for the length of the school year which include both at-risk four-year-olds and five-year-olds who are not eligible to attend kindergarten. The current law allows only full-day programs that are conducted for at least the school year and focused only on at-risk four-year-olds to apply for the grants. The bill also adjusts the prohibition on supplanting any funds currently provided for preschool programs within the locality to apply only to local funds currently provided for preschool programs within the locality. School divisions with existing programs may apply for and be granted waivers of the Department of Education's guidelines for "quality preschool education and criteria for the service components." Patron - Maxwell SB424 Certain eligibility for students in public schools. Relates to eligibility of transfer students to participate in interscholastic activities. This bill modifies the present statute defining those students who are deemed to reside in the school division for purposes of free education and sets out specific interscholastic sports eligibility for certain transfer students who are living in a school's service area with a person in loco parentis for reasons beyond the student's control. No student who has been abandoned by his parents who has neither a guardian nor any other person with legal custody, and who transfers from any public or private high school to a public high school while living with a person in loco parentis because of circumstances beyond such student's control will be required to attend a school to which he transfers for a full semester or to obtain a waiver of any enrollment rule to be eligible to participate in interscholastic sports as a member of a school squad or team within the school to which such student transfers. No school or student will be (i) declared ineligible for participation in interscholastic sports or (ii) disciplined, including any forfeiture of winning competitions or games, because of the participation of a transfer student who has been abandoned by his parents and has neither a guardian nor any other person with legal custody and who is living, not solely for educational purposes, with a person in loco parentis who actually resides in the district served by the school to which such student transferred. Any nonprofit corporation founded in Virginia in 1913 to organize and govern interscholastic activities among the public high schools (the Virginia High School League) must develop, implement, and enforce a compassionate exception to its transfer and enrollment rules. Such compassionate exception must provide eligibility for participation in interscholastic sports by any transfer student who because of circumstances beyond such student's control is living with a person in loco parentis who actually resides in the district served by the school to which such student has transferred. Further, such nonprofit corporation must establish and implement an appeals process which terminates in a final appeal to its legislative council. Any party aggrieved by a decision at a lower level of such nonprofit corporation's appeal process may request and must receive a hearing before such legislative council. This measure is identical to HB 1316. Patron - Colgan SB511 Criminal records check for public school volunteers. Authorizes local school boards to require a criminal records check through the Virginia Department of State Police of part-time and full-time volunteers in the public schools who will have direct and unsupervised contact with a student. From such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose, the school board may pay for the fingerprinting or the criminal records check. The provisions of this statute do not apply to a volunteer who is the parent of a student with whom he will be working. The Department of State Police may not disclose information to the school board regarding charges or convictions for any crimes not specified in this section, and information provided to the school board may not be disseminated except as provided in this section. Patron - Lambert SB524 Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program and Fund. Modifies the statutes relating to this school construction law to limit the grants to new construction, to clarify the requirement for local matching funds according to the composite index of local ability to pay, to mandate two priority lists based on the length of grant approval time and the aggregate amount of any grants, and to dedicate 100 percent of the lottery funds to this program. Patron - Wampler SB559 Verification of citizenship of certain students. Requires the Board of Education to verify the citizenship of students for whom English is the second language who enter public school in Virginia for the first time after reaching their twelfth birthday as a condition of school admission, if they have not reached their eighteenth birthday. Currently, verification of the citizenship of such students is the responsibility of local school boards. However, due to the time, complexities, and costs of the verification process, local school boards are unable to admit and serve such students in a timely manner, which may exacerbate the academic deficiencies of these students and contribute to their leaving school before graduation. This bill is a recommendation of the Standing Joint Subcommittee on School Dropout Prevention. Patron - Woods SB587 Public school construction. Revises the Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program and Fund, the Literary Fund loan provisions, the Virginia Public School Authority, provisions on tax deductions, and the lottery to provide a mechanism for funding and distributing grants to local school boards for the construction of public school buildings. The Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program and Fund, although passed several years ago, has never been funded. This bill would deposit, on and after July 1, 1999, 10 percent of the lottery revenues into the Grants Fund. In addition, the VPSA's responsibilities are broadened to include administrative and financial and bonding authority for this program. This bill authorizes the Board of Education to issue Literary Fund loans to fund part or all of the costs for constructing, renovating, retrofitting, or enlarging school buildings; prohibits the denial or delay of a Literary Fund loan for part or all of the costs of construction for a school building solely on the basis that the applicant has applied for a grant; authorizes Literary Fund applications for part or all of the costs while simultaneously applying for a grant; requires any school board making application for both a Literary Fund loan and a grant to notify the Board of Education of this in its Literary Fund application; authorizes, from such funds as may be appropriated, any notes or bonds, and the funds deposited into a Grants Fund, the Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) to distribute grant funds for school construction; authorizes the VPSA to handle the funds in the Grants Fund and to pledge or assign such funds for bonds or debentures; and empowers the VPSA to collect the principal and interest on any obligations relating to grants for school construction issued pursuant to the Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program. The Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program will be authorized to grant funds for the constructing, renovating, retrofitting or enlarging public school building. The Construction Grants Program is already allowed to accept grants and appropriated funds; this provision deposits in this fund 10 percent of the lottery. Although previously allowed to develop guidelines, the Board of Education must promulgate regulations establishing eligibility criteria for the grants, such as financial need and local ability to pay; classroom space needs, based on population growth rates; previous construction efforts; the availability of local matching fund; the tax base of the jurisdiction as compared to other localities with similar demographics; a procedure to ensure that the total amount of any funding obtained through a Literary Fund loan and a grant will not be greater than 100 percent of the cost of construction of the project. For taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 1998, individuals and corporations will be able to take a deduction from their Virginia income tax for any funds contributed to the Virginia Public School construction Program and Fund. Patron - Forbes SB610 Codes of student conduct. Requires school boards to include, in the student conduct regulations, disciplinary actions for any substance abuse offenses; however, mere possession of a nonprescription drug by a public school student shall not be included in any student conduct code in the public schools of this Commonwealth as an offense warranting suspension, expulsion, or other disciplinary action. The student conduct codes may require that (i) the nonprescription drug be medically necessary; (ii) written parental consent setting forth a defined period of possession be on file with the school; and (iii) the drug be in its original manufacturer's container. Patron - Saslaw SB622 School-to-work transition programs. Narrows the scope of the school-to-work transition concept to include students enrolled in the public schools of the school division in grades nine through twelve from the present scope which includes students enrolled in the public schools of the school division in grades five through twelve. These programs are focused on preparing students for postsecondary education eligibility, employment, and advanced technical skills and are intended to meet the particular academic needs of noncollege-bound students. Patron - Schrock SB637 Education; computation of the composite index of local ability to pay. Allows any locality or localities comprising a school division that has a population of less than 5,000 and less than 1,000 students in average daily membership to elect, as its option, to use the average composite index of local ability to pay of contiguous localities comprising all or part of a school division. In calculating this average, the Department of Education is to use the composite indices of those localities comprising all or part of school divisions contiguous to the locality whose composite index is being adjusted, but would exclude from such average calculation the composite index of any locality that is capped at .8000. Each locality electing this option is to notify the Department of Education of its intention to do so on or before July 1 of each year. The Department of Education would compute the composite index for these localities by using such average, but would not adjust the composite index of any other localities. Patron - Hanger SB650 Requirement for participation in extra-curricular activities. Requires, as a condition for participation in extracurricular activities sponsored by a public school, that a student be enrolled full time in the public schools of the school division and meet the guidelines and regulations established by the school board. Patron - Edwards SB666 Suspension and expulsion of students in early elementary grades. Provides that no student enrolled in grades K-3 may be suspended, excluded or expelled from school attendance for more than 10 days. Suspended, excluded or expelled students must attend an in-school suspension program designed to provide ongoing instruction appropriate to the age and educational needs of the students. Patron - Lambert SB668 Testing after remediation. Requires that students who complete a required remediation program be administered the Literacy Passport Test, a Standards of Learning end-of-course test as appropriate, or such other test or state assessment designed to measure the student's mastery of the content or skills taught, as may be appropriate, no later than 30 days after the completion of the remediation program. Allowing such students to be tested immediately following remediation reinforces skills learned; enables students to apply the knowledge that they have gained and pass the necessary barrier tests; and lessens the likelihood that the student will need to repeat the remediation program. Many older students, faced with having to repeat remedial courses, do not necessarily experience an increase in academic achievement and may choose to leave school instead. The bill also contains a technical amendment. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying Remediation Programs. Patron - Lambert SB675 Virginia Public School Construction Grants Program and Fund. Modifies the statutes relating to this school construction law to limit the grants to new construction, to clarify the requirement for local matching funds according to the composite index of local ability-to-pay, and to mandate two priority lists based on the length of grant approval time and the aggregate amount of any grants. The bill dedicates any one-half percent increase in the sales tax which may be approved by a statewide referendum conducted in November 1998 to this program and fund. This bill requires the referendum to ask the voters whether there shall be a one-half percent increase in the sales tax, effective from July 1, 1999, with the revenues from such increase being used exclusively for grants to local school boards for the construction of school buildings. Patron - Reynolds SB678 School construction funding. Creates a mechanism for reimbursing localities for the costs of public school construction, enlargement, or renovation similar to the procedures in place for jail construction reimbursements. On and after July 1, 1998, the Commonwealth is to reimburse any locality up to one-half of the capital costs of a public school construction, enlargement, or renovation project upon a basis approved by the Board of Education. The Board regulations will include criteria for assessing need and establishing and evaluating requests for reimbursement and for ensuring the fair and equitable distribution of state funds provided for this purpose. No such reimbursement may be made unless the plans and specifications, including the need for additional personnel, have been submitted to the Governor for approval. Reimbursements by the Commonwealth to localities for a portion of the capital costs of a school construction, enlargement, or renovation project may be made in lump sum payments or over a specified period of time through a contractual agreement entered into by the Treasury Board, and approved by the Governor on behalf of the Commonwealth, and the locality or combination of localities undertaking the project. Reimbursement may be applied to actual construction costs, architectural and engineering fees, and fixed equipment, but not for site acquisition or development, furnishings and fixtures, administrative costs, or certain professional fees. Localities requesting reimbursement shall, on or before March 1 biennially in the odd-numbered years, submit to the Governor school construction, enlargement, or renovation plans and specifications, including detailed cost estimates of any such project. On or before July 1 in the odd-numbered years, such localities shall also submit to the Governor the expected financing costs for any such project. The Governor shall submit his recommendations for funding such projects as part of the budget bill. Requests for appropriations of such funds shall be considered by the General Assembly only in even-numbered years. Patron - Mims < PREVIOUS | CONTENTS | NEXT >