Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Final Report - Instructional Technology 

This report describes all Instructional Technology related legislation considered during the 2024 General Assembly Regular and Special Sessions.  Bills are listed as “Passed”, “Failed” or “Continued to 2025”.

Passed legislation will go into effect on July 1, 2024, unless otherwise specified in the legislation itself.

Bills identified as Continued to 2025 are no longer active for the 2024 Session but can be picked back up by the continuing committee where they were left off in the legislative process during the 2025 Session.  While possible, it is rare for a continued bill to be picked back up. Typically, such legislation is simply reintroduced in the next Session.

UPDATED: 05/29/2024

Instructional Technology – Passed

Joint Commission on Technology and Science; analysis of the use of artificial intelligence by public bodies; report SB 487 (Aird) directs the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS), in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to conduct an analysis of the use of artificial intelligence by public bodies in the Commonwealth and the creation of a Commission on Artificial Intelligence. JCOTS shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Communications, Technology and Innovation and the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and General Laws and Technology no later than December 1, 2024. This legislation incorporates SB 621 (Pillion). 

Consumer Data Protection Act; protections for children HB 707 (Maldonado) and SB 361 (VanValkenburg) As passed by the General Assembly, the bills would prohibit, subject to a parental consent requirement, a data controller from processing personal data of a known child (i) for the purposes of targeted advertising, the sale of such personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer; (ii) unless such processing is reasonably necessary to provide the online service, product, or feature; (iii) for any processing purpose other than the processing purpose that the controller disclosed at the time such controller collected such personal data or that is reasonably necessary for and compatible with such disclosed purpose; or (iv) for longer than is reasonably necessary to provide the online service, product, or feature. The bill prohibits, subject to a parental consent requirement, a data controller from collecting precise geolocation data from a known child unless (a) such precise geolocation data is reasonably necessary for the controller to provide an online service, product, or feature and, if such data is necessary to provide such online service, product, or feature, such controller shall only collect such data for the time necessary to provide such online service, product, or feature and (b) the controller provides to the known child a signal indicating that such controller is collecting such precise geolocation data, which signal shall be available to such known child for the entire duration of such collection. The bill prohibits a data controller from engaging in the activities described in the bill unless the controller obtains consent from the child's parent or legal guardian in accordance with the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. This bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2025.

Instructional Technology – Continued to 2025 and Failed 

Joint Commission on Technology and Science; study; advancements in artificial intelligence; report SJ 14 (Subramanyam) would have directed the Joint Commission on Technology and Science to study advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), including assessing (i) the impacts of deep fakes, data privacy implications, and misinformation; (ii) measures to ensure these technologies do not indirectly or directly lead to discrimination; (iii) strategies to promote equity in AI algorithms; and (iv) ways in which AI can be utilized to improve government operations and services, and to make recommendations on any appropriate legislation for consideration by the General Assembly. This resolution was Continued to 2025 in Finance and Appropriations.

Public secondary schools; public institutions of higher education; Internet safety education required; report HB 706 (Webert) would have required the Board of Education to develop and approve objectives for Internet safety education at the middle and high school grade levels to be required of all students in grades six through 12, and to provide for the infusion of such objectives in the relevant Standards of Learning and in career and technical education. The bill would have also required the Board, in consultation with the Internet Safety Advisory Council or another appropriate entity, to develop a model curriculum for such Internet safety education. The bill would have further required each public secondary school to provide instruction on Internet safety education in accordance with the educational objectives and model curriculum developed by the Board. The bill would have also required each public institution of higher education to provide instruction on the principles of Internet safety as a part of an existing general education course, a first-year orientation program, or another appropriate program or course and directs the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to encourage private institutions of higher education to provide instruction on the principles of Internet safety.

Consumer Data Protection Act; protections for children HB 821 (Cherry) would have required a controller or processor to obtain verifiable parental consent, defined in the bill, prior to registering any child with the operator's product or service or before collecting, using, or disclosing such child's personal data and prohibits a controller from knowingly processing the personal data of a child for purposes of (i) targeted advertising, (ii) the sale of such personal data, or (iii) profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer. The bill would have also amended the definition of child for purposes of the Consumer Data Protection Act to include any natural person younger than 18 years of age.

Computer trespass; elementary and secondary schools; school board; penalty HB 868 (Earley) would have made it a Class 6 felony for the offense of computer trespass when such offense is committed against any elementary or secondary school or school board.

Department of Education; school boards; student online activity; data collection, monitoring, and restrictions HB 1094 (Oates) would have required the Department of Education to establish, and each school board to adhere to, (i) requirements relating to the collection of data on student online activity and the monitoring of student online activity by school boards and school board employees, including requirements to disclose to the parents of enrolled students what student online activity is tracked and monitored on school or personal devices on school property and what data on student online activity is being collected on school or personal devices and (ii) a requirement to set the most restrictive age-appropriate limits on student access to social media platforms, YouTube and other video platforms, and search engines and other search features on school devices and permit the parents of each enrolled student to waive such limits for their child by submitting a written request to the school division. The bill would have also required the Department to establish and distribute to each school board a template that each such school board is required to use to (a) make certain disclosures to the parents of enrolled students relating to student online activity tracking or monitoring and the collection of data on such activity and (b) permit the parents of each enrolled student to opt their child out of any such tracking, monitoring, or collection.

Information Technology Access Act; digital accessibility HB 1355 (Tran) would have made numerous organizational changes to the Information Technology Access Act. The bill defined "information and communications technology" as it relates to digital accessibility, defined in the bill, for all persons with disabilities. The bill permitted the head of each covered entity, defined in the bill, to designate an employee to serve as such covered entity's digital accessibility coordinator and provided that such digital accessibility coordinator is responsible for developing and implementing such covered entity's digital accessibility policy. The bill had a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in General Laws and Technology and the subject will be addressed in the off session by the Public Body Procurement Work Group.

Department of Education; school boards; student online activity; data collection, monitoring, and restrictions SB 264 (Craig) would have required the Department of Education to establish reporting expectations for school divisions that collect student online activity data and provided that if no school within a school division does so, the school board, upon submission of written documentation to the Department stating that no school within the school division collects student online activity data, shall be deemed to have satisfied such reporting expectations. The reporting expectations include: (i) making certain disclosures to parents, including what online activity is being tracked, monitored, and collected when using school devices on school property and what types of student online activity or online activity data would create an alert; (ii) including in the school division's acceptable use policy for the Internet that student online activity is being tracked and data collected; (iii) providing, to the extent available for the school division, parents the ability to access any collected student online activity data; (iv) notifying the parent of a student for whom an alert is created or an action taken on such student's online activity or associated data before the student is notified, except as provided in the bill; (v) prohibiting the inclusion of student online activity data in a student's permanent record except in the most severe cases, as defined, set forth, and made publicly available by the Department. The bill would have required the Department to create and distribute to each school board (a) a template for making the required parental disclosures and (b) best practices for deleting student online activity data.

Study; Board of Education; work group on the use of artificial intelligence technology in education; report SB 385 (Pekarsky) would have required the Board of Education, in collaboration with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, to convene a work group to study and make recommendations on guidelines for the use and integration of AI technology in education in public elementary and secondary schools and public institutions of higher education. The bill would have required the work group to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Department of Education, the Governor, the Senate Committee on Education and Health, and the House Committee on Education by November 1, 2024.

Consumer Data Protection Act; protections for children SB 432 (Sutterlein) would have required a controller or processor to obtain verifiable parental consent, defined in the bill, prior to registering any child with the operator's product or service or before collecting, using, or disclosing such child's personal data and prohibits a controller from knowingly processing the personal data of a child for purposes of (i) targeted advertising, (ii) the sale of such personal data, or (iii) profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning a consumer. The bill also would have amended the definition of child for purposes of the Consumer Data Protection Act to include any natural person younger than 18 years of age. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in Senate General Laws and Technology.

Computer trespass; elementary and secondary schools; school board; penalty SB 442 (Durant) would have made it a Class 6 felony for the offense of computer trespass when such offense is committed against any public, private, or religious elementary or secondary school or any school board.

Online Children's Safety Protection Act established; civil penalties SB 684 (Stanley) would have created the Online Children's Safety Protection Act, which would have required certain duties of covered entities, defined in the bill, to protect the best interests of children who use online services, products, or features. The bill would have required any covered entity that provides an online service, product, or feature likely to be accessed by a child to complete a data protection impact assessment, the details of which are described in the bill, within two years before any new online service, product, or feature is offered to the public on or after July 1, 2024. The bill also would have prohibited certain actions by covered entities and authorized the Attorney General to impose penalties and initiate actions against any covered entity that violated the provisions of the bill. This legislation was Continued to 2025 in Senate General Laws and Technology.