2019 General Assembly Update
Key Education-Related Subjects
Week ending Friday, February 15, 2019
Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Additional information regarding the education-related legislation described in this Update, as well as for all other bills related to education can be found in the thirteen subject categories located on the web pages of the FCPS Office of Government Relations at    https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/departments-and-offices/government-relations/virginia-general-assembly.  Bills in these categories are linked to the Virginia Division of Legislative Services web pages, which provide up-to-date summary, fiscal impact and bill status information.

State Budget Update

The House and Senate have named members to a Conference Committee to resolve remaining differences between the two chambers’ proposed amendments to the Fiscal Year 2018-2020 budget.  Among the Fairfax delegation, Delegate Mark Sickles is one of the seven House budget conferees, while Senators Richard Saslaw and Janet Howell are two of the seven Senate conferees.  Final action by each chamber is scheduled to occur before adjournment of the 2019 Session, which is scheduled for February 23, 2019.  After adoption and adjournment, the Governor will have several options with the adopted budget, including signing it with no changes, returning it to the General Assembly with amendments, or returning it to the General Assembly with some combination of vetoes and amendments.

As is the case with all other legislation passed during the General Assembly session, the General Assembly will consider the Governor’s vetoes or amendments to the Budget at the reconvened scheduled for April 3, 2019.

Education Related Legislation

With just one week remaining in the 2019 Session, the House and Senate have been working to complete their calendars in time for the Saturday, February 23th scheduled adjournment date. All Committee action on legislation must be completed by midnight on Monday, February 20th.  The last day to put bills that have differences between House and Senate versions into conference is Thursday, February 23rd.  Only conference reports and certain joint resolutions may be considered on Friday, February 22nd.  Bills which have passed both the House and Senate are then sent to the Governor for his consideration.  He can sign, propose amendments to, or veto any piece of legislation.  

STATUS OF SELECT PREVIOUSLY REPORTED BILLS 

Discipline of School Board Employees, Written Reprimand HB 2325 - http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?ses=191&typ=bil&val=hb2325 (Thomas). This bill was amended so that it would require the Board of Education to include, in its regulations that prescribe the requirements for the licensure of teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license, procedures for the written reprimand of such license holders (rather than a private reprimand, as the bill originally specified). The bill would permit the Board of Education to issue written reprimand to any such license holder who knowingly and willfully commits a certain enumerated act relating to secure mandatory tests administered to students. The only express disciplinary actions that are permissible under current law in such a scenario are suspension or revocation of such individual's license. The bill would also permit a school board or division superintendent to issue written reprimand to a teacher who breaches his employment contract after the school board or division superintendent declines to grant such teacher's request for release from such contract on the grounds of insufficient or unjustifiable cause. 

Dual Enrollment/Career and Technical Education Teacher Licensure HB 2589 (Tran) and SB 1575 (Ebbin) have both been amended from their original forms.  HB 2589 would grant to the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System voting privileges as a member of the Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure (the Advisory Board). The bill would also require the Advisory Board to report to the Board of Education and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than December 1, 2019, recommendations relating to licensure qualifications for individuals (i) employed by an institution of higher education to teach career and technical education courses in a high school setting and (ii) to teach dual enrollment courses in a high school setting.  SB 1575 contains similar provisions, but also includes provisions which would require the Board of Education to provide for the issuance of a three-year license to solely teach career and technical education courses or dual enrollment courses at public high schools in the Commonwealth to any individual who is employed as an instructor by an institution of higher education that is accredited by a nationally recognized regional accreditation body, is teaching in the specific career and technical education or dual enrollment subject area at such institution in which the individual seeks to teach at a public school, and complies with certain additional requirements.  The bills will go to a Conference Committee to reconcile their differences.

Due Process Hearings, Children with Disabilities, Burden of Proof  HB 2463 (Tran) failed to report from a House Education subcommittee, but the subject matter of the legislation will be referred to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission for incorporation into an existing study on the Effectiveness of Virginia’s Special Education Programs.  The legislation as introduced would have specified that, in any due process hearing before a hearing officer to resolve certain disputes relating to the education of children with disabilities, the local school division would have the burden of proof, including the burden of production and the burden of persuasion, provided that (i) in any due process hearing brought by a parent, the parent shall establish a prima facie case before the burden of persuasion falls on the local school division and (ii) in any dispute in which a party seeks tuition reimbursement for a unilateral placement, such party seeking tuition reimbursement has the burden of production and the burden of persuasion solely on the issue of the appropriateness of the unilateral placement.

Elections; June Primary Election Date HB 1615 (Landes) and SB 1243 (Reeves) both failed to pass on the Senate floor.  Each would have changed the date of the primary election held in June from the second Tuesday in June to the third Tuesday in June.

Electives on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament and the New Testament SB 1502 (Carrico) as amended would require the Board of Education to authorize and develop Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for an elective on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament and the New Testament, leaving it to local school boards to choose whether or not to offer such an elective.  The legislation as introduced would have required school divisions to offer such electives. 

Electronic Room Partitions, School Buildings HB 1753 (Sickles) was amended from its original form and would prohibit school employees from opening or closing an electronic room partition in any school building except when no students were in the building or when the room in which the partition is located is cleared of students and locked or otherwise inaccessible to students.  The bill would also require any annual safety review or exercise for school employees in a local school division to include information and demonstrations, as appropriate, regarding the operation of such partitions. The bill would also require the Department of Education to make available to each school board model safety guidance regarding the operation of such partitions.

Employee Associations SB 1236 (DeSteph) failed to report from the House Education Committee.  The bill would have required school boards to adopt and implement policies to ensure that employees have equal access to education employee associations.  Employee associations were specifically defined in the bill, and the legislation would have required the Department of Education to identify each education employee association operating in the Commonwealth and provide a list of such education employee associations to school boards for their use.

Family Life Education Programs; Student Participation HB 2570 (LaRock) failed to report from the Senate Education and Health Committee.  The bill would have prohibited any public elementary or secondary school student from participating in any family life education program without the prior written consent of his parent (“opt-in”). 

Fees and Charges HB 2319 (Bell, R.P.) failed to report from a House Education subcommittee.  The bill would have prohibited school boards from levying fees and charges on students, with the exception of charging tuition under certain circumstances.

Junior Reserve Officer Training Programs; Students Receiving Home Instruction SB 1275 (Black) failed to report from the House Education Committee.  The bill would have required any school board that offers a Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps program to make the program available to any student who receives home instruction and resides in the local school division. The bill would have prohibited any such school board from requiring any such student to enroll on a full or part-time basis or to meet other eligibility requirements for such a program beyond those required of public school students. The bill would have provided that such a student may demonstrate compliance with any academic achievement requirements for participation in such a program in any manner acceptable as evidence of progress under the home instruction provisions of the Code.

Posting of Register of Funds Expended HB 1907 (VanValkenburg) and SB 1262 (Sturtevant) both failed to report from a County, Cities and Towns subcommittee.  These bills would have required every locality with a population greater than 25,000 and each school division with greater than 5,000 students to post quarterly on the public government website of such locality or school division a register of all funds expended, showing vendor name, date of payment, amount, and a description of the type of expense, including credit card purchases with the same information. The bill would have allowed any locality or school division to exclude from such posting any information that is exempt from mandatory disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any personal identifying information related to a court-ordered payment, any information related to undercover law-enforcement officers, and any information related to a settlement or contract that contains a confidentiality clause. 

School Bus Stop Arm Cameras, Video Monitoring Systems HB 2344 (Bell) and SB 1520 (Carrico) have both been identically amended and would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to release certain vehicle owner data, upon request, to a private vendor operating a video-monitoring system on or in a school bus. The bills would also place limits on how such data could be used and stored and would provide that it is a Class 1 misdemeanor to violate such limitations.

School Calendar HB 1652 (Robinson) and SB 1005 (Chase) have both been amended and would allow school divisions to set the first day of school up to 14 days prior to Labor Day as long as they provided a holiday on the Friday preceding Labor Day.  School divisions that have held good cause waivers since the 2011-2012 school year, which have been grandfathered by the Appropriations Act since then, would continue to have full control over their calendar.  School divisions currently holding a good cause waiver (but not since 2011-2012) would be allowed to continue to set their start date without restriction, but would be required to provide a pre-Labor Day Friday holiday.  The current waiver system would be eliminated, save for schools or school divisions utilizing a year-round calendar.  HB 2140 (Thomas) was amended so that it would permit school divisions with waivers and those who would qualify for a waiver in 2019-2020 school year to be permitted to set the school calendar so that first day students are required to attend can be earlier than 14 days before Labor Day, and would extend a grandfathered waiver to school divisions surrounded by other school divisions currently holding waivers.
 
School Counseling Services; Model Policies HB 2623 (Ransome) was stricken by the bill’s patron.  Prior to being stricken, the bill had been amended and would have  required the Board of Education to develop a model policy for the provision of counseling services in public schools that included provisions for parental consent, written parental notification, parental involvement, as appropriate, confidentiality, procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibit his child's participation, appropriate exceptions such as imminent need, health, or safety or maintaining order in the school, and other necessary provisions as determined by the Board. The bill would have required the Board of Education, in developing such model policy, to seek to balance the needs of students with the rights of parents.

School Modernization HB 2192 (Rush) and SB 1331 (Stanley) These bills have been amended such that their enumerated design specification recommendations would be aspirational and they would allow local school boards to consider, rather than mandate that they must consider, entering into leases with private developers to achieve the modernization goal that facilities be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated to generate more electricity than consumed.   The bills also include provisions which would allow school divisions that modernize school facilities pursuant to specified guidelines to choose to enter into contracts for generating solar energy on the real property upon which such school buildings and facilities are located. 

School Resource Officer Training HB 2609 (Jones, J.C.) and SB 1130 (Locke) both would set requirements and standards for training for school resource officers as well as for school security officers.  Since the provisions of the bills continue to differ (primarily on the specificity of the training and on possible training requirements for building administrators), the bills are likely to go to a Conference Committee to resolve those differences.

Seclusion and Restraint HB 2599 (Bell) originally would have specified particular forms of seclusion and restraint that would have been prohibited.  It has been amended to require the Board to specifically identify and prohibit the use of any method of restraint or seclusion that it determines poses a significant danger to the student and establish safety standards for seclusion, which should be in alignment with regulations currently open for public comment from the Department of Education.  

Teacher Licensure, Alternate Route HB 1643 (Hope) and HB 2486 (Robinson) have both been amended such that, rather than specifying alternatives to use to obtain teacher licensure as originally proposed, these bills would require the Board of Education to develop guidelines that establish a process to permit a school board or any organization sponsored by a school board to petition the Board for approval of an alternate route to licensure that could be used to meet the requirements for a provisional or renewable license or any endorsement.

Bills outlined below are among those which have already passed both chambers.  Links to the Virginia Legislative Services’ web page have been provided for easy access to the complete text of bills in each category, as many have been amended from their original form during the legislative process.  In most cases, the Governor has until prior to the General Assembly’s Reconvened Session (scheduled for April 3, 2019) to sign, amend or veto passed legislation.

BUILDINGS, BUSES AND SAFETY

HB1656    School security officers; employment by private or religious schools, carrying a firearm. (Cole)
HB1725    Public school building security enhancements; compliance with Uniform Statewide Building Code, etc. (Knight)
HB1732    School safety procedures; emergency situations; annual training. (O'Quinn)
HB1737    Development and review of school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan. (Wright)
HB1738    School buildings; plans to be reviewed by a professional trained and experienced. (Rush)

HB1998    HIV or hepatitis B or C viruses; exposure to bodily fluids, infection, expedited testing. (Price)
HB2720    Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013; eligible security equipment. (Gooditis)
SB1213    Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; threat assessment; case management tool. (Newman)
SB1214    School boards; local law-enforcement agencies; memorandums of understanding. (Newman)
SB1215    School safety procedures; emergency situations; annual training. (Newman)
SB1295    Public schools; tobacco products and nicotine vapor products.  (Spruill)
SB1373    Conditional rezoning proffers. (Favola)

CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE

HB1787    Students; offenses reportable by juvenile intake officers to school division superintendents. (Ransone)
HB1803    Controlled substances; adds certain chemicals to Schedule I and Schedule II. (Garrett)
HB1985    Department of Education to annually collect data on alternative education programs. (Bell, Richard P.)
HB2557    Drug Control Act; Schedule V; gabapentin. (Pillion)
SB1295    Public schools; tobacco products and nicotine vapor products. (Spruill)
SB1298    Department of Education to annually collect data on programs. (Barker)

FINANCE, PURCHASING, FOOD SERVICES

HB2400    School boards; School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program; web-based application. (Roem)
HB2720    Public School Security Equipment Grant Act of 2013; eligible security equipment. (Gooditis)
SB1153    Virginia Public Procurement Act; job order contracting, limitations. (Black)

INSTRUCTION AND STANDARDS OF LEARNING

HB1729    School counselors; staff time. (Landes) 
HB2018    Public high schools; clock hours of instruction, certain alternative programs. (Peace)
SB1348    Energy career cluster; Department of Education, et al., to establish, report. (Newman)

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY

HB2449    Scholastic records; disclosure of directory information. (Wilt)
SB1233    Administration of government; prohibition on the use of products and services; Kaspersky Labs. (Ebbin)

PERSONNEL

HB1729    School counselors; staff time. (Landes)
HB1953    Appeals from founded complaints of child abuse or neglect; concurrent criminal investigations. (Campbell, J.L.)
HB1998    HIV or hepatitis B or C viruses; exposure to bodily fluids, infection, expedited testing. (Price)
HB2217    Department of Education; establishment of microcredential program. (Bourne)
SB1397    Diversifying Teacher Workforce Act; teacher licensure, criteria (Peake)
SB1419    Department of Education; establishment of microcredential program. (Sturtevant)
SB1433    Department of Education; teacher employment data. (McClellan)

SCHOOL BOARD GOVERNANCE

HB1652    School calendar; opening day of the school year. (Robinson)
HB2449    Scholastic records; disclosure of directory information. (Wilt)

SB1005    School calendar; opening day of the school year. (Chase)
SB1249    Military families; relocation to the Commonwealth, student registration.  (Reeves)
SB1269    Length of school term; waiver for evacuation. (Cosgrove)

SPECIAL SERVICES

HB1729    School counselors; staff time. (Landes)
HB1985    Department of Education to annually collect data on alternative education programs. (Bell, Richard P.)
HB2215    Required immunizations; acellular pertussis booster.  (Bourne)
HB2318    Possession and administration of naloxone; school nurses; local health department employees. (McGuire)
SB1213    Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety; threat assessment; case management tool. (Newman)
SB1249    Military families; relocation to the Commonwealth, student registration.  (Reeves)
SB1295    Public schools; tobacco products and nicotine vapor products. (Spruill)
SB1314    Children in residence or custody; participation in educational programs. (Hanger)

STANDARDS OF QUALITY/STANDARDS OF ACCREDITATION 

HB2018    Public high schools; clock hours of instruction, certain alternative programs. (Peace)
SB1434    Public high schools; clock hours of instruction; experienced-based learning. (McClellan)

STUDENT ACTIVITIES ATHLETIC PROGRAMS

HB1930    Concussions in student-athletes; guidelines, policies, and procedures. (Bell, Richard P.)

TAXATION 

SB1015    Education Improvement Scholarships tax credits; pre-kindergarten eligibility.  (Stanley)