2020 General Assembly Update
Key Education-Related Subjects
Week ending Sunday, March 8, 2020

Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Additional information regarding the education-related legislation described below, 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.

The General Assembly for the most part ended its 2020 Regular Session late Sunday, March 8, save for the adoption of the biennial budget.  The General Assembly is scheduled to take up the conference budget for final adoption on Thursday, March 12.

The Governor has the option to sign, amend, or veto any bill passed by the General Assembly, including the Budget.  The General Assembly will return for a Reconvened Session (held on April 22, 2020) which is held for the sole purpose of considering bills that may have been vetoed or returned with amendments by the Governor.

Legislation approved by the Governor becomes effective July 1, 2020 unless otherwise specified in the legislation, either via an “Emergency” clause (which accelerates a bill’s effective date to the date it is signed by the Governor) or via a “Delayed Enactment” clause (which moves back the date on which that policy becomes effective).  Bills identified as being “Continued to 2021” are no longer active for this Session but can be picked back up for consideration prior to the 2021 Session.

K-12 Related Legislation resolved at Session’s end

The following bills were not finalized until the very last days of Session, so the following summarizes the final form each bill took.

School boards; mental health awareness training. HB 74 (Kory) and SB 619 (Deeds) would require each school board to (i) adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and other relevant personnel, as determined by the school board, employed on a full-time basis, to complete a mental health awareness training or similar program at least once and (ii) provide such training, which may be provided pursuant to a contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, a community services board, a behavioral health authority, a nonprofit organization, or other certified trainer or via an online module.

Electric School Bus Projects HB 75 (Kory) and SB 988 (Lucas) would have authorized Dominion Energy Virginia to implement projects designed to encourage the proliferation of school buses that are fueled in whole or in part by electricity, along with associated charging and other infrastructure, for the purpose of transporting students and that may also serve as electric grid stabilization or peak shaving resources.  Neither of these bills passed, but via a procedural maneuver an additional bill (SB 1096, Lucas) remains alive in the legislative process and may be further discussed when the General Assembly returns Thursday to discuss the budget.

Planning time and planning periods for elementary, middle, and high school teachers. HB 273 (Van Valkenburg) and SB 134 (Stuart) would have required each local school board to ensure that each elementary school teacher has an average of one 45-minute period per school day of planning time and that each middle and high school teacher is provided an average of one planning period per school day or the equivalent, which shall be at least 45 minutes or one class period, whichever is longer. In lieu of legislation, the budget includes language under Item 143 #1c would direct the Department of Education to develop and administer a one-time collection of data from school divisions to determine the prevailing practice of planning time for elementary school teachers, with a report required no later than the beginning of the 2021 General Assembly session.

Minimum Wage HB 395 (Ward) and SB 7 (Saslaw) would increase the minimum wage in Virginia, beginning January 1, 2021, to a rate not less than the federal minimum wage or 75 percent of the Virginia minimum wage, whichever is greater. From January 1, 2021, until January 1, 2022, that rate would not be less than the greater of (i) $9.50 per hour or (ii) the federal minimum wage. From January 1, 2022, until January 1, 2023, that rate would not be less than the greater of (i) $11.00 per hour or (ii) the federal minimum wage. From January 1, 2023, until January 1, 2025, that rate would not be less than than the greater of (i) $12.00 per hour or (ii) the federal minimum wage.  Beginning January 1, 2022, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority, and the Virginia Employment Commission (the agencies) shall conduct a joint review of the feasibility and potential impact of instituting a regional minimum wage in the Commonwealth.  The bill also provides that the rate may increase further, reaching a rate of $15 per hour by January 1, 2026, if relevant sections of the legislation are reenacted by the General Assembly prior to July 1, 2024.

Lock-down drills; frequency; exemptions HB 402 (Keam) would reduce the number of lock-down drills required after the first 60 days of school to only one per year.  In addition, the bill would exempt both pre-K and Kindergarten students from participating in lock down drills in the first 60 days of school.  School boards would have discretion to develop local policies to implement this exemption.

Menstrual supplies in each school building HB 405 (Keam) and SB 232 (Boysko) would require each school board to make tampons or pads available at all times and at no cost to students in the bathrooms of each middle and high school and in accessible locations, to be determined by local school boards, in each elementary school in the local school division.

Emergency services and disaster preparedness plans HB 420 (Price) would require the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) to review its emergency services and disaster preparedness programs to determine if changes to those programs are necessary in order to address the needs of individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with access or functional needs. Such report would require recommendations for legislation that would be required to fully address the needs of individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with access or functional needs and must be completed by November 1, 2020.

Solar power generation caps (clean energy legislation) HB 572 (Keam), HB 1526 (Sullivan), SB 710 (McClellan), and SB 851 (McClellan) would all, among their various provisions, increase the current cap on net metered solar energy generation projects from one percent to six percent.

Collective Bargaining HB 582 (Guzman) and SB 939 (Saslaw) would permit counties, cities, and towns to adopt local ordinances authorizing them to recognize any labor union or other employee association as a bargaining agent of any public officers or employees, except for Constitutional officers and their employees, and including public school employees and collectively bargain or enter into any collective bargaining contract with any such union or association or its agents with respect to any matter relating to them or their employment. The bill would provide that prohibition against striking for public employees applies irrespective of any such local ordinance.  The bill further provides that, for any governing body of a county, city, or town that had not adopted an ordinance or resolution providing for collective bargaining, such governing body would be required to, within 120 days of receiving certification from a majority of public employees in a unit considered by such employees to be appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, take a vote to adopt or not adopt an ordinance or resolution to provide for collective bargaining by such public employees and any other public employees deemed appropriate by the governing body.

Compensation discrimination information HB 624 (Hurst) would require the Division of Human Rights of the Department of Law (the Division) to develop recommendations regarding the type of information about businesses and their employees and the accompanying methodology that would be required for the Division to proactively enforce requiring equal pay of similarly situated employees irrespective of sex. Additionally, the Division would be required to develop recommendations regarding the data and methodological requirements for proactively enforcing a requirement for equal pay irrespective of race. Such recommendations would be required no later than November 30, 2020.

Local Taxing Authority Equalization HB 785 (Watts) and SB 588 (Hanger) would grant counties additional taxing authorities, bringing their authority closer to that already available to cities.  Any county would be able to levy a tax on admissions of up to 10 percent, and a tax of up to 40 cents per pack on cigarettes.  Counties would be able to levy transient occupancy taxes by ordinance, with any revenue generated from a tax rate over two percent but not exceeding five percent designated and spent solely for tourism and travel, marketing of tourism or initiatives.  Should a county impose a transient occupancy tax exceeding five percent, revenues generated from the portion exceeding five percent would be considered general revenue.  Any county would be able to levy a food and beverage tax of up to 6 percent by ordinance, except that any county that held a meals tax referendum prior to July 1, 2020, that was defeated may impose such a tax six years after the date of such referendum.  The tax authority granted on cigarettes would have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021, all other provisions would go into effect this July 1.

Lead Testing HB 797 (Askew) and SB 392 (McPike) would require each local school board's plan to test and remediate certain potable water sources to be consistent with guidance published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Health. The bill would require each local school board to submit such testing plan and report the results of any such test to the Department of Health. The bill also would require local school boards to take all necessary steps to notify parents if testing results indicate lead contamination that exceeds 10 parts per billion.

Ratios of teachers to English language learners HB 975 (Guzman) and SB 910 (Hashmi) would require state funding to be provided to support 18.5 full-time equivalent instructional positions in the 2020-2021 school year for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency and to support 20 such positions in the 2021-2022 school year and thereafter for each 1,000 such students.

Immunization requirements HB 1090 (Hope) would add to the list of minimum vaccination requirements for attendance at a public or private elementary, middle or secondary school, child care center, nursery school, family day care home or developmental center. The bill also would require the State Board of Health to amend the State Board of Health Regulations for the Immunization of School Children as necessary from time to time to maintain conformity with evidence-based routinely recommended vaccinations for children.

Children’s Ombudsman HB 1301 (Hurst) would create the Office of Children’s Ombudsman, which would be empowered to effect changes in policy, procedure, and legislation; educating the public; investigating and reviewing actions of the Department, local departments, child-placing or child-serving agencies (which includes local school divisions), or child-caring institutions; and to monitor and ensure compliance with relevant statutes, rules, and policies pertaining to child protective services and the placement, supervision, and treatment of, and improvement of delivery of care to, children in foster care and adoptive homes.

Family life education; Standards of Learning and curriculum guidelines HB 1336 (Keam) would require each school board to conduct a review of its family life education curricula at least once every seven years, shall evaluate whether such curricula reflect community standards, and may revise such curricula.

Family life education, posting of materials HB 1394 (Leftwich) would require that a complete copy of all printed materials not subject to copyright protection and a description of all audio-visual materials use in a local family life education program be made available through any available parental portal and kept in the school library or office and made available for review to any parent or guardian during school office hours before and during the school year.

Availability of school meals to students HB 1426 (Roem) would require each public elementary and secondary school in the local school division to participate in the federal National School Lunch Program and the federal School Breakfast Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to make meals available pursuant to such programs to any student who requests such a meal, regardless of such student's family income or whether such student has the money to pay for the meal or owes money for meals previously provided. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.

School Counselors HB 1508 (McQuinn) and SB 880 (Locke) would require school counselor staffing, effective with the 2020–2021 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof.  Effective with the 2021–2022 school year, local school boards would be required to employ one full-time equivalent school counselor position per 325 students in grades kindergarten through 12.

Health Insurance Credits for retired school division employees HB 1513 (McQuinn) would require school divisions to provide a health insurance credit of $1.50 per year of service to all retired members of local school divisions (other than teachers) with at least 15 years of total creditable service. School divisions could, at their option, provide an additional $1.00 per year, for a total health insurance credit of $2.50 per year of service for the affected retirees. The legislation also would remove the $45 cap. Currently, non-teacher school division employees are eligible for a credit of $1.50 per year of service, capped at $45 per month, if the locality has elected such coverage. An enactment clause would provide that this measure does not apply to any non-teacher school division employee who retired on disability prior to July 1, 2020, if this measure would reduce the monthly credit currently payable to such former member. Eligible employees who retired prior to July 1, 2020, but who did not receive a health insurance credit prior to that date will only receive the $1.50 health insurance credit prospectively.  The provisions of the legislation would not go into effect until July 1, 2021.

School Modernization SB 5 (Stanley) would have required the Board of Education to prescribe by regulation uniform minimum standards for the erection of modern public school buildings and the modernization of existing public school buildings for the purpose of promoting positive educational outcomes for each public elementary and secondary school student. The bill would have required each school board, once every three years, to (a) assess and report to the Board the extent to which each public school building in the local school division complies with such uniform minimum standards and (b) submit to the Board a long-range plan for compliance with such uniform minimum standards, including an assessment of the cost of such compliance.  While this legislation failed, SB 888 (McClellan) would instead establish the Commission on School Construction and Modernization for the purpose of providing guidance and resources to local school divisions related to school construction and modernization and making funding recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor.

Water management program, legionella bacteria SB 410 (Hashmi) would require each school board to maintain a water management program for the prevention of Legionella at each public school building in the local school division. The bill would require the Department of Education to make recommendations for the establishment, maintenance, and validation of water management programs in public school buildings and to notify each local school board of its recommendations no later than July 1, 2021, which is also the date on which the requirements would take effect.

Mold testing, parental notification SB 845 (Ebbin) would require each local school board to develop and implement a plan to test and, if necessary, a plan to remediate mold in public school buildings in accordance with guidance issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The bill would require each local school board to (i) submit such testing plan and report the results of any test performed in accordance with such plan to the Department of Health and (ii) take all steps necessary to notify school staff and the parents of all enrolled students if testing results indicate the presence of mold in a public school building at or above the minimum level that raises a concern for the health of building occupants, as determined by the Department of Health.  The provisions of the legislation would go into effect July 1, 2021.

The following bills have already been signed by the Governor and will go into effect July 1, 2020 (unless otherwise specified in the legislation).

Treatment of transgender students, policies. HB 145 (Simon) and SB 161 (Boysko) require the Department of Education to develop and make available to each school board, no later than December 31, 2020, model policies concerning the treatment of transgender students in public elementary and secondary schools that address common issues regarding transgender students in accordance with evidence-based best practices and include information, guidance, procedures, and standards relating to (i) compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws; (ii) maintenance of a safe and supportive learning environment free from discrimination and harassment for all students; (iii) prevention of and response to bullying and harassment; (iv) maintenance of student records; (v) identification of students; (vi) protection of student privacy and the confidentiality of sensitive information; (vii) enforcement of sex-based dress codes; and (viii) student participation in sex-specific school activities and events, excluding athletics, and use of school facilities. The bill requires each school board to adopt, no later than the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, policies that are consistent with but may be more comprehensive than such model policies developed by the Department of Education.

Disorderly Conduct HB 256 (Mullin) and SB 3 (McClellan) provide that a student at any elementary or secondary school is not guilty of disorderly conduct in a public place if the disorderly conduct occurred on school property, on a school bus, or at any activity conducted or sponsored by any school.

Public elementary and secondary school teachers; probationary term of service; performance evaluation HB 365 (Carroll Foy) and SB 98 (Locke) removes (i) the option for local school boards to extend the three-year probationary term of service for teachers by up to two additional years and (ii) the prohibition against school boards reemploying any teacher whose performance evaluation during the probationary term of service is unsatisfactory.

Diploma Requirements - dual enrollment and work-based learning HB 516 (Bulova) requires the Board of Education to include in its graduation requirements the options for students to complete a dual enrollment course or high-quality work-based learning experience. While HB 516 has been signed by the Governor, an identical Senate bill (SB 112, Suetterlein) awaits action by the Governor.

Dismissal of teachers; grounds; incompetency HB 570 (Guzman) and SB 167 (Favola) removes the definition of "incompetency" for the purpose of establishing grounds for the dismissal of public school teachers.

Public schools; school resource officers; data SB 170 (Locke) requires the Department of Criminal Justice Services, in coordination with the Department of Education and the Department of Juvenile Justice, to annually collect, report, and publish data related to incidents involving students and school resource officers. The bill also requires the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety to analyze and disseminate submitted data.  While SB 170 has been signed by the Governor, a now identical House bill (HB 271, VanValkenburg) awaits action by the Governor.

School principals; incident reports. SB 729 (McClellan) eliminates the requirement that school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense.  While SB 729 has been signed by the Governor, an identical House bill (HB 257, Mullin) awaits action by the Governor.

The following bills also passed earlier in session and are awaiting the Governor’s action.

Election Dates HB 108 (Lindsey) and SB 601 (Lucas) would designate Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, as a state holiday and remove Lee-Jackson Day as a state holiday. SB 316 (Kiggins) would change the date of the primary election held in June from the second Tuesday in June to the third Tuesday in June.

Lock-down drills; notice to parents HB 270 (VanValkenburg) would require every public school to provide the parents of enrolled students with at least 24 hours' notice before the school conducts any lock-down drill. The bill specifies that no such notice is required to include the exact date and time of the lock-down drill.

School bus drivers; critical shortages. HB 351 (Bell) and SB 324 (Deeds) would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the assistance of each school board or division superintendent, to survey each local school division to identify critical shortages of school bus drivers by geographic area and local school division and to report any such critical shortage to each local school division and to the Virginia Retirement System. The bill would permit any school bus driver hired by a local school board in any geographic area or school division in which a critical shortage of school bus drivers has been so identified to elect to continue to receive a service retirement allowance during such employment if the driver meets certain other conditions.

Parental notice; literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services; certain assessment results. HB 410 (Delaney) would require each local school board to enact a policy to require that timely written notification is provided to the parents of any student who (i) undergoes literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services or (ii) does not meet the benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners in preschool through grade 12, which notification shall include all such assessment scores and sub scores and any intervention plan that results from such assessment scores or sub scores.

School crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans; annual review  HB 501 (Krizek) would permit local school boards to designate another entity or individual to participate on its behalf in the required annual review of its written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plan.

Dress Code Equity Act; guidelines and policies for dress or grooming codes in schools. HB 837 (Carroll Foy) would require the Board of Education to include in its guidelines and model policies for codes of student conduct (i) standards for reducing bias and harassment in the enforcement of any code of student conduct and (ii) standards for dress or grooming codes, which the bill defines as any practice, policy, or portion of a code of student conduct adopted by a school board that governs or restricts the attire of any enrolled student. The bill would permit any school board to include in its code of student conduct a dress or grooming code. The bill would require any dress or grooming code included in a school board's code of student conduct or otherwise adopted by a school board to (a) permit any student to wear any religiously and ethnically specific or significant head covering or hairstyle, including hijabs, yarmulkes, headwraps, braids, locs, and cornrows; (b) maintain gender neutrality by subjecting any student to the same set of rules and standards regardless of gender; (c) not have a disparate impact on students of a particular gender; (d) be clear, specific, and objective in defining terms, if used; (e) prohibit any school board employee from enforcing the dress or grooming code by direct physical contact with a student or a student's attire; and (f) prohibit any school board employee from requiring a student to undress in front of any other individual, including the enforcing school board employee, to comply with the dress or grooming code.

Administration of albuterol inhalers or nebulized albuterol HB 860 (Bell) and HB 1174 (Lopez) would provide that, pursuant to an order or standing protocol issued by the prescriber within the course of his professional practice, any school nurse, school board employee, employee of a local governing body, employee of a local health department, employee of a school for students with disabilities, or employee of an accredited private school who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers or nebulized albuterol may possess or administer an albuterol inhaler or nebulized albuterol to a student diagnosed with a condition requiring an albuterol inhaler or nebulized albuterol when the student is believed to be experiencing or about to experience an asthmatic crisis.

Early childhood care and education; licensing HB 1012 (Bulova) and SB 578 (Howell) would require the Board of Education to establish a statewide unified public-private system for early childhood care and education in the Commonwealth to be administered by the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Department of Education. The bill would transfer the authority to license and regulate child day programs and other early child care agencies from the Board of Social Services and Department of Social Services to the Board of Education and Department of Education. The bill would maintain current licensure, background check, and other requirements of such programs. Such provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a plan for implementing the statewide unified early childhood care and education system and requires the Department of Social Services and the Department of Education to enter into a cooperative agreement to coordinate the transition. The bill would also require the Board of Education to establish, no later than July 1, 2021, a uniform quality rating and improvement system designed to provide parents and families with information about the quality and availability of certain publicly funded early childhood care and education providers and to publish the initial quality ratings under such system in the fall of 2023.

Students, certain; waiver to access student transportation in certain cases. HB 1208 (Tran) would require each school board that provides for the transportation of students and that has established a rule, regulation, or policy to exclude certain students who reside within a certain distance from the school at which they are enrolled from accessing such transportation to establish a process for waiving, on a case-by-case and space-available basis, such exclusion and providing transportation to any such student whose parent is unable to provide adequate transportation for his child to attend school because the parent is providing necessary medical care to another family member who resides in the same household, as evidenced by a written explanation submitted by a licensed health care provider who provides care to such family member.

School counselors; staffing ratios, report HB 1653 (Wilt) would require the Department of Education to collect data from school boards regarding their ability to fill school counselor positions, including (i) the number of school counselors employed in elementary, middle, and high schools in the local school division; (ii) the number and duration of school counselor vacancies; (iii) the number, role, and license type of other licensed counseling professionals employed by the school board; and (iv) information about their preferences for meeting updated school counselor to student ratios with other licensed counseling professionals. The results of such data collection would be completed no later than June 30, 2021.

Teacher grievance procedures; hearing; three-member fact-finding panel SB 377 (Bell) would permit a school board to conduct a teacher grievance hearing before a three-member fact-finding panel consisting of one member selected by the teacher, one member selected by the division superintendent, and an impartial hearing officer selected by the other two panel members to serve as the chairman of the panel. Under current law, the school board has the option of appointing a hearing officer or conducting such hearing itself. The bill also would remove the requirement that a teacher grievance hearing be set within 15 days of the request for such hearing and extends from five days to 10 days the minimum period of advanced written notice to the teacher of the time and place of such hearing.

Sudden cardiac arrest prevention in student-athletes SB 463 (Reeves) would direct the Board of Education to develop, biennially update, and distribute to each local school division guidelines on policies to inform and educate coaches, student-athletes, and student-athletes' parents or guardians about the nature and risk of sudden cardiac arrest, procedures for removal from and return to play, and the risks of not reporting symptoms. The bill also would require local school divisions to develop and biennially update policies and procedures regarding the identification and handling of symptoms that may lead to sudden cardiac arrest in student-athletes.

"Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education” common statewide definition and accreditation review SB 933 (Favola) would require the Department of Education to develop and adopt a common statewide definition for the term "students with limited or interrupted formal education" and to require local school divisions to report on the number of students who fall under such definition as part of the required data collection and reporting on average daily membership for the purposes of documenting any changes in such numbers over time. The bill requires that the Board of Education evaluate the supports and programs available to "students with limited or interrupted formal education" in local school divisions to determine whether the calculations for the school quality indicators within the Board's Regulations Establishing the Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia are appropriate or whether changes in methodology could be made to more comprehensively measure the academic and nonacademic achievement of such student population.

Alternative school discipline process SB 1020 (Stanley) would allow a school board to adopt an alternative school discipline process to provide a principal and parties involved in an incident involving assault, or assault and battery without bodily injury, that occurs on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored event an option to enter into a mutually agreed-upon process between the involved parties as an alternative to reporting such incident to law enforcement. The bill would provide that a principal in a school division with such an alternative accountability process may attempt to engage the parties involved in such an incident in the process prior to reporting such incident to the local law-enforcement agency and prohibits, if provided for by the school board, a principal from reporting a party who successfully completes the alternative school discipline process.