2021 General Assembly Update
Key Education-Related Subjects
Week ending Friday, January 29, 2021
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.

Friday, February 5 marks “cross-over” – the point at which each chamber must complete its work on its own legislation.  After this date, the House can only consider legislation already passed by the Senate, and the Senate can only consider already-passed House bills.  The only exception to this is the Budget Bill.  Committee work on the Budget bill needs to be completed by midnight, February 7.

K-12 Education Related Bills – Key Previously Reported Bills with Status Updates

Status Updates for Key Bills Still Pending in either House or Senate

In-Person Learning SB 1303 (Dunnavant) would require each local school division take in-person learning available to all students by choice of the student's parent or guardian. The bill contains an emergency clause. Note:   The bill was amended to require school divisions to require in person instruction immediately upon the bill’s passage and the Governor’s signature, but it would effectively preclude school divisions from going fully virtual in the future if parents choose an in person option plus it would also require school divisions to continue to provide virtual options even post-pandemic, should the parent choose to remain virtual. This bill was reported by the Senate Education and Health Committee for consideration by the full Senate..

Open Enrollment Policy Required SB 1317 (Dunnavant) would require all local school boards to establish and implement policies to provide for the open enrollment to any school of any student who is eligible to receive free or reduced lunch upon the request of a parent or guardian, subject to conditions and limitations established by the local school board.  Note: This bill was reported by the Senate Education and Health Committee and will now be considered by the Senate.

Advertising Related to School Quality HB 2003 (Samirah) was amended and would now require anyone who uses school ratings other than those derived from the state's School Quality Profile to add a disclaimer that such ratings are not those created by the Dept. of Ed and that the Department of Ed does not endorse them.  The amended bill reported from House Labor and Commerce for consideration on the House floor..

Local Arbitration Agreements; Virginia Public Procurement Act SB 1384 (Surovell) would allow a participating locality, for any procurement solicitation or contract exceeding $10,000 for goods and services, to require the bidder or offeror to disclose certain information regarding pre-dispute arbitration clauses, defined in the bill, in employment, civil rights, and consumer disputes, and provides that a locality may consider the policies and practices related to arbitration of each bidder and offeror. The bill would also provide that a participating locality shall require the bidder or offeror to provide written or electronic submissions to allow the locality to ascertain whether the bidder or offeror requires persons with whom it is in a work relationship or prospective work relationship to sign or otherwise enter into a contract containing a pre-dispute arbitration clause that would cover an employment or civil rights dispute and  whether the bidder or offeror requires consumers to sign or otherwise enter into a contract containing a pre-dispute arbitration clause that would cover a consumer or civil rights dispute as a condition of purchasing products or services, downloading mobile applications, or using websites. The bill would authorize a participating locality to cancel, terminate, or suspend, in whole or in part, the contract of any contractor that has violated a provision of the bill and to declare the contractor ineligible for further contracts with such locality for up to five years. Note:  The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee reported this bill which will now be considered by the Senate.

Academic Year Governor’s Schools, Board of Education guidance HB 2305 (Tyler) would require the Board of Education to issue guidance on the governance of academic year Governor's Schools, including communication and outreach practices, admissions policies, and guidelines on diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Note: This bill was reported by the House Education Committee with amendments requiring stakeholder and board representation from the geographical areas served by the Regional Governor's Schools.  The House will now consider the bill.

Guidelines on Excused Student Absences; Civic or Political Engagement HB 1940 (Rasoul) and SB 1439 (McClellan) would require, subject to guidelines established by the Department of Education, any middle school or high school student who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event to be granted an excused absence. Note: HB 1940 was amended so that it would permit one school day-long excused absence per school year for any middle school or high school student in the local school division who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event and may permit additional excused absences for such students who are absent for such purposes.  The House passed this bill, and it has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee.  SB 1439 was amended to remove political engagement and limit the excused absences to civic engagement. The Senate Education and Health Committee reported the bill for consideration by the Senate.

Electric School Bus Projects SB 1380 (Lucas) would authorize electric utilities to partner with school divisions 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. The bill would also provide a tax exemption for electric school buses and associated charging and other infrastructure that is related or incidental to an authorized electric school bus project.  Note:  This bill was reported from the Commerce and Labor Committee and referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations.

Electric Vehicle Grant Fund and Program HB 2118 (Keam) would require the Department of Environmental Quality to establish the Electric Vehicle Grant Program (the Program) for the purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to school boards for assisting with the complete replacement of existing diesel school buses with electric school buses no later than 2031; the implementation of recharging infrastructure or other infrastructure needed to charge or maintain such electric school buses; and workforce development and training to support the maintenance, charging, and operation of such electric school buses and developing education outreach to promote the Program. The bill would have an expiration date of July 1, 2031.  Note:  The Finance Committee Subcommittee #3 reported a substitute for this bill to the full Committee.  The substitute would remove the tax revenue portion of the bill and require interested stakeholders to address how to obtain funding for the grants.

Special Education; Training for School Divisions on Developing IEPs for Children with Disabilities HB 2299 (Carr) would require the Department of Education to provide training and guidance documents to local school divisions on the development of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for children with disabilities, develop a training module for each individual who participates in an IEP meeting, with the exception of parents, annually conduct structured reviews of a sample of IEPs from a sufficiently large sample of local school divisions to verify that the IEPs are in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations and are of high quality, develop and maintain a statewide plan for improving its ongoing oversight of local practices related to transition planning and services for children with disabilities and technical assistance and guidance provided for postsecondary transition planning and services for children with disabilities, develop and maintain a statewide strategic plan for recruiting and retaining special education teachers, and conduct a one-time targeted review of the transition sections of a random sample of students' IEPs in each school division; communicate its findings to each local school division, school board, and local special education advisory committee; and ensure that local school divisions correct any IEPs that are found to be out of compliance no later than the end of the 2021-22 school year.  Note:  This bill was reported by the House Education Committee and will now be considered by the House.

Standards of Learning Assessments, Growth Assessment System SB 1357 (Dunnavant) would direct the Board of Education to establish, for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system. The system would be required to provide an accurate measurement of a student's performance in each core subject to begin during the 2021–2022 school year administered through computer adaptive technology, using test items below, at, and above the student's grade level as necessary. Such through-year growth assessment system would be required to include diagnostic assessment each fall, and again in the winter, and one spring progress assessment.  Note:  The substitute, as described above, was reported from Senate Education and Health Committee and referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations.

Standards of Learning Assessments; Individual Student Growth HB 2027 (Coyner) would require the Board to establish, for the purpose of providing measures of individual student growth over the course of the school year, a through-year growth assessment system, aligned with the Standards of Learning, for the administration of reading and mathematics assessments in grades three through eight. The system would be required to provide accurate measurement of a student's performance, through computer adaptive technology, using test items at, below, and above the student's grade level as necessary. Such through-year growth assessment system shall include at least one fall and one spring assessment, but the total time scheduled for taking all such assessments shall not exceed 150 percent of the time scheduled for taking a single end-of-year proficiency assessment.  Note: The House Education Committee reported the amended bill as described above and referred it to House Appropriations. 

Teachers' Licenses, Temporary Extension HB 1776 (Ward) would require the Board of Education to grant a two-year extension of the renewable license of any public-school teacher whose license expires in 2021 in order to provide the teacher with sufficient additional time to complete the requirements for re-licensure.  Note:  The House Education Committee reported and referred this bill to House Appropriations.  The House Appropriations Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee reported this bill with an amendment to clarify that it would apply to teachers who are employed by a Virginia school division or Virginia accredited nonpublic school.  The bill will now be considered by the House.

Standards of Learning Assessments; Reduction HB 2094 (O’Quinn) and SB 1401 (Pillion) would reduce the total number and type of required Standards of Learning assessments to the minimum requirements established by the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.  Note:  HB 2094 is before the House Education Standards of Learning and Standards of Quality Subcommittee.  SB 1401 was reported and referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations by the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Standards of Quality School Equity and Staffing Act; Work-Based Learning; Teacher Leaders and Mentors; Principal Mentors; Certain Personnel Positions and initiatives HB 1929 (Aird) and SB 1257 (McClellan) would  make several changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishment of units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning and principal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board of Education to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leader and teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill would also make several changes relating to school personnel in Standard 2, including establishing schoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with high concentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensation adjustments to teachers in such schools; requiring each school board to assign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distribution of experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in the local school division; requiring each school board to employ teacher leaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk students and granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing a student-to-position ratio for such specialists; requiring school boards to employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; lowering the ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors in elementary, middle, and high schools; and requiring each school board to provide at least four specialized student support positions, including school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts, and other licensed health and behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.  Note:  HB 1929 was reported from the House Education Committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee.  SB 1257 was reported from Senate Education and Health and was referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations. 

Children's Services Act; Special Education Programs HB 2117 (VanValkenburg) would require that funds expended for special education services under the Children's Services Act only be expended on educational programs that are licensed by the Department of Education. The bill adds children and youth previously placed in approved private school educational programs for at least six months, who will receive transitional services in a public school setting for no longer than 12 months, to the target population for eligibility for the state pool of funds. The bill requires the Secretary of Education, in conjunction with the Office of Children's Services and the Department of Education, to establish a work group (the Work Group) with appropriate stakeholders to develop a detailed plan to direct the transfer of Children's Services Act funds currently reserved for children requiring an educational placement in a private special education day school or residential facility to the Department of Education and to develop a standardized reporting process, template, and reporting requirement for private special education day school tuition rates to ensure that tuition rates can be accurately compared across schools and over time.   Note: The House Education Committee reported a substitute for this bill that incorporated HB 2211 (Plum), clarified funding, moved definition of transition services in the bill, described who at a minimum should participate in the required work group, and added a review of the program models such as those in Stafford and Roanoke.  The bill was referred to House Appropriations and will now be considered by the Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee. SB 1133 (Suetterlein) and SB 1313 (Mason) are similar to HB 2117.  However, SB 1133 would require a pilot program and SB 1313 would require a study.  Both Senate bills are before the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. SB 1313 incorporates SB 1099 (Stuart) and SB 1114 (Peake).  They were passed by for day to allow time to work on amendments for both bills.  They will be heard by the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee next week.

School board policies; abusive work environments; definitions. HB 2176 (Torian) would define, for the purposes of mandatory school board policies relating to abusive work environments, the terms "abusive conduct," "abusive work environment," "physical harm," and "psychological harm."  Note the legislation was amended to clarify that it did not preclude school boards from addressing other workplace conduct and passed the House Education Committee for consideration on the House floor.

Virginia Human Rights Act; Nondiscrimination in Employment; Sexual Harassment and Workplace Harassment HB 2155 (Watts) and SB 1360 (McClellan) would clarify, by defining sexual harassment and workplace harassment, what constitutes an unlawful employment practice if engaged in by an employer. The bill would also provide a nonexhaustive list of factors to consider when determining whether certain conduct constitutes workplace harassment, that a person claiming to be aggrieved by an unlawful discriminatory practice may file a written complaint with the Division of Human Rights within two years after the occurrence of the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice, and that an aggrieved person who has been provided a notice of his right to file a civil action for such grievance may do so within one year of receiving such notice and may be awarded reasonable attorney fees, including costs and reasonable litigation expenses if the court or jury finds in his favor. Note:  A substitute for HB 2155 that defines what constitutes sexual harassment and workplace harassment in greater detail was reported by the Committee on General Laws.  The bill will now be considered by the House.  SB 1360 was reported with a substitute clarifying what constitutes sexual and workplace harassment from the Committee on General Laws and Technology and was rereferred to Senate Finance and Appropriations.

June Primary Election Date SB 1148 (Kiggans) would change the date of the primary election held in June from the second Tuesday in June to the third Tuesday in June.  Note:  The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee reported this bill, and it is on its second reading in the Senate. 

Use Sick Leave for the Care of Immediate Family Members SB 1159 (Favola) would require employers with a sick leave program to allow an employee to use his sick leave for the care of an immediate family member. The measure would apply only to employers that have 25 or more employees and that provide paid sick leave that allows an employee to be absent from work in the event of the employee's own incapacity, illness, or injury. The measure would apply only to employees who work at least 30 hours per week, and it caps the amount of sick leave that may be used for the care of immediate family members at five days per calendar year.  Note:  A substitute for this bill that would require that an employer providing sick leave allow an employee to use the employee's earned sick leave for the care of an immediate family member of the employee. An employee who uses sick leave for the care of an immediate family member of the employee would be entitled to receive his regular salary, wages, or other remuneration for such time to the same extent as the employee would receive them for sick leave taken in the event of the employee's own incapacity, illness, or injury.  Nothing in this bill would require an employer to:  Offer or provide sick leave to any of its employees; or Allow an employee to use more than five days of earned sick leave per calendar year for the care of immediate family members.  An employee would not be entitled to use sick leave under this section for the care of an immediate family member of the employee until that leave has been earned by the employee.    The bill was reported from the Commerce and Labor Committee and referred to Senate Finance and Appropriations.

Department of Health; certain communication prohibited SB 1235 (Peake) was amended and would now prohibit health department employees -- which in Fairfax would presumably include public health nurses as they are health department employees -- from initiating communication with students regarding issues covered by family life education, including sexual and reproductive health issues, dating violence, abusive relationships, and mental health education and awareness, without the consent of the student’s parent.  The legislation passed the Senate Education and Health Committee for consideration by the full Senate.

Status Updates for Key Bills Already Passed by either House or Senate

Electronic Meetings: Virginia Freedom of Information Act HB 1931 (Levine) would authorize a public body to conduct through electronic communication means a meeting for which, on or before the day of the meeting, a member of the public body holding the meeting notifies the chair that such member is unable to attend the meeting due to a family member's medical condition that requires the member to provide care for such family member, thereby preventing the member's physical attendance. Note:  This bill has passed the House and will now be considered by the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology.

Student Driver Education Program; Parent Participation Exemption HB 2119 (Keam) would exempt students who are at least 18 years old, emancipated minors, or unaccompanied minors who are not in the physical custody of their parent or guardian from the requirement that the student participate in the parent/student component of a school's driver education program.  Note:  This bill has passed the House and will be forwarded to the Senate for consideration.

Lock-Down Drills; Annual Requirement HB 1998 (Murphy) would reduce from three to two the minimum number of mandatory annual lock-down drills in each public elementary and secondary school in the Commonwealth.  Note: This bill has passed the House and will be forwarded to the Senate for consideration. 

Reading Intervention Services for Certain Students in Kindergarten through Grade 3 HB 1865 (Delaney) would require reading intervention services for students in kindergarten through grade three who demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading test or any reading diagnostic test.  Note:  This bill was amended to require services would be evidence-based and grounded in the science of reading to include phonemic awareness, systemic phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, and text comprehension as appropriate based on the student’s demonstrated reading deficiencies.  Note:  This bill has passed the House and has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Cultural Competency, Teachers and other Licensed School Board Employees HB 1904 (Jenkins) and SB 1196 (Locke) would require teacher, principal, and division superintendent evaluations to include an evaluation of cultural competency. The bills would require every person seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license from the Board of Education to complete instruction or training in cultural competency and with an endorsement in history and social sciences to complete instruction in African American history, as prescribed by the Board. The bills would also require each school board to adopt and implement policies that require each teacher and any other school board employee holding a license issued by the Board to complete cultural competency training, in accordance with guidance issued by the Board, at least every two years. Note:  HB 1904 has passed the House and has been forwarded for consideration to the Senate Education and Health Committee.  The Senate Education and Health Committee passed SB 1196 and referred it to Senate Finance and Appropriations.

Severe Weather Conditions and Other Emergency Situations; Unscheduled Remote Learning Days HB 1790 (McNamara) and SB 1132 (Suetterlein) would provide that when severe weather conditions or other emergency situations have resulted in the closing of any school in a school division for in-person instruction, the school division may declare an unscheduled remote learning day whereby the school provides synchronous or asynchronous instruction, or some combination thereof, to all students in the school in lieu of in-person instruction without a reduction in the amount paid by the Commonwealth from the Basic School Aid Fund, provided that the school division has established an unscheduled remote learning day plan that ensures that every student is provided instruction and services on such unscheduled remote learning day that are comparable in quality to the instruction and services provided to learners on any other remote learning day.  Note:   Both bills were amended to require the Department of Education to develop guidelines to ensure that such remote services are provided equitably and capped the number of unscheduled remote learning days to 10 in a school year. HB 1790 has passed the House has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee for consideration.  SB 1132 has passed the Senate and will be forwarded to the House for consideration.

Possession and Administration of Undesignated Stock Albuterol Inhalers and Valved Holding Chambers HB 2019 (McQuinn) would require each local school board to adopt and implement policies for the possession and administration of undesignated stock albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers in every public school in the local school division, to be administered by any school nurse, employee of the school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by the local health director and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers and valved holding chambers for any student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication. Note:  This bill has passed the House with an amendment that requires the Department of Health, in conjunction with the Department of Education, to develop and implement policies for the administration of stock albuterol in public school and to revise “Virginia School Health Guidelines” for dissemination no later than July 1, 2021. There is a proposed budget amendment associated with this bill, but it is predicated on providing a single inhaler and spacer to each school in Virginia for a single year.

School Nurses HB 1736 (Adams) would exclude school nurse positions from requirements for student support positions and instead would require each local school board to employ at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school, middle school, and high school in the local school division.  Note:  The House passed a substitute for this bill that would require no individual who provides nursing services in a public elementary or secondary school as a school board employee or through a contract with the local health department would be able to use the title of school nurse unless such individual is a registered nurse who possesses an active license to practice in the Commonwealth. The bill has now been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee for consideration.  SB 1191 (Kiggans) would exclude school nurse positions from requirements for student support positions and instead requires each local school board to employ at least one full-time equivalent school nurse position in each elementary school, middle school, and high school in the local school division. The bill would also require the Department of Education to establish and administer a waiver process for local school boards for which the requirements of the bill create an undue hardship.   Note:  The Senate Education and Health Committee amended this bill to allow for a full-time licensed practical nurse to fulfill the requirement.  This Committee reported and referred the bill to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee that passed the bill by indefinitely which means the bill failed.  However, the Chair of Finance and Appropriations announced that there would likely be budget language setting up an off-session work group to further discuss appropriate nurse staffing ratios.

Certain School Board Property; Establishment of Gun-Free Zone Permitted  HB 1909 (Subramanyam) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 15.2-915, in addition to ensuring compliance with the federal 12 Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, 18 U.S.C. § 922(q), any school board may deem any property that 13 it owns or leases outside of school zones, as that term is defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921, as a gun-free zone 14 and may prohibit any individual from knowingly purchasing, possessing, transferring, carrying, storing, 15 or transporting firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof while such individual is upon 16 such property. Such prohibition shall not apply to any law-enforcement officer; any retired law17 enforcement officer qualified to carry firearms pursuant to subsection C of § 18.2-308.016; any 18 individual who possesses an unloaded firearm that is in a closed container in or upon a motor vehicle or 19 an unloaded shotgun or rifle in a firearms rack in or upon a motor vehicle; or any individual who has 20 a valid concealed handgun permit and possesses a concealed handgun while in a motor vehicle in a parking 21 lot, traffic circle, or other means of vehicular ingress to or egress from the school board property.  Note:  The amended bill as described above has passed the House and will now be forwarded to the Senate for consideration. 

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Record Exclusion for Personal Contact Information Provided to a Public Body HB 2025 (Gooditis)  would provide that personal contact information provided to a public body or any of its members for the purpose of receiving electronic communications from the public body or any of its members would be excluded from the mandatory disclosure provisions of FOIA if the recipient of such electronic communications has requested that the public body not disclose such information.  Note:  This bill has passed the House and has been referred by the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee.

Virginia Freedom of Information Act; Meetings Held Through Electronic Communication Means During a State of Emergency SB 1271 (McPike) would allow a public body, or a joint meeting thereof, to meet by electronic communication means without a quorum of the public body physically assembled at one location when a locality in which the public body is located has declared a local state of emergency, provided that the catastrophic nature of the declared emergency makes it impracticable or unsafe to assemble a quorum in a single location and the purpose of the meeting is to provide for the continuity of operations of the public body or the discharge of its lawful purposes, duties, and responsibilities. Finally, the bill would require public bodies meeting through electronic communication means during a local or state declaration of a state of emergency to make arrangements for public access to such meeting through electronic communication means, including videoconferencing if already used by the public body, and  provide the public with the opportunity to comment at such meetings when public comment is customarily received.  Note:  This bill has passed the Senate and will be forwarded to the House.

State and Local Building Standards HB 2001 (Helmer) would require that any executive branch agency or institution or locality entering the design phase for the construction of a new building greater than 5,000 gross square feet in size or the renovation of a building where the cost of the renovation exceeds 50 percent of the value of the building ensure that such building has sufficient zero-emission vehicle charging or fueling infrastructure and has features that permit the agency or institution to track the building's energy efficiency and carbon emissions. The bill would expand the definition of high-performance building certification program to also include the LEED standard or “Green Globes” standards as qualifying programs.  The bill also would add a requirement for a new High Performance Building Program report, required to be published by January 1, 2022 and then every two years which would information about local policies and practices implemented to achieve compliance with high performance building certification programs, distinguishing policies and practices for K-12 schools from other local buildings.  Note:  A floor substitute that would clarify the definition of green design and construction standards and would permit any local governing body to adopt its own standards was approved by the House.  The bill will now be forwarded to the Senate for consideration.

Proposed Budget Amendments of Interest

The following are a selection of member-proposed amendments to the Governor’s Introduced budget.  Amendments to the budget bill can propose to add, modify, endorse or delete items in the Governor’s Introduced budget and can provide some insight into priorities not otherwise addressed by the Governor’s proposal. 

Proposed amendments may be included in House and Senate’s final package of budget amendments to the Governor’s Introduced budget.  Each chamber should complete their work on their own amendments to the Governor’s Introduced budget no later than February 7^th.