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2008 General Assembly
APPROVED LEGISLATION
FINANCE
HB 769 (Tata) requires that, upon the request of a locality, any memorandum of lien deposited with the State Treasurer or recorded in circuit court on behalf of the Literary Fund prior to July 1, 2007, shall be marked as released; the release of such lien shall in no way affect the obligations of the locality under the loan.
HB 936 (Gilbert) and SB 559 (Obenshain) increase from 350 to 1,100 the maximum number of students allowed for a school division that has a local composite index of .6000 or greater and 65% or more of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes, in order to qualify to have its state share of education aid adjusted, if it has entered a cost-sharing agreement with a neighboring school division.
HB 770 (Tata) establishes technology as a major classification of school funds
GOVERNANCE AND OPERATIONS
HB 137 (Peace), HB 354 (Cole) and SB 356 (Watkins) are similar bills that permit local school boards to enter into contracts with publishers for purchasing textbooks. The bills expand the definition of a textbook to include print, electronic, online and other manipulative-based programs. The Department of Education (DOE) is required to publish the list of approved textbooks, the publisher and the price of the textbooks on its website. The bills also reorganize the textbook purchasing process and repeal several sections of outdated code.
HB 140 (Peace) and SB 376 (Stuart) require local governing bodies and school boards to annually publish their approved budgets online; if there is no website, the budgets must be available in hard copy. The bill takes effect January 1, 2009.
HB 259 (Fralin) requires local school divisions to obtain written documentation of a student’s transfer before making any status classification to the Board of Education (BOE).
HB 453 (Rust) permits local school boards to install signs or other devices to indicate school bus stops. The Virginia Department of Transportation must approve any such signs on state maintained highways. The school division is required to maintain, repair and replace the signs, and the placement of such signs does not designate the area as school property.
HB 677 (Plum) provides that at least 30 days prior to entering into an interim or
comprehensive agreement under the Public-Private Educational Facilities and Infrastructure Act (PPEA), a responsible public entity must hold a public hearing on the proposals; currently, the requirement is to provide an opportunity for public comment.
HB 771 (Tata) provides that any joint, regional, or regional charter school operating before July 1, 2008, may request a waiver from any new regulations promulgated after that date. It also provides that any joint or regional school may set its school calendar to comport with the calendar of any of the participating school divisions, including those granted a waiver to start before Labor Day.
HB 1425 (Landes) and SB 490 (Hanger) require the BOE to make a recommendation to the General Assembly on whether Virginia should withdraw from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, unless federal law changes allow Virginia's existing educational accountability system, as set forth in the Standards of Quality, Standards of Learning, and Standards of Accreditation, to substantially meet the accountability requirements of the federal law.
SB 44 (Y.B. Miller) allows local school boards to establish after-school programs designed to prevent at-risk youth from engaging in illegal or gang-related activities.
INSTRUCTION
HB 97 (Purkey) clarifies the diplomas available to students who complete requirements for both an advanced studies diploma and a concentration in career and technical education, and delineates the differences between the advanced studies and advanced technical diplomas.
HB 242 (O’Bannon) requires local school boards to make a program of physical fitness available to all students with a goal of at least 150 minutes per week during the school year. Such program may include physical education classes, extracurricular athletics, or other programs and physical activities deemed appropriate by the local school board, which also is required to incorporateinto its local wellness policy a goal for the implementation of such program during the school year.
HB 767 (Tata) revises several provisions concerning existing requirements for home instruction of children.
HB 1183 (Lingamfelter) provides two additional options for parents to show evidence of progress by a homeschooled child, to include 1) an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach in any state or a person with at least a master's degree in education, or 2) a report card from a community college, college distance learning program or home education correspondence school.
SB 326 (Wagner) requires the BOE to develop a plan for increasing the number of students receiving industry certification and state licensure as part of their career and technical education.
SB 640 (Ticer) adds mental health education and awareness to the list of topics to be covered in family life education curricula.
PERSONNEL
HB 506 (Hamilton) and SB 169 (Blevins) expand the Virginia Teaching Scholarship Loan Program to include scholarships for students in an approved teacher education program leading to an endorsement in career and technical education.
HB 809 (Ward) permits the BOE to extend a three-year provisional license for an additional year for each school year, or portion thereof, for which a teacher is activated or deployed for military service. The bill, which took effect February 29, also allows local school divisions to offer a similar extension to teachers holding three-year local eligibility licenses.
HB 1218 (Bowling) and SB 136 (Stuart) prohibit use of wireless telecommunications devices by persons while driving school buses.
HB 1242 (Bell) prohibits employment of someone who would have direct contact with students, if such applicant is the subject of a founded case of physical or sexual abuse of a child; and requires dismissal of a teacher who, while employed by a local school board, becomes the subject of a founded case of physical or sexual abuse of a child and has exhausted all available appeals. The bill also requires the Department of Social Services to report any founded complaints of sexual abuse of a child to a school board, and to maintain a database of central child abuse and neglect registries in other states.
HB 1439 (Frederick) and SB 241 (Lucas) require, among other things, that local school boards develop policies and procedures to address complaints of sexual abuse of a student by a teacher or other employee, and that they notify the BOE if a licensed employee is dismissed or resigns because of certain criminal convictions or a founded child abuse or neglect case. In addition, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is to be notified when a licensed employee is convicted of certain crimes against children or involving drugs, and if they are the subject of a founded child abuse or neglect case.
STUDENTS
HB 889 (Lohr) increases, for persons holding a learner’s permit and seeking a driver’s license, the minimum driving hours from 40 to 45 hours, at least 15 of which must be after sunset. In addition, the hours driven must be certified on a form supplied by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
HB 1135 (Fralin) allows students to express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments without being discriminated against based on the religious content of their submissions.
HB 1160 (Saxman) removes the exclusion for drivers of school buses from the existing provision that prohibits children under 18 years of age from working as a driver of a truck or commercial vehicle of more than two axles.
HB 1245 (Hugo) prohibits anyone who has failed the behind-the-wheel or knowledge examinations for a driver's license three times from taking such examination a fourth time until successfully completing the in-vehicle or knowledge component of driver instruction at a driver training school.
SB 636 (Cuccinelli) includes student mental health records among those that institutions of higher education may request from local schools.
MISCELLANEOUS
HB 214 (Cole) adds public entities, including schools, to the list of public places in which persons with disabilities are entitled to the same rights as other persons.
HB 223 (Cosgrove) provides that anyone convicted of an offense prohibiting proximity to children shall not go within 100 feet of a locality-owned or operated playground, athletic field or facility, or gymnasium.
HB 246 (O’Bannon) and SB 61 (Howell) require the DOE to develop a database of local school division best practices regarding nutrition and physical education, including results of wellness-related fitness assessments. The database shall be accessible to all local school divisions and the Department of Health.
HB 567 (Crockett-Stark) prohibits anyone convicted of a sexually violent offense from being on school property during school-related and school-sponsored activities; presently, this prohibition only applies during school hours.
HB 622 (Brink) prohibits an adult convicted of certain sex offenses from living within 500 feet of a public park that is owned and operated by a locality, shares a boundary line with a school and is regularly used for school activities.
HB 634 (May) and SB 132 (Houck) provide that no public agency can require a person to furnish or disclose his social security or driver's license number unless furnishing or disclosing such number is (i) authorized or required by state or federal law and (ii) essential for the performance of that agency's duties. Localities over 15,000 in population are to review their use and collection of such numbers to determine uses essential for transaction of public business and are encouraged to find alternative means of identifying individuals. The bills take effect July 1, 2009.
HB 760 (Caputo) and SB 620 (Ticer) replace the term “mentally retarded” with the term “intellectually disabled, “ and the term “mental retardation” with the term “intellectual disability” throughout the Code of Virginia; the bill contains a reenactment clause requiring it to be approved by the 2009 General Assembly before becoming effective.
HB 772 (Tata) and SB 306 (Reynolds) extend the sunset provision applicable to the Commission on Civics Education from July 1, 2008, to July 1, 2010.
HB 955 (Nixon) and SB 352 (Stosch) add to the categories of “qualifying project” under the (PPEA) any services designed to increase productivity or efficiency through the direct or indirect use of technology.
HB 1526 (Byron) and SB 756 (Ruff) create the Virginia Career Readiness Certification Program, which may be offered through high schools and technical centers, to certify workplace and college readiness skills.
FOIA:
SB 768 (Tata) exempts from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, investigator notes and other correspondence and information concerning an active investigation conducted by or for the BOE related to the denial, suspension, or revocation of teacher licenses. The bill also allows the Board to discuss these records in a closed meeting.
HB 854 (Ebbin) and SB 131 (Houck) allow a local governing body, school board or other agency of local government to meet electronically without a quorum of the public body physically assembled at one location, when the Governor has declared a state of emergency and the purpose of such meeting is to address the emergency.
STUDIES AND RESOLUTION
HJR 5 (Peace) designates October in 2008, and in each year thereafter, as “Right Choices for Youth Month” in Virginia to promote the formation of character and integrity in young Virginians.
HJR 26 (Wright) and SJR 24 (Ruff) designate October in 2008, and in each year thereafter, as “Dyslexia Awareness Month” in Virginia.
HJR 90 (Cosgrove) continues the Joint Subcommittee to Study Science, Math, and Technology Education in Virginia to examine a myriad of issues touching these fields.
HJR 105 (Valentine) directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to study autism services in Virginia to identify and evaluate best practices in the provision of services for the diagnosis, treatment and management of autism.
SJR 75 (Hanger) continues the Joint Subcommittee to Study the Comprehensive Services Program for At-Risk Youth and Families (first established in 2006).
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