The 2009 General Assembly is now in session
Week 1 Update—January 23, 2009
The 2009 General Assembly session began Wednesday, January 14. The session runs 46 days and is scheduled to end on February 28. “Cross-over day,” the last day for each house to act on its own bills, is February 10. House and Senate amendments to the current two-year budget will be released on February 8.
The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet on Mondays at 9:00 a.m. in House Room C and Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. in the Appropriations Room. The Senate Education and Health Committee will meet on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Room B. Sub-committees will meet periodically throughout the session. Click here for a schedule of weekly meetings (Meetings).
Budget Issues
Lawmakers have received news that revenue projections for the first half of the current fiscal year are running slightly ahead of estimates. However, recall that current revenue projections, as established last month, estimate that collections will decline 4.8 percent compared from last fiscal year. Year-to-date total general fund growth is minus 3.5 percent, which is better than the projected annual growth rate of minus 4.8 percent.
In December, general fund revenues fell 2.6 percent compared to December 2007, despite two additional deposit days. Sales tax collections over the six month period have fallen 5.4 percent, which is behind the annual estimate of a 2.1 percent decline. Historically, about 53 percent of the total general fund is collected in the final six months of the fiscal year. January is another significant month for revenue collections.
Lawmakers are expected to receive another revenue report in early February, about the time the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees face a deadline to release their version of changes to the current biennial budget.
Legislators submitted hundreds of proposals to amend the current two-year state budget this past week. House members proposed changes, among others, that would 1) eliminate or only partially funding the cost of competing adjustment for instructional and support personnel in various parts of the state; and 2) use the Lottery Proceeds Fund to pay for prevention, remediation and intervention dollars, as well as to make textbook payments in FY10, while also proposing that staffing requirements and local match funding be eliminated for some programs in the Lottery Proceeds Fund. Senate members proposed amendments, among others, that would 1) eliminate the FY10 cap on state funding for support positions and instead direct that the Board of Education evaluate staffing standards; 2) temporarily modify minimum staffing requirements; and 3) restore the two pots of school construction funding seized by the governor in the introduced budget. Language amendments were submitted that encourage localities to allow school boards to carry over any unspent local funding to the next fiscal year, and to appropriate school funds on a lump sum basis.
Click here for additional information about Governor Kaine's proposed changes to the budget (State Budget).
Education Legislation
This past week, the Senate Education and Health Committee, on an 8 to 7 vote, reported a bill that reverses the so-called “Kings Dominion” law. SB 1266 makes local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening of the school year, eliminating the post-Labor Day opening requirement and "good cause" scenarios for which the Board of Education might grant waivers of this requirement. In the mid-1980’s, the travel and theme park lobbies were successful in pushing the current law that keeps schools from opening (though exceptions for a showing of good cause are allowed) prior to Labor Day.
The House Education Committee reported HB 1923, which provides that local school boards may assess a reasonable fee or charge for the loss of or damage to a textbook, so long as such textbook has been provided to the student free of charge. It also reported HB 1942, which clarifies the manner in which school boards may establish a single-sex class, program, or school in a school division, by stating that participation must be voluntary and the school division must provide a substantially equal coeducational school, class, or program. It also endorsed, and the full House later passed, HJR 652, which encourages school divisions to consider using existing intervention, remediation, and at-risk funding to hire K-8 Mathematics Specialists to help improve student math performance.
Here are more education-related bills that have been submitted:
HB 2344 requires the Board of Education to establish benchmarks for student achievement in reading in grades six through 12, and local school boards to develop policies and action plans to implement the benchmarks.
HB 2530 would require certain secondary school teachers seeking initial licensure to complete coursework about the current structure and historical development of local and state government.
HB 2552 would establish a diploma requirement, for students entering ninth grade in 2010-11, in economics and personal finance.
SB 1253 would eliminate electric utility charges on public schools and libraries.
SB 1285 requires local governing bodies and school divisions to publish the estimated required local match in the school budget.
SB 1322 requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines for managing and caring for children with food allergies in the public schools (see also SB 1367).
SB 1327 would expand the retired teacher health insurance credit to all retired public school employees.
SB 1342 eliminates the requirement that a census of all school-age persons residing within each school division take place every three years.
SB 1465 would delay any new Standards of Learning and textbook purchases until the 2010-11 school year.
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