DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 111
May 2, 2008
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy
J. Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Final
Legislative Report for the 2008 General Assembly |
This memorandum provides information
regarding legislation passed by the 2008 session of the Virginia General
Assembly that is of interest to school superintendents and division personnel.
The final legislative reports for the
2008 General Assembly are posted on the Department of Education's website at: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/PolicyPub/legis98. A link is also
provided, entitled Legislative Tracking Reports, on the Web page. These reports reflect final action on education-related
legislation tracked by the Department of Education. The history of any bill or resolution, all
amendments, and the text of the final version are available by clicking on the
bill or resolution number in this memo or in the Final Legislative Tracking
Reports.
All legislation becomes
effective on July 1, 2008, unless otherwise indicated. Any information about actions that may or
must be taken by local school boards is included in the summary of each
bill. A separate Superintendent's
Memorandum has been sent or will be sent on some of the bills in order to
provide more detailed information about them.
This has been noted following those bill summaries.
Administrative Issues
SB
376 Requires local governing
bodies and local school boards to publish their approved budgets online
annually.
HB
769 Requires that all
memoranda of lien deposited with the State Treasurer on behalf of the Literary
Fund prior to July 1, 2007, be released.
Informational
Superintendent's Memorandum #70, which was issued on March 28, 2008,
provides additional information regarding this bill.
HB
770 Establishes technology
as a major classification of school funds.
SB
517 Requires that all public
bodies provide in every written contract that the contractor does not, and
shall not during the performance of the contract for goods and services in the
Commonwealth, knowingly employ an unauthorized alien as defined in the federal
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
Health and School Safety
SB
61 Requires the Department
of Education to develop a database of local school divisions' best practices
regarding nutrition and physical education, including results of
wellness-related fitness assessments.
HB 567 Provides
that every adult who is convicted of a sexually violent offense shall be
prohibited from entering and being present upon any property he knows or has
reason to know is a public or private elementary or secondary school or child
day care property during school hours and during school-related and
school-sponsored activities. Currently,
the prohibition only applies during school hours.
SB 136 Prohibits
the use of wireless telecommunications devices by persons operating school
buses, except in emergencies, or when the vehicle is lawfully parked and for
the purposes of dispatching. It permits the use of two-way radio devices if it has been authorized by the owner
of the school bus.
SB 636 Allows
each public and private institution of higher education to request from its
students complete student records, including any mental health records held by
the originating school. These records shall be kept confidential as required by
state and federal law, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,
20 U.S.C. 1232g.
HB 767 Eliminates
the requirement that correspondence courses must be approved by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction in order to qualify as a suitable program
for home instruction.
HB 1183 Provides
that an appropriate evaluation that a parent may submit to the division
superintendent includes but not be limited to:
(a) a letter from a person licensed to teach in any state; or (b) a
report card or transcript from a community college or college, college distance
learning program, or home education correspondence school.
Informational
Superintendent's Memorandum #80, which was issued on April 4, 2008,
provides additional information regarding both of these bills.
Instruction
HJR
90 Continues
the Joint Subcommittee Studying Science, Math, and
Technology Education at the Elementary, Secondary, and Undergraduate Levels to review the curricula of existing public schools in the
Commonwealth; study accessibility to specialized public schools by students
throughout the Commonwealth; and to review and recommend innovative ways to
interest students at all education levels in science, math, and technology. More information regarding this subcommittee
can be found at: http://dela.state.va.us/Dela/ComOpsStudy.nsf/f7d0d3fefc1bdfde85256c330057350
e/7c02887a88578eaa85257409005203dc?OpenDocument.
SB
326 Requires
the Board of Education 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 Adds mental health
education and awareness to the list of topics to be covered in family life
education curriculum guidelines. The
Board of Education will revise its guidelines.
SB 356 Makes
several changes to the textbook procedures by defining textbooks, reorganizing
the textbook purchasing process and repealing several sections of outdated code
sections. A separate Superintendent's
Memorandum will be issued to explain the requirements of these two bills and HB
354 noted below.
HB
214 Adds public entities,
including schools, to the list of public places in which persons with
disabilities are entitled to the same full and free rights as other persons.
HB 259 Requires that when a student transfers from a local school
division, that local school division shall obtain written or electronic
documentation of the student's transfer before making any status classification
in an information management system prescribed by the Board of Education.
HB 354 Identical to HB
137 and SB 356 noted above with one additional provision. This provision provides that with the approval of the local school board
and the publisher, any private school within the school division that so
requests may purchase from the local school board's textbook contract with the
publisher under certain specified conditions. A separate Superintendent's Memorandum
will be issued to explain the requirements of this bill along with HB 137 and
SB and HB 356 noted above.
HB
453 Permits local school boards to install
signs or other devices to indicate school bus stops. Maintenance, repair, and replacement of these
school bus stop signs is the responsibility of the local school board.
SB
133 Prohibits the
dissemination of another person's social security number, regardless of whether
such number is obtained from a public or private record.
SB
132 Prohibits any agency from
requiring an individual to furnish or disclose his social security number or
driver's license number unless the furnishing or disclosure of such number is
(i) expressly authorized by state or federal law and (ii) essential for the
performance of that agency's duties.
SB
620 Replaces the term
mentally retarded with the term intellectually disabled in the Code of
Virginia. The provisions of this
legislation do not become effective unless the bill is also passed by the 2009
General Assembly.
HB
771 Permits any joint,
regional, or regional charter school in operation prior to July 1, 2008, to
request a waiver from any new regulation promulgated after that date. Also permits any joint or regional school to
set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend
school comports with the calendar of any of the participating school divisions,
including those granted a waiver to start before Labor Day. The bill
contains an emergency clause that made it effective upon passage, which was
February 29, 2008.
SB 559 Increases the maximum number of students allowed for a school
division to qualify to have its state share of aid adjusted, based on a
cost-sharing agreement with a neighboring school division. In addition, only those school divisions
located in a locality with a composite index of .6000 or greater that has at
least 65 percent of its local taxes coming from real estate taxes would
qualify. The bill provides that no
additional supplemental basic aid payments shall be made prior to July 1,
2010.
HB
1135 Provides that students may
express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written
and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of
their submissions.
HB
1160 Clarifies that persons
under the age of 18 are not permitted to drive school buses.
SB
756 Creates the Virginia Career Readiness
Certificate Program to certify the workplace and college readiness skills of
Virginians, in order to better prepare them for continued education and
workforce training, successful employment, and career advancement. The Virginia Workforce Council, in
consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall promulgate regulations
necessary to implement and administer the Program.
SB
44 Permits local school
boards to establish after school programs designed to prevent at-risk youth
from engaging in illegal or gang-related activities for school aged children. Local funds appropriated for K through 12 education
may be used to support such programs.
SB
490 Requires the Board of
Education to make a recommendation to the General Assembly whether Virginia
should withdraw from the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) unless
reauthorization of NCLB makes revisions that 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. If the Board of Education recommends
withdrawal, then it must develop a plan for withdrawal by June 30, 2009.
Standards of Quality
HB
97 Amends Standard 4 of the Standards of
Quality by clarifying those students who meet the requirements for both the
Advanced Studies Diploma and the Advanced Technical Diploma may choose which
diploma they wish to receive.
HB
242 Amends Standard 1 of the
Standards of Quality by requiring local school boards to implement a program of physical fitness available to
all students with a goal of at least 150 minutes per week on average during the
regular school year. Each local
school board is required to incorporate into its local wellness policy a goal
for the implementation of such program during the regular school year.
A separate Superintendent's Memorandum
will be issued to explain the requirements of this bill.
SB
169 Expands
the teacher scholarship loan program to award scholarships to students in
approved teacher education programs leading to an endorsement in career and
technical education.
HB
768 Adds
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemption for investigator notes, and other
correspondence and information with respect to an active investigation
conducted by or for the Board of Education related to the denial, suspension,
or revocation of teacher licenses. Also
allows the Board of Education to discuss or consider records relating to the denial, suspension, or revocation of teacher licenses
in a closed meeting.
HB
809 Permits
the Board of Education to extend a three-year provisional license an additional
year for each school year or portion thereof for which a teacher is activated
or deployed for military service. The
bill also permits local school divisions to offer a similar extension to
teachers who hold three-year local eligibility licenses to teachers who are
activated or deployed. The bill contains
an emergency clause that made it effective upon passage, which was February 29,
2008.
HB
1242 Prohibits
the employment of anyone whose job would require direct contact with students
if the applicant is the subject of a founded case of physical or sexual abuse
of a child. Additionally, requires the
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. A separate
Superintendent's Memorandum will be issued detailing the provisions of this
bill.
SB
241 Require court clerks to
notify the Superintendent of Public Instruction when a person licensed by the
Board of Education is convicted of a felony drug crime or a felony sex crime
involving a child victim. The bills also
require specific actions by local school boards, the Board of Education, and
the local departments of social services when a licensed employee of a school
board is dismissed or resigns due to a criminal conviction or founded child
abuse or neglect charge. A separate
Superintendent's Memorandum will be issued detailing the provisions of these bills.
I hope this information will assist you
in planning and implementing the state legislative changes with your school
boards. Technical assistance to
implement the new legislative responsibilities is available from the Department
of Education.
Please do not hesitate to contact the
Office of Policy and Communications, by telephone at (804)225-2403 or by
electronic mail at policy@doe.virginia.gov if you need additional information or have questions about these
bills.
BJCJr/MJP/jcj