Education-based legislation was a high priority for lawmakers in the Virginia General Assembly during this year’s short, 46-day session. While dozens of bills were considered to alter everything from teacher licensure requirements to bucking the “Kings Dominion Law,” GOP-led measures were looked at that would help keep students safe, make testing more performance-based, and assist in hiring more educators.
Richmond’s statehouse passed legislation that would address teacher shortages, bolster work-based career and technical education, promote energy-efficient school infrastructure, mitigate risks associated with student-athletes playing sports with concussions, and allow schools boards to begin the school year earlier.
H.B. 1930, introduced by Delegate Richard “Dickie” Bell (R-Staunton), would require the Virginia 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 their parents or guardians of the nature and risk of concussions.
Moreover, the guidelines would include the criteria for removal from and return to play after suffering a concussion, keeping the aforementioned parties abreast of the risks of not reporting the injury and continuing to play, and the effects of concussions on the academic performance of student-athletes.
After being passed unanimously through both the House of Delegates and State Senate, it was signed by the governor and will be enacted on July 1.
H.B. 2192, introduced by House Majority Whip Nick Rush (R-Montgomery), creates a legislative intent that public school buildings and their facilities are to be designed and constructed to generate more electricity than consumed, allowing local school boards to enter into leases with private developers to achieve more energy-efficient goals.
For modernizing infrastructure, local school boards would be allowed to seek financing from the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority. The bill passed unanimously in both houses of the General Assembly.
Delegate Roxanne Robinson (R-Chesterfield) introduced H.B. 1652 and H.B. 2486. The former would allow local school divisions to open two weeks prior to Labor Day as long as the school division schedules a four-day weekend over the holiday, busting the colloquial “King’s Dominion Law.” The latter legislation would expand access to provisional teacher licenses in order to address shortages. Both bills were passed by the House and Senate.
To bolster work-based career and technical education, Delegate Chris Peace’s (R-Hanover) H.B. 2018 would require the Virginia Board of Education to update career and technical guidelines in order to promote job shadowing, mentorships, internships, and externships. The bill, which passed through both houses of the legislature, aids in the expansion of opportunities available for students to earn credits for graduation through “high-quality work-based learning experiences.”
Delegate Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun) introduced H.B. 2574 to permit local school
divisions to replace Standards of Learning (SOL) tests with “Performance Based Assessments,” that would “encourage critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, or citizenship.” While the bill passed unanimously in the House, it was tabled in the Senate.
H.B. 1947, patroned by Delegate Jeffery Campbell (R-Marion), would require that anyone who knowingly makes a false bomb threat will serve a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days in jail, regardless of their age. After making it through the House, the bill was also tabled in the upper chamber.