2017 Virginia General Assembly January 11, 2017

Discussion Issues Influences and Inputs Legislative Issues How to impact the General Assembly

Influences and Inputs General Assembly Committees House Education Committee Education Innovation Elementary & Secondary Education House Appropriations Committee Elementary and Secondary Education Senate Education and Health Committee Public Education Senate Finance Education

Governor’s Office . State Board of Education – Standards of Quality and Standards of Accreditation SOL Innovations Committee - The Committee under the direction of the Secretary (of Education) periodically may make recommendations to the Board of Education and the General Assembly on (a) the Standards of Learning assessments, (b) authentic individual student growth measures, (c) alignment between the Standards of Learning and assessments and the School Performance Report Card, and (d) ideas on innovative teaching in the classroom

School Readiness Committee - Directs the Secretary of Education to establish a School Readiness Committee with the first goal of addressing the development and alignment of an effective professional development and credentialing system for the early childhood education workforce in the Commonwealth, including the (i) development of a competency-based professional development pathway for practitioners who teach children birth to age five in both public and private early childhood education programs; (ii) consideration of articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate degree programs; (iii) refinement of teacher licensure and education programs to address competencies specific to early childhood development; (iv) alignment of existing professional development funding streams; and (v) development of innovative approaches to increasing accessibility, availability, affordability, and accountability of the Commonwealth's workforce development system for early childhood education teachers and providers.

Joint Committees Joint Committee to Study the Future of Public Elementary and Secondary Education in the Commonwealth - Study; the future of public elementary and secondary education in the Commonwealth; report. Establishes a two-year joint committee consisting of seven members of the House Committee on Education and six members of the Senate to study the future of public elementary and secondary education in the Commonwealth. Targeted areas are: Virtual Education, Leadership and Student Achievement, and SOQ\SOA.

Joint Subcommittee -Virginia Preschool Initiative - The Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees shall each appoint up to five members from their respective committees to a Joint Subcommittee to provide recommendations for reforming the Virginia Preschool Initiative. The goals and objectives of the Joint Subcommittee will be to consider increasing accountability, flexibility, innovation, clarification of the state's role and policy relating to providing a preschool for economically disadvantaged children, and to further develop the facilitation of partnerships between school divisions and private providers for the Virginia Preschool Initiative. The Subcommittee will also review and consider possible recommendations regarding the development of a competency-based professional development framework for early childhood teachers in public schools and early learning practitioners in private early learning settings.

Other Commission on Youth - Study and provide recommendations addressing the needs of and services to the Commonwealth's youths and their families. Constituents National Trends

Legislation HB 1400 - Virginia Virtual School Board; established, report. Delegate Richard Bell HB 1498 - School boards; assignment of teachers; class size limits. Delegate LeMunyon HB 1578 - Students who receive home instruction; participation in interscholastic programs. Delegate Rob Bell HB 1605 - Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts established. Delegate LaRock SB 795 - Register of funds expended; required posting by localities & school divisions on public gov website Senator Sturtevant SB 1015 - Public schools; kindergarten instructional time. Senator Barker HJ 639\SJ 240 - Constitutional amendment (first resolution); charter schools. Delegate Rob Bell\Senator Obenshain

Student Discipline HB 1534\SB 995 - Student discipline; long-term suspension. Delegate Richard Bell and Senator Bill Stanley HB 1535\SB 996 - Public schools; student discipline. Delegate Richard Bell and Senator Bill Stanley HB 1536 \SB 997 - Public schools; student discipline. Delegate Richard Bell and Senator Bill Stanley HB 1839\SB 1082 - School principals; incident reports. Delegate LaRock\Senator Wexton HB 1843 - Principals; student discipline; alternatives to referring incidents of assault. Delegate Mullin SB 829 - Alternatives to suspension; Board of Education shall establish guidelines for local school boards. Senator Wexton

Graduation and Assessments HB 1414 - Standards of Quality; end-of-grade assessments. Delegate Austin HB 1421 - High school graduation; standard diploma, career and technical education credential, exception. Delegate Farrell HB 1607 - High school graduation requirements; verified credit; recognized high school academic assessments. Delegate Habeeb HB 1662 - Public institutions of higher education; course credit; dual enrollment courses. Delegate Greason HB 1708 - Board of Ed; standards of accred; industry cert. credentials obtained by high school students. Delegate Filler-Corn

Other HB 1408 - Student vision screenings; requirements for certain students. Delegate Ware HB 1437 - Public school students; sight and hearing testing, exception. Delegate Head HB 1561 - Public school buses; seat belts. Delegate Krizek HB 1612 - Physical Privacy Act. Delegate Marshall, R.G. HB 1690 - Virginia Preschool Initiative; local matching funds. Delegate Dudenhefer HB 1757- School personnel; staffing ratios; school nurses. Delegate Dudenhefer

Other Cont. HB 1764 - Regional school boards; full-time virtual school programs. Delegate Bulova HJ 634 - Constitutional amendment (first resolution); authority of elected school boards to impose taxes. Delegate Cole SB 828 - Family life education; certain curricula and standards of learning. Senator Wexton SB 951 - School service providers; student access to collected personal information. Senator Ruff SB 1028 - School immunization reports; posting on website. Senator Dunnavant Possible Issues – Community Colleges, Virginia Retirement System, Labor Day, SOA\SOQ and Teacher Licensure.

Studies HJ 50 – Composite Index of Local Ability to Pay; DOE to study effect of local use value assessment. Delegate Webert HJ 546 - Virginia High School League; Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study. Delegate Richard Bell HJ 570 - Study; JLARC; effectiveness of requiring seat belts on school buses in the Commonwealth. Delegate Lingmfelter HJ 571 - Study; Va Polytechnic Institute and State University and Va State University; teacher shortage . Delegate Orrock SJ 242 - Study; Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission; free community college; report. Senator Edwards

Advocacy Key Steps Information Gathering and Communication Contact and Monitor Your Legislators Know their legislative staff persons and their roles. What are their areas of interest? On what committees and subcommittees do they sit ? How will the issue impact your schools – instruction, learning and cost? What are the “real world” impacts of the issue? Let them know the school division legislative priorities. Enlist support from community groups – PTA, Governing Body, Chamber of Commerce, Civic Groups, etc. Plan visits and regular communication during the session

Resources General Assembly Website – VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov VASS Website – Vassonline.org Dr. Tom Smith – VASS – twdsmith1952@gmail.com