1. 2017 Virginia General Assembly
January 11, 2017

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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. 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

16. Resources General Assembly Website – VirginiaGeneralAssembly.gov
VASS Website – Vassonline.org
Dr. Tom Smith – VASS –