Virginia General Assembly: Reconvene Session 2022
JT Kessler, VSBA Government Relations Specialist
On Wednesday April 29, 2022, the Virginia General Assembly met for the 2022 Reconvene Session. This yearly occasion consists of members of the Senate of Virginia and Virginia House of Delegates convening to consider legislative vetoes and recommendations by the Governor to legislation passed in the regular session of the General Assembly. In the 2022 Reconvene Session, there were ten pieces of legislation of interest to K-12 public education that received action by the Governor following adjournment of the 2022 General Assembly session on March 12th.
SB 36 (Norment)/ HB 4 (Wyatt) Requires that school principals report to law enforcement certain enumerated acts that may constitute a misdemeanor offense and report to the parents of any minor student who is the specific object of such act that the incident has been reported to law enforcement. Under current law, principals are required to make such reports only for such acts that may constitute a felony offense. The bill provides, as an exception to the requirement to report any written threats against school personnel while on a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity, that a principal is not required but may report to the local law-enforcement agency any such incident committed by a student who has an individualized education plan.
The Senate rejected the Governor’s recommendation on line 36 by a vote of 21-19. The House concurred with this recommendation by a vote of 57-43. The Governor’s Recommendation was not agreed to as it failed to receive a majority vote in each chamber.
The Senate concurred with the Governor’s recommendation on line 52 through line 53 by a vote of 40-0. The House concurred with this recommendation by a vote of 88-12. The Governor’s Recommendation was agreed to as it received a majority vote in each chamber.
SB 62 (Favola)/ HB 215 (Robinson) Establishes the School Health Services Committee in the legislative branch to review and provide advice to the General Assembly and other policy makers regarding proposals that require local school boards to offer certain health services in a school setting. The bill requires the Committee to submit its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor by October 1 of each year. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2025.
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
SB 78 (Norment) Requires the Board of Education to include an additional minimum 90-minute parent/student driver education component as part of the classroom portion of its driver education program for all public school divisions and provides that participation in such component shall be encouraged but shall not be required. Under current law, participation in such parent/student driver education component is required in Planning District 8 (Northern Virginia) and optional in all other school divisions. The bill also requires such parent/student driver education component to emphasize the dangers of distracted driving.
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 307 (Freitas) Provides that a public body subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act shall make all reasonable efforts to supply records requested by a citizen at the lowest possible cost. The bill also requires a public body, prior to conducting a search for records, to notify the requester in writing of the public body’s right to make reasonable charges not to exceed its actual cost incurred in accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requested records and inquire of the requester whether he would like to request a cost estimate in advance of the supplying of the requested records.
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 585 (Van Valkenburg) Requires, except for those middle and high school students with significant cognitive disabilities who participate in an alternate assessment, each student in middle and high school to take only those end-of-course Standards of Learning assessments necessary to meet federal accountability requirements and Virginia high school graduation requirements.
Governor Recommendation (Substitute HB 585)
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 873 (Greenhalgh) Requires, in the case of any public elementary or secondary school in which a school resource officer is employed, the threat assessment team for such school to include at least one such school resource officer. The bill requires the chief local law-enforcement officer for any local school division in which a public elementary or secondary school does not employ a school resource officer to designate a law-enforcement officer to receive, either in-person or online, the school safety training for public school personnel conducted by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety in accordance with relevant law and requires such officer to serve as the law-enforcement liaison for the school administrator in such a school who has also received such training as prescribed by relevant law.
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 879 (Rasoul) Requires the nine-member Board of Education, all of whom are appointed by the Governor, to include at least one member with experience or expertise in local government leadership or policymaking, at least one member with experience or expertise in career and technical education, and at least one member with experience or expertise in early childhood education.
Governor’s Recommendation (Substitute HB 879)
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 1026 (Guzman) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and appoint no more than 12 members to the Digital Citizenship, Internet Safety, and Media Literacy Advisory Council (the Council), including at least one of each of the following: teacher, librarian, representative of a parent-teacher organization who is the parent of a school-age child, school administrator, student, and individual with expertise in digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy.
Governor’s Recommendation (Substitute HB 1026)
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
HB 1138 (Reid) Requires the lot drawing required to be conducted by the Loudoun County Electoral Board to determine the members of four of nine districts who will be elected to the Loudoun County School Board for four-year terms and the members of the remaining five districts who will be elected to the Loudoun County School Board for two-year terms to ensure the staggering of member terms for such school board to be conducted at the electoral board’s first meeting of 2023 but no later than January 31, 2023.
Governor’s Recommendation (Substitute HB 1138)
The Senate rejected the Governor’s Recommendation by a vote of 22-18. The House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation by a vote of 51-48. The Governor’s Recommendation was not agreed to as it failed to receive a majority vote in each chamber.
HB 1188 (Davis) Establishes the Student Advisory Board for the purpose of providing student perspectives on matters before the Board of Education.
The Senate and House concurred with the Governor’s Recommendation.
During each session of the Virginia General Assembly, the VSBA Executive Director and lobbyists are in daily contact discussing legislation and the VSBA policies that drive the association’s lobbying efforts, which include the decision to send action alerts to the membership. The lobbying efforts of the association are based on positions contained in the VSBA Legislative Positions Handbook that is approved each year by the VSBA Delegate Assembly. No school board in Virginia is bound by any position of the Association or obligated to any call to action. School boards in Virginia have the discretion to adopt a local position that may differ from that of the Association.
New Lunch and Learn: How to Develop Legislative Priorities
The Virginia School Boards Association invites you to register and attend a Lunch & Learn webinar designed to assist local school boards in developing legislative priorities for the school division. VSBA Government Relations Specialist, J.T. Kessler, will provide participants with strategies to consider as school boards think about short- and long-term goals around legislative advocacy.
The webinar will take place on Tuesday May 24, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. You must register in advance for this meeting by clicking on the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqduihqzgpG9yD2IaKCmobIkooN-FQDjbe
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
If you have any questions about this webinar or the information found in the reconvene report, please contact J.T. Kessler at 434-295-8722 ext. 116 or jason@vsba.org.