2023 Legislation VPEP Supports:

School Funding, Facilities, and Virtual Access to Local and Regional Meetings:

• HB1419 - Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship Program

• HB1497 - Teacher compensation; at or above national average

• HB1566 - Compensation of public school teachers and other Standards Compensation of public school teachers and other Standards of Quality-funded positions

• HB1694 - School boards; school building maintenance reserves

• HB2050 - Virginia Freedom of Information Act;

• SB1215 - Compensation of public school teachers and other Standards

• SB848 - Public school buildings and facilities; construction and renovation;

Student Supports

• HB1514 - Deceased high school seniors; waiver of graduation requirements

• HB1554 - Special Ed Transition planning

• HB1560 - Department of Education; development of Title IX and sexual Department of Education;

• HB1657 - Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board;

• SB798 - Replaces various instances of the terms "handicap," "handicapped," and similar variations throughout the Code of Virginia with alternative terms, as appropriate in the statutory context, such as "disability" and "impairment."

• SB819 - Provides that each local school division is permitted to use any nationally recognized, research-based assessment or screener in identifying and assessing the progress of any student in need of reading or algebra readiness intervention services as an alternative to a diagnostic test that must be approved by the Department of Education.

• SB1118 - Provides that each local school board shall adopt employment policies and practices designed to promote the employment of highly qualified teachers to effectively serve the educational needs of students who are English language learners

• SB1334 - Directs the Board of Education to develop and enforce a code of ethics relating to appropriate participation and collaboration at Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings among school staff, parents, students, and any other invited participants.

• SB806 - Establishes the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing (STEM+C) Competition Team Grant Program to encourage interest in STEM+C-related subject areas and support STEM+C-related extracurricular team-building activities in public schools in the Commonwealth by providing grants to qualified schools, as defined in the bill, for use in establishing or supporting STEM+C competition teams.

Firearms Storage

• SB1139 - Requires any person who possesses a firearm in a residence where such person knows or reasonably should know that a minor under 18 years of age is present to store such firearm unloaded in a locked container, compartment, or cabinet and to store all ammunition in a separate locked container, compartment, or cabinet.

School Health Services

• HB1696 - Requires each school board to ensure that all elementary school teachers in its employment are provided one lunch break per school day that is at least 30 minutes in length and unencumbered by any teaching or supervisory duties but that may be shortened or eliminated in the case of a bona fide emergency relating to health or safety.

• HB1938 - Requires each school board to employ, in addition to the school counselors that it employs as otherwise required by law, at least one full-time school counselor with specialized training or experience in mental health per 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12.

• SB818 - Requires each public elementary, middle, and high school to provide at each grade level, in addition to health instruction, an additional age-appropriate course of instruction on mental health.

• SB856 - Requires each local school board to develop and implement a written plan for a comprehensive school counseling program for the purpose of providing support that meets the mental and emotional health needs of all students and guiding students in academic progress, postsecondary planning, and social-emotional learning.

• SB1043 - Requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, to develop, adopt, and distribute to each school board a model memorandum of understanding between a school board and a public or private community mental health services provider that sets forth parameters for the provision of mental health services to public school students enrolled in the local school division by such provider.

• SB1257 - Defines the terms "direct counseling" and "program planning and school support" for the purpose of the provision of law that requires each school counselor to spend at least 80 percent of his staff time during normal school hours in the direct counseling of individual students or groups of students and clarifies that each school counselor may also spend up to 20 percent of his staff time during normal school hours on program planning and support.

• SB1268 - Provides that in order to fill vacant school psychologist positions, any local school board may employ, under a provisional license issued by the Department of Education for three school years with an allowance for an additional two-year extension with the approval of the division superintendent, clinical psychologists licensed by the Board of Psychology, provided that any such individual makes progress toward completing the requirements for full licensure as a school psychologist during such period of employment.

• SJ228 - Directs the School Health Services Committee to study the feasibility of implementing the recommendations of the Department of Education relating to standardizing the qualification and training requirements for school personnel,