Legislative Alerts
 

Troilen Seward Reports from Richmond
General Assembly 2009-2010

Summer-2010 Update

I know you are not expecting news from me at this time, and I don't know how many of you will actually receive it. In any case, I wanted to let you know that today at the Board of Education meeting, Vicki Oakley on behalf of VSRA presented the Friend of Literacy award to Dr. Pat Wrigiht, State Supt. of Public Instruction. As you have heard over the last couple years, Dr. Wright has done evrything she could to help with funding for reading specialists. She was the one who proposed that requirements for EIRI funding be opened up for use in hiring reading specialists. We supported that and submitted letters on behalf of VSRA. You will remember that she also took her Saturday last Novemeber and talked with us about the Common Core State Standards. Vicki did a really nice job of not only presenting the award but of also getting in a few words about the mission of VSRA. A nice PT spot for us!
 
 Another important thing happened today. The Board adopted a statement opposing the adoption of the newly developed Common Core Standards as a prerequisite for participation in federal competitive grant and entitlement programs. They listed many of the same reasons Dr. Wright mentioned to us last November. Certainly one important one is that Virginia has invested far more in its SOL than the $250 million we could have potentially received by abandoning the SOL and competing in phase two of Race to the Top. The Board did say it supported and continues to support the development of internationally benchmarked standards for states to adopt outright or to use as models to improve their own standards. The Board, however, opposes the use of  federal rulemaking and peer review as leverage to compel word-for-word adoption of the Common Core State Standards. Hurray for the Governor and the Board of Education!!!  Common Sense instead of Common Core has prevailed !!!

2009 Virginia General Assembly Highlights

• Faced with tough economic times, very few education bills came before the state legislature.  Those that did pass and that relate to education are summarized briefly below:
  

• HB2070 – School Boards will develop policies that allow a parent of twins in the same grade to request that they be placed in the same or separate classrooms.  Schools may recommend classroom placement, but they must provide the placement requested by the parent unless the superintendent makes a different placement following the principal’s request.  The parent must make the request within 3 days of the children’s first day of attendance in the school.  At the end of the first grading period, if the principal, in consultation with the teacher, determines that the placement is disruptive to the classroom or is harmful to the children’s social or educational development, the principal may request that the superintendent determine the children’s placement.
  

• HB 1746 & SB 827 - Family Life Education Bill – The value, benefits, challenges, and responsibilities of marriage have been added to the family life curriculum.
  

• HB 1923 allows a local school board to assess a reasonable charge for damages or loss of school property if such property was provided to student without charge.
  

• HB 1942 allows school boards to establish single-gender schools within the division (single-sex classes are already allowed).  Participation of students must be voluntary and the division must make available to the student an equal coeducational school or class.
  

• HB 2166 states that no statutes or regulations prescribing additional requirements on which accreditation of schools is based other than those already in effect on July 1, 2008, shall be effective before July 1, 2010, unless required by federal code, regulation, or court action, nor shall any additional graduation requirements become effective before July 1, 2010.  Passing rates required for full accreditation in 2010-2011 based on assessments administered during 2009-2010 shall be the same passing rates required for full accreditation during 2008-2009. 
  

• HB 2474 provides that elementary teachers are to have an average of 30 minutes daily during the school week as planning time.
  The governor requested, and the general assembly approved, that reading specialists could be hired using funds from the Lottery’s Early Intervention Reading Initiative.

• General Assembly 2010                        Report 1 – Jan. 23, 2010
  from Troilen Seward, VSRA Legislative Advocate

   

  Although the General Assembly has been in session for a week, there is not much action to report. Things really started rolling only after the Governor was inaugurated on Saturday.
  
  In spite of the financial situation in which the state finds itself, a huge number of bills have been introduced. As usual, everything in the House with any financial impact has to be sent to Appropriations.

  A number of bills that have to do with the Local Composite Index have been filed. The spectrum of these bills is quite broad and so I expect to see some major study of that issue. This is the mechanism that determines the locality's share of paying for education. For example, if your composite index is .24, then the locality pays 24 cents on the dollar and the state pays 76. There are several counties (Bath, Louisa and Surry) where the locality pays 80 cents and the state 20. That is because there is a nuclear power plant that supposedly generates "beaucoup" tax dollars; yet, the free and reduced lunch might be 50%. This issue has needed attention for a long time and no one has wanted to touch it. There will be winners and losers, and there will be uproar!! It appears, however, the time may have arrived to deal with it!!  I do not think we will see a resolution during this session. In fact, I am certain we will not.
  
  Many bills have been filed regarding the opening date of school. This often happens when Labor Day falls as late as it did this year. There are many different proposals so we shall see how they play out. None has been heard as of this writing. The tourism industry will be there opposing all of them. The new Governor is pushing tourism so if any one of them should pass, it could be vetoed. Again, we shall watch with interest as this plays out.
  
  In terms of specific bills, two have come out of sub-committee and one of those two has come out of full committee that will be of interest to you. House Bill 558 is the one we have talked about that puts reading into the SOQ (Standards of Quality). Local school boards are directed to implement early identification, diagnosis, and assistance for students with reading and mathematics problems and to provide instructional strategies and practices that benefit the development of reading and math skills for all students (the reading area of this is PALS).  That section has now been expanded to say that local school divisions SHALL provide early reading intervention services to students in grades K-3 who demonstrate deficiencies based on individual performance on a diagnostic test that has been approved by DOE. Results have to be reported annually to DOE . Such intervention programs may include the use of special reading teachers, trained aides, aides to instruct in-class groups while the teacher provides direct instruction to the students needing assistance, computer-based tutorials, volunteer tutors under the supervision of a teacher or extended time in the school day or school year. Further into the bill, "To provide flexibility in the provision of reading intervention services, school divisions may use the state Early Intervention Reading Initiative funding and the required local match to employ reading specialists to provide the required reading intervention services. School divisions using the EIRI funds in this manner shall only employ instructional personnel licensed by the Board of Education," is the funding piece that we were hoping to have included. This came out of sub-committee with no opposition. Today in full committee, the chair reported that this was being sent to Appropriations to fix the language so that it matched what was in the Appropriation Act last year and this year.
  
  The other bill that will be of interest is HB 111. Delegate Lohr submitted this bill to delay the implementation of certain regulations and state statutes that relate to the accreditation of schools. This means that no new or additional requirements that exceed those on the books on July 1, 2008, will become effective until July 1, 2011.  This was passed in both sub-committee and full committee with no opposition. Legislators are looking for some relief for school divisions knowing the significant cuts that await them.
  
  

• General Assembly 2010                        Report 2 – Jan. 30 2010
  from Troilen Seward, VSRA Legislative Advocate

  Although many bills are going through committees, the big topic is budget. I sat through a Senate Finance Public Education Sub-committee on Thursday afternoon and imagined us stepping back to the days when I taught. Dr. Richard (Dick) Salmon, considered one of the state's "gurus" in school finance presented before the sub-committee. He pointed out that the state suffers from the abolition of the car tax some years ago; that represents $2 billion that the state must send to localities. The localities, of course, used to get those taxes from local personal property taxes. That $2 billion is what still has to be cut in addition to the $2+ billion that former Gov. Kaine already cut. Dr. Salmon remarked that in his nearly 50 years in public education, he could not remember a financial crisis as extensive as this one. He even ventured to say that public schools could be harmed to the extent that several generations will be repairing the damage.
  
  Now to some bills that may be of interest to you. A number of bills to allow school to begin before Labor Day have been introduced in both the House and the Senate. Thursday morning, there were 5 in Senate Education, and they all made it out of full committee. (Don't get excited, however. What has happened in the past is that on the floor, they will get referred to Commerce and Labor which is very sympathetic to tourism and the hospitality industry.) We will see what happens next week.
  
  Another topic of interest is a statewide uniform grading policy. Two delegates, Lohr and Anderson, both submitted bills on the House side. Delegate Lohr's bill, House Bill 397, was rolled into Delegate Anderson's HB 978 in sub-committee Thursday night. After a great deal of discussion, the SC (sub-committee) voted to carry the bill over for study by the Board of Education. There are good arguments both pro and con. I will follow this during the next year.
  
  HB 528 introduced by Delegate Nixon of Chesterfield was reported from sub-committee, which will most likely pass both houses in the end, requires the school principal or his designee to notify parents of a student, including those with an IEP, whenever action has been taken to restrain such student.
  
  Last and most important is a Senate Resolution, SJR 31, that directs JLARC to study the reading proficiency of third graders. Senator John Miller of Newport News introduced this because of the connection between proficiency of third grade readers and future criminal behavior. He requested this last year, but studies have a cost attached and so it did not pass. I don't know what will happen this year.

  That is it for this week!