Summary: Required local effort for basic aid; debt service on projects in certain school divisions. Permits any local school board that governs a school division (i) in which the locality is designated as fiscally at-risk or fiscally distressed by the Appalachian Regional Commission in the most recent fiscal year or is determined to have above-average fiscal stress or high fiscal stress by the Virginia Commission on Local Government in its most recent "Report on the Comparative Revenue Capacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia Counties and Cities" and (ii) for which the composite index of local ability to pay is less than or equal to 0.2000 to expend up to 25 percent of the required local effort for basic aid for debt service on school building capital renovation or construction projects. The bill provides that in the event that the school division no longer meets such criteria, the local school board shall develop and implement a plan to readjust expenditures of the required local effort for basic aid over the course of no more than four fiscal years. The bill also provides that in the event that a school division that no longer met such criteria subsequently meets the criteria again after developing a plan, the local school board may seek the approval of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to amend such plan. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2032.

Summary: Teacher compensation; at or above national average. Requires public school teachers to be compensated at a rate that is at or above the national average. Under current law, compensation at such rate is aspirational. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025. The bill requires funding to be provided on an incremental basis pursuant to the general appropriation act to implement such teacher compensation rate by the effective date.

Summary: Department of Education and Department of Environmental Quality; sixth grade science curriculum. Directs the Department of Education to coordinate with the Department of Environmental Quality to update the "Window into a Green Virginia" curriculum developed by the Departments for sixth grade science to include a unit on the benefits, including the energy benefits, of recycling and reuse.

Summary: Department of Education; pilot program; reading diagnostic tests and instruction. Requires the Department of Education to develop and implement a geographically representative two-year pilot program to administer reading diagnostic tests that include all components of a normed rapid automatized naming test. The bill requires each local school division in the pilot program to provide evidence-based instruction, including structured literacy instruction, to students in kindergarten through grade three who fall below the benchmark on any such reading diagnostic test or demonstrate deficiencies based on their individual performance on the Standards of Learning reading test. The bill requires the Department of Education to report to the Governor and General Assembly, no later than December 1, 2022, on the outcomes of the pilot program and the necessary resources for statewide implementation of such tests and instruction.

Summary: School counselors and social workers; student to position ratio; certain schools. Requires school boards to employ one school counselor and one social worker for every 250 students in each elementary school, middle school, and high school in which at least 50 percent of the students are eligible for federal free lunch. This bill was incorporated into HB 1508.

Summary: Parental notice; literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services; certain assessment results. Requires each local school board to enact a policy to require that timely written notification is provided to the parents of any student who (i) undergoes literacy and Response to Intervention screening and services or (ii) does not meet the benchmark on any assessment used to determine at-risk learners in preschool through grade 12, which notification shall include all such assessment scores and subscores and any intervention plan that results from such assessment scores or subscores.

Summary: Standards of Learning; review; racism and inequity. Requires the Board of Education, in its review of the Standards of Learning in all subject areas, to consider the need for revisions to remove any racist or inequitable elements of such standards. This bill was incorporated into HB 916.

Summary: Students in grades six, seven, and eight; computer science or introduction to technology course required. Requires each student in grades six, seven, and eight, starting in the 2025–2026 school year, to complete at least one semester-long or year-long computer science elective course or introduction to technology course that is aligned with the appropriate Standards of Learning and may include the following content: examining systems and resources of technology, solving problems in technology, introducing microcontrollers, exploring the designed world, computing systems, networks and the Internet, cybersecurity, data and analysis, algorithms and programming, and the impacts of computing. The bill provides that no such student shall be required to complete an end-of-course assessment for any such course. The bill requires the Board of Education to amend or create Standards of Learning as necessary to implement the foregoing provisions and requires the Department of Education to confer with certain organizations to ensure that the proper training is available to the teachers of such courses.

Summary: Department of Education; Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education Practices Advisory Committee; report. Requires the Department of Education to establish and appoint such members as it deems appropriate to a Culturally Relevant and Inclusive Education Practices Advisory Committee for the purpose of providing (i) standards recommendations to the Department of Education that shall be considered by the Board of Education during the 2021-2022 review of the history and social science Standards of Learning and (ii) recommendations on meaningful professional development with school personnel related to culturally relevant and inclusive education practices. The bill requires the Committee to report its recommendations to the Board of Education, the Governor, and the Chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than July 1, 2021. This bill incorporates HB 483 and HB 1110 and is identical to SB 853.

Summary: Instructional positions; students identified as having limited English proficiency. Requires, effective with the 2020-2021 school year, state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support 18.5 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency and, effective with the 2021-2022 school year, 20 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency. Current law requires state funding to support 17 such positions for each 1,000 such students. This bill incorporates HB 1323 and is identical to SB 910.

Summary: Standards of Learning; history and social science; diverse people; gender identity and sexual orientation. Includes consideration of gender identity and sexual orientation in the study of contributions to society of diverse people as part of the Standards of Learning for history and social science. This bill was incorporated into HB 916.

Summary: Public schools; electives on the Hebrew Scriptures/OldTestament and the New Testament. Requires local school boardsto offer as an elective in grades nine through 12 with appropriatecredits toward graduation a course, either in a traditional classroomsetting or in a virtual classroom setting, on the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament of the Bible or the New Testament of the Bible or a combinedcourse on both. The bill requires the Board of Education to developStandards of Learning and curriculum guidelines for such courses.The bill provides that the purpose of such courses is to introducestudents to biblical content, characters, poetry, and narrativesthat are prerequisites to understanding contemporary society andculture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and publicpolicy. The bill prohibits students from being required to use a specific translation of a religious text when taking the coursesand provides that such courses shall maintain religious neutralityand shall not endorse, favor, promote, disfavor, or show hostility toward any particular religion or nonreligious perspective.

Summary: Local school boards; support services positions; licensed behavior analysts and licensed assistant behavior analysts. Includes licensed behavior analysts and licensed assistant behavior analysts as support services positions in a local school division for the purposes of Title 22.1 (Education).

Summary: Board of Education; certain English languagelearner students; removal from certain non-academic school performanceindicator calculations. Requires the Board of Education to permit any English language learner student who enters high school withan English language proficiency level of 1 or 2, has been enrolledin public schools in the Commonwealth for fewer than four semesters,and has a final four-year cohort status of dropout or unconfirmedto be removed from the calculation of the dropout rate and graduationand completion index non-academic school performance indicators forEnglish language learner students under the Standards of Accreditation.

Summary: Standards of Quality; work-based learning; teacher leadersand mentors; principal mentors; certain personnel positions and initiatives. Makesseveral changes to the Standards of Quality, including requiring the establishmentof units in the Department of Education to oversee work-based learning andprincipal mentorship statewide in Standard 1 and requiring the Board ofEducation to establish and oversee the local implementation of teacher leaderand teacher mentor programs in Standard 5. The bill also makes several changesrelating to school personnel in Standard 2, including (i) establishingschoolwide ratios of students to teachers in certain schools with highconcentrations of poverty and granting flexibility to provide compensationadjustments to teachers in such schools; (ii) requiring each school board toassign licensed personnel in a manner that provides an equitable distributionof experienced, effective teachers and other personnel among all schools in thelocal school division; (iii) requiring each school board to employ teacherleaders and teacher mentors at specified student-to-position ratios; (iv)requiring state funding in addition to basic aid to support at-risk studentsand granting flexibility in the use of such funds by school boards; (v)lowering the ratio of English language learner students to teachers; (vi)requiring each school board to employ reading specialists and establishing astudent-to-position ratio for such specialists; (vii) requiring school boardsto employ one full-time principal in each elementary school; (viii) loweringthe ratio of students to assistant principals and school counselors inelementary, middle, and high schools; and (ix) requiring each school board toprovide at least four specialized student support positions, including schoolsocial workers, school psychologists, school nurses, and other licensed healthand behavioral positions, per 1,000 students.

Summary: Instructional positions; students identified as having limited English proficiency. Requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support 20 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency. Current law requires state funding to support 17 such positions for each 1,000 such students. This bill was incorporated into HB 975.

Summary: School library clerical personnel; ratios ofpositions to students. Establishes, as part of each local schoolboard's provision of those support services that are necessary forthe efficient and cost-effective operation and maintenance of itspublic schools, the following ratios for school library clericalpersonnel positions: in elementary schools, one full-time at 300students and two full-time at 700 students; in middle schools, onefull-time at 300 students, two full-time at 800 students, and three full-time at 1,700 students; and in high schools, one full-time,two full-time at 900 students, and three full-time at 1,800 students.

Summary: Certain school boards; school buildings; assessment; compliance. Requires any local school board in a local schooldivision that (i) is under a division-level corrective action plan,(ii) contains any school that is under a corrective action plan,or (iii) receives at-risk add-on payments pursuant to the generalappropriation act to annually assess each school building in thelocal school division for compliance with the Board of Education'sminimum standards for school buildings and report the results to the Board. The bill requires, in any case of noncompliance with suchstandards, such report to include an assessment of the extent towhich local funds are available to remedy such noncompliance. Thebill provides that when the Board determines, on the basis of anysuch report, that a local governing body has not provided the localschool board sufficient funds to ensure compliance with the minimumstandards for school buildings, the Board may petition the relevant circuit court to compel the local governing body to provide suchfunds to the local school board.

Summary: Minimum staffing ratio for school counselors. Requires local school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios, effective with the 2020-2021 school year: in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time equivalent at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time equivalent at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; and in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time equivalent at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof. The bill also requires local school boards to employ one full-time equivalent school counselor position per 325 students in grades kindergarten through 12, effective with the 2021-2022 school year. This bill incorporates HB 398.

Summary: School boards; staffing ratios; school counselors. Requires school boards to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: (i) effective with the 2020–2021 school year, in elementary schools, one hour per day per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one hour per day additional time per 60 students or major fraction thereof; in middle and high schools, one period per 55 students, one full-time at 275 students, one additional period per 55 students or major fraction thereof and (ii) effective with the 2021–2022 school year, in elementary, middle, and high schools, one hour per day per 50 students, one full-time at 250 students, one additional hour per day per 50 students or major fraction thereof. Under current law, school boards are required to employ school counselors in accordance with the following ratios: in elementary schools, one hour per day per 75 students, one full-time at 375 students, one hour per day additional time per 75 students or major fraction thereof; in middle schools, one period per 65 students, one full-time at 325 students, one additional period per 65 students or major fraction thereof; in high schools, one period per 60 students, one full-time at 300 students, one additional period per 60 students or major fraction thereof.

Summary: School boards; staffing ratios; librarians.Requires school boards to employ librarians in accordance withthe following ratios: in elementary schools, one part-time to 299students, one full-time at 300 students, and two full-time at 700students; in middle schools, one-half time to 299 students, one full-timeat 300 students, two full-time at 800 students, and three full-time at 1,700 students; and in high schools, one half-time to 299 students,one full-time at 300 students, two full-time at 900 students, andthree full-time at 1,800 students. Under current law, school boards are required to employ librarians in accordance with the followingratios: in elementary schools, one part-time to 299 students and one full-time at 300 students; in middle schools, one-half time to299 students, one full-time at 300 students, and two full-time at1,000 students; and in high schools, one half-time to 299 students,one full-time at 300 students, and two full-time at 1,000 students.

Summary: Department of Education; data collection; school counselor positions. Requires the Department of Education to collect data from school boards regarding their ability to fill school counselor positions, including (i) the number of school counselors employed in elementary, middle, and high schools in the local school division; (ii) the number and duration of school counselor vacancies; (iii) the number, role, and license type of other licensed counseling professionals employed by the school board; and (iv) information about their preferences for meeting updated school counselor to student ratios with other licensed counseling professionals. The bill requires the Department to report the results of such data collection to the Governor, the Secretary of Education, the House Committee on Appropriations, and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than June 30, 2021.