Summary: Disorderly conduct; students in grades kindergarten through grade eight. Provides that the crime of disorderly conduct shall not apply to any student in grades kindergarten through eight if the disorderly conduct occurred on the property of any elementary or secondary school, on a school bus, or at any activity conducted or sponsored by any elementary or secondary school. Current law provides that disorderly conduct shall not apply to any elementary or secondary school student in such locations and at such activities.

Summary: Teacher compensation; at or above national average.Requires that public school teachers be compensated at a rate thatis at or above the national average. Under current law, compensationat such rate is aspirational. The bill requires state funding tobe provided pursuant to the general appropriation act in a sum sufficientto fund a 4.5 percent annual increase for public school teacher salaries,effective from the 2023-24 school year through the 2027-28 schoolyear. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023.

Summary: Department of Education; statewide strategic plan; speech-language pathologists. Requires the Department to develop and maintain a statewide strategic plan for recruiting and retaining speech-language pathologists that, at a minimum, (i) analyze data to determine the specific staffing needs of local school divisions on an ongoing basis; (ii) evaluates the potential effectiveness of strategies for addressing recruitment and retention challenges, including tuition assistance, differentiated pay for speech-language pathologists, and the expansion of speech-language pathologist mentorships; and (iii) estimates the costs of implementing each such strategy, including the extent to which federal funds could be used to support implementation. The bill requires the Department, no later than November 1 of each year, to update the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Education on its progress in implementing such plan. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2023. The bill also directs the Department of Education and the Board of Education, in consultation with each local school board, to (a) examine the caseloads and compensation of speech-language pathologists in each local school division, (b) compare such caseloads and compensation to those of speech-language pathologists in contiguous states, and (c) make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2022, for such amendments to relevant law and the general appropriations act as may be necessary to effectuate a reduction in caseloads and increase in compensation that would facilitate stronger recruitment and retention of speech-language pathologists in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth.

Summary: School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program; processing of applications. Requires each public elementary or secondary school to process each web-based or paper-based application for student participation in the School Breakfast Program or the National School Lunch Program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture within six working days after the date of receipt of the completed application. The foregoing provision of the bill has a delayed effective date of August 1, 2023. The bill requires school divisions that cannot currently comply with such requirement to develop a plan for ensuring compliance by August 1, 2023.

Summary: Language development for children who are deaf or hard of hearing; assessment resources for parents and educators; advisory committee; report. Requires the Department of Education, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, to (i) select, with input from an advisory committee that the bill establishes, language developmental milestones and include such milestones in a resource for use by parents of a child from birth to age five who is identified as deaf or hard of hearing to monitor and track their child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy; (ii) disseminate such resource to such parents; (iii) select existing tools or assessments for educators for use in assessing the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing; (iv) disseminate such tools or assessments to local educational agencies and provide materials and training on their use; and (v) annually produce a report that compares the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing with the language and literacy development of their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing and make such report available to the public on its website. The bill states that the advisory committee function shall terminate effective June 30, 2023. This bill is identical to SB 265.

Summary: School boards; school consolidation and redistrictingand pupil assignment; access to advanced academic programs. Requiresa school board to demonstrate in advance that the consolidation ofschools, redistricting of school boundaries, or adoption of a pupilassignment plan will maintain or increase equitable student accessto advanced academic programs.

Summary: School boards; production of public records;fee schedules. Requires each school board to develop and postor otherwise make publicly available a fee schedule governing chargesfor the release of public records to be used by each school withinits school division when responding to requests for public recordspursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The bill requiressuch fee schedule to be based on the most recent estimate of theaggregate costs incurred by each school within a school board's divisionin accessing, duplicating, supplying, or searching for requestedpublic records. Finally, the bill provides that a school board shallreview and update the fee schedule at least annually.

Summary: Annual public elementary and secondary school safety audits; creation or review of school building floor plans required. Requires each local school board, as part of each annual school safety audit, to create a detailed and accurate floor plan for each public school building in the local school division or certify that the existing floor plan for each such school is sufficiently detailed and accurate but provides that such floor plan may be withheld from public disclosure.

Summary: Local law enforcement; certain reports to schoolprincipals and division superintendents; form and scope. Requires local law-enforcement authorities to report in writing, and theprincipal or his designee and the division superintendent to receive each such report, on (i) any suspected offense, offense for whichany charge has been filed, or offense that is subject to investigation,that was committed by a student enrolled at the school if the offensewould be a felony if committed by an adult or would be a violationof the Drug Control Act and occurred on a school bus, on school property,or at a school-sponsored activity, or would be an adult misdemeanor involving certain enumerated incidents, and (ii) whether the studentis released to the custody of his parent or, if 18 years of age orolder, is released on bond. Current law does not require such reportsto be in writing and only applies to student offenses but does notspecify whether such reports are required to be made for student offenses that are suspected, charged, or subject to investigation.

Summary: Department of Education; school boards; guidelinesfor the provision of counseling services in public schools. Requiresthe Department of Education to develop and each local school boardto adhere to guidelines for the provision of counseling servicesin public schools, which shall include (i) provisions for parentalconsent; written parental notification; parental involvement, asappropriate; and confidentiality; (ii) procedures by which a parentmay limit or prohibit his child's participation; (iii) appropriateexceptions to the procedures by which a parent may limit or prohibithis child's participation such as imminent need, health, or safetyor maintaining order in the school; and (iv) any other provision deemednecessary by the Department.

Summary: Private elementary and secondary schools; retaliationfor good faith reports of child abuse or neglect prohibited. Prohibitsany private elementary or secondary school from retaliating in anymanner against any individual who in good faith reports child abuseor neglect as mandated by relevant law.