Summary: Threats of death or bodily injury to personson school property; penalty. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanorfor any person to orally make a threat to kill or do serious bodily injury to any person, regarding that person, while that person is(i) on the grounds or premises of any elementary, middle, or secondaryschool property; (ii) at any elementary, middle, or secondary school-sponsoredevent; or (iii) on a school bus, when the threat places the personwho is the object of the threat in reasonable apprehension of deathor serious bodily injury to himself.

Summary: Obscene materials; restrictions on purchase,distribution, exhibition, or loan; exceptions; libraries and schools.Modifies the exceptions to restrictions on the purchase, distribution,exhibition, or loan of obscene materials by providing that schoolssupported by public appropriation are not subject to the exceptionsand limiting the exception applicable to libraries supported by publicappropriation only to obscene material that is available exclusivelyin a section of the library to which access is restricted by age.

Summary: Disorderly conduct; penalty. Removes theprohibition on the applicability of the offense of disorderly conductin public place to any elementary or secondary school student ifthe disorderly conduct occurred on the property of any elementaryor secondary school, on a school bus, or at any activity conductedor sponsored by any elementary or secondary school.

Summary: Certain public institutions of higher education;enrollment limitations in incoming freshman classes; Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Act Fund and Program established. Requires,beginning with the incoming freshman class in the 2025 academic year,the board of visitors of each baccalaureate public institution ofhigher education, with the exception of Norfolk State University,Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia State University, to ensurethat the annual percentage of undergraduate non-Virginia studentsin each incoming freshman class does not exceed 45 percent. The billalso establishes the Virginia Higher Education Scholarship Act Fundand Program whereby certain Virginia public high school graduateswho graduated at or near the top of their graduating classes arepermitted to apply to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginiafor a scholarship in an amount equal to the cost of tuition, roomand board, and mandatory fees to attend a public institution of higher education enumerated in the bill for eight semesters.

Summary: Institutions of higher education; campus safety; governing boards of certain educational institutions; employment of security services and personnel authorized. Authorizes the governing board of certain educational institutions, including the A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, the New College Institute, the Roanoke Higher Education Authority, the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center, and the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, to establish and maintain a campus security department and to employ security personnel. Under current law, the governing board of any such educational institution is only authorized to contract for security services. This bill is identical to SB 613.

Summary: Public institutions of higher education; tuitionand financial aid; dependency override application form. Requireseach public institution of higher education to develop, maintain,and post publicly on the financial aid page of such institution's website informational materials relating to the dependency overrideapplication process and to review and update such materials as necessaryto reflect current federal law and guidance on such process. Thebill requires such informational materials to include, in a languageand format accessible to students enrolled at and potential applicantsfor admission to such institution, (i) an explanation of the purposeof and eligibility requirements for a dependency override, (ii)an explicit list of the circumstances on which a student may basea dependency override application, (iii) an explanation of the dependencyoverride application process at such institution, and (iv) links torelevant federal guidance on the dependency override process.

Summary: In-state tuition eligibility; certain membersof National Guard or Reserves of the Armed Forces of the United Statesunits in the Commonwealth. Declares eligible for in-state tuitioncharges at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealthregardless of domicile any member of the National Guard or the Reservesof the Armed Forces of the United States who is not a resident ofthe Commonwealth but who is an active member of a unit of the NationalGuard or the Reserves of the Armed Forces of the United States in the Commonwealth.

Summary: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; membership; representative of a historically black college or university. Requires the membership of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to include at least one nonlegislative citizen member who has served as a chief executive officer of one of the Commonwealth's historically black colleges or universities. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026.

Summary: Board of Visitors of the Virginia School forthe Deaf and the Blind; authority to establish campus police department.Permits the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deafand the Blind to establish a campus police department, in compliancewith the provisions of law relating to campus police departmentsestablished by institutions of higher education, and to employ campuspolice officers therein.

Summary: National Teacher Certification Incentive RewardProgram and Fund; eligibility; incentive grant awards. Renamesthe National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fundas the National Board Certification Incentive Reward Program andFund, expands eligibility for incentive grant awards from such Fundpursuant to such Program from solely teachers who have obtained nationalcertification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standardsto (i) all public school staff who are candidates for initial nationalcertification or maintenance of national certification to cover certaincosts of obtaining or maintaining such certification and (ii) allpublic school staff who have successfully obtained or maintainedsuch certification. The bill also declares as eligible for an annualincentive grant award in the amount of $7,500 all public school staffwho have obtained or maintained such certification. Current law declaresas eligible for an annual incentive grant award of $5,000 in thefirst year and $2,500 in each subsequent year all teachers who haveobtained or maintained such certification.

Summary: Virginia Museum of Transportation; established. Establishes the Virginia Museum of Transportation as a public entityand educational institution under the Commonwealth. The bill providesthat the Museum is governed by a 15-member board of trustees.

Summary: Roanoke Higher Education Authority; board oftrustees; powers and duties; specialized noncredit workforce training. Requires the board of trustees of the Roanoke Higher EducationAuthority to seek opportunities to collaborate with local comprehensive community colleges to meet specialized noncredit workforce trainingneeds identified by industry but provides that if local comprehensivecommunity colleges are unable to meet identified industry needs,then the board may seek to collaborate with other education providersto provide or may provide Roanoke Higher Education Center-deliveredspecialized noncredit workforce training independent of local comprehensivecommunity colleges.

Summary: Intercollegiate athletics; student-athletes; compensation for name, image, or likeness. Makes several changes to existing provisions of law relating to compensation of a student-athlete at a public or private institution of higher education in the Commonwealth (institution) for the use of the name, image, or likeness of such student-athlete, including (i) prohibiting any athletic association, athletic conference, or other organization with authority over intercollegiate athletics from preventing an institution, its supporting foundations, or an entity acting on its behalf from identifying, creating, negotiating, facilitating, supporting, engaging with, assisting with, or otherwise enabling a name, image, or likeness opportunity for a student-athlete; (ii) requiring each institution to develop and submit to the institution's governing board or similar governing body for approval institutional policies or procedures that govern the compensation of a student-athlete for the use of his name, image, or likeness; and (iii) permitting any institution to provide assets, resources, or benefits as an incentive to individuals, companies, or other entities to provide money, benefits, opportunities, or services to an outside entity that supports name, image, or likeness opportunities for the institution's student-athletes. The bill also requires the Intercollegiate Athletics Review Commission to review plans and implementation considerations for the provisions of the bill and provide a report on its review to the General Assembly no later than November 1, 2024.

Summary: Virginia STEM Education Advisory Board; purpose and duties; historically underrepresented students. Expands the purpose of the Virginia Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Advisory Board to include promoting the participation of historically underrepresented students, as defined in the bill, in primary and secondary schools in STEM education. The bill expands the duties of the Board to effectuate this additional purpose. Finally, the bill increases from 16 to 23 the nonlegislative citizen membership of the Board and provides that the seven additional members be appointed by the chairmen of the Virginia African American Advisory Board, Virginia-Asian Advisory Board, Latino Advisory Board, Council on Women, Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, Office of New Americans Advisory Board, and Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, with each chairman appointing one member representing the population served by his advisory board subject to the approval of a majority of the members of his advisory board.

Summary: High school student-athletes; use of name, image, or likeness. Establishes rights, duties, and prohibitions relating to the use of the name, image, or likeness of high school student-athletes that are equivalent to those established in law for college student-athletes. The bill also requires the Department of Education to publish in a publicly accessibly format on its website information about laws that are applicable to any contract entered into by a student-athlete relating to compensation for the use of his name, image, or likeness.

Summary: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; membership. Requires the membership of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to include at least one nonlegislative citizen member who has served as a chief executive officer of an accredited nonprofit private institution of higher education whose primary purpose is to provide collegiate, graduate, or professional education and not to provide religious training or theological education. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2026, and is identical to SB 159.

Summary: Standards of Quality; Standards of Learning assessments; development and administration of assessments; assessments in languages other than English; requirements. Requires the Board of Education to develop all Standards of Learning assessments using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, as defined in the bill. The bill also requires the Board to develop and implement policies providing for the development and administration of all Standards of Learning assessments in languages other than English that are identified as being present to a significant extent in the participating student population. The bill requires such policies to provide that each local school board provide appropriate accommodations on such assessments for eligible students who are English language learners, including providing for administration of such assessments for any student who is an English language learner in grades three through eight who has been identified as having limited English proficiency and has participated in an English language proficiency program for no more than a total of three school years. The bill provides, however, that each local school board, on the recommendation of English language learner faculty that any such student has not yet reached sufficient English proficiency, may provide on an individual case-by-case basis for the administration of any such Standards of Learning assessment in one of such top three languages other than English for a period that does not exceed two additional consecutive years. The provisions of the bill are required to be implemented by the beginning of the 2025–2026 school year.

Summary: Board of Education; procedure for adjustinggrievances; definition of "classified instructional support staff."Requires the Board of Education, for the purpose of its regulationsthat establish the procedure for adjusting grievances, to define"classified instructional support staff" to mean any nonlicensedteacher, both nonexempt and exempt, who is employed in a local schooldivision and involved in classroom instruction and any other full-time or part-time employee who works more than 90 days total in a 200-dayschool year and to include teaching assistants, long-term substitutes,site-based substitutes, temporary teachers, and other nonlicensedinstructors who substitute in the place of licensed teachers.

Summary: Public schools; classified instructional supportstaff; competitive compensation; biennial review. Declares thatit is a goal of the Commonwealth that its classified instructional support staff, defined in the bill as any individual who works morethan 90 days total in a 200-day school year as a substitute for alicensed teacher, be compensated at a rate that is competitive inorder to provide a quality education in the absence of a licensedteacher. The bill requires the Department of Education to conducta biennial review of the compensation for classified instructionalsupport staff and to consider the Commonwealth's compensation forclassified instructional support staff relative to the national averageteacher salary and report the results of such review to the Governor,the General Assembly, and the Board of Education by June 1 of eachodd-numbered year.

Summary: Student safety and discipline; certain reportsto school principals and division superintendents; form and scope.Requires local law-enforcement authorities to prepare in writingand provide to the principal or his designee and the division superintendent a report on (i) any suspected offense, offense for which any chargehas been filed, or offense that is subject to investigation that was committed or is suspected to have been committed by a student enrolled at the school if the offense would be (a) a felony if committedby an adult, (b) a violation of the Drug Control Act and occurredon a school bus, on school property, or at a school-sponsored activity,or (c) an adult misdemeanor involving certain enumerated incidentsand (ii) whether the student is released to the custody of his parentor, if 18 years of age or older, is released on bond. The bill requires division superintendents to report all such incidents to the Departmentof Education in an annual report that is made available to the public. Current law does not require such reports to be in writing and onlyapplies to student offenses but does not specify whether such reportsare required to be made for student offenses that are suspected,charged, or subject to investigation.

Summary: Department of Education; establishment of Farm to School Program Task Force. Requires the Department of Education to establish and appoint such members as it deems necessary or appropriate to the Farm to School Program Task Force for the purpose of increasing student access throughout the Commonwealth to high-quality farm to school programs, defined in the bill as programs (i) whereby public schools purchase and feature prominently in school meals locally produced food or (ii) that involve experiential student learning opportunities relating to local food and agriculture, including school and community garden programs and local farm visits. The bill requires the Task Force to collaborate with local school boards, community-based organizations, farmers, relevant state and local agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to (a) assess existing farm to school programs within the Commonwealth to identify and disseminate to each local school board best practices for implementing and sustaining such programs, (b) establish and distribute to each local school board a guidance document for the establishment and operation of school garden programs, (c) provide information and resources to each local school board to assist it in leveraging grant funds to support farm to school programs, and (d) collect such data and make such policy recommendations to local school boards, the Board of Education, and the General Assembly as it deems appropriate. This bill is identical to SB 314.

Summary: Certain school divisions; cost-savings agreements;requirements. Removes the limitation on any school board thatenters into certain cost-savings agreements with a school board that governs a contiguous school division for the consolidation or sharingof educational, administrative, or support services and thus qualifiesfor adjustment of state share of basic aid computed annually onthe basis of the composite index of local ability-to-pay of such contiguous school division that caps such adjusted basic aid paymentat an amount equal to the basic aid payment appropriated to suchlocality by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly. The bill alsopermits, notwithstanding the requirement set forth in relevant lawthat a school division has 65 percent or more of its local taxescoming from real estate taxes in order for the school board thatgoverns such school division to be eligible to enter into such cost-savingsagreements with a contiguous school division, the Bath County SchoolBoard to enter into such cost-savings agreements with the AugustaCounty School Board, provided that all other conditions and limitations set forth in relevant law apply to any such agreement.

Summary: Public school funding; certain calculations; certain support services positions; programs for at-risk students. Places several parameters on Standards of Quality funding calculations performed by the Department of Education, including (i) requiring the Department, when calculating the cost of salaries under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include facilities staff and transportation staff salaries in the calculation of any cost of competing adjustment to salaries for instructional and support positions that is provided as part of the state share of basic aid pursuant to the general appropriation act; (ii) requiring the Department, when estimating the cost of any compensation supplement for instructional and support positions under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include and estimate the cost of such a compensation supplement for facilities staff; and (iii) prohibiting the Department from applying any cap on inflation rate adjustments to non-personal cost categories during the biennial process of rebenchmarking the direct aid to public education budget. The bill also amends Standard of Quality 2 by (a) including in the definition of "support services position" any central office clerical position that is not otherwise set forth in such definition and (b) establishing the At-Risk Program, defined in the bill as any state funding provided for programs of prevention, intervention, or remediation or pursuant to the at-risk add-on, the statewide voluntary pupil/teacher ratio and class size reduction program, or the Standards of Learning Algebra Readiness Initiative for the purpose of supporting programs for students who are educationally at risk. The bill requires (1) the determination of the amount of state funding for which a school division is eligible pursuant to such At-Risk Program to be based on the school division's identified student percentage, defined in the bill as the fraction, expressed as a percentage, that results from dividing the number of identified students enrolled in a school division by the total number of students enrolled in such school division weighted by the factor between 1.2 and 1.6 that is set forth in the general appropriation act, and (2) such funding to be distributed as follows: 60 percent on a flat per-student rate and 40 percent on a variable rate set out in the general appropriation act based on the concentration of poverty in the school division.

Summary: Public school staffing ratios; teachers; Englishlanguage learner students. Requires state funding to be providedpursuant to the general appropriation act to support divisionwideratios of English language learner students in average daily membershipto full-time equivalent teaching positions as follows: (i) for eachEnglish language learner identified as proficiency level one, oneposition per 25 students; (ii) for each English language learneridentified as proficiency level two, one position per 30 students;(iii) for each English language learner identified as proficiency level three, one position per 40 students; and (iv) for all otherEnglish language learners, one position per 50 students. Currentlaw requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support one such teaching position per 50 Englishlanguage learner students, regardless of the identified English proficiencylevel of such students.

Summary: School Construction Program and Fund; career and technical education programs eligible. Clarifies that, for the purposes of eligibility to receive grants through the School Construction Fund and Program, "local school division" includes any joint or regional school established in accordance with relevant law and "public school buildings and facilities" or "public school buildings" include any building or facility used for career and technical education programs provided at any such joint or regional school. This bill is identical to SB 474.

Summary: School building evacuation plans, policies,and protocols; students with mobility impairments. Requires anydivisionwide or public elementary or secondary school-specific schoolbuilding evacuation plan, policy, or protocol to include provisionsthat seek to maximize the opportunity for students with mobilityimpairments to evacuate the school building alongside their non-mobility-impairedpeers.

Summary: Public high schools; personnel; career coachrequired. Requires each school board to employ at least one careercoach in each public high school in the local school division whoseduties are required to include assisting students with securing internships, externships, and credentialing opportunities as required by the Profileof a Virginia Graduate, providing students with information on apprenticeship programs, and connecting students to career opportunities. The billprovides that each such individual shall be employed in additionto and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions,specialized student support positions, or support services positions.

Summary: School boards; unexpended local funds; capitalreserve fund permitted. Permits any school board, with the concurrenceof the local governing body, to establish a capital reserve fundas a savings account into which it exclusively deposits the localoperating funds that remain unexpended at the end of the year forfuture school division capital expenditures at no additional costto local taxpayers, subject to certain conditions enumerated in thebill.

Summary: Public school staffing and funding; National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund; At-Risk Program; English language learner students. Renames the National Teacher Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund as the National Board Certification Incentive Reward Program and Fund, expands eligibility for incentive grant awards from such Fund pursuant to such Program from solely teachers who have obtained national certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards to all public school staff who are candidates for initial national certification or maintenance of national certification to cover certain costs of obtaining or maintaining such certification and all public school staff who have successfully obtained or maintained such certification, and permits certain teachers to apply for additional incentive grants pursuant to such Program and Fund. The bill also establishes the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at risk, including prevention, intervention, or remediation activities required pursuant to relevant law, teacher recruitment programs and initiatives, programs for English language learners, the hiring of additional school counselors and other support staff, and other programs relating to increasing the success of disadvantaged students in completing a high school degree and providing opportunities to encourage further education and training. The bill also contains provisions relating to certain funding requirements for the At-Risk Program. Finally, the bill requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students based on each such student's English proficiency level, as established in the general appropriation act. This bill is identical to SB 105.

Summary: Public schools; certain local school divisions; youth and community violence prevention; Community Builders Pilot Program established; report. Establishes the Community Builders Pilot Program for the purpose of reducing youth involvement in behaviors that lead to gun violence and increasing community engagement among public school students by providing to students who are entering the eighth grade and enrolled in Roanoke City Public Schools and Petersburg City Public Schools opportunities during the school year after regular school hours and during the summer months for community engagement, workforce development, postsecondary education exploration, and social-emotional education and development. The bill provides that the school boards of Roanoke City Public Schools and Petersburg City Public Schools shall be responsible for the administration of the Program and are directed to collect data and report to the Governor and relevant committees of the General Assembly by November 1 of each year on the progress of the Program. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2027. This bill is identical to SB 484.

Summary: Superintendent of Public Instruction; employment of certified school library specialists. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to employ in the Department of Education at least one certified school library specialist who fulfills several duties enumerated in the bill, including providing leadership and technical assistance with the implementation and use of information literacy skills to support student achievement for local school divisions, Department staff, and other stakeholders and directing the implementation of state and national school library standards and consulting with and providing technical assistance to local school divisions relating to such standards.

Summary: Enrollment of and provision of free public education for certain students; kinship care and foster care. Provides that in the event that a student in a kinship care arrangement moves into a different school division during the school year as a result of safely returning home, being emancipated, or transitioning to a new kinship care arrangement, such student shall be deemed to continue to reside in the previous school division of residence for the remainder of the school year for the purpose of tuition-free enrollment and attendance. The bill also provides that certain provisions of law relating to continuity of public school enrollment and attendance for students in foster care apply to a student who has transitioned out of foster care and whose custody has been transferred to the student's parent or prior legal guardian or who has been emancipated.

Summary: Schools boards; pupil transportation; alternatives. Expands the availability of allowable alternatives to traditional school bus transportation services relating to the transportation of students to and from school or school-related activities, including permitting any school board of a school division for which providing transportation by school bus is not cost effective to use a portion of its transportation funding to provide a grant to any parent of a student who provides student transportation to and from school, subject to certain conditions enumerated in the bill.

Summary: Public school buildings; indoor air qualitystandards. Establishes several enumerated requirements for schoolboards to ensure indoor air quality in each public school buildingin the local school division, including (i) identifying a designatedindividual to oversee the establishment of and adherence to a preventivemaintenance schedule for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning(HVAC) system in each such building and the implementation of theuse of general or local exhaust ventilation in areas of each suchbuilding where housekeeping and maintenance activities involve the use of equipment or products that could reasonably be expected toresult in hazardous chemical or particulate exposures, among otherthings; (ii) controlling microbial and fungal contamination in eachsuch building by promptly repairing water intrusion that can promotemicrobial or fungal growth; (iii) ensuring indoor air quality duringrenovation and remodeling or new construction in various ways; and(iv) keeping school building system maintenance records. The billalso requires the Department of Education to establish and administera school board employee complaint and resolution process relatingto indoor air quality in public school buildings.

Summary: Special education and related services. Makes several changes relating to special education and related services for children with disabilities in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including requiring (i) the Department of Education to (a) develop, establish, review and update as necessary at least once every five years, and make available to each local school board an IEP writing, facilitation, tracking, and transfer system to be referred to as the Virginia IEP that includes, at a minimum, an IEP template component and a data system component and (b) develop and publish a data dashboard for the annual public reporting of state-level, division-level, and school-level special education data; (ii) each local school board to designate a faculty member to serve as a special education parent/family liaison to be a resource to parents and families to understand and engage in the referral, evaluation, reevaluation, and eligibility process if they suspect that their child has a disability and in the IEP process; and (iii) the Parent Training and Information Center in the Commonwealth designated pursuant to relevant federal law to establish special education family support centers in eight distinct regions of the Commonwealth that shall each be staffed by a regional special education family liaison employed by such center, coordinate with the designated special education parent/family liaisons in the local school divisions in the region, develop and implement outreach and support to parents of children with disabilities in its region, and track and report to the State Parent Ombudsman for Special Education data on questions and concerns raised by parents. This bill is identical to SB 220.

Summary: Public schools; transfer and management of scholastic records; disclosure of information in court notices; transfer of disciplinary records; requirements. Requires the superintendent of any school division to, upon receiving notification of the disposition in a delinquency case concerning a student who is not enrolled in such school division, forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division where such student is enrolled or where such student intends to enroll, as evidenced by the receipt of a request from the other school division for such student's scholastic records. Current law only permits the superintendent of any such school division to forward such notification to the superintendent of the school division in which the student is currently enrolled. The bill also requires a copy of the complete student disciplinary records of any student transferring from one school division to another to be transferred to the school division to which such student is transferring, upon request from such school division. This bill is identical to SB 443.

Summary: Public elementary and secondary schools; student discipline; evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices. Prohibits, except in certain cases involving specific offenses enumerated in applicable law or in cases in which the division superintendent or his designee finds that aggravating circumstances, as defined by the Department of Education, exist, any public elementary or secondary school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school without first considering at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice such as community conferencing, community service, mentoring, a peer jury, peer mediation, positive behavioral interventions and supports, a restorative circle, or the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports. The bill also requires the Department to add as part of the student behavior and administrative response collection required pursuant to relevant law the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices as a behavioral intervention in order to evaluate the use and effectiveness of such practices. This bill is identical to SB 586.

Summary: Teachers for Tomorrow Grant Program established. Requires the Department of Education, with such funds as may be appropriatefor such purpose pursuant to the general appropriation act, to establishand administer the Teachers for Tomorrow Grant Program whereby anyschool board may apply for a grant in an amount up to $250,000, tobe awarded on a competitive basis, with which to expose and attracthigh school students in the local school division to careers in teachingthrough curricula, courses, and hands-on experiential learning opportunities,which may include early opportunities to earn course credit at aninstitution of higher education or take and pass assessments requiredfor licensure as a teacher in the Commonwealth.

Summary: Virginia Student Environmental Literacy Plan Grant Fund and Program established. Requires the Office of Environmental Education within the Department of Conservation and Recreation, in conjunction with the Department of Education and any other stakeholder that it deems appropriate, to implement the Virginia Student Environmental Literacy Plan Grant Program and Fund for school districts to develop local student environmental literacy plans and, with consultation from the Department of Education, to maintain a state environmental literacy plan. The bill establishes the Program and Fund, to be administered by the Office, for the purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to any local school board that seeks assistance to initiate, expand, or improve teacher professional development opportunities or student environmental education programs that align with the content and objectives of the bill.

Summary: Public school funding; At-Risk Program established. Establishes the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at risk, including prevention, intervention, or remediation activities required pursuant to Standard 1 (§ 22.1-253.13:1); teacher recruitment programs and incentives; Dropout Prevention; community and school-based truancy officer programs; Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID); Project Discovery; programs for English language learners; the hiring of additional school counselors, testing coordinators, and licensed behavior analysts; and programs relating to increasing the success of disadvantaged students in completing a high school degree and providing opportunities to encourage further education and training and requires a portion of the state funding provided for such At-Risk Program to be allocated to school divisions on a flat per-student percentage rate set out in the general appropriation act and a portion of such funding to be allocated to school divisions on a variable rate set out in the general appropriation act based on the concentration of poverty in the school division.

Summary: School boards; model memorandum of understanding; partnerships with certain mental health services providers; provision and expansion of virtual mental health services. Directs the Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Department of Medical Assistance Services, to develop, adopt, and distribute to each school board a model memorandum of understanding between a school board and a nationally recognized school-based telehealth provider that sets forth the parameters for the provision of mental health teletherapy by such provider to public school students enrolled in the local school division. Current law only requires the development, adoption, and distribution of a model memorandum of understanding between a school board and a public or private community mental health services provider. The bill also permits each school board to adopt policies and procedures to increase the accessibility of school-based mental health services for students enrolled in each school division who may not have access to mental health services otherwise by providing or expanding virtual mental health resources and establishing or expanding a partnership with (i) a public or private community mental health services provider that offers school-based teletherapy to students or (ii) a nationally recognized school-based telehealth provider that provides mental health teletherapy to students.

Summary: Board of Education; instructional materialson climate change and environmental literacy; model policies andprocedures for selection. Requires the Board of Education tomake available to each local school board instructional materialson climate change and environmental literacy that are based on andinclude peer-reviewed scientific sources. The bill requires the Boardof Education to develop, adopt, and make available to each localschool board model policies and procedures, based on peer-reviewedscientific sources, pertaining to the selection of instructionalmaterials on climate change and environmental literacy, includinga requirement for any such selected material to accurately portray changes in weather and climate patterns over time, the impacts ofhuman activity on changes in weather and climate patterns, and theeffects of climate change on people and resources.

Summary: Public school staffing ratios; teachers; English language learner students. Requires state funding to be provided pursuant to the general appropriation act to support ratios of instructional positions to English language learner students based on each such student's English proficiency level, as established in the general appropriation act. This bill is identical to SB 272.