Summary: State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; public institutions of higher education; policies for establishing eligibility for accommodations; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in consultation with representatives of public institutions of higher education, disability advocacy organizations, students enrolled at public institutions of higher education, higher education disability accommodation professionals, and a subject matter expert, to (i) study the processes by which each public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth determines the eligibility for accommodations of an admitted or enrolled student with a temporary or permanent disability, (ii) identify in such processes any potential barriers to establishing eligibility, and (iii) make recommendations on reducing any such barriers and on the development and establishment of a uniform accommodations eligibility determination in the Commonwealth. This bill is identical to HB 509.

Summary: Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Board of Visitors; membership; powers and duties; meetings. Expands the total membership of the Board of Visitors of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind from 11 to 15 members by increasing the number of nonlegislative citizen members from seven to 11. The bill provides that of the 11 nonlegislative citizen members, two shall be parents of current students at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, of whom (i) one is the parent of a student who is deaf or hard of hearing and one is the parent of a student who is vision impaired and (ii) one represents the Eastern region of the Commonwealth and one represents the Western region of the Commonwealth; two shall be representatives of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind Alumni Association who are deaf or hard of hearing; and two shall be representatives of the Alumni Association who are vision impaired. Under current law, the requirements for the parent representatives are less specific and there is only one representative of the Alumni Association. The bill also amends the powers and duties of the Board of Visitors to include supervising the superintendent, other officers, and the faculty of the school. The bill provides that, in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, any notice of a meeting of the Board of Visitors shall state whether public comment will be received and, if so, the approximate point at which it will be received. The bill requires that at each meeting at which public comment will be received each interested individual is allotted three minutes to speak and prohibits limiting that allotted time without adequate notice prior to the date of the meeting. The bill also requires the Board of Visitors to meet no less than four times each year. Current law provides that the Board of Visitors shall meet no more than four times each year. Finally, the bill defines the terms "deaf," "hard of hearing," and "vision impaired."

Summary: Public institutions of higher education; governing boards; powers and duties; legal counsel; scope of employment. Provides that the governing board of each public institution of higher education shall have authority over the employment of all legal counsel for the institution, including decision-making authority in the commencement or termination of any legal counsel, the employment of outside legal counsel, the oversight and management of any legal counsel, and the appointment of a general counsel to serve as the chief legal officer of the institution. The bill provides that the chief legal officer and the vice president or similarly situated executive officer of such institution shall, under the direction of the governing board of such institution, conduct the legal affairs of and provide legal advice and representation for such institution on any matter that the governing board determines to be in the interest of the institution. The bill clarifies the scope of the involvement of the Attorney General in the legal affairs of public institutions of higher education, providing that the Attorney General may only provide legal service to a public institution of higher education upon request of the governing board of such institution or upon the governing board's decision to delegate all authority in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill permits the governing board of any public institution of higher education with less than 7,500 full-time students to delegate all authority over legal counsel conferred pursuant to the provisions of the bill. The bill also provides that the approval of the Attorney General shall be required for any legal settlement involving consideration in excess of $5 million. The bill also clarifies the duties of the governing board of each public institution of higher education in its collective capacity and of the members of such governing board in their individual capacities.

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 incorporates SB 127, SB 128, SB 187, SB 227, SB 228, and SB 609 and is identical to HB 624.

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 HB 1089.

Summary: School board policies; parental notification; safe storage of firearms in the household. Requires each local school board to develop and implement a policy to require the annual notification of the parent of each student enrolled in the local school division, to be sent by email and, if applicable, SMS text message within 30 calendar days succeeding the first day of each school year, of the parent's legal responsibility to safely store any firearm present in the household, risks associated with improperly stored firearms, statistics relating to firearm-related accidents, injuries, and death among youth, and other tips and strategies. The bill requires each school board to make such parental notification available in multiple languages on its website. This bill is identical to HB 498.

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 HB 830.

Summary: Teacher licensure; universal licensure by reciprocity. Establishes universal licensure by reciprocity as a category of teacher licensure in the Commonwealth for teachers who hold a valid out-of-state teaching license with full credentials and without deficiencies that has been in force and in use by the individual as an employed teacher in a non-virtual classroom setting at a public or private elementary or secondary school for at least three years prior to and is in force at the time of application and meet other provisions set forth in the bill. The bill also permits the division superintendent rather than the Board of Education, as in current law, to issue a career and technical education teacher a provisional license to allow time for the teacher to attain the industry certification credential required by law. Finally, the bill directs the Department of Education to compile, publicly post on its website, and update as necessary, data on teacher licensure standards and requirements for each state for the purposes of facilitating the determination of the compatibility of out-of-state teacher licenses with requirements for teacher licensure and licensure by reciprocity in the Commonwealth and increasing transparency of such licensure requirements. This bill is identical to HB 632.

Summary: Board of Education; through-year growth assessment system; alternatives during 2024-2026 school years. Requires the Board of Education to permit school boards to administer, during the 2024-2026 school years, assessments as alternatives to the through-year growth assessment system established by the Board, provided that any such alternative assessment is aligned to the Standards of Learning. This bill is identical to HB 1076.

Summary: School boards; employment verification; timing. Requires each school board to respond within 10 working days of receiving a request for employment verification of a former employee of the school board when such verification is sought by another school board. The bill defines working day as every day except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal state and federal holidays. This bill is identical to HB 355.

Summary: Board of Education; guidelines on school-connected overdose policies; response and parental notification. Requires the Board of Education to establish guidelines for school-connected overdose response and parental notification policies to aid local school boards in the implementation of such policies. The bill requires such guidelines to include (i) a model action plan for each school board to follow in responding to any school-connected overdose, including communicating and coordinating with the Department of Education and the applicable law-enforcement liaison or the local law-enforcement agency that employs such school division's school resources officers, and (ii) criteria for issuing parental notification to ensure sensitivity to the privacy interests of affected individuals and compliance with any applicable law, rules, or regulations relating to the disclosure and protection of a minor's personal, confidential, or otherwise sensitive information. This bill is identical to HB 1504.

Summary: Public education; community schools; Office of Community Schools at Department of Education. Requires the Department of Education to establish the Office of Community Schools as an office within the Department for the purpose of supporting the development and growth of community schools throughout the Commonwealth in accordance with the Virginia Community School Framework. This bill is identical to HB 625.