Update 2015 Legislation November 13, 2015 Legislative and Policy 2015 Update: Virginia Association...

Update 2015 LegislationNovember 13, 20151

Legislative and Policy 2015 Update: Virginia Association for School Personnel

Administrators

Cynthia A. CaveAssistant Superintendent for Policy and Communications

November 13, 2015


2

2015 Legislation Affecting Teachers, School Personnel, and Benefits


HB 1320 (Farrell)Requires that the Board of Education’s Licensure Regulations for School Personnel include requirements that every person seeking renewal of a license complete all renewal requirements including professional development in a manner prescribed by the Board, except that

No person seeking renewal of a license shall be required to satisfy any such requirement by completing coursework and earning credit at an institution of higher education. [Requires action by the Board of Education: Amendment of Licensure Regulations for School Personnel Proposed.]


HB 2020 (BaCote)Delays from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2020 the expiration of provisions (i) requiring school boards, division superintendents, if so requested, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to

Annually identify and report critical shortages of teachers and administrative personnel and (ii) permitting any person receiving a service retirement allowance who is hired as a local school board instructional or administrative employee required to be licensed by the Board of Education to elect to continue to receive the retirement allowance during such employment under certain conditions.


2014-2015 Top Ten Critical Shortage Teaching Endorsement Areas in Virginia

1. Special Education

2. Elementary Education PreK-6

3. Middle Education Grades 6-8

4. Career and Technical Education

5. Mathematics Grades 6-12 (including Algebra I)

6. School Counselor PreK-12

7. Foreign Languages PreK-12

8. Health and Physical Education PreK-12

9. English

10. History and Social Sciences


HB 2137 (Yancey)Permits the Board of Education, upon request of the employing school division or educational agency, to issue a provisional license to a teacher seeking an initial license in the Commonwealth who has not attained an industry certification credential in the area in which the teacher seeks endorsement to issue a provisional license to those teachers

HB 2137 would allow time for the teacher to attain the required industry certification credential. [Requires action by the Board of Education: Amendment of Licensure Regulations for School Personnel in process.]


HB 2178 (Poindexter) and SB 1162 (Watkins)

Allows school divisions the option of establishing and administering their own deferred compensation and cash match plans for the hybrid retirement program. Employees of such school divisions would have the option of participating in such programs. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2016.


Sources of Information

• Hybrid retirement: http://www.varetirement.org/hybrid.html • VRS plan comparison: http://www.varetire.org/pdf/publications/vrs-plans-comparison.pdf

http://www.varetirement.org/hybrid.html

http://www.varetire.org/pdf/publications/vrs-plans-comparison.pdf

http://www.varetire.org/pdf/publications/vrs-plans-comparison.pdf


SB 1046 (Hanger)Authorizes the governing bodies of three or more cities, counties, or school boards, if they comprised the membership of a multiple employer welfare arrangement on December 31, 2014, to:

Form a benefits consortium for the purpose of establishing a self-funded employee welfare benefit plan. The benefits consortium will be a nonstock corporation established to operate a benefits plan. Each member of the benefits consortium shall be contractually liable for its allocated share of the consortium's liabilities. The benefits consortium will be exempt from taxation and from insurance regulations.


SB 1117 (Norment)Clarifies the following that, in cases in which the subject of the investigation is a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary employee of a school division who is suspected of abusing or neglecting a child in the course of his educational employment:

The time period for determining whether a report is founded or unfounded and transmitting a report to that effect to the Department of Social Services and the person who is the subject of the investigation shall be mandatory, and every local department shall make the required determination and report within the specified time period without delay.


HB 1443 ( Bell) and SB 782 (Favola)Requires the Board of Education (BOE) to adopt regulations on the use of seclusion and restraint in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth.

The bill requires that such regulations are consistent with certain existing guidance documents; include definitions of terms, criteria for use, restrictions for use, training requirements, notification requirements, reporting requirements, and follow-up requirements; and address distinctions between certain student populations.

[Requires action by the Board of Education: Regulations Governing Special Education Programs for Children with Disabilities in Virginia.]


HB 1587 (Landes)Provides that in cases in which a school board employee is directly exposed to body fluids of a minor student in a manner that may transmit HIV or the hepatitis B or C virus, the minor student's parent or guardian shall be notified prior to initiating testing of such minor student for infection with such viruses.


SB 1021 (Puller)Amends Code of Virginia to allow local school boards to request a waiver from the Board of Education in the event of severe weather conditions or other emergency situations. The Board must still determine whether school division requests meet that standard, and school divisions must still provide evidence of efforts to reschedule as many days as possible and certification by the division superintendent and chairman of the local school board that every reasonable effort for making up lost teaching days or teaching hours was exhausted before requesting a waiver.

[Requires action by the Board of Education: Amend Regulations Governing Reduction of State Aid When Length of School Term Below 180 Teaching Days or 990 Teaching Hours—in process.]


Other Bills of Interest


Standards of AccreditationHB 1873 (Krupicka) and SB 1320 (Locke)Requires the Board of Education (BOE) to amend the Standards of Accreditation by the 2016-2017 school year to establish additional accreditation ratings that recognize the progress of schools that do not meet accreditation benchmarks but have significantly improved their pass rates, are within specified ranges of benchmarks, or have demonstrated significant growth for the majority of their students.

[Requires action by the Board of Education: Amend Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia--Completed.]


School Performance Report Card HB 1672 (Greason) and SB 727 (Black)Repeals the A-F school grading system and requires the Board of Education (BOE), in consultation with the Standards of Learning (SOL) Innovation Committee, to redesign the School Performance Report Card no later than July 1, 2016

Requires the BOE to provide a redesigned report card for all schools and divisions by October 1, 2016 and each October 1 thereafter.


Current and Proposed Information Related to Educators on Report Card

• Percentage of core academic classes taught by teachers not highly qualified (teaching outside endorsement)

• Percentage of teachers teaching with provisional or provisional special education credentials

• Teacher Education Attainment—percentage of teachers by highest degree earned

• Proposed: Elementary/High School Students Per Teacher (division and state)


Link to Complete Legislative Report

• http://www.doe.virginia.gov/boe/meetings/2015/03_mar/agenda_items/item_k.pdf

Update 2015 Legislation November 13, 2015 Legislative and Policy 2015 Update: Virginia Association...

Documents

Transcript of Update 2015 Legislation November 13, 2015 Legislative and Policy 2015 Update: Virginia Association...