Updated Friday January 20, 2006

“Cross-over day,” the last day for each house to act on its own bills, is February 17. House and Senate versions of the two-year budget for fiscal years 2005 and 2006 will be released on February 22.  

The House Education Committee is scheduled to meet on Mondays at 9:00 a.m. in House Room C and Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. in the Appropriations Room.  The Senate Education and Health Committee meets on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. in Senate Room B.  Sub-committees will meet periodically throughout the session. Click here for a schedule of weekly meetings (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgibin/legp504.exe?021+oth+MTG

The Budget

            The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee has outlined his committee’s priorities in a floor speech to members. Del. Vince Callahan indicated that the House, among other things, will fund the governor’s SOQ rebenchmarking proposal and invest more money in higher education. He said the House will not fund program expansions or new initiatives and will level-fund or freeze programs at the FY04 levels. The House is expected to prepare its version of the budget relying only on projected revenue growth and not any tax policy changes, but will include certain user fees. Early next week, the Senate Finance Committee will shape the framework of the budget it will release in just over a week, as it votes Tuesday on the various revenue-generating proposals before it. The Senate is expected to endorse a package that enhances tax collections even more than proposed by Governor Mark Warner in December. Chairman John Chichester outlined his plan this past Tuesday with the help of approximately a dozen speakers representing business, public and higher education and various citizens, who extolled the virtues of additional revenue for meeting high-priority needs.

            Education and labor groups joined forces on Monday to rally for increased state investment in public education. Governor Warner was the keynote speaker for the event, which drew hundreds of people to the Capitol grounds. The governor urged the crowd to tell legislators to not accept a penny less for public education than proposed in his budget.

The House and Senate versions of the budget, which are expected to differ greatly, will be released February 22.

Legislation    

HB 1014 and SB 479, the Board of Education’s (BOE) proposed revisions to the Standards of Quality (SOQ), continue to wind their way through the legislative process. HB 1014 has passed the House, but not before some debate on the House floor this past week. Several delegates complained that the state should concentrate on funding the current SOQ rather than the new goals proposed by the BOE. The Board’s initiatives in large part are an effort to recognize the prevailing practices in local school divisions and ensure state funding for those standards. The SOQ on which the state bases its share of funding have not been overhauled since the late 1980’s.  Both bills contain similar, though not identical provisions stating that any new standards requiring funding shall not take effect unless the state's share of dollars for that standard is included in the budget. SB 479 is on the Senate floor for a vote next week.

Here’s an update on other action this past week:

HB 380, the charter schools bill, is on the House floor. It includes provisions that charter school applications contain certain disclosures by school personnel and governing board members, and that applications can be renewed for a period of five, rather than three, years. The bill also allows BOE review and comment on applications, requires school boards to state reasons for denial of an application and includes a provision that the law expire in 2009.

HB 519, which required schools to be closed on the Martin Luther King holiday unless schools were open for a make-up day, was stricken by the patron on the House floor.

HB 573, which directs the BOE to require passage of the School Leader's Licensure Assessment (SLLA) as a condition of initial licensure for principals, effective July 1, 2005, has now passed the Senate Education and Health Committee. This measure is a recommendation of the HJR 20/SJR 58 Commission to Review, Study and Reform Educational Leadership.

HB 927, which would have required seatbelts on all school buses by 2009, was tabled in House Transportation.

HB 1015 was amended on the House floor to remove a provision that required certain information about the use of emergency contraception in response to sexual assault to be included in family life education curriculum guidelines. The bill now contains only references to various resources about and steps to take to avoid sexual assault.

The House Appropriations Committee tabled HB 1099, which would have established a policy that the average teacher salary in Virginia meet or exceed the national average. House Education previously defeated a measure that would have provided that any increase in state funding for public education include an appropriation to support teacher salary increases.

The House narrowly approved HB 1358, which allows waiver of the post-Labor Day school opening law if a school division is surrounded by a division with a waiver, has at least 10% nonresident students and shares program and curricula with the other divisions.

The Senate narrowly approved SB 27, which requires employers to permit employees to take up to four hours of leave annually (not compensated if the employer chooses) to be involved in their child’s school.

SB 452, which clarifies when state basic aid funding will be reduced because of school closings due to bad weather or emergency situations, and provides that when schools are closed under such conditions, that schools make up the first five days plus one day for each two days missed after the first five, was unanimously approved by the Senate.

SB 487, which required DMV to suspend a student’s driver’s license for one year if such student has been expelled, suspended or required to attend an alternative programs for more than 10 days for violating school policies related to alcohol, drugs or assault on a teacher, was carried over for the year in Senate Transportation.

            Several resolutions of interest await action. These include HJR 87, which requests a JLARC study of the fiscal implications of the state’s compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. The House already has passed HJR 192, which asks Congress to allow states having raised student achievement through their own reforms, to receive a waiver from the Act’s school accountability provisions. A counterpart to this bill, SJR 77, is in Senate Rules. Also are pending are resolutions that propose a one-year study of the feasibility of implementing the JLARC education funding recommendations from 2002, and that would study the level of the state’s assistance to localities necessary to develop adequate school infrastructure.

            Next week, this report will focus on major education-related legislation that remains following the Tuesday “crossover” of bills.

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