Updated Friday January 20, 2006

Week 8 Update—March 5, 2004

Committees have all but wrapped up their work and legislators primarily will discuss legislation during floor sessions next week. Budget conferees have been appointed to try to reach a compromise on a 2004-2006 state budget.

The House Education Committee completed its work for the session on Monday, with the Senate Education and Health Committee finished its docket after two sessions on Thursday. Click here for a schedule of weekly meetings (http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?021+oth+MTG

The Budget

The House and Senate have appointed their members to serve on the budget conference committee, which will try to reach a compromise 2004-2006 state budget prior to a Tuesday midnight deadline. Conventional wisdom is that the two sides will not be able to reach agreement by March 9 given the vast differences in the respective House and Senate plans. Failure to reach agreement would push the legislature into overtime past the scheduled March 13 adjournment. Members of the budget conference committee are as follows: Delegates Callahan, Putney, Hamilton, Cox and Joannou; Senators Chichester, Wampler, Stosch and Colgan.

Even before the conferees met for the first time, battle lines were being drawn. House Republican leaders endorsed an idea floated earlier in the week by former governors Wilder and Allen that a voter referendum be held on parts of the budget. Specifically, they recommended using existing revenues to fund the likes of education and health care, and then make new or expanded state programs contingent on voter approval of higher taxes. House leaders said that anything short of a voter referendum would result in an impasse; the governor and Senate indicated they would not accept such a referendum. A day later, there was some backing off that ultimatum by some House members, but the idea of a referendum has not been totally abandoned.

Perhaps the most troubling component of the House proposal is the plan to decouple the teacher VRS rates (the pooled rate in the introduced budget resulted in a higher state employee rate and lower teacher rate) and cap state reimbursement for teacher retirement at 6.03%. Localities would be responsible for the unfunded liability rate above the fixed 6.03%. The state's share of the retirement costs would be fixed at this rate not only in FY05 but also in succeeding years. Any contribution rate over 6.03 percent would be the liability of the locality; the contribution rate increase, however, would be phased-in over three years to recognize one third of the difference between 7.82% (the amount actually needed to fund the system) and 6.03%. Localities would be charged the higher rates, yet the state would calculate its share of the costs based on the lower, fixed rate of 6.03%. The picture gets worse in future years, as the VRS already has predicted that retirement contribution rates will continue to rise. The Senate, meanwhile, sets the teacher retirement rate at 6.56%.

Recall that the Senate plan, touted as an investment that will ease pressure on local real estate taxes, relies on enhanced revenues from changes in tax policy to pump additional state dollars into the likes of public and higher education, transportation and health services. The House proposal balances the budget largely by capturing revenue from the repeals of long-standing sales and use tax exemptions for businesses, while level funding and reducing programs. 

Legislation

     The following legislation of interest has either been approved or is successfully winding its way through the legislative process:

HB 380 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 Board of Education (BOE) review and comment on applications (but not whether the application should be approved), requires school boards to state reasons for denial of an application, gives priority to charter schools serving at-risk students unaccredited schools, and includes a provision that the changes in this bill expire in 2009. (reported from Senate Education and Health)

HB 513 directs the BOE to develop model student conduct policies that include self-defense. (passed House and Senate)

HB 576 authorizes school divisions to employ “turnaround specialists” to assist failing schools and to provide enhanced retirement benefits for such personnel (in the form of a defined contribution program outside VRS, but managed by VRS) and for licensed instructional personnel teaching in a middle school where there is a DOE-identified critical need. (reported from Senate Education and Health.

HB 675 allows persons providing home school instruction to hold a high school diploma, rather than a bachelor’s degree. (passed House and Senate)

HB 1013 creates the At-Risk Student Academic Achievement Program and Fund. This is the VML/VACo/First Cities plan to provide funding for at-risk students, as they are more likely to have difficulty passing Standards of Learning (SOL) tests. Grants awarded through this program are subject to budget appropriations. (reported from Senate Education and Health)

HB 1014 and SB 479 contain numerous revisions to the Standards of Quality (SOQ) as proposed by the BOE; a second enactment clause states that amendments requiring additional state funding (such as increasing the number of principals) will not take effect unless funded in the budget. HB 1014 has been reported by Senate Education and Health. SB 479 has passed the House and Senate.

HB 1015 requires that information on various resources about and steps to take to avoid sexual assault be included in family life education curriculum guidelines. (reported from Senate Education and Health)

HB 1048 limits issuance of local eligibility licenses to teachers in areas outside the core academic areas, and specifically prohibits such licenses from being issued to special education teachers. This measure is designed to comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act provisions requiring highly qualified teachers. (passed House and Senate)

HB 1294 modifies the current school corrective action plan process within the SOQ to authorize the BOE to require an academic review of schools that have not achieved full accreditation and to pursue circuit court enforcement of the corrective action plan when the school division fails to develop or implement it. (reported from Senate Education and Health)

 The following resolutions are pending before the Senate Rules Committee:

HJR 105, which creates a joint subcommittee to study state assistance to localities for school infrastructure needs.

HJR 123, which requests the BOE to review its regulations for incorporation of an alternative licensure route for principals and assistance principals.

HJR 124,which continues the Commission to Review, Study and Reform Educational Leadership to receive reports and information regarding BOE recommendations on alternative licensure and a two-tiered licensure system.

HJR 179, which encourages the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold, in a case now before it, a public school district policy requiring teachers to allow willing students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance 

HJR 192 and SJR 77 ask Congress to provide a waiver from the NCLB Act school accountability provisions for states, such as Virginia, that have successfully raised student achievement through their own standards and accountability reforms. These bills likely will end up in a conference committee.

SB 335 restricts service of summons to a teacher in a custody or visitation case to a sheriff or deputy, and applies a $12 fee for such summons. (reported from Senate Courts of Justice)

SB 416 requires the BOE to consult with the regional superintendents' study groups to develop a timetable for reporting SOL test scores to schools and school divisions. (passed House and Senate)

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