The 2008 General Assembly is now in session
Week 5 Update—February 8, 2008
“Cross-over day,” the last day for each house to act on its own bills, is Tuesday, February 12. House and Senate versions of the two-year budget for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 are slated to be released on Sunday, February 17.
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 8:30 a.m. in Senate Room B. Sub-committees will meet periodically throughout the session. Click here for a schedule of weekly meetings.
The Budget
Governor Kaine is expected to reveal revised state revenue estimates the beginning of next week. The downward revision could force state budget writers to reduce spending by up to $1 billion over the next two-and-a-half years. Despite the economic downturn, the governor, in speaking Thursday to local government officials, vowed to maintain funding for the Standards of Quality. Following release of the new figures, the House and Senate money committees have a matter of days to prepare their respective versions of the next two-year state spending plan prior to the February 17 deadline.
The budget introduced by the governor for the next biennium contains an additional $1 billion for public education over the two-year period, much of which ($890 million) is to update state costs of the Standards of Quality (SOQ). Click here for additional information about Governor Kaine's proposed education budget for 2008-2010.
Legislation
The House and Senate both have approved bills that would direct the Board of Education (BOE) to develop a plan to withdraw from participation in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, unless waivers that allow Virginia's existing educational accountability system to meet NCLB requirements are granted by the U.S. Department of Education. HB 1425 was approved in House on a 92 to 7 vote, while SB 490 was unanimously approved by the Senate.
After having been referred from the House floor back to the Appropriations Committee last week, that panel now has endorsed HB 1164, which creates income tax credits for business entities and taxpayers who make contributions to eligible public school foundations and scholarship foundations (which distribute dollars primarily to certain public, private, or home-schooled students). The party line vote to approve the bill was 15 to 9. These provisions would be effective with tax year 2010. The House Finance Committee previously had endorsed the measure.
HB 242 requires local school boards to make a program of physical fitness available to all students with a goal of at least 150 minutes per week on average during the regular school year. Such program may include physical education classes, extracurricular athletics, or other programs and physical activities deemed appropriate by the local school board. The bill received preliminary approval Friday on the House floor.
Here’s an update on some other action this past week:
The Senate has unanimously approved SB 408, which raises the maximum limit for any Literary Fund loan from $7.5 million to $14. No action was taken on the House counterpart. The Senate also overwhelmingly approved SB 267, which expresses a state goal that public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive with the national average teacher salary.
HB 1218 awaits final action on the House floor. It would prohibit use of wireless telecommunications devices by persons while driving school buses. A companion bill already has passed the Senate.
Bills to provide planning time during the school day for elementary teachers are facing rough going in the legislature. The Senate Finance Committee approved SB 48 to require that all elementary teachers receive an average of 30 minutes of planning time per day. However, language also was included that make the requirement contingent on state appropriation for such purpose. A companion measure in the House, HB 1216, was tabled (not acted on) in the House Appropriations Committee.
The House has approved HB 1135, which provides that a student's voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject, be treated in the same manner as a student's voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject, and the school division shall not discriminate against the student based on a religious viewpoint that is expressed.
On Friday, the Senate Rules Committee reported SJR 25, which is a resolution to put the General Assembly on record as “recognizing the problems with and the implications of the “65 percent solution.” The 65 percent solution proposes to reallocate school spending to ensure that at least 65 cents of every dollar is spent on classroom instruction and teacher salaries. It defines instructional spending as not including expenditures for the likes of food services, building operation and maintenance, school administration, student support services and student transportation, all of which are integral parts of school operations. On the House side, a bill to implement this “solution”, HB 878, was carried over for the year.
The Senate Education and Health Committee has defeated SB 537, which would have required local school boards to develop and implement policies specifying the criteria and procedures for changing any grade given to a student. Meanwhile, the House Education Committee carried over HB 379, which would have allowed local school boards to withhold a student's report card or diploma because of nonpayment of a fee or charge related to loss or damage of a textbook.
Back to 2008 General Assembly
Click here to see archived General Assembly Updates. |
