The 2010 General Assembly is now in session
Week 5 Update—February 12, 2010
The 2010 General Assembly session began Wednesday, January 13, 2010. The session runs 60 days and is scheduled to end on March 13, 2010. “Cross-over day,” the last day for each house to act on its own bills, is February 16. House and Senate versions of the two-year budget for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 will be released on February 21.
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 will meet on Thursdays at 8:30 a.m. in Senate Room B. Sub-committees will meet periodically throughout the session. Click here for the schedule of weekly meetings.
Budget News
Budget writers in the House are looking to address a more than $4 billion budget gap by cutting deeper into state agency programs, requiring state workers to pay into their retirement and using additional federal dollars, according to various media reports this past week. The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) changes likely would generate greater savings 20 to 30 years out, though some near-term cost reductions also are expected. HB 1189 is the legislative vehicle for the VRS changes; it was approved by House Appropriations on Friday. It modifies the VRS defined benefit retirement programs for new employees to, among other things, require 5% employee contributions, reduce cost of living adjustments, reduce the average final compensation multiplier by .05 percent and change unreduced retirement to a “rule of 90” (combination of age and years of service). Meanwhile, the picture appears less clear in the Senate Finance Committee as to the direction its budget will take. One scenario that has been discussed calls for $720 million more in public education cuts, $480 million more in health and human services reductions, and another $150 million in cuts for higher education. Significant reductions in employee benefits also could be on the table. Some Senate budget writers have expressed concern that as state funding for public education is reduced, local funding efforts also will decline. Local governments pump about $3 billion more into public education than required by the state, with several dozen school divisions channeling twice as much local money to schools than the state requires. House and Senate versions of the budget are due to be released on Sunday, February 21.
Early this past week, Governor McDonnell indicated his support for having scheduled changes to the school funding formula move forward. The introduced budget submitted by Tim Kaine in his waning days as governor delayed the update of the local composite index (LCI) until FY 2012. If the House and Senate agree to undo the Kaine proposal, then the LCI for nearly 100 localities will increase as originally planned and those school divisions will receive fewer state dollars. This would cost the state about $29 million in FY11. Governor McDonnell recommended that part of that amount be funded by yet another transfer of balances from the Literary Fund (in this case, about $13 million of the total).
For a few days this past week, it looked as if future state budgets could be developed on a different timeline. The Senate Finance Committee approved SB 102, which provided that biennial appropriations start on July 1 of odd-numbered years, beginning with July 1, 2011. The current process results in an outgoing governor submitting a proposed two-year budget just weeks before leaving office, providing the incoming governor with limited opportunity to shape the budget in his first two years in office. However, when the bill reached the Senate floor, it was recommitted to the Finance Committee on a 21 to 19 vote and carried over for the year.
Click here for additional information about Governor Kaine's proposed education budget for FY10; and here for the proposed FY11/FY12 education budget.
Legislation
Charter schools received a lot of attention this past week. In announcing his “The Opportunity to Learn” legislative package on education, Governor McDonnell proposed legislation that calls for a process in which the Board of Education (BOE), utilizing charter school experts, would review all charter school applications before they come to a local school board, and adds an appeals process to allow charter school applicants an additional chance to receive approval from the BOE when denied by a local school board. These ideas are contained in HB 1390 and SB 737, which were introduced the end of the week.
The House has approved HB 331, which allows the BOE to submit recommendations to local school boards as to the approval or disapproval of charter school applications, and requires local school boards to provide, in writing, their reasons for denying an application or revoking or failing to renew a charter school agreement.
The House Education and House Appropriations Committees were especially busy this past week dealing with other education-related bills:
House Appropriations approved HB 599 on a split vote. This bill provides an income tax credit for businesses and individuals that make contributions to foundations that would distribute scholarships to impoverished families for meeting the costs of education at a public or private school. Representatives from a half dozen groups spoke in favor of the bill, while school board and teacher groups opposed the measure. The House Finance Committee previously had approved the bill, while a similar, but not identical measure failed in Senate.
Despite a subcommittee’s recommendation for approval, the House Education Committee defeated HB 926 on a 12 to 9 vote. At a subsequent meeting, the Committee carried the bill over for the year. The bill would have directed the Virginia High School League to allow homeschooled students to participate in interscholastic activities.
HB 558, the bill that proposed SOQ changes requested by the BOE, failed to report from the House Appropriations Committee.
The House Education Committee carried over for the year HB 528, which would have required a school principal to notify the parents of a student whenever action has been taken to physically restrain such student. The bill had first been recommended for reporting by a subcommittee, and then later it was recommended to be carried over.
HB 581 was defeated in the House Appropriations Committee. It would have required school divisions to provide 80 hours of training in student behavior management to any aide assigned to work with a teacher who has primary responsibility for students with an autism spectrum disorder.
A House Appropriations subcommittee recommended that HB 1067 be laid on the table and not acted on this year. The bill would have required Board of Health regulations setting nutritional guidelines for all competitive foods sold during the school day; a similar fate probably awaits the identical SB 414, which was approved by the Senate. HB 565 was defeated for the year. The bill would have relaxed the post-Labor Day school opening law to allow school divisions to begin school one week before Labor Day in years in which Labor Day fell on September 5 or later. The House Education Committee had approved the bill, but once the bill reached the House floor, it was referred back to the House Appropriations Committee where it was defeated.
The House Appropriations Committee has approved an amended version of HB 669, which eliminates the triennial census in favor of a yearly estimate of school age population (ages 5 to 19) to be provided by the Weldon Cooper Center.
On the Senate side, the Senate Finance Committee gave final approval to SB 722 by a vote of 29 to 11. The bill expands the recipients of the health insurance credits currently going to retired teachers, to all retired employees of local school divisions. And SB 715, which requires local government and civics instruction in teacher preparation programs and for teacher license renewal, passed the Senate.
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