In a
remarkable turnaround (see previous posts), reflective of some very hard and
effective work on the part of the VEA Lobby Cadre, HB 877, the bill which would
have allowed local school boards to privatize the optional portion of the
hybrid VRS retirement plan was carried over by the Senate Finance
Committee. Few of the teachers hired
after January 1, 2014, who must go into the hybrid plan, will ever know what
VEA did for them today, but many years from now, when they retire, they will
have a more adequate and secure retirement because we won this battle. Senator McEachin's motion to carry HB 877
over to the 2015 session prevailed on a 13-4 vote. We had no better champion on this issue than
Senator Creigh Deeds, who spoke effectively on behalf of Virginia's future
school employees.
Our work is
not over on the diabetes bills. Our
concerns have been addressed in Delegate Cole's HB 134, but Senator Stuart's SB532 still has troublesome training and reporting requirements. The House Education Committee reported and
re-referred SB 532 to the House Appropriations Committee today without
conforming it to HB 134.
VEA has long
contended that we need nurses in all of our schools. We cannot endlessly expand the responsibility
of instructional personnel to perform medical procedures, especially when an
error in administration can lead to the death of a child.