The House Education Committee had just a couple of bills on
the docket this morning, but that didn’t stop the committee from running long.
Our VEA President had his first opportunity to testify
before a committee when he spoke in opposition to HB1392 (Lingamfelter) that
would allow school security officers to carry guns. As he was leaving the
podium, the Chair of the committee, Del. Steve Landes, welcomed Jim as the new
VEA President and mentioned that the Committee was looking forward to working
with him. A nice start, of course the bill reported, but still a nice moment. A
reminder that courtesy can prevail even when you disagree.
The big topic in the full committee was the annual hearing
on allowing home-schooled students to participate in VHSL interscholastic
activities. Last year this bill passed the General Assembly only to be vetoed
by Governor McAuliffe. The bill reported from the Committee and will likely
pass the House and Senate. We will have to see what the Governor does.
In sub-committee there were quite a few bills of interest
for us. Del. Dudenhefer’s bill that would put a staffing ratio for school
nurses into the Standards of Quality (SOQs) was one we were very interested in seeing. Right now, while
nurses aren’t included in support staff, there are not required staffing ratios
for the position. As you may know, this fall the BOE revised the SOQs with a
required school nurse for every 550 students. Dudenhefer’s bill originally had
some different ratios, but the VEA had a good meeting with him yesterday and
talked through the BOE recommendation. Today his bill was amended to reflect
the BOE’s revisions (and VEA's conversation with the Delegate) of one school nurse for every 550 students, and the VEA could
get behind it. The bill has been referred to Appropriations, so there is not a
lot of hope for a good outcome, but we are certainly glad to see at least one
of the BOE’s revised staffing levels making it out of the House Education Sub-Committee.
After 3 hours, our morning in the House Education and Sub
ended, just in time for the floor session to begin.
