General Assembly Weekly Update

1-25-2019

2019 General Assembly Update
Key Education-Related Subjects
Week ending Friday, January 25, 2019
Fairfax County Public Schools, Office of Government Relations

Additional information regarding the education-related legislation described below, as well as for all other bills related to education can be found in the thirteen subject categories located on the web pages of the FCPS Office of Government Relations at https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps/departments-and-offices/government-rela….  Bills in these categories are linked to the Virginia Division of Legislative Services web pages, which provide up-to-date summary, fiscal impact and bill status information.


K-12 Related Bills

Race and Ethnicity Data SB 1753 (DeSteph) would prohibit a local school board from using a student's race or ethnicity information for any purpose other than compliance with federal law, when the local school board requires a student or his parent to disclose such information and because of such federal law does not give an option for the student or his parent to designate "other" for the student's race or ethnicity. The bill would also require that for the purposes of a student's permanent record each local school board shall obtain information related to such student's race or ethnicity in a manner that provides such option to designate "other." 

Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center; School Safety Mobile Application SB 1608 (Dunnavant) would require the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center (the Center) to develop or obtain a school safety mobile application to facilitate the provision of real-time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week crisis intervention services by licensed clinicians, including support or crisis counseling, suicide prevention, and referral services to students and youth in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chats and provide to students and youth in the Commonwealth a platform that is capable of receiving text, audio, images, or video to furnish information concerning a suspected, anticipated, or completed criminal violation. The Center would be required to coordinate with the Department of Medical Assistance Services to contract with a third-party to provide such crisis intervention services.

Commercial Advertising Material on School Buses HB 2222 (O’Quinn) would permits local school boards to display commercial advertising material on the sides of school buses between the rear wheels and the rear of the bus, provided that no such material obstructs the name of the school division or the number of the school bus, is sexually explicit, or pertains to alcohol; food or beverages that do not meet the nutrition standards developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture pursuant to the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 or any additional state or local nutrition standards for food or beverages sold to students in school; gambling; politics; or tobacco.

Cannabidiol Oil and THC-A oil; Use at School SB 1632 (Sturtevant) and HB 1720 (Hurst) would require local school boards to adopt and implement policies permitting a student who has been issued a valid written certification for the use of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil to use such oils while at school. The bill would prohibit a school board from suspending or expelling such a student for such use. The bill would prohibit a school nurse employed by a local school board, person employed by a local health department who is assigned to the public school pursuant to an agreement between the local health department and the school board, or other person employed by or contracted with a local school board to deliver health-related services from being prosecuted for possession or distribution of cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil or for storing, dispensing, or administering cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, in accordance with the policy adopted by the local school board, to a student who has been issued a valid written certification for its use. Finally, the bill would require the Department of Health Professions, in coordination with the Department of Education, to develop and make available to school boards, a standardized form to be completed by the certification issuing physician and the dispensing pharmaceutical processor.

School Board Employees; Discipline; Private Reprimand HB 2325 (Thomas) would require the Board of Education to include in its regulations that prescribe the requirements for the licensure of teachers and other school personnel required to hold a license procedure for the private reprimand of such license holders. The bill would permit the Board of Education to issue private reprimand to any such license holder who knowingly and willfully commits a certain enumerated act relating to secure mandatory tests administered to students. The only express disciplinary actions that are permissible under current law in such a scenario are suspension or revocation of such individual's license. The bill would also permit a school board or division superintendent to issue private reprimand to a teacher who breaches his employment contract after the school board or division superintendent declines to grant such teacher's request for release from such contract on the grounds of insufficient or unjustifiable cause. 


Member Proposed Budget Amendments

Members of each chamber have completed introduction of proposed budget amendments.  These amendments will now be considered for inclusion in the budgets proposed by the House and the Senate.  The amendments are outlined below.

House Member Proposed Budget Amendments 

Develop Support Cap Plan (language only) Item 127 #1h (Sickles) would require the Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Finance, in consultation with the Chairmen of the House Appropriations, Senate Finance, House Education, and Senate Education and Health Committees, to develop a plan to eliminate the cap on recognition of support positions in the Standards of Quality and instead recognize support positions in accordance with prevailing local practice. Such a plan will include a schedule for full elimination of the cap and reaching full funding levels by fiscal year 2024. The plan would be required to be submitted to the Governor and the General Assembly prior to the beginning of the 2020 General Assembly session.

Computer Science Training – CodeVA Item 135 #1h (Peace) would allocate the $550,000 each year from the general fund to CodeVA for the professional development and courses provided to teachers related to computer science learning in the classroom. There is a companion amendment to transfer this funding to Direct Aid.

Civics Programming Item 135 #5h (VanValkenburg) would provide $250,000 to the Department of Education to develop and award competitive grants in civics programming.

Teacher Scholarship Loan Program (language only) Item 135 # 10 h (McQuinn) would increase the teaching scholarship tuition grants for students from $10,000 to $15,000 each year.

STEM Teacher Bonus Increase (language only) Item 135 #11h (McQuinn) would allow STEM teachers to receive a fourth year bonus and can receive up to a total of an additional $20,000 over the four years of teaching.

Social Workers:  Item 136 #13h (Adams) would add $51.1 million the second year from the general fund to provide funding to the school divisions. The $51.1 million is based on a calculation of funding one school social worker for every 1,000 students in average daily membership. There is no language provision that requires school divisions to hire any additional school social workers.

HJR 679 - Study the Impact of Allowing Part-time Teachers in VRS:  Item 486 #2h (Ayla) would provide $200,000 from the nongeneral fund in fiscal year 2020 for the VRS to study the impact of allowing part-time public school teachers to participate in the retirement system.

HB 1646 - Enrollment of Non-At-Risk Students in VPI - Division Authority to Charge Fees (language only) Item 136 #24h (Bourne) would permit any local school division to offer remaining unfilled Virginia Preschool Initiative program slots, after the final enrollment of eligible at-risk students, to any other student that meets the age requirement of the Virginia Preschool Initiative program but who does not quality as an at-risk student as defined in paragraph 14. d.1., of this item or otherwise is ineligible to enroll kindergarten in the local school division.  The local school division may charge a fee associated with the enrollment of such students who do not qualify as eligible at-risk students in the Virginia Preschool Initiative program and any such slots used for the enrollment of any ineligible non-at-risk students shall not receive any state funding allocated in this item.  The provisions in this amendment would be contingent on the passage of House Bill 1646.

HB 1799 - Eliminates Accrual of Interest on Fines and Costs Item 136 #25h (Heretick) would provide $7.3 million the second year from the general fund to back-fill lost revenues from the elimination of the accrual of interest on any fine or costs imposed in a criminal case or in a case involving a traffic infraction, pursuant to the passage of House Bill 1799. The bill would provide that any such fine or costs that have accrued interest prior to July 1, 2019, shall cease to accrue interest on July 1, 2019, and such accrued interest may be waived by any court. In addition, localities are also estimated to realize about $3.1 million decrease in revenues. The $7.3 million revenues generated from collected fees, fines and interest would have been transferred into the Literary Fund and used to support Direct Aid to Public Education.)

HB 1873 - School Resource Officer Training Item 393 #2h (Bourne) would provide $50,000 the second year from the general fund for the Department of Criminal Justice Services for school resource officer training, pursuant to the provisions of House Bill 1873.

HB 2619 - Threats of Harm on School Property Item 391 #29h (Miyares) would provide an appropriation to the Corrections Special Reserve Fund to reflect the estimated impact on utilization of beds in the Commonwealth’s Adult Correctional Centers resulting in changes in criminal sentencing pursuant to House Bill 2619 

Testing Coordinators (language only) Item 136 #14h (Landes) would add additional flexibility language for school divisions to hire testing coordinators with At-Risk Add-on funds, which may help reduce workloads of school counselors and free-up the counselors time which then can be dedicated to supporting students' non-academic related needs.

Verified Credits for History and Social Science (language only) Item 130 #3h (LaRock) would revise language dealing with verified credits for high school history and social science to allow the use of state-approved performance-based assessments in those school divisions that have been approved by the State Board of Education as School Divisions of Innovation.

HB 2574 - Alternative Performance-Based Assessments Item 134 #11h (Turpin) would provide $500,000 the second year from the general fund to be deposited into the Duty-Free Grant Fund, pursuant to the passage of House Bill 2144. 

HB 1919 - Dual Enrollment Faculty Credential Tuition Grant Program Item 135 #15h (Stolle) would provide $250,000 the second year from the general fund to fund tuition scholarships on behalf of licensed high school teachers in public schools divisions that enroll in courses in higher education institutions to earn additional credentialing necessary to teach dual enrollment courses in their local public high school.

VPI - Eligibility Criteria Percentage (language only) Item 136 #3h (Jones, J.C.) would double the percentage of Virginia Preschool Initiative slots that can be filled using a local definition of 'at-risk' from 15% to 30%.

VPI Per Pupil Amount Item 136 #21h (McQuinn) would add $2.0 million the second year from the general fund to the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) program. The additional funding is based on increasing the per pupil amount from the current adopted amount of $6,326 to $6,500 for a full-day slot and increasing the half-day slot amount from $3,163 to $3,250.) 

CTE Equipment Item 136 #4h (James) would add $1.0 million the second year from the general fund for vocational-technical equipment in high-demand, high-skill, and fast-growth industry sectors as identified by the Virginia Board of Workforce Development and based on data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and the Virginia Employment Commission. An additional $1.0 million in the second year from the general fund would be provided to increase awards based on competitive innovative program grants for high-demand and fast-growth industry sectors with priority given to state-identified challenged schools, the Governor's Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) academies, and the Governor's Health Science Academies.

At-Risk Add-on Supplemental Payment Item 136 # 5h (Poindexter), would maintain the funding for the At-Risk Add-on Supplemental payments reflected in the current adopted budget. The adopted action in the 2018 Special Session I added $7.1 million to this initiative.)  Item 136 #19h (O’Quinn) would decrease the first year allocation by $7.1 million and increases the second year by $7.1 million for the At-Risk Add-on Supplemental payment to school divisions. The changes in funding are based on lowering the first year add-on percentage from the proposed new 16.0% that is reflected in the introduced budget to 15% and increasing the second year add-on percentage from proposed new 16.0% to 17% for the supplemental payments.

SRO Incentive Grant Program Item 395 #1h (Peace) would increase by $3.0 million the second year the general fund appropriation for the School Resource Officer Incentive Grant Fund. With this amendment, the amount provided for the fund would increase to a total of $4.7 million the second year. This is a recommendation of the House Select Committee on School Safety.)

VCCS - Dual Enrollment (language only) Item 210 #3h (Robinson) would require the Virginia Community College System, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, Department of Education, the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents shall recommend by July 15, 2019 uniform tuition models for dual enrollment course delivery that align with dual enrollment consistency, quality, and pricing recommendations contained in the 2017 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's report on the Operations and Performance of the Virginia Community College System; acknowledge costs associated with implementation of the academic quality standards and best practices for dual enrollment as outlined by the National Alliance for Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships and regional accreditation standards set forth by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges; (3) conform to integration, timeline, and delivery milestones related to Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program and Passport Program pathways and Online Virginia Network Authority delivery models as contained in Chapter 845 of the 2018 Acts of Assembly in § 23.1-203 (20), § 23.1-905.1 (2), § 23.1-905.1 (5. B)  and § 23.1-31. The models would be required to recognize the cost savings associated with dual enrollment instruction at Virginia's community colleges compared to public four-year university tuition, community college and school division expenditures to deliver dual enrollment,  the cost sharing responsibility of the Commonwealth for public education, and the importance of dual enrollment affordability for all students, regardless of family income.

COCA Support Rate Item 136 #9h (Carr) would add $25.4 million in the second year from the general fund to increase the COCA rate for Support positions from 10.6 percent to 24.61 percent.  

COCA for Instructional and Support Positions Item 136 #17h (Bell, J.) would add $25.4 million the second year from the general fund to provide funding to the 18 school divisions that are eligible to receive Cost of Competing Adjustment (COCA) funds. The additional allocation is based on increasing the percentage used to calculate the COCA add-on for support positions from the current adopted rate of 10.61% to 24.6.

Testing Coordinators (language only) Item 136 #14h (Landes) would add additional flexibility language for school divisions to hire testing coordinators with At-Risk Add-on funds, which may help reduce workloads of school counselors and free-up the counselors time which then can be dedicated to supporting students' non-academic related needs.

Provide Local Share of Cost for Two Percent Salary Item 136 #20h (Carter) would provide $71.1 million the second year from the general fund to the school divisions. The additional funding is based on calculating the school divisions' local share of cost for the additional two percent salary incentive increase for SOQ-funded instructional and support positions as proposed in the introduced budget.

School Safety App Pilot Program Item 395 #3h (Robinson) would provide $300,000 the second year from the general fund for the Department of Criminal Justice services to provide grants to three school divisions for pilot programs assessing the effectiveness of mobile school safety communications platforms. This was a recommendation of the House Select Committee on School Safety

Increase State Share of Education Costs Item 136 #22h (Krizek) would add $177.1 million the second year from the general fund to the school divisions. The additional funding is calculated by increasing the state's share of the cost in education by two percent.) 

VPI Slots for All Four-Year-Olds (language only) Item 136 #23h (Bourne) would allow all four-old-year children to enroll in a Virginia Preschool Initiative program and are permitted to reside within other school divisions. In addition, for non-at-risk enrolled children, the local school board can charge a enrollment fee and then use that revenue toward the local match requirement for the VPI program for at-risk students.

Report on Private & Public Special Education Programs (language only) Item 282 #3h (Rush) would require a report on utilization and funding for private and public school special education programs including students who may have transferred from a private to a public school program pursuant to House Bill 1619.

HB 2145 - Teacher Exit Questionnaire Item 134 #16h (Turpin) would provide $100,000 the second year from the general fund to the Department of Education to administer in any local school division in which the school board has opted to participate in a model exit questionnaire for teachers and is pursuant on the passage of House Bill 2145.

School Personnel Climate Survey Item 134 #2h (VanValkenburg) would provide $300,000 the second year from the general fund to the Department of Education along with one full-time position that would oversee and administer the school personnel climate survey and complete analytical work and reporting of results. 

HB 2638 - Teacher Advisory Committee Item 134 #3h (VanValkenburg) would provide funding to the Department of Education to cover costs incurred to develop and appoint members to a teacher Advisory Committee as detailed in House Bill 2638, a Section 1 bill.

Member Proposed Senate Budget Amendments 2019

Transfer CodeVA Item 135 #1s (Newman) would move funds out of the appropriation, $550,000 the first year and $550,000 the second year from the general fund would be provided to CodeVA for the development, marketing, and implementation of high-quality and effective computer science training and professional development activities for public school teachers throughout the Commonwealth for the purpose of improving the computer science literacy of all public school students in the Commonwealth using the Computer Science Standards of Learning for Virginia Public School, which were reviewed and endorsed by the Virginia Board of Education in November 2017. The provided funds could also be used to reimburse CodeVA for teacher training services rendered in 2018 including all cost associated with facilitating teacher training cohorts.

District Choice 11th Gr. College/Career Readiness Assessment Item 135 #6s (Saslaw) would provide $500,000 GF in the second year for a district choice assessment program as a one-year pilot to provide school divisions an option of offering a college or career readiness assessment to its 11th grade students. The pilot would be paid for by state funds and be directed to school divisions through a process created by the Department of Education in consultation with school superintendents. Covered assessments would include the ACT test, the SAT, and Work Keys. The intent is to increase the number of students taking any college or career assessment by providing greater access and equity to school divisions serving students and families that find it difficult to pay independently, with a goal of getting more low-income, first generation students to enroll and persist in post-secondary education whether through a degree or certificate program.

STEM Teacher Incentive-4th Year Item 135 #8 (Sturtevant) would increase incentives for STEM Teacher Incentive Program to attract, recruit, and retain high-quality diverse individuals to teach science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in Virginia's middle and high schools experiencing difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers and that teach in a school division considered At-Risk based on state supervision through a memorandum of understanding with the State Board of Education. Incentive for eligible individuals would include a fourth $5,000 scholarship after completion of fourth year of teaching in such school division. All other preexisting eligibility requirements would also apply. Total incentive would be $20,000 per eligible teacher.

Cost of Competing Adjustment (Support) Item 136 #1s (Barker) and Item 136 #26s (Black) would provide $25.4 million GF in the second year to fully restore the Standards of Quality payments for the Cost of Competing salary adjustment (COCA) to 24.61% for support positions in school divisions in Planning District 8 in FY 2020, as well as to fully restore the prorated adjustment of 25% of the full COCA rate paid in FY 2020 to school divisions in Planning District 8 for nine adjacent school divisions eligible for a partial COCA restoration.

At-Risk Add-On Item 136 #2s (Dance) would provide $28.5 million GF the second year to increase the at-risk add-on percentage range from 1-16% to 1-20%.

Increase VPI Per Pupil Allocation Item 136 #3s (Dance) would increase the Virginia Preschool Initiative per pupil allocation to $6,500 for full day students and $3,350 for half-day students.

Increase State Share of the SOQ Item 136 #4s (Dance) would provide $177.1 million GF in the second year in order to provide tax relief for local property owners by altering the state-local funding responsibilities, via the Local Composite Index of Ability-to-Pay formula, to a new ratio of 57.0 percent state funding to 43.0 percent local funding.) 

VPI Language (language only) Item 136 #5s (Dance) would propose that local school board could offer any VPI slots that remain unfilled by at-risk students after initial enrollment to students who reside in the school division and meet the age requirements but do not qualify as at-risk and may charge a fee for such enrollment. Any school board that charges a fee for such enrollment could use such fees for the purpose of meeting the required local match for the quality preschool programs established pursuant to this subsection.

Dual Enrollment in High Demand Workforce Areas (language only) Item 136 #8 (Favola) would direct the public school systems in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax to work with Northern Virginia Community College to develop innovative dual enrollment models in high demand workforce areas.

Composite Index Adjusted for Land Use Item 136 #9s (Hanger) would modify, beginning with FY 2020, the current calculation of composite index of local ability to pay to incorporate within the real estate indicator of local wealth the land-use assessment value for those properties located within a land-use plan.

Increase State Share Via LCI Item 136 #10s (Hanger) would provide $443.0 million GF by increasing the state share of SOQ funding from 55% to 60%, and thereby reducing the required local share from 45% to 40%.

Assistant Principals Item 136 #11s (McClellan) would change the SOQ ratio for assistant principals to 1:400. Part of 2016 Board of Education recommended SOQ revisions.

Elementary School Principals Item 136 #12s (McClellan) would change the SOQ ratio for elementary school principals to 1 per school. Current ratio provides only partial funding for schools with less than 300 students. Part of the 2016 Board of Education recommended SOQ revisions.

School Nurses Item 136 #13s (McClellan) would provide approximate funding to change the SOQ ratio for school nurses to 1:550. Part of the 2016 Board of Education recommended SOQ revisions.

Social Workers Item 136 #14s (McClellan) would change the SOQ ratio for school social workers to 1:1000. Part of the 2016 Board of Education recommended SOQ revisions.

School Psychologists Item 136 #15s (McClellan) would change the SOQ ratio for school psychologists to 1:1000. Part of the 2016 Board of Education recommended SOQ revisions.

K-3 Class Size Reduction Program Item 136 #16s (McClellan) would change the funding formula to the higher of the statewide average per pupil cost of all divisions or the actual division per pupil cost for any division in an MOU with the Board of Education.

School Climate Survey Item 136 #17s (McClellan) would provide $300,000 GF in the second year pursuant to a policy initiated in Senate Bill 456, requiring the DOE to develop and implement a school personnel climate survey with existing funds. This funding request is the DOE estimate for a full-time researcher to oversee the survey, for the costs associated with the Spring 2019 roll out of the survey, and for the analysis and reporting of the results.

Remove Support Cap Item 136 #18s (McClellan) would provide $356.7 million GF in the first year and $368.9 million GF the second year, to eliminate the methodology established in the Appropriation Act that artificially caps the number of state funded support positions at one support position for every 4.27 instructional positions, as recommended by the Virginia Board of Education in their 2017 Annual Report on the condition of Need of Public Schools in Virginia.

7% Teacher Salary Increase (language only) Item 136 #19s (McDougle) would reallocate funding from the Lottery Supplemental PPA instead to increase teacher salary funding by 2% to 7%.

School Construction Interest Rate Buy-Down (language only) Item 136 #21s (Ruff) would allocate $55.3 million to school construction interest rate buy-down.

Increased VPI Flexibility (language only) Item 136 #22s (Spruill) would increase the percentage of Virginia Preschool Initiative slots that can be filled based on locally established criteria so as to meet the unique needs of at-risk children in the community from 15 percent to 30 percent and increases the weight assigned to free lunch from 40 percent to 50 percent to ensure those areas with the greatest number of at-risk children receive adequate funding.

10-year Plan for Restoration of Literary Fund Use for Capital Projects Item 136 #24s (Sturtevant) would provide $13.64 million in FY 2020 as the first Year of a 10-year step down plan to restore use of Literary Fund for non-recurring school division capital projects grants by funding teacher VRS payments through the General Fund.     
        
H.S. Apprenticeship Pilot Program Item 136 #23s (Sturtevant) would provide $125,000 GF in the second year for the first of a two-year for a pilot grant program in lieu of tax credits as proposed in Senate Bill 1532.

Virginia Preschool Initiative Per Pupil Amount Item 136 #25s (Vogel) would provide $2.0 million GF to increase the allocation formula for the Virginia Preschool Initiative program to $6,500 for full-day programs and to $3,249.50 for half-day programs. Providing high quality pre-kindergarten programs makes it more likely that low income children will enter school ready to learn.

Early Graduation and ADM Item 136 #27s (Sutterlein) would provide $10.8 million GF in the second year for the Department of Education so that a student who graduates from a public high school in less than four school years will be counted in the average daily membership in the relevant school division until the graduation of his class cohort or he is no longer of school-age, whichever is earlier, contingent upon passage of Senate Bill 1587. This is an estimate based on recent history of early graduation of approximately 2,000 students

School Behaviorists Item 136 #28s (Dunnavant) would provide $15.0 million GF in the second year to fund one behaviorist per five schools.

Alternative Education Data Item 128 #1s (Barker) would provide $25,000 GF in the second year for a part-time position, if it is determined to be needed, to support Senate Bill 1298, which requires the Department of Education to annually collect from each school board and publish on its website various enrollment and achievement data on alternative education programs for students who have been suspended, expelled, or otherwise precluded from attendance at school. The bill would require such data to be published in a manner that protects the identities of individual students and disaggregated by local school division and by student race, ethnicity, gender, and disability.

SB 1227 Extend Sunset on Employment of Retirees in School Critical Shortage Areas (language only) Item 474 #15s (Chase) would extend the sunset on employment of retirees in school critical shortage areas. The fiscal impact is minimal due to low participation. (There have been an average of 43 positions statewide over the last 11 years.)

SB 1472 Mental Health First Aid Training for Teachers Item 310 #4s (Deeds) would provide $600,000 from the general fund the second year to allow the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to expand the training program for instructors of Mental Health First Aid. Senate Bill 1472 would require mental health training for all teachers.

School Safety Application Item 419 #4s (Dunnavant) would provide $300,000 GF per year for the Fusion Center to develop an application in conjunction with the Magellan 24-hour mental health hotline to an application in conjunction with the Magellan 24-hour mental health hotline to allow ready access to report both mental health crises and requests for assistance and school safety concerns.

Verified Credit Language (language only) Item 130 #1s (Favola) would revise language dealing with verified credits for high school history and social science to allow the use of state-approved performance based assessments in those school divisions that have been approved by the State Board of Education as School Divisions of Innovation.

School Division of Innovation Item 130 #2s (Favola) would provide $55,000 GF in the second year to allow the Department of Education to hire part-time staff to evaluate the performance-based assessment measures submitted by school boards as part of their waiver for a designation as a School Division of Innovation.

Plan for Phased Removal of SOQ Support Position Cap (language only) Item 127 #18 (Howell) would require submission of a plan to eliminate the cap on recognition of support positions in the Standards of Quality and instead recognize support positions in accordance with prevailing local practice. Such a plan would have to include a schedule for full elimination of the cap and reaching full funding level by FY 2024.

School Resource Officer Training - SB 1130 Item 395 #5s (Locke) would provide $50,000 GF for potential additional costs to the Department of Criminal Justice Services for provision of subject-matter training of School Resource Officers, pursuant to Senate Bill 1130.

Funding for Lead Water Testing Grants for Schools (language only) Item 294 #1s (McPike) would direct the Virginia Department of Health to use any unallocated and unused state funds in the Drinking Water program to be made available as grants to local school division for lead water pipe testing.

SB 1629: Local School Board to Submit Lead Water Testing Plan and Results Item 294 #2s (McPike) would  provide funding for the Virginia Department of Health to handle plans and test results of lead water testing pursuant to Senate Bill 1629. The bill would add the requirement for the local school board to submit the testing plan and report the results of any such test to the Department of Health.

17th Career Cluster (Energy) Item 128 #2s (Newman) would provide up to $50,000 GF in the second year, if needed, for the Department of Education to cover all costs associated with the set up and design of a 17th career cluster: energy.

Dual Enrollment Tuition Uniformity Plan (language only) Item 210 #2s (Saslaw) would propose to develop a plan related to dual enrollment tuition uniformity.

Microcredentialing Program Item 133 #1s (Sturtevant) would provide $10,000 GF in the second year designated for the Department of Education to cover all costs incurred by the department and the Advisory Board on Teacher Education & Licensure in convening appropriate stakeholders to design and implement a microcredentialing program in the Commonwealth.

IEP Transition Pilot (SB 1576) Item 129 #1s (Sutterlein) and (SB 1264) Item 129 #2s (Vogel) would provide $55,000 GF in FY 2020 to implement a pilot program to study the feasibility of educational placement transition of certain students with disabilities.