Constitutional amendment (first reference);education; state appropriations to private schools. Removes the requirement that private schools be nonsectarian in order to be eligiblefor appropriation of state funds.
Students who receive home instruction; participationin interscholastic programs. Prohibits public schools from joiningan organization governing interscholastic programs that does notdeem eligible for participation a student who (i) receives home instruction;(ii) has demonstrated evidence of progress for two consecutive academicyears; (iii) is in compliance with immunization requirements; (iv)is a person of school age for whom public school is free; (v) hasnot reached the age of 19 by August 1 of the current academic year;(vi) is an amateur who receives no compensation but participatessolely for the educational, physical, mental, and social benefitsof the activity; (vii) complies with all disciplinary rules and issubject to all codes of conduct applicable to all public high schoolathletes; and (viii) complies with all other rules governing awards,all-star games, maximum consecutive semesters of high school enrollment,parental consents, physical examinations, and transfers applicable to all high school athletes. The bill provides that no local schoolboard is required to establish a policy to permit students who receivehome instruction to participate in interscholastic programs. Thebill permits reasonable fees to be charged to students who receivehome instruction to cover the costs of participation in such interscholasticprograms, including the costs of additional insurance, uniforms,and equipment. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2027.
Nutrient credit trading; adjacent hydrologicunit code. Removes authority for a Virginia Stormwater ManagementProgram or Virginia Erosion and Stormwater Management Program toallow compliance with stormwater nonpoint nutrient runoff water qualitycriteria through the applicant's acquisition of nutrient creditsin the same tributary in an adjacent hydrologic unit code (HUC) orfourth order subbasin, unless certain existing criteria for purchasingcredits outside of the HUC or fourth order subbasin are met, whenthe credits are in a locality with a population fewer than 20,000people and geographic area under 200 square miles.
Absentee voting; excuse required to vote absenteeby mail; excuse required to vote absentee in person prior to thesecond Saturday preceding an election. Requires a registeredvoter to provide a reason for being absent or unable to vote at hispolling place on election day in order to receive an absentee ballotto vote by mail. Registered voters offering to vote absentee in personare similarly required by the bill to provide a reason until thesecond Saturday immediately preceding an election, at which timean excuse is not required to vote absentee in person. The bill providesthat an application for an absentee ballot is required to receivean absentee ballot by mail and to vote absentee in person beforethe second Saturday immediately preceding an election. The bill alsorepeals the permanent absentee voter list and limits the special annual application to those voters with an illness or disability.
Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Creditsprogram. Increases from 65 percent to 75 percent the tax creditfor the value of the monetary or marketable securities donation madeby a taxpayer to an eligible scholarship foundation.
Elections; absentee voting; ballots to be sortedand results to be reported by precinct. Provides that absentee ballots processed at a central absentee precinct must be sorted bythe precinct to which the voter who cast the absentee ballot is assignedand that the resulting vote totals from such ballots must be reportedseparately for each voter precinct.
Education Savings Account Program; establishment. Establishes the Education Savings Account Program (the Program),to be administered by the Department of Education (the Department)with assistance from each local school board, whereby the parentof any elementary or secondary school student who (i) is a memberof a household whose annual income does not exceed two times theannual household income that would qualify the student for free orreduced-price lunch and (ii) was eligible to attend a public schoolin the Commonwealth in the preceding semester or is starting elementaryor secondary school in the Commonwealth for the first time is eligibleto receive an education savings account, for as long as the studentis of school age and the amount of which is determined pursuant toa calculation set forth in the bill, to cover certain enumeratededucational expenses for his child. The bill requires the Departmentto establish rules and regulations for the Program and contains conditions,limitations, and other requirements for the Program, including provisionsrelating to the accountability and educational autonomy of individualsand entities receiving account funds to cover qualified expenses.
Superintendent of Public Instruction and localschool boards; standards for certain public school library materials;parental review of library and other educational materials. Requiresthe Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and distribute to each local school board and each such school board to enforcethroughout the local school division mandatory statewide standardsfor evaluating, classifying, and removing from any public elementaryor secondary school library any explicit material. The bill alsopermits the Office of the Attorney General to enforce compliancewith such standards in any local school division. The bill also establishesmeans and processes for the review of education materials and thereview and approval of library materials by parents, including requiringthe parents of all students who attend a public elementary or secondaryschool to comprise the Parental Review and Approval Committee forsuch school and requiring such Committee to review and vote to approveor disapprove of each item on a list of proposed library materialsdistributed to it by the school.
Board of Education; standards for the maintenanceand operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementaryand secondary school buildings. Requires the Board of Education(the Board) to make recommendations to the General Assembly for amendmentsto the Standards of Quality to establish standards for the maintenanceand operations, renovation, and new construction of public elementaryand secondary school buildings. The bill requires such recommendationsto include standards for the percentage of the current replacementvalue of a public school building that a school board should budget for the maintenance and operations of the building and such otherstandards as the Board deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board to solicit the input of relevant stakeholders and the publicin developing such recommendations. Finally, the bill requires theBoard to submit its recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Healthno later than December 1, 2022. This bill is a recommendation ofthe Commission on School Construction and Modernization.
Purchase of handguns; limitation on handgunpurchases. Removes the prohibition on any person who is not a licensed firearms dealer from purchasing more than one handgun ina 30-day period. Current law makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for aviolation of this provision, subject to certain exemptions.
