Del. Shelly Simonds

Public high schools; personnel; career coachrequired. Requires each school board to employ at least one careercoach in each public high school in the local school division whoseduties are required to include assisting students with securing internships, externships, and credentialing opportunities as required by the Profileof a Virginia Graduate, providing students with information on apprenticeship programs, and connecting students to career opportunities. The billprovides that each such individual shall be employed in additionto and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions,specialized student support positions, or support services positions.

Board of Education; criteria for initial renewableteacher licensure for certain individuals. Requires the Boardof Education to issue an initial renewable license as a teacher toany applicant who (i) is enrolled in an accredited education preparationprogram at an institution of higher education in the Commonwealth;(ii) is recommended for such licensure by the dean of such educationpreparation program; (iii) has attempted, unsuccessfully, to obtaina qualifying score on the communication and literacy assessment prescribedby the Board; (iv) meets all other requirements for such license;and (v) meets any other criteria for the issuance of such licensein such circumstances as may be established by the Board of Education.

Public school funding; nonpersonal cost categories;federal fund deduction methodology; support services. Requiresthe Department of Education, (i) in calculating nonpersonal costsin the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include the costsassociated with leased facilities and work-related employee travel and (ii) in calculating the deduction of federal funds in the Standardsof Quality funding formula, to examine actual school division spendingon support costs as a percentage of actual school division spendingon all public education costs, with certain exceptions such as foodservice. The bill also requires support services positions, whichincludes positions in each local school division that the schoolboard deems necessary for the efficient and cost-effective operationand maintenance of its public schools, to be funded based on a calculationof prevailing costs and prohibits such positions from being subjectto any method of funding calculation that caps the number of fundedsupport services positions based on a ratio of such positions tostudents enrolled in the local school division.

Public school staffing ratios; specializedstudent support positions. Increases the number of specialized student support positions required to be employed by each local schoolboard from at least three to at least four such positions per 1,000students in the local school division. Such specialized student supportpositions include school social workers, school psychologists, schoolnurses, licensed behavior analysts, licensed assistant behavior analysts,and other licensed health and behavioral positions.

Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund; Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; Advisory Review Committees. Requires the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund (the Preparedness Fund) and adds the Advisory Review Committee to the list of those with whom the Department is required to consult in establishing guidelines regarding the distribution and prioritization of loans and grants from the Preparedness Fund. The bill also requires the Director to convene an Advisory Review Committee to assist in the distribution of loans and grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund (the Revolving Fund) and adds the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources and the Advisory Review Committee to the list of those with whom the Virginia Resources Authority is required to consult in directing the distribution of grants or loans from the Revolving Fund to particular local governments and establishing the interest rates and repayment terms of such loans. The bill requires the Department to make available for public inspection at the office of the Department and on a publicly accessible website records of each application for grants and loans from the two Funds and the actions taken thereon, post such applications within 15 calendar days of the loan or grant round application deadline, and provide an opportunity for a 30-day public comment period prior to each new loan offering to solicit feedback on proposed revisions to the funds' manuals. This bill was incorporated into HB 1458.

Health insurance; cost sharing for breast examinations.Prohibits health insurance carriers from imposing cost sharing fordiagnostic breast examinations and supplemental breast examinations,as those terms are defined in the bill, under certain insurance policies, subscription contracts, and health care plans delivered, issued fordelivery, or renewed in the Commonwealth on and after January 1,2025. The bill provides that such examinations include examinationsusing diagnostic mammography, breast magnetic resonance imaging,or breast ultrasound.

Virginia Retirement System; enhanced retirementbenefits for 911 dispatchers. Allows local governments to provideenhanced retirement benefits for hazardous duty service to full-time salaried 911 dispatchers. The bill provides that such enhanced retirementbenefits apply only to service earned as a full-time salaried 911dispatcher on or after July 1, 2025, but allows an employer, as thatterm is defined in relevant law, to provide such enhanced retirement benefits for service earned as a full-time salaried 911 dispatcherbefore July 1, 2025, in addition to service earned on or after thatdate. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2025.

Division of Early Childhood Care and Education; Department of Education; comprehensive review of certain findingsand recommendations relating to the quality of early childhood careand education in the Commonwealth; report. Requires the Division of Early Childhood Care and Education of the Departmentof Education, in consultation with the Virginia Early Childhood Foundationand such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate, to (i) conducta comprehensive review of the findings and recommendations containedin the 2017 report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission,Improving Virginia's Early Childhood Development Programs, to determine what barriers, gaps, and deficiencies continue to existin the provision of high-quality early childhood education and carein the Commonwealth, with a particular focus on gaps and deficienciesin the ongoing monitoring of Virginia Preschool Initiative programquality, including the collection and analysis of data relating tooutcomes and kindergarten readiness, and (ii) report its findingsand any associated policy recommendations to the Board of Education,the Governor, and the General Assembly no later than November 1,2024.

Celebrating the life of Janet Marie Brooking.

Commending Peter A. Blake.