Bill Text: VA HB1652 | 2019 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: School calendar; opening day of the school year.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2019-03-18 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0569) [HB1652 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-HB1652-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§22.1-79.1 and 22.1-296 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§22.1-79.1. Opening of the school year; approvals for certain alternative schedules.
A. Each local school board shall set the school calendar so
that the first day students are required to attend school shall be after
no earlier than 14 days before Labor Day. In each school division in
which the school board sets the school calendar so that the first day students
are required to attend school is before Labor Day, such school board shall
close each school in the school division from the Friday immediately preceding
Labor Day through Labor Day. The Board of Education may waive this
requirement based on a school board certifying that it meets one of the
good cause requirements of subsection B.
B. For purposes of this section, "good cause" means:
1. A school division has been closed an average of eight
days per year during any five of the last 10 years because of severe weather
conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations;
2. A school division is providing, in the school year for
which the waiver is sought, an instructional program or programs in one or more
of its elementary or middle or high schools, excluding Virtual Virginia, which
are dependent on and provided in one or more elementary or middle or high
schools of another school division that qualifies for such waiver. However, any
waiver granted by the Board of Education pursuant to this subdivision shall
only apply to the opening date for those schools where such dependent programs
are provided;
3. A a school division is providing its
students, in the school year for which the waiver is sought, with an
experimental or innovative program which requires an earlier opening date than
that established in subsection A of this section and which has been approved by
the Department of Education pursuant to the regulations of the Board of
Education establishing standards for accrediting public schools. However, any
waiver or extension of the school year granted by the Board of Education
pursuant to this subdivision or its standards for accrediting public schools
for such an experimental or innovative program shall only apply to the opening
date for those schools where such experimental or innovative programs are
offered generally to the student body of the school. For the purposes of this
subdivision, experimental or innovative programs shall include
instructional programs that are offered on a year-round basis by the school
division in one or more of its elementary or middle or high schools; or.
Any waiver provided pursuant to this subsection shall only apply to the opening
date for those schools where such year-round instructional programs are offered
4. A school division is entirely surrounded by a school
division that has an opening date prior to Labor Day in the school year for
which the waiver is sought. Such school division may open schools on the same
opening date as the surrounding school division.
C. Individual schools may propose, and local school boards may
approve, pursuant to guidelines developed by the Board of Education, alternative
school schedule plans providing for the operation of schools on a four-day
weekly calendar, so long as a minimum of 990 hours of instructional time is
provided for grades one through twelve 12 and 540 hours for
kindergarten.
§22.1-296. Payment of employees; reimbursement for private transportation; certain sick leave policies.
A. Each school board shall provide for the payment of
teachers, principals, assistant principals, and other employees monthly,
semi-monthly semimonthly, or biweekly, as may be determined by the
school board.
However, school boards receiving a waiver from the Board of
Education pursuant to §22.1-79.1 and setting the school calendar so that
the first day students are required to attend occurs prior to August 15 shall
establish a payment schedule to ensure that all contract personnel are
compensated for time worked within the first month of employment.
B. All school board employees may be reimbursed for private transportation at a rate not to exceed that which is authorized for persons traveling on state business in accordance with §2.2-2825. Whatever rate is paid, however, shall be the same for school board members and employees of the board.
C. Each local school board shall adopt policies providing for leave without pay for school board employees with debilitating or life-threatening illness or injury, without regard to the employee's length of service with the school board.
2. That any school board of a school division that was granted a waiver for the 2018-2019 school year under one of the good cause requirements then in effect pursuant to §22.1-79.1 of the Code of Virginia or pursuant to Chapter 3 of the Acts of Assembly of 2012, Special Session I, may continue to set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend is earlier than 14 days before Labor Day. Additionally, any school board of a school division that was granted a waiver pursuant to Chapter 3 of the Acts of Assembly of 2012, Special Session I, shall not be required to close the Friday immediately preceding Labor Day.
