Virtual or online learning; development of guidelines and information, public health emergencies.
Summary
SB 1382 would require the Virginia Department of Education to create and publish annual statewide guidance on virtual or online learning. The guidance would cover statewide policies, the availability of online learning options, and best practices for educators and schools, and it would be distributed to local school boards for sharing with parents. The bill is aimed at making information about virtual learning more accessible and keeping it current, with annual updates required.
The bill also amends Virginia’s school safety audit and emergency planning law to explicitly incorporate review of each school’s comprehensive plan for closures during public health emergencies. It would continue to require annual school safety audits, detailed floor plans, collaboration with law enforcement and emergency officials, and written school crisis and medical emergency response plans, while also reinforcing reporting, review, and training requirements for school divisions and administrators.
Impact
SB 1382 would add a new Code section directing the Department of Education to maintain a public, annually updated repository of virtual learning guidance and information, affecting how school divisions, parents, and educators access statewide online-learning policies and options. It would also revise the school safety audit statute to require public schools to review public health emergency closure planning as part of their annual safety audits, alongside existing safety, security, and emergency response obligations. The bill would primarily affect the Department of Education, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety, local school boards, school division superintendents, and school safety and emergency planning personnel.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was not controversial in committee, as it was reported with a unanimous 15-0 vote before being stricken at the patron’s request. With no committee transcript available, there is little evidence of debate or opposition in the record provided. Overall, the bill appears to have been treated as a technical or informational update rather than a highly contested policy change.
Contention
The main policy point embedded in the bill is the addition of public health emergency closure planning to school safety audits, which could be viewed as expanding the scope of school emergency planning. Another possible area of concern is the bill’s requirement that school safety audit results be made public, although the bill preserves existing authority to withhold security-sensitive materials such as floor plans and vulnerability assessments. No specific opposition is documented in the provided materials, and the only recorded action indicates the bill was stricken at the patron’s request.