PASSED LEGISLATION Homeschool Privacy - SB 1383 (Senator Dick Black) This legislation prohibits a division superintendent or local school board from disclosing any information from a Notice of Intent form or religious exemption letter to the Department of Education or other person or entity. Initiated by HEAV, this law will prevent homeschoolers' information from being included in the developing Longitudinal Data System. Home Instruction Testing Options - HB 1754 and SB 1403 (Delegate Dave LaRock; Senator Steve Martin) The SAT, ACT, and PSAT tests may now satisfy year-end assessment requirements for homeschooled high school students. Student Identification Numbers - HB 1307 (Delegates Landes, Bell, Cox, Gilbert, Hugo, Kory; Senators Black and Ruff) The Department of Education or local school board cannot require any student to provide a social security number. Instead, the DOE must develop a system of unique student identification numbers. PASSED THEN VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR Homeschool Student Participation in Interscholastic Programs - HB 1626 (Delegates Bell and Ramadan) This legislation would have allowed local school boards to determine if they would allow homeschooled students to try out for public school interscholastic sports and other activities. Common Core Standards - HB 1752 and SB 724 (Delegate LaRock; Senator Black) These companion bills prohibited the state Board of Education from replacing Virginia's SOLs with the Common Core without prior statutory approval of the General Assembly. FAILED LEGISLATION Year-End Assessment Exemption - HB 1753 (Delegate Dave LaRock) Parents beginning home instruction on or after February 1 would not have been required to submit an assessment for the partial school year. Parental Choice Savings Accounts - HB 2238 (Delegate Dave LaRock) Parents of public school children with special needs would have had funds deposited into a parent-managed savings account for educational purposes including home education. State oversight was included.
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