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P assed, Failed, and Vetoed Legislation

March 31, 2015 

 

 

 

Although the legislative session has been over since the end of February, until this past weekend, Governor Terry McAuliffe could either sign or leave legislation on his desk to become law, or he could veto legislation that he opposed.

 

Several important homeschool bills succeeded, but the Governor vetoed 17 bills, including two educational bills of interest to homeschoolers: homeschool access to interscholastic activities and a safeguard from the implementation of the Common Core for public school students.

 

A summary of this year's legislative activity as it relates to home education is below. Legislation that has passed will go into effect July 1, 2015.

 

We must remain vigilant in protecting homeschool rights and parental freedoms. Thank you for your support and prayers during the 2015 session.

 

With warm regards,

 

Yvonne Bunn

Yvonne Bunn
Director of Government Affairs
P.S. If you are not an HEAV member, may I urge you to join today and support the work of keeping Virginia families free? We cannot do it without you!

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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Home Educators Association of Virginia
support@heav.org
804-278-9200 

www.heav.org

Your membership support and donations to HEAV enable us to continue promote and protect homeschooling in Virginia. Thank you for your support!

  

HEAV is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization, and your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent provided by law. Upon written request, a financial statement is available from the Office of Consumer Affairs.