The pace has picked up in Virginia’s General Assembly as we approach some key deadlines. ‘Crossover’ is February 13, the deadline by which legislators must complete work on bills originating in the House of Delegates or the Senate. Any bills that have not passed their respective chamber will be left behind for this legislative session.
In addition, deadlines loom for each chamber to complete their budget amendment bills. The House Appropriations and the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees must finalize their budget reports by midnight February 18 and finish consideration of their budget bills by February 22.
Priority Education Bills
This year 4 Public Education's priority bills have focused to a large extent on recommendations from two reports recently published by the Joint Legislation and Audit Review Commission (JLARC): Virginia’s K-12 Funding Formula and K-12 Teacher Pipeline. The priority bills address revising the funding formula, improving staffing to student ratios, raising the salaries of teachers, and allowing communities to increase their sales tax to support public schools after a referendum. Unfortunately, some of these bills have been “continued” (delayed for consideration) until 2025 so if we are to fix the serious underfunding of Virginia’s public schools it will depend on successful budget negotiations.
Other bills we have prioritized include changing the Virginia code to