The protocols for training school employees about children experiencing a mental health crisis must also be addressed by this bill. Students experiencing a mental health crisis and possibly contemplating suicide are considered a “threat” according to training protocols and law enforcement is called on these students. Consider adding language to this bill that training protocols for school personnel are in alignment with federal standards and best practices. And that these students are referred for extra support with an Individual Education Plan. (IEP). Currently these students are not being identified for additional support in the school setting with an IEP and are being denied the right to an appropriate education under IDEA. They are given a watered down version of support through referrals to mental health treatment outside the school setting but leaves out that the student could really benefit from an IEP for support “in school” as well.

Please vote in support of HB121. As an adult with lifelong food allergies, I was the ONLY student in my elementary school with this disease. Today, 2 of my children have food allergies &, on average, 1 in 13 children have them. Strict avoidance keeps us alive, and the quick use of epinephrine in the event of a reaction can save us. Epipen administration is simple; the hardest part for many people is getting over the fear of using it. The more one practices (with a trainer that has no needle) and the more one knows about signs of reactions & what to do in the event of one, the more likely one will be to take action in the event of an actual emergency. I commend the students at McLean HS for taking initiative with this project. Thank you for educating others on how to save my life and those of my children.

The Virginia PTA supports allergic reaction training for High School students.

The Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals (VASSP) has concerns regarding HB 121. We feel that this would negatively impact valuable instructional time for students and teachers. As our educators work diligently to help students recover from the effects of Covid on education, we feel that this information could be built into the Health and Physical Education curriculum, thereby reducing the effect on instructional time.

I support this bill. Can we get some attention on Special Education Students who have no access to Education as required by Federal Laws, that school divisions are violating day after day without repercussion, while students and families go broke fighting corrupt school divisions who always seem to have more than adequate funding to send millions of taxpayer education dollars to their Third Party School Board Attorneys instead of providing Appropriate Accessible Education as required by FAPE and IDEA?

HB359, HB538, and HB1008 work together to support HB936, one of the three top priority bills in the [Virginia Progressives legislative agenda](http://VAProgressives.org). Taken together, the bills shape physical and curricular infrastructure Virginia's children will need to prepare for taking on the problems of the social provisioning of human needs going into a global climate crisis, and include proper funding mechanisms for their implementation. These bills reach up to meet initiatives from the federal level. Billions in federal funds are being spent into existence, and will flow in greater amounts in the future. They are seeking such programs in order to be spent effectively. More than half a dozen currently active can be found in our above linked legislative agenda, including, directly addressing the impact statement for HB936, [guidance for the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG)](https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-09/CPRG%20General%20Competition%20NOFO.pdf) which states: ---- Accordingly, the CPRG general competition for implementation grants is designed to enable states, municipalities, tribes, and territories to achieve the following goals:" ... 2. Pursue measures that will achieve substantial community benefits (such as reduction of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)), particularly in low- income and disadvantaged communities; ... In general, EPA anticipates that applications may seek funding for the following types of measures: ... • Implementation of new benchmarking and building performance standards ----- VA DEQ has been made aware, including in its Glen Allen DEQ CPRG public input session, that HB936 can tap this program while making DEQ's application more competitive.

The Virginia PTA supports HB564

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Virginia's schools receive less K-12 funding than the 50-state average, the South-Atlantic regional average, and three bordering States (KY, MD, WV). Virginia's Standards of Quality funding formula underestimates staffing needed to serve Virginia's students, uses recession-era caps to limit funding, and fails to adequately account for the higher costs of educating students at-risk due to poverty, special education, or English language learner needs. Virginia's over-reliance of local governments to fund a high-quality education has fueled a shortage of fully licensed teachers and contributed to achievement gaps. The Virginia PTA supports HB624.

When I and 7 other members of the Sorensen ELP cohort of 2023 began working on a legislative proposition that eventually became HB 761, it was immediately obvious that Virginia's public schools system was in dire need of financial reform in several key areas. As a Republican and strong proponent of local government control over purse strings as much as is feasible, it is my belief this bill not only goes a long way to ensuring the Commonwealth is holding up its end of the agreement in a better manner but also will allow localities and county/city school boards better opportunity to solve the problems that are unique to them. In studying the JLARC report, it is apparent to me that these efforts will help a great deal across the Commonwealth, from Lee County to Fairfax. Few proposals before the General Assembly this year, in my opinion, serve to have such a great deal of potential positive impact regardless of zip code or voter/legislator policy affiliation. It is for these reasons I ask the committee to vote in favor of passing this Bill to the floor. Thank you, Steven Statzer

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Please consider adding language to this bill that ensures students who have Individual Education Plans will also have their plans preserved if they are placed in the Foster Care system. Considering that typically these are hostile situations where a parent is fighting the locality, there needs to be some barrier to the students and the parents rights as they are going through the process. In my family’s case, there was wrong doing and criminal activity identified as the perpetrators were the employees of the Fairfax County Department of Social Services. These bad actors intentionally stripped out all of the services that were written into my daughters IEP so my daughter would have less federal procedures in place to protect her from what the County employees were doing to her and my family.

Dear Chairwoman Simonds and members of the subcommittee, Our names are Ryan Carp and Divya Sharma, and we are students in the State and Local Government Policy Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law. The views we express in this testimony are our own, and not those of the University or the Law School. We have had the privilege of working with Delegate Callsen to develop this legislation, and we ask that you vote for HB 777. Placement and living instability can wreak havoc on a child’s educational progress. Virginia already offers some educational protections to children in the foster care system. Specifically, children in formal foster care placements have the flexibility to either enroll immediately in a school in their new jurisdiction or to stay in their current school when placed outside of their district. HB 777 extends these educational protections so that they also apply to children who transition out of foster care and children in informal kinship care (also known as alternative living arrangements), limited to the end of the ongoing school year. As a result, HB 777 will provide two significant benefits for Virginia’s most vulnerable children. First, it will offer educational stability for every child involved in the foster care system. This stability will help these students (1) maintain continuity in education, (2) preserve important relationships, and (3) find a source of security during a very traumatic time. Second, HB 777 will eliminate the need to delay beneficial transitions in living arrangements until the end of the school year out of fear of disrupting the child’s education. Instead, the child’s family and local DSS can prioritize the child’s well-being without having to sacrifice their educational progress. Ultimately, by giving all children involved in the foster care system the option to prioritize educational stability, school enrollment will no longer serve as a barrier to viable placements and children will experience better long-term educational and social outcomes. For these reasons, and those that will be given by Delegate Callsen, we strongly urge you to vote for HB 777. Thank you so much! Ryan Carp and Divya Sharma

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Specialized instruction and support services help higher- need students succeed academically. Funding should reflect the division level enrollment of high- need students such as English language learners. The Virginia PTA supports HB825.

It is essential that we separate myth from reality and provide opportunities for students to learn about where their food comes from and provide hands-on learning opportunities that spark interest in agriculture to sustain this important industry and grow our next generation of farmers. Virginia PTA supports the expansion of programs that enable schools to procure and serve more locally grown food and support programs that provide hands-on learning in school gardens. The Virginia PTA supports HB830.

We are in a youth mental health crisis, and better access for students to mental health support, both in person and virtually, and throughout all localities, should be an urgent priority. The bill appears to require a framework and model agreements to expedite better access across the Commonwealth.

Please help fund our rural schools!

I am writing in support of HB1029. I believe this is a more equitable way to allocate funding. Thank you for considering this bill.

Please support HB 1029. Virginia’s smallest school divisions are currently at a disadvantage because of the 2008 cap placed on basic aid for small schools. Removing the cap would be equitable and fiscally sound according to JLARC. Small schools like Rappahannock County Public Schools can make a little go a long way. In Rappahannock County, we use every dollar available to provide important basic services ro our students. We plan increase teacher pay to keep up with inflation, but with very limited revenue sources, we are not guaranteed to be able to fund this locally without significant hardship. The funding for this bill is included in the Governor’s budget and this small expenditure would mean a great deal to the quality of education in Virginia’s smallest school divisions. We support Bath County’s ability to also tap into Basic Aid through this bill. Thank you for your time and consideration. Rachel Bynum, Rappahannock County School Board, Piedmont District

Dear Chair and Honorable Members of the Committee, I urge you to support Delegate Runion's Bill, HB 1029. I live in Rappahannock County where most of the land is taxed at an agricultural rate and our school population is below 1,000 children. As a consequence our LCI is very high and the County has the burden of funding 80% of the public School budget. HB1029 would provide substantial help to rural counties such as ours by allowing us to partner with other counties and receive sufficient Supplemental Basic Aid to provide our children with the quality education they deserve. I thank you in advance for your support of this Bill. I

This stop gap supplemental basic aid will help Bath County, but also three other small, rural districts with very unique circumstances that create a major disadvantage when applying the state funding formula. While there is much work to be done revamping the funding forumla, these districts cannot wait, especially if mandated to incorporate many of the policy changes to SOQ and programming, for additional state funding to potentially become available through a funding formula overhaul. Until then, please support this bill. It only has the potential to impact four school districts that cannot be captured by the funding formula, even with many of the revisions being proposed. Fiscal impact is extremely low. Thank you for considering moving this bill forward.

Dear Education Committee, My name is John Wesley Mills, Chairman of the Rappahannock County School Board, and I am writing to support HB1029. This bill will provide supplemental support to small, rural school districts that require assistance in order to provide an equitable educational experience to neighboring districts. The change would help our children compete on a larger stage which is presented as they take next steps into college and career. I request the Education K-12 subcommittee unanimously support HB1029. With gratitude for your service, John Wesley Mills

I urge the committee to support this bill which removes a cap placed in 2008 on proceeds of implementation of Chapters 847 of the Acts of 2007 which permits Rappahanock, Highlsnd Bath and Surry (very small districts with high LCIs, to enter into cooperative agreements. Most of the caps placed in 2008 have been removed. This one should be as well. It’s a simple action with significant financial consequences in out years. Note that the Governor ‘s proposed budget addresses this problem for Rappahannock but does not address the cap. This proposed legislation with address the problem permanently

I urge the committee to support this bill which removes a cap placed in 2008 on proceeds of implementation of Chapters 847 of the Acts of 2007 which permits Rappahanock, Highlsnd Bath and Surry (very small districts with high LCIs, to enter into cooperative agreements. Most of the caps placed in 2008 have been removed. This one should be as well. It’s a simple action with significant financial consequences in out years. Note that the Governor ‘s proposed budget addresses this problem for Rappahannock but does not address the cap. This proposed legislation with address the problem permanently

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Oppose bill: In the 1980s-90s young people heard the same depressing messages about our environment and that the world was going to end. Why are you starting now? Our young students do not need more "drama in their lives." The last three years Progress Democrats and some Republicans have done damage to our nation's students. "If schools teach Climate Change, at least be honest about it! I question how many teacher teach the facts and both sides of the topic? Do you know this? Finally, show taxpayers the exact curriculum being used to teach Climate Change so we know what students are being taught in the classrooms. By the way, China, India, and Iran are the worst polluters in the world. Do our students know this? Are we teaching them the truth? In the meantime, are lakes, rivers, highways, streets, forests, neighbors, beaches, lawns, parks, and yards are littered with garbage. How about getting students involved in picking up garage and recycling? Tell students to stop littering. Why are we letting them on social media during school when we know it is bad for their mental health? It all comes down to money and politics which is a shame.

HB359, HB538, and HB1008 work together to support HB936, one of the three top priority bills in the [Virginia Progressives legislative agenda](http://VAProgressives.org). Taken together, the bills shape physical and curricular infrastructure Virginia's children will need to prepare for taking on the problems of the social provisioning of human needs going into a global climate crisis, and include proper funding mechanisms for their implementation. These bills reach up to meet initiatives from the federal level. Billions in federal funds are being spent into existence, and will flow in greater amounts in the future. They are seeking such programs in order to be spent effectively. More than half a dozen currently active can be found in our above linked legislative agenda, including, directly addressing the impact statement for HB936, [guidance for the EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG)](https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-09/CPRG%20General%20Competition%20NOFO.pdf) which states: ---- Accordingly, the CPRG general competition for implementation grants is designed to enable states, municipalities, tribes, and territories to achieve the following goals:" ... 2. Pursue measures that will achieve substantial community benefits (such as reduction of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)), particularly in low- income and disadvantaged communities; ... In general, EPA anticipates that applications may seek funding for the following types of measures: ... • Implementation of new benchmarking and building performance standards ----- VA DEQ has been made aware, including in its Glen Allen DEQ CPRG public input session, that HB936 can tap this program while making DEQ's application more competitive.

Comments Document

TO: Members, House Appropriations - Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee FROM: Virginia League of Conservation Voters DATE: February 5, 2024 RE: ✅ 2/5 VaLCV Bill Positions | House Appropriations - Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee On February 5, the House Appropriations - Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee will consider: HB1088 We encourage you to SUPPORT HB1088 HB 1088 (Carr) Climate change and environmental literacy; instructional materials, model policies. This Legislation Would: Require the Virginia Board of Education to provide materials on climate change and environmental literacy to local school boards that are based on scientific, peer-reviewed source material.

I urge the subcommittee to support HB 1088. It is essential that all Virginia students at all grade levels have access to complete and accurate information about climate change that is based on peer-reviewed science. Today's students will be dealing with climate change for their entire lives. The topic needs to be taught with age-appropriate information to help students understand the changes in climate that are occurring now and that will continue to worsen, and how to address the causes of those changes. The bill's requirement of accurate, peer-reviewed science is crucial, because organizations funded by fossil-fuel interests have been disseminating inaccurate science information to school systems around the country. I believe the bill would be stronger if it required not just the availability of instructional materials but also the actual teaching of accurate, peer-reviewed science in Virginia schools. Other states do this now. Virginia should too. For a Columbia University report on the state of climate-science education in U.S. schools, see https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/02/09/climate-education-in-the-u-s-where-it-stands-and-why-it-matters/ Note that Virginia is a laggard in this area. We can and must do better.

There can be no more important bill on your docket than this one. Our children and grandchildren are facing an increasingly bleak future due to human caused climate change. We need to give them the tools and understanding of causation so they can work much more effectively at turning the climate crisis around.

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