001Any day there, Mr. Stan? >> Good evening. [laughter] >> Okay, Miss Ricard, I'm good. Thank you. And Miss Ricard, we're live streaming now. >> All right. All right. Good evening, everyone. I call this January 29th, 2026 legislative committee meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. Um, Madame Clerk, can you call roll? >> Miss Ricard >> here. >> Mr. Farooq, Mr. Perl >> here. >> Mr. Hedgepath >> here. >> Miss Fernandez, Mr. Jafari >> here. >> Madam Chair, we have a quorum. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um colleagues, um moving on to 1.02, can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the Tuesday, December 16th legislative committee meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It has been moved by Mr. HP and seconded by Mr. Jafari. Um sorry for my dog. I will go fix that.
002Um, Madame Clerk, um, can you, um, proceed with the vote? >> Mr. Card, >> yes. >> Mr. Farooq. Mr. Perl, >> yes. >> Mr. Hedgepath, >> yes. >> Miss Fernandez. Mr. Jafari, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Wonderful. Um, moving right along. Let's go um to committee business 2.01, a review of tracked legislation. Mr. Stanley, if it's okay, I'll turn it over to you. >> Yes. Thank you, Miss Ricard. And good evening everyone. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Um, I'm going to get my screen share set up and I will immediately apologize for the small text of this. Um, and just let you know that please, uh, do not worry and I know you all have a copy of this document already, but we will be clicking over from this into an interface
003that will have slightly larger text. Um, but of course at any time if you need me to enlarge something or read something out, please don't hesitate to let me know. Um so I provided a bill tracking list of all of not all the legislation that we're currently following uh but most of the legislation that we're currently following and um this bill list is an output from a new bill tracking system that our city counterparts um have procured and we are very very grateful for them giving me a license and allowing RPS to partner with the city on tracking legislation this year. Um the city of course has many different departments um across wide areas of government. So, they are following things across all committees of the general assembly. Um, and they're able to do that
004very effectively because they have wonderful tags and lists that they can set up. And you're only seeing my list right here, but um, if you were to go look at my city colleagues, you would see dozens of these tags in different subject areas. Um, we have tried to streamline our bill tracking into a couple uh, key areas. So, I just wanted to review what those mean before we dive into the legislation itself. Um, first of all, I have a tag that indicates testimony. When any uh any individual from RPS has testified on behalf of a bill, we are tagging that in and we are noting uh who testified, what was the date, what was the committee that was that uh that the testimony happened in front of. Um, and then something else that's really cool
005that we are continuing to work through, again, this is a very new system. Um, but the system uh allows us to pull in video uh from the live streams of the committees. uh so that we can also link that in as well. So uh during the first week of session, a bill that I testified on was the additional sales tax to support school construction, the 1% local option referenda bill. Um and if we go into that link, you'll be able to >> Good evening, Madam Chair. Matthew Stanley represent >> immediately see the testimony that we provided. Um so as we go on, uh we can absolutely provide you with uh bill lists that have even greater detail. Um we can include these notes and these links in those bill lists. Um, and of course at
006any time if you need me to pull something specifically for you from our system or let you know a position on a bill, we can in real time go and identify uh what uh we've logged so far on that legislation. Um I have a K12 list. Uh this represents all of the bills that we're following and you can see we are tracking 226 pieces of legislation and budget amendments right now. That is a very very large number. Um education is one of the busiest topics within the general assembly. the education committees of the Senate and the House routinely will let you know that they are one of the busiest committees in the general assembly. Um so we have further distilled all the bills that we're tracking in our K12 list down to individual position lists
007as well as a priority list. Um so you can see our priority list and that is things like the funding reform um at risk add-on. Uh we have been very supportive of a bill that would provide for Medicaid billing navigator positions. Um, we testified on that just today and that was passed out of a subcommittee. Um, we also have the list which I don't want to confuse as RPS priority and RPS support. Um, so RPS priority are those bills that fall on our legislative priorities, the things that we presented to you all in December that you all approved. Um, we wanted to keep very very close eye on those things. And then there are a number of other pieces of legislation that the division does support. Um, and we might stand up to say that
008we support that, but it is not something that we are tracking super closely. And if we miss a committee meeting, we're not going to be too stressed that we miss the opportunity to testify on that bill. Um, I generally uh identify our positions of support as well as opposition based on our policy positions, which we'll talk a little bit about later tonight. Um, and then I have two other uh important tags. One of them is our pending research and feedback tag. Um, and we're going to talk briefly about this bill tonight. um career coaches required in secondary schools or in high schools specifically. Um and I'm not sure of what our position [clears throat] is going to be on that yet uh because of a variety of different factors. So, we have not put support
009or priority on that yet, but possibly after our discussion tonight, we might be able to. Um and then we have our monitor tag. Um not a ton of bills on our monitor tag. And uh this is not monitor in the sense that we're keeping an eye on everything. This is monitor as in we're going to keep a really close eye on it because either we have concerns but we don't necessarily want to oppose it. Maybe we want an amendment to it um because uh it's something that maybe is really problematic that that we but we don't want to take a strong position of opposition uh because of maybe some political reasons. Um there's just a variety of different reasons why we might put something in that monitor tag, but we are trying to keep a
010very close eye on those bills as well. Um so that's the way that we have structured um our bill tracking this session. Um I love this system. It's been wonderful so far getting to collaborate with my city colleagues. Um uh the group of folks that with the city that I'm most collaborating with is the city's director of intergovernmental affairs, Ruth Morrison. Um Ruth has hired a legislative analyst. Her name is Carolyn Hendel and she is the individual that is in this system all day every day. issue is looking at every single piece of legislation and assigning it to either my K12 lists or to one of our city counterparts lists. Um, and then we're also working closely with Eva Coen, the director of child and family services for the city of Richmond. Um, she obviously
011has a lot of insight and wisdom into many pieces of legislation that are affecting not just K12, but especially our early childhood space. Um so the four of us are collaborating very regularly within the system and and I found it to be um a significant improvement over just our ability to do that collaboration. Um so the bill lists that we provided to you uh via email last night. Um you will see that all the priority bills are at the top of that. Um and these first two items are budget amendments. Uh so those are not full standalone bills. That is just an amendment to the state budget. Uh the state budget is HB30. Um and then you can see that specific budget amendment number. Um it then goes into the bills and these are listed
012in essentially build number order. Um no other particular order other than our priority bills are up first on this list. Um across those priority bills you will see uh things like the bills that will provide the atrisisk add-on increases and codify the atrisisk add-on, the special education add-on, the English learner add-on. Um, it has the sales and use tax bills that I mentioned previously, the 1% sales tax for school construction. Um, the Medicaid billing navigators that we testified on today. Um, this is uh the Senate version of the the big add-on bill SB90 that we shared with you at the meeting last week. Um, and then of course the extension of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization. And there are a couple there's sometimes a couple different versions of bills and the school construction
013and modernization one is a good one to share. So I'm going to go ahead and click on into that. And then this is what the view will look like for from my end. And I think you also have access to the to a public version of these links too. Um so you can go in and you can learn more about the bill. So we always start and look at a summary of a bill first. That generally gives a pretty uh lay understanding of what the bill does. And I I'm sorry. I know this text is still a little small. I can probably increase that a little bit for you. Um, but one of the things that this version of the school construction commission extension uh legislation is that it also requires this commission to develop
014a 10-year capital roadmap for addressing Virginia's school construction and facility needs. Um, that has not been something that was required of the commission in the past. So, in addition to extending it, we love that new requirement. We believe that that kind of gets some very concrete things in writing about the how how the state could be supporting and addressing uh school facilities and infrastructure across the Commonwealth. Um before I move on, I feel like now as we're on our priority pieces of legislation, are there any questions? >> Okay, then we're going to keep moving on. Um, and I'm going to kind of >> Sorry, Matthew. I was going to jump in just a really quick question. So, um, access on this. So, the document that's been uploaded, we don't necessarily have links to that. Um,
015I didn't try links in the email that was sent out. Uh, I did go to Fast Democracy. Looks like you can sign up for something. You sounds like you don't know if we have access to that. >> You should be able to click these links and see kind of what I see. Um, I can double check and open that in a private window. Yes. Wait, sorry, that opened up the wrong thing. Yes, you should be able to also see it should yours uh you won't be logged in. Uh you can create an account, I believe, but you don't have a license for some of the advanced features that I might be using and I can share a little bit more about some of those other features, but you should still be able to get to
016this basic page with the basic information about the bill. And then as you scroll down on this page that fast democracy opens up, if you go to the introduced bill text, that will take you over to the state's legislative information system and show you the full text of that bill and you can go and click that bill number and that will show you the history on the state system as well. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Yeah, and anytime if fast democracy is not working for you, I am still going to l.vergirginia.gov. That is my most frequented website of all time. um and just searching for bill numbers in this uh window in this little toolbox above. Um and then you can also if you know what delegate or senator is carrying a bill, you
017can go and find their name. Um can [clears throat] see delegate cousins for example and we can click legislation and that will bring up all the all the legislation that delegate cousins introduced. Okay. Oh, I just realized I was clicking around in the wrong window. Apologies, but um here's that here's that site that I was at lis.vergirginia.gov. You can go to HB30 and see more information about any build if you know the number or if you don't know the number but you know who the delegate or the senator is. Again, you click on delegates and senators and you can quickly go to their introduced legislation. Sorry, I was on the wrong screen. >> I had a followup question. Uh Mr. Stanley. >> Yes, sir. the information that was attached to the email is the full
018context and text of the bill in that information that you sent to us. >> Uh no sir. So uh this is a document that I sent to you all and uh the the information that is in here is what they call the summary of the bill. Um it is not the full bill text. So to view the full bill text um you will click on this link. It will open this for you in fast democracy and then you can scroll down and you'll see the bill text right here and click that introduce link that will take you over to the state system and then um I often use the highlight feature. I find it much easier to scan through what is being actually changed. So turn that highlight on and then you can scroll down
019until you start to see red text and the red text is what's being removed and then you will see that the yellow text is what is being added. >> Okay. So if I go to the LIS site, I should be able to access that. Correct. >> Yes, sir. As well as from the PDF that I sent you all last night. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Related question. Madame Chair, does anybody else have issues getting to l.vergirginia.gov on your schoolboard issued computers? It won't come up for me. I can get to it on my phone, but I can't get to it on my laptop. >> Um, >> anybody else is having issues? >> I will secure. But anyway, sorry. Occasionally, they it's it's gone down a couple times during session so far, but it's been working okay
020so far today. >> It just loaded for me, Mr. Perl. So I >> Okay, >> I mean I know I'm typing it right because I can get it on my phone, but I can't get it on my laptop. >> All right. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, um I'm going to go down and um I'm just going to pick out a few bills for you all today. Um our support bills are generally things that are pretty non-controversial that that we do generally support those things. things like um continuation and and moderate expansion of the Richmond Teacher Residency Program. Um here is a budget amendment for grants to school divisions to come into compliance with potential new requirements for automated external defibrillators. Um there's a bill that would require more of those to be in school and
021local government athletic facilities. Um there is community schools grants uh 200 $2.5 million per year as a budget amendment there. Um Miss Ricard, I know you asked about the workbased learning coordinator pilot program. Um and here is a $1.2 million budget request to fund that. And I think your comment about that was uh if fully funded, could this provide additional support in setting up apprenticeships and other opportunities? And absolutely. uh that grant program is helping uh that pilot program. One of the components of that was grants um and that is something that uh Mr. Cooper our executive director of the RPS ed fund um he expressed great interest in the RPS fund partnering with RPS and being part of that pilot program. So we have gone ahead and indicated support for that. Um so I'm
022going to move on a little bit further. Oh. Uh, this is a a small budget amendment, regional alternative education slot reallocation. Um, that involves some of our alternative placements through the alternative education program where we partner with St. Joseph's Villa. Um, they had some slots removed last year, but their demand is still great. So, um, they've been working with Delegate Cousins and we're meeting with them tomorrow just to make sure we're all on the same page about that reallocation. It was a small little thing. Um there are the opposed bills will start to be sprinkled in. Some of our other tags will start to be sprinkled in as we're just going in bill order at this point. Um this was a bill that increases the size the size allowment for uh music ensemble classes from
0234th through 6th grade. um that is coming from a locality from a school division in which uh they they could not uh set up another music class but they just had significant demand and the teacher in that case was okay with a bigger class. Um we have indicated a post because we do not our our instructional folks have asked that we do not want any greater class sizes there. Um but uh the house version has been stricken from the docket. Um there is still a Senate version of that alive. Um we have uh some bills regarding mental health awareness, training and instruction. Um there are a variety of things around uh mental health screening and instruction. Um generally we have been supporting those and supporting additional state funding that would come along with that. In
024some of these situations the state the legislation is actually calling on the state to help develop more training um and other systems. I'm going to touch on this a little bit more on another bill in a moment. Um there has been some legislation uh HB132. There's also a Senate version. Um this would potentially affect some students at Thomas Jefferson High School. Um it would mean that when a student transfers into Virginia uh from either another state uh they would have some of the requirements of Virginia graduation waved. For example, the first aid CPR AED requirement for students to graduate that could be waved if the student transfers in later. as well as it allows for some of the IB courses to uh be alternatives to some of the Virginia graduation requirements so that if a
025child is moving from one state to another, one IB school to another, they can continue on that IB path and there's just a little more flexibility with the Virginia requirements, but they would still be meeting the IB program requirements. Um there is a a bill in the House and Senate that we're following very closely. Um and we're meeting with Next Up tomorrow to discuss this one a little bit more detail. And I'll go ahead and click on into this one. These bills um would establish a new certification by the Virginia Department of Education for our nonprofit providers. Um and you can see everything is highlighted. So this is all new language. Um, and what this would call those providers, those nonprofits are certified student support agencies. And those are our partners that provide services to
026our kids in our schools. Uh, for example, Child Savers, for example, Next Up. Um, and what this would do would be that it would hold uh it would require certification of those entities by the Virginia Department of Education. They would develop that certification process. Um and they would have to ensure compliance with things like FURPA um other student privacy protections. Um ensuring that they are in full legal compliance with uh the requirements that RPS already has of our community partnerships. Um this is one of the areas that that I do oversee with our community partnerships coordinator Nette and for every partner that we have we have generally a 12 plus page partnership agreement where we're currently requiring all of these things. So what this would do is it would shift some of that process to
027the state um and then it would provide a model partner agreement to us so that our partner agreement would get significantly trimmed down. Um this would help streamline operations for school divisions and kind of take school divisions out of you know the worry of having to ensure compliance on their own. Um, it would also hopefully make things easier for nonprofits that might be partnering with more than one school division because they would only have to go through that certification process once. Um, and then further, the bill also sets up, see if I can find the line for you, uh, establishing a grant program, um, for data security upgrades, training for staff, and third party audits. So, trying to make sure that there's going to be, uh, very little fiscal impact. um to divisions and and
028to the the nonprofits as as this continues on. So, at the moment, um we are planning to support that legislation. Um but we want to make sure that we do a kind of full review. Uh next up, just being a partner that works with so many other nonprofits and other partners, we're excited to sit down with them and make sure that we're all on the same page about what that bill does. Um and so pending a good conversation tomorrow, we might expect that position to change to support. Okay. Um there, let's see, what do we want to talk about next? Uh Miss Ricard, you asked about the teacher mobility compact and I did find out the other states for you that have already signed on to that compact. And that is not showing up right
029there. That is bill number two three. Uh so we have Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah. >> It's interesting. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Okay. Moving on. Okay. Um, here is a bill that I wanted to discuss with you all today. And Miss Ricard, I believe you noted this and was hoping for um, some feedback from Mrs. Parks. And um, I have not spoken with Miss Parks yet, but I will ensure that we do that very, very soon. Um, this is legislation that has been introduced previously. Um, it was vetoed by Governor Yncan. Um, and this would require restorative approaches before suspending students. And that's all new text. I'm going to turn my highlights off. Um, the bill uh obviously defines what evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices are. Um, and what
030the bill would do would require that we use evidence-based restorative practices uh before a student is suspended. And I'm sorry, I am on the wrong there's been a substitute to this in the Senate. Let me get that correct bill number for you. Apologies for the delay. Where'd that go? Okay, I'm having trouble finding that. So, let me just talk through it on this page. Um, so the aggravating uh circumstance, so essentially, uh, it would require restorative practices before a suspension or an expulsion. Um the key language is that there are exceptions in the case of um I believe these are firearm or incendiary device crimes and this code section is uh drugs um having drugs on school property. So if a student is uh is uh has a very serious incident they can still be
031suspended or expelled. And then um the new language that I was having trouble finding says also or repeated aggravating circumstances and repeated aggravating circumstances can be essentially any repeated prior disciplinary offenses. So it kind of references back to this up here. So the bill itself is still very permissive. Um it really encourages these restorative based practices. But if you have a situation as simple as a student has yelled at a teacher twice that was repeated, they could still be suspended without the restorative based practices. So uh I believe the school board's association and the superintendent association have been uh have been reviewing this bill as well. I think the VA too. I think everybody is okay with where it is. I do know there might still be some opposition to it out there from school
032divisions that are worried about their hands being tied with how they handle disciplinary practices. Um but generally I think this aligns with RPS's approach and our strategies in working with students and reducing suspensions. So I believe that this is legislation that the division can support. Um but before we do that I will ensure that we discuss it with Miss Parks. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you Mr. Stanley. I think restorative practices are great and um but just want to lean on their expertise and what they see and that it supports them. [clears throat] >> Okay. And we are still pretty high on the list. Okay. So, we're right there. Um there are a variety of bills this year that are addressing so assessments. Um this has been a topic of the general assembly for some
033time now. Um there is great concern about the use of the current so tests. Uh my understanding is that the question banks are becoming very very small because they have not developed new questions. Um so there is going to be some pressure on the VDOE to continue to develop out um our so system. Um I did have a chance to review some of these uh with with some colleagues in our academic office yesterday. So we are following all of those very very closely. Um, there was also a uh Virginia Mercury article. Let me see if I can find that for you. Was delegate Converse Fowler I believe. Okay, I will drop this link in the chat for you. Um but I think this uh article gave a great uh kind of general kind of understanding
034of uh the different assessment bills that are covered in the general assembly this year. Um I know that uh one of the bills that is from delegate convers uh would remove the new requirement that goes into effect this next school year that uh an so score counts as 10% of a student's final class grade. Um, we support that because, uh, we believe that that is essentially kind of double-deing a student based on how they do on their SO test because passing so tests is still required for several of to get several verified credits. Um, so we don't believe that division should be required to include that so score in the students course grade. We really believe in local flexibility there. Um, I know that Senator Van Balkenberg, he is the chair of the public education
035subcommittee of our Senate Committee on Education and Health. Um, he is continuing to work with stakeholders on uh the assessment bills and what else they would like to see happen. I'm not sure if delegate Converse Fowler approach is going to ultimately pass. Um, because I think Senator Van Balkenberg may have some kind of bigger bigger reforms that he wants to continue to make. So, um I'm happy to follow up and and share further updates with you all on that later. Um but I'm also happy to take any questions right now if you have any. Okay. Okay. Continuing on. So, uh HP 355. This is one that I referenced a bit ago um that requires that mental health screening. And this would require the Department of Education uh to help procure that system for student mental
036health screening. Um and I know I think right now I don't think that the state provides anything and that our division essentially does any student mental health screening on our own. So there are very much concerns about this being an unfunded mandate and if the general assembly does not put funding into the budget to assist with this then it is something that would be continue to be very concerning for school divisions. Um but we of course generally of course support this type of screening and assessment. Um here is a bill that we are currently opposing. Um that is a bill that would require uh all curricular materials to be printed rather than in digital form. Um digital materials would be allowed to be used as a supplement but would not be allowed to be the
037primary curricular material. Um and here's some of the edits and then I believe that here's the key language. Um, so only printed textbooks shall serve as the primary curriculum basis for the relevant subject or course area unless otherwise indicated in a student's IEP. Um, and that was HP 362. And I did speak with our director of curriculum and instruction about this. Um, and for example, our elementary science curriculum is currently all digital. We do have some supplementary printed materials, but for the most part, that curriculum is all digital right now. So, this is another place where um it would essentially be an unfunded mandate as well as it would tie up local flexibility. Um so, that is one that we are we are posing on those grounds. >> Do you feel like that one is
038going to get a lot of support? I'm assuming there are a lot of school districts like ours that are in a similar >> I would imagine so. I've not heard yet, but I can see that bill not making it out of session. There's there there are a lot of bills that will not pass out of session. Yeah. Um here is legislation. Uh M. Ricard, I know you uh noted this in your questions to me um regarding uh school divisions offering uh SATs during the school day. Um there would be a cost to that. there is a budget amendment in and the budget amendment from delegate Reid is specific for title one school divisions. So potentially uh that could come with funding that would allow us to do that. Um [clears throat] and I think generally
039the the advocates rationale for this is very very valid and that a lot of kids just won't take an SAT because they're not going to come to school. They're not going to sign up for it. They're not going to come to school on a Saturday to take a test. So by providing it during the day, we're going to have a lot more students taking that. Um, so generally I would believe that's something that we would support with that funding attached to it. Um, if the funding is not attached to it, then I don't know that we would have a position on that. >> Yeah, I I agree. And I just think if there's funding, it's such a valuable exercise in taking it and yet it would then be free for them during the day. There's
040a lot of good things that could come from it if it's funded. >> Absolutely. Um here is a bill that uh we are monitoring very closely and I do not expect to pass. Um and you will understand why in just a moment get over to the text of it. So here is the bill. Um the bill says that a local governing body i.e. a city council or board of supervisors must fund a school division's budget based on a needs-based budget approved by the school board and submitted by the superintendent. Um, for example, that would have meant that last year's budget, city council would have been required to fund it at the full request. So, you can understand that localities will be very very opposed to this legislation, >> right? U Mr. Stanley, there is a
041question from Mr. Hedgepath. Are we confident about Senator Van Bulenberg's assessment bill? >> Uh, no. I I I don't know what that is going to look like yet. Um, I'm waiting for some of the updated language that they are working on and I welcome I welcome any further feedback. Um, so assessments are not my specialty area. So if you have any wisdom to share with me as we advocate and know what to look for, please let me know. I welcome that. And I'll be continuing to run that by our academic office as well. Okay. Um there are some uh reforms to special education law and supports for families that um these have mostly been recommended by JARK. Um and so we don't have any opposition to those. Um there would be regional ombbudsman set up
042for special education um uh students and families across the state. Um, the bill does not address any of the concerns that some of our our exceptional ed professionals have about the role of advocates in the special education process. Um, so that is still something that I believe the Virginia Council of Special Education Administrators may be continuing to work on, but generally we do support um those reforms that JARK recommended. um HB478 uh would create a new diplomacy for excellence in fine arts. So we very much support that especially as Richmond High School for the arts comes online and we continue with our high school redesign and that being a pathway for our students um providing that extra seal to them. Um it's absolutely wonderful opportunity. Uh HB495. Um this one would require the Department of
043Education to set up a um let me make sure I'm on the right one. Yes, require the Department of Education to set up an anonymous reporting system for uh risks uh violence risk and prevention of student harm to self or others. Um RPS already has a system. It's called SpeakUp. Uh we currently procure and pay for that ourselves. Um, this would require uh the uh I'm sorry, it would not require it would encourage school boards to contract with a nonprofit organization to provide such a service. Now, the light the language here is very loose and permissive. It's encouraged. It is not required. So, we don't believe that it would affect us negatively at this time. we could continue proceeding with our current system, but perhaps with this type of requirement or encouragement from the state,
044there might be new providers that set up maybe at reduced costs to the school division. You can imagine a nonprofit provider may end up being a little less expensive than perhaps what we're paying for already. Um, so at the moment, we are supporting that. This is that part of the bill is very permissive. Um, and and we are, I think, good with that. And if at any point you'd like me to stop and talk about something else, I would be happy to, but I'll keep going. Um, not going to cover any. Okay, here we go. Uh, HB 643 is the legislation that would make the changes that JARK recommended to the school performance and accountability system. Um, this is a section one bill. So, a section one bill is when the general assembly uh chooses
045not to amend an actual law, but they want to direct some part of Virginia government to do something. So, in this case, you will see the board of education shall make the following changes to the state school of accountability standards in Virginia regulation. So, this bill won't go into title 22.1 of Virginia code changing any laws. It's just directing the board of education to do something. Um, and these are many of the recommendations from uh the joint legislative audit and review commission who reviewed the board of education's new framework. Um, and it's got a number of very specific provisions in here. Um, I don't believe that we are necessarily opposed to any of these because we do feel that JARK did a good job with their report and their assessment, but it will have possibly
046some impacts on how schools what label schools do receive in that new accountability framework. And it's also I think they're also directing the board to change the names of some of those labels. There has been discussion about some of those labels are not necessarily helpful. Um so that is something that we are following very very closely for how that will impact our school ratings. Okay, we love this one. Um HB751 would expand the eligibility for school construction assistance projects to any projects that were uh done in the last 10 years. Um, so for RPS specifically, that would open up at least four school pro school construction projects to us for school construction grant reimbursement. Um, Cardinal Elementary School, River City Middle School, Henry Marsh Elementary School, Richmond High School for the Arts. Um, so potentially
047that could be very very uh big for us. Um, immediately helping us start to address some of our other construction projects. I don't know that the general assembly is going to go along with this approach, but nonetheless, it is something that we would absolutely support. Um, there is a similar bill that would also allow school construction grants to be used for debt service instead of just towards actual current costs. Um, so that's something that could potentially help us stretch our dollars a little bit further out. Um, and we've also we actually met with Delegate Renan today. Um, he also has a an LCI bill. It does not do something that would help us on the LCI, but it would do something that would help um his locality. Um he is out in locality or he
048represents four different localities, some of which have fewer than 200 students. Um and it's a very rural locality that he has and you know they have um some different uh they have different I struggle a little bit with the terminology because real estate is also not my specialty. Um but the use value of properties um is uh it would factor that into the LCI equation. So uh it would potentially lower the LCI of localities that have a lot of rural property. So um decreasing their local share even more than what it currently is because the LCI is indexed. It doesn't only help them. It would also hurt us and hurt other folks that are urban and towards the top of the index already. It would push us more to the top and exacerbate those disparities.
049So we have already let him know that we are opposed to that specific um proposal, but he has indicated a great willingness to work with us as we continue to try to address the LCI. We had a great conversation with him about the revenue capacity index, for example, with much agreement that that is an index that would much better meet the realities of what some of our rural localities are facing as well as what some of our urban localities are facing. So, we made a wonderful friend from representing rural areas today and we're looking forward to working with him more off year. Um, Delegate Kimberly Pope Adams has a bill that would require the academic governor schools to uh provide school meals. Um, and I believe that they are already kind of making their way
050towards that. I saw that in the RPS budget proposal they did have some tuition increases to help cover meals. So, I think we're already making our way towards that. I know that Delegate Pope Adams is trying to uh get state budget support to help provide some additional reimbursement for those. >> Uh, yes, Mr. Perival. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I had a wonderful conversation with uh Miss Pope, reminding her that it is not a lack of will on the part of the regional governor's schools to provide lunch. Um and an unfunded mandate would not do much to help us provide those. She was in agreement there. So, she's hopefully looking for ways to fund that mandates. I'm sure Madame Chair would also agree that the governor schools have been trying desperately to provide those
051lunches, but it is very difficult to do without funding. >> So, um, that is a bill that we would expect to eventually if it does pass out of an education committee, which is likely because the policy sounds great, it will still get sent over to the appropriations committee who has to decide whether or not that's something to fund. >> Um, uh, Mr. Stanley, if it's possible to just keep watching that because I think if >> they decide to fund it, I know Mr. Pible and I would love to lend whatever voice we can to supporting that because it is hurting both those governor schools budgets right now and ours actually because now we're paying um to support it as well. So it would be beneficial to everyone. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. One of the big
052challenges just just a little bit of context for two seconds is is that these schools have a very hard time procuring those services because they're so small. >> So they are islands unto themselves and don't get the economies of scale that an RPS or a Chesterfield might otherwise be able to get. >> Absolutely. No, we will continue to follow that closely. It has not been heard in subcommittee even yet. >> I will keep you all posted. And I guess just with that, at one point there was also talk of those of governor's schools being able to apply for the school construction assistance funding. Did that bill make it out of anywhere? >> That was in 751 as well, Matthew. >> Oh, it was in 751 as well. Okay. Well, it would be interesting if if
053they would also qualify for the funding in a rears that's 10 years >> if they end up that well that that was not in that's not in house bill 751. [clears throat] So, all right. Uh, sorry. It was in a section similar. It was part of the proposed budget from the governor, not a bill. It was part of the budget. It was So, it would be under >> uh House Bill 30, section 125. It's in the wording. >> Yes. So, if that was in the governor's budget, then um either of the money committees could take it out. >> Okay. But I don't believe there were any budget amendments that would remove it. And I don't know that they I don't think that they will take it out. I think that that will likely stay in
054the budgets that both money committees pass out. >> So that is just a budget item that will follow. Thank you for flagging it for me. Um but that that should proceed. We'll know when the money committees release their budgets on February 22nd. Um, if that is, and I'm meeting with Director Jansen next week, but if that is something that they want to advocate for, then they should reach out to the appropriations and finance committees to encourage them to please keep that in the governor's budget. I I imagine the committees will. I don't think that anybody's advocating to remove that. >> Great. >> Okay. So, we talked about Okay. Uh so uh HB836 um this bill deals with uh immigration status of students um and essentially is getting a little bit more detailed and into the
055weeds uh very similarly to uh how RPS did our own policy regarding relations with law enforcement officers last year. This is we essentially were a little bit of ahead of the curve I think on making sure that we had a really robust division policy and now the state is coming along and they're doing a state policy. Um so this is being vetted by a lot of lawyers. As you can see, this is a lot of new language. Um, but very similarly, and I don't think I don't believe RPS would have any trouble meeting the requirements of this new law. We have uh our bill uh that would make uh Indigenous People's Day a holiday. So, we love that. Uh Mr. Tatnol uh with the Pocahontas project will be joining us at our advocacy on Monday.
056Let's see. Uh the bills regarding increasing physical activity. Uh those bills I believe do have a substitute that was introduced. So instead of requiring that increase in time, it would in make it a goal to have that much time because school divisions are still going to be responsible for meeting their instructional hours. So that is moving forward, but in a very permissive way. um this bill and there's also a Senate companion would um essentially in in the situation in which the federal government were to deem or stop enforcing deem inapplicable or stop enforcing parts of IDA, we would have a state law that would have those same protections for students with disabilities. Um, so this is also another very very long bill that the Special Education Association um and attorneys are working through. Oh, that
057is not the right one. Did I click the wrong bill? I'm sorry. This is another version of the Immigration Status Bill. I apologize. Um, yeah, that was just a second copy of it. I'll get to the IDEIDA bill in just one second. Um, delegate Garrett put in a bill that would allow for greater Virginia retirement system service credits for CTE teachers that start late in their career. Um, unfortunately there is a very very significant fiscal impact to the state and localities for the additional service credit uh share of costs. Um, I think the state cost was about 17 million and the local cost was about 37 million. So we are opposing that. um that is not additional cost that we believe we can absorb right now. Um okay, there is a delegate RU has a
058bill. I don't know where this is going to go quite yet, but there is a bill that would restrict artificial intelligence use in our public schools. >> That's all new language. Um, in recognition that they are unreliable sources of information, each school board shall develop a policy to prohibit any student from being required, encouraged, or permitted to interact with an artificial intelligence chatbot in order to receive instruction or otherwise complete any lesson or assignment in any course in which the student is enrolled. Um, this would obviously conflict very very much with our draft artificial intelligence policy. Um, it also, I believe, raises significant concerns about the alignment with our computer science standards in the state of Virginia that do talk about using artificial intelligence. Um, so I don't know that this bill is going to
059pass in any form like this. Um, there are a couple other artificial intelligence bills that require the board of education to continue to address this issue. So, I think we can expect to see something to that effect, but I don't know that we're going to see a brand new code section like this necessarily fully codified this year. Um, but the general assembly is trying to figure out what to do with artificial intelligence. Um, and we're following those bills very closely. Okay, we're almost done with the House bills. Um there is a bill that would codify some requirements for uh language access. Um and I know that our director of multilingual learner success um and our language justice coordinator were able to join the uh one of the subcommittees in the senate that spoke to the
060senate version of this bill. Um again a lot of new language um ensuring that language limited English proficient uh families have you know full language access um that they have all the notifications that they may need to know that those programs are there to support them. And I think I missed No, not that one. Okay. There um have been some diabetes medical care and management bills. Um these make some updates to the code sections around you know diabetes care um kind of medication administration type of laws when it comes to our nurses being able to support students with managing their medication, their pumps, their insulin pumps, etc. Um, as I think you all know from the cell phone policy that we put in place last year, we've continued to have a carve out an exception
061for students that may need a cell phone to handle any medical devices um that may be written into their student health plan. It seems like there are some divisions that maybe aren't as uh sensitive and inclusive as we have been to ensure that that is all good. Um, so there is kind of state law coming that would make sure that that aspect of cell phone policies and diabetes management is still covered and in sync. Um, and then uh air indoor air quality. Um, last year the general assembly passed a new indoor air quality bill for public schools that requires um a good bit of additional testing. Um and again we're looking really at the highlighted language. Um so first of all it just changes the qualifications of who can do that testing. Um this is
062a little bit more expansive and provides you know different types of certifications that an individual could uh could have to ensure that they have the competence needed to do those assessments. Um and then it also adds a few more things to what does need to be tested for. um radon uh microbological well uh molds, fungus, bacteria, air contaminants, vapors, chemicals, solvents, pest infestation, pesticide usage, hazardous substance, moisture incursion. Um so our director of facilities is currently working on an impact statement for us so we know um exactly kind of what would be the fiscal impact of doing this additional testing at all of our schools. Um I believe that a lot of those things are already part of the inspections that are done. So I we're hoping that this that the additions this year don't
063create a significant cost, but I do know that we are still working through implementation of the language from last year and making sure that we're in fully full compliance with that. So this is one that we are following closely for our operations team. >> Okay. And now we're on to the Senate bills. And most of these things we have already chatted about in the house bill section. So I just want to take a look. Wanted to make sure I note that IDA bill and that is Senator Picarski who has issued that >> introduced that immigration and I'm just having trouble finding it. Uh well, I will make sure I get that added to the list. It seems like it might be missing from it. That's an important one that that I have definitely been paying
064attention to in committee. um as we are just you know continuing to follow what's happening at the federal government and just trying I think Virginia legislators are trying to ensure that no matter what happens at the federal government that we are still protecting our students and our citizens here in the state. Um so one final uh bill that I will note for you u before we can go on to questions discussion and talking about any of our other policy positions um is the 1% sales tax bill from Senator Lucas. Um, so Senator Mud Pike has been the senator that has uh introduced these bills in the past and it was his bill I believe that got vetoed by Governor Yncan this year. Um, at kind of the deadline of filing for legislation, Senator Lucas, the
065chair of the Finance and Appropriations Committee, introduced her own version of the bill. Um, and her version of the bill does one thing differently that uh could cause some headaches. And that is this sentence right here that the revenues from this tax shall not be used to reduce, supplant, or offset any amount of local appropriations or local funding for capital projects on the date that such tax is first imposed. This is what we call a maintenance of effort provision. And this essentially is there so that uh localities can't scale back how much funding they're putting towards something. So they have to keep maintaining their effort on supporting us with facilities. And if we get this new tax, they can't use that tax to supplant the money that they're already giving us. So when the tax
066goes into effect, if our approved CIP budget that year is $2.5 million, then and we get $50 million from a sales tax and that means we have to get at least $52.5 million once we start receiving that tax income. So it continues to remove some of the flexibility and I believe collaboration that's important for school boards and local governing bodies. Um, there are definitely folks on on the education side that are trying to support schools and school boards that are trying to get us as much as we can and and this is one approach, but the way that Virginia government is structured with the relationship between school boards and city councils, we are just very concerned about uh the the very uh uh conflicting positions that this could put school boards and city councils and
067governing bodies into. So, uh, we have not actually heard any concerns from Senator Lucas. Um, but we are trying to set up a meeting with her to discuss this. Um, we have a feeling it it might be something political, maybe something to give some leverage when the House and the Senate have budget discussions. Um, so, but we are paying very close attention to that provision as well. We hope to not see that in the final bill that goes to Governor Spanberger. So, that is the end of that report. Um, I would love to take any questions. I know I didn't get to everything, but I wanted to try to hit a good handful of things. Did I miss anything that you wanted to discuss tonight? Colleagues, um, do you have any other questions or anything
068else you wanted to raise? Um, Mr. Stanley, I just wanted to add that Mr. Hedgepath put that um Senator Pope Adams just shared that she added 150k budget amendment for her lunch bill. >> Awesome. >> Which would be great. >> Uh just one comment, Madame Chair, to the last uh the last piece of information. Um uh Miss Lucas's line item. Not sure I disagree with that policy uh from the standpoint of maybe maybe Richmond has a good working relationship with the school board and the city council. There are municipalities that may not have such relationship and we've seen this happen before in school funding where cities could use that supplanting to actually use this as a de facto tax increase for other purposes. So if you're giving a $100 to the schools and you raise
069taxes by a cent and now you make a million dollars, you still give a $100 to the schools and that money ends up going towards pothole infrastructure, etc., etc. So I can definitely see where that is coming from. I'm not sure on the surface I'm opposed to that language >> and I think we have that as monitor right now. Yes, we've left that as monitor. Um because I think that there are conflicting positions on it and I don't want us to be in a position of having to to pick sides on that one. I just think that we we would love to understand from Senator Lucas like this bill is passed two years from the general assembly already and this was not brought up before. So is there something specifically that that is going on
070that we do want to address? Is that is what you were exactly saying? Is that just the concern? If that is the concern, then we understand that. I think enrichment will be okay. Um, unfortunately, I think the way that is written, it actually is not necessarily going to solve things the way that she wants to solve it. Um, and let me explain what I mean by that. on the date such tax is first imposed. If Virginiaians I mean if Richmonders uh approve that tax at November's ballot and that tax goes into effect on July 1st of next year, then when Richmond schoolboard and city council is in budget mode in the spring and city council knows that that new tax is going to go into effect, city council could give us a 0 capital improvement
071plan budget for that year. So therefore, they would never be out of compliance with this. So unfortunately, I don't think that it does what Senator Lucas is actually trying to do. So I think that's why we we want to keep monitoring it and we want to keep having conversations about that. And if that is truly a concern, then it should be done in a way that that would work. But I think we're concerned that this way actually doesn't even work. Any Thank you, Mr. PL and Mr. Stanley. Anything else before we move on to our next agenda item? >> Mr. Hedgepath has a hand up. >> Oh, sorry, Mr. Hedgepath. >> Go ahead. >> Thanks, Madam Chair. Uh, Mr. Stanley, I I agree with uh Mr. Perival um um about the uh the bill and
072also I I do worry about an any type of adversarial relationship that puts us in or any local. So I I I would tend to support um this however we can get this this bill passed uh whether it's in its original iteration or if it's this in this manner. I think I I think that's that's positive for us, but um again, I think I appreciate us watching it and um and and think it's important that we understand why she wants to do that and also maybe even advocate for the original bill if if folks aren't going to go for that manner. Um my other comment was about about Van Vulcanberg's bill. Um, and um, I wonder if Mr. Stanley, you said you've been talking to curriculum and instruction um, and if maybe you've had a
073chance to talk about that one yet. Uh my concern is that um uh the success that we've seen in our PBAs >> um particularly in the social studies that um if uh Senator Van Vulcanberg's bill u gets its way, it seems like it's damaging to our our efforts for inquiry and for locally um u designed assessments that that um will um measure growth over time. um rather than another teach to the it's just basically a teach to a different test is what his proposal is. Uh rather than a a multiple choice so then it's it's a written so at the end of the year. uh whereas what what we're doing now with inquiry is really more hitting on the the skills that are authentic and what what we're trying to to to uh to teach
074our kids those transferable skills that that can can transcend not just the curriculum in social studies but uh but curriculum more at large. Um so that's just my soap box on it and I'm happy to talk more about that at another time. I don't want to take up anybody else's u time on it. Thank you, Mr. Hedgepath. I agree. I think PBAs have been a great addition um to our kids testing and allowing them and teachers to really show what they know. Um so, thank you for bringing that up. >> Uh Mr. Jafari, >> let me find the audio button. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh Mr. Stanley, if I could get you to to kind of backtrack a moment. A moment ago, you were talking about the bill uh concerning new school construction and
075you referenced four schools and one of those was the uh Richmond School for the Performing Arts. >> Yes, sir. >> And you know, it's my understanding that that that project is nearing completion and I wasn't aware of any shortfalls or anything. Um, >> no. No. >> What What specifically with reference to Richmond School for the Arts, would we be using new construction monies? >> Yes, sir. Um, so this would, this bill, it's uh, House Bill 751 from Delegate Ran. And what the bill would do, it changes the criteria for awarding grants from the school construction assistance program. And currently, we can apply for grants for new school construction projects that we're doing. just things that are ready to go, shovel ready projects. This legislation just adds a very small half or long half of a
076sentence to the bill that also qualifies buildings that were completed in the last 10 years for us to apply to try to get reimbursement, to try to get a grant for some of the construction costs. And as a reminder, the school construction assistance program has a maximum award of 20% of the costs of a project. So, uh, I believe it's just the mainly those four buildings that that will be kind of completed in this 10-year period from now backwards 10 years. And it was the three new schools that opened back in 2022. Um, and as well as I think Richmond High School for the Yeah, Richmond High School for the Arts would likely qualify as well. >> Oh, okay. And I just wanted >> potentially just a re reimbursement for us. >> Oh, okay. So,
077but again, I I just wanted to be clear that we're not talking about a current lack of funding situation now. We're just talking about something that could potentially aid us in the future. >> Correct. >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. >> If that if that bill were to pass, which I'm I'm doubtful that it will pass because I think that the fiscal impact would be very significant and I don't think that the school construction assistance program is currently funded at the levels that would make that very fair to divisions across the state. But if it were to pass, I presume that we would immediately apply for those four projects. >> Okay, understood. Thank you, sir. >> Yes, sir. >> Wonderful. Um, welcome, Mr. Farooq. And it looks like there are no Oh,
078further comments. Mr. Jafari, I think we've answered yours. Your hand's still raised, but just wanted to confirm. Good. Um, so let's move on to our other agenda item under committee business 2.02, review RPS policy positions. >> Yes. So, um, we, uh, Danielle and I worked on a significant revision to this. We um tried to make sure that it was referencing uh both many of the current funding reforms that we have been advocating for in recent years and this session um as well as just updating past p past policy positions. We reorganized it. Um it's now in slightly different sections >> starting with that finance and funding reform and then going into our office structure with sections for academics, talent, wellness, engagement, operations and then we have a final section on governance and local authority. Um
079so like Mr. Perl. Um I believe that uh you had made a comment that kind of talked about uh it was we're talking about Louise Lucas's bill, but retention of unexpended funds is one from a finance perspective that we've been supportive of for a very very long time. So it's keeping things like that on here, proceeds from the sales of schoolboard property. Um, I don't think that there is legislation introduced on either of those topics this year, but they have been perennial topics in the past. The general assembly has continued to uh vote down. Um, the other things on the top of this first page I think are are everybody is pretty well aware of. Um, I do know that the use of lottery funds is something that has come up um from board members
080in the past. Um and I did try to make a bit of a better tie and position on that to the support of infrastructure and operations. Um lottery funds as you all I think know are supposed to the proceeds are supposed to go to public education. Um but what has happened in many different years is that the general assembly might be having a bit of a tight budget and instead of providing you know direct appropriations to school divisions with the lottery funds, they use the lottery funds to balance the Virginia retirement system contributions for teachers or they use it to balance some other aspect um of education funding and essentially just supplanting general funds with that non-general fund money. Um, so we put in a bit of a better tie really saying that lottery funds
081should generally be going right back to school divisions as per pupil allocations to support with infrastructure and operations. Um, so I I I welcome any feedback and kind of the way we've massaged that one a little bit. Um, but I thought that that was an important one to call out for you all. Um, we have our sections for each of our offices in here and um, I I will be transparent and that I believe that there are probably many other positions that we could work on and draft for inclusion in this document. Um, especially when it comes to academics. We were just having a bit of a conversation about SOS and assessments. Um, I think that that would be a place right for us to add an additional policy position statement. But, um, that's one
082that I wanted to bring to you all first and perhaps we can collaboratively work on that together. Um, likewise, I have a feeling there may be some other things with talent. Um, I did take off one comment about teacher evaluations because that has not been something that has come up here in RPS recently. So, I don't feel comfortable kind of helping name a position on on what our stance around teacher evaluations or performance management might be. Um, with the wellness area, um, we have definitely beefed that out with some of the things that are on our current legislative agenda, you know, around Medicaid billing, support, and reimbursement. Um, this year we had our specialized student support ratios on the legislative agenda as well. So, just continuing to to double down on some of those topics
083that we think are good for continued um addressing of the general assembly. Um we have our commission on school construction and modernization in there. Um just continuing support from that commission. Uh and then a few final governance and local authority items. Um we do have the section about state supervised school divisions. There is a piece of legislation um that would look at uh the support for low performing school divisions. Um I do I have requested a review of that by a couple folks and waiting to hear back. Um and then uh we have some of our private school tax credit scholarship programs, local authority for charter schools, non-public school participation in intercolastic programs. And then finally, we do have a bit of a blanket statement down here that just says in the absence of us
084having a position on something, we would generally defer to VAS and VSBA. If they're in conflict, we would take that to you all before we took a position on it. Um, so I welcome any comments, additions, collaboration on this document. Mr. Ricard, maybe you have some thoughts on how you'd like to proceed. Um well yeah I'd love to open it up to my colleagues to see if anything stood out to them that was missing. One thing I was thinking about um Mr. Stanley was under academics. I think maybe something about work-based learning or could it tie in with CTE. Um but I do know like with the ed fund really taking an interest and I know that is I think like apprenticeships and internships. Um, I think maybe support Yeah. legislation that supports I mean
085[snorts] even going as far as support supporting businesses that offer apprenticeships or things like that or just even um funding to help create coordinators of those programs as well. Um >> and that I I missed that bill earlier. There is the piece of legislation um that would uh put a requirement into the standards of quality for there to be a career coach at every school at every high school, >> right? >> Um we currently have been funding those from our general fund. They were previously funded as the future center navigators by the foundation. Um, so this would give us state SOQ funding for those positions. It would require them at every high school. We've currently only been funding them at our comprehensive high schools, so it would still be a bit of a net cost
086for us. Um, but getting the state support for those positions is continuing to kind of rightsize the SOQs. >> Oh, Mr. HS pass. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you for this, Mr. Stanley. I um I I I'm going to go back to the uh to the SOS. Um and um I I really appreciate the opportunity to for us to kind of unpack this a little bit more at another point. Uh but I do uh I just wanted to say that I would I would be very interested in in talking this over in particular. the uh that third point that talks about the allowing for local flexibility for so testing time frames. Uh the the previous administration um uh attempted to uh to take away uh flexibility when it came to um the course
087sequence. Um, and so that is uh really detrimental to to localities that have special electives that that they uh that they want their students to to uh to enroll in, which may be in conflict with the the order that the state um you know, at least now it doesn't require it. But I just worry I worry that if if if say you know we wanted to continue like the uh Richmond history um and other electives or or other you know things that might come up in the future. I I would I would want us to continue to support the ability to be flexible with when we teach so courses. um um that that they don't necessarily like for instance you know if we wanted to teach um you know world history 2 and 11th grade
088I'm not not that we will but right like that like you know if that suited our population better um I was a little bit worried when when the previous administration tried to take that local control away >> but um good news is they haven't um uh at this point but I just want to maybe we we say that out loud Okay. >> Yeah, >> I I will probably take the option to circle back with you as we continue to try to refine that. >> Happy to. >> Thank you. Anything else? The only other question I had, Mr. Stanley, I don't even know if this is something that we want to put in on or if it's showing up this year, but just the idea of teacher lure and multiple pathways and continuing to support ways
089to get more teachers [laughter] licensed and in classrooms. Um, I don't even quite know how to phrase that. I don't know if we've ever that >> um >> there's I mean there's so many good things that have been introduced this year on the topic whether it's >> national uh stipens and grants for national board certified teachers or the interstate compact I mean there's just there's there's a provisional lensure >> grant program as well I think out there there was the high vacancy >> uh school build that we're following very closely so there's definitely things in that area and we can build out a position on That was a good catch. >> Great. >> I think it's a little bit under teacher recruitment and retention scientific. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um well, thank you
090and Dr. Greenbell for all your work on this. I um I think it's great and you know I hope that one day I have to say the retention of unexpended funds and the proceeds from sale of schoolboard property are really would be really great and so maybe in a future year they will be realized as >> and we yes we can speak with our delegation about potentially introducing those in the future. >> Yeah. Great. Wonderful. Um, anything else? I think with all these bills and just the the priorities and I know we have our advocacy days coming up. Um, I know one thing that was mentioned at the um the budget presentation last week was potentially doing another advocacy town hall. um with the public and I guess I didn't know colleagues if you felt
091that was worthwhile. I think it would be virtual cuz I feel like that's easiest for people to participate in but just was wondering February is quick. I don't know. >> Madam Chair, >> yes. I think that's an excellent idea and maybe we could collaborate with REA or some of our collective bargaining partners and do a a joint sort of town hall. So yeah, that's a great idea. >> I love the idea of including Rea. >> Um Mr. Stanley, is there a time frame that you feel is best for us to try to find a date for that? >> Um probably we're bit in the situation of the sooner the better. >> Okay. Um the next available date for me would be next Thursday night and then we could we could go out from there. Um
092would be very flexible I think after that. >> Sorry I'm pulling up calendars. Next Thursday is the fit. Um, which looks like there's nothing on the calendar. Um, colleagues, any thoughts about that? Um, I guess for a town hall, Miss Mias, is this something that normally you all you would not have to be I guess that's the other thing I I know it's your time. I don't want to keep in your time. >> I think I think Miss Ricard um maybe you and I should catch up. I think I can host this and then that way it is not a schoolboard event. >> Perfect. >> You all can invite whoever you want to. you can all be invited and Miss Ricard, you can be the host with me, but we'll we'll make we won't have
093all the other board members be panelists and that way we can avoid the public notice requirements and not and keep it from being a schoolboard meeting and make it just an advocacy town hall. >> I would love that. >> Yes, we can do that. Um, yeah, let's let's touch base offline. Um, I'm I said next week, but I'm now realizing a oneweek turnaround for a new event is actually pretty quick. So, probably the next week, so we can look at the dates of the following week. Um, so colleagues, Mr. Stanley and I will connect on some dates that work for him. I'll send them out to you all and we'll just see who can be there and who can't. But I um, Mr. Fug, thank you for the and I guess REA, we need to
094connect with them and see what Miss Clark might want to hop in on. >> Yeah, she's she came down to the general assembly building with me today. Um, it's really wonderful getting to kind of walk hand inand with them as we advocate. So just again a really big kudos to her. >> Yeah, that's awesome. That's great. Um, so before we adjourn, is there any other comments on our business items? Oh, Mr. Stanley. >> Yeah. Uh, just two quick things. Um, I'm hoping that tomorrow we have our legislative two-pager finalized. I was hoping to have that ready for y'all tonight, but we're still just waiting for the the final edits on that. Um, I'll hopefully be able to send that out to you tomorrow, and that's what we will be using for our advocacy day on
095Monday. We are watching the weather very closely for our advocacy day on Monday. We don't want anybody to be in any uh risky driving conditions or anything like that, but we are hopeful that we can continue that city hall will be open. Uh we do expect the general assembly to be in full swing. Um if you haven't had a chance to register, please do so. Um we've sent that around and if if you do not have that information, please contact me directly and I will make sure we get it for you. Um and then we're also looking forward to giving you all another legislative update at the board meeting um on I think Monday night. Um, now that we kind of have all the legislation introduced and we had our committee meeting tonight, we will
096have an fresh update for you on Monday evening as well. >> Great. Awesome. And of course, colleagues, if there's any other morning, afternoon that you would like to be down at the GA, just let Mr. Stanley know. He did say Monday through Thursdays are normally best. Friday tends to be a little less active. Um, but you're always welcome to join him. >> Indeed. Thank you. All right. Um, well, with that, we are adjourned at 7:25. Thank you all. Be safe, be warm, and have a good night. >> Thanks, everyone. >> Thank you all.