Action:

Update to Comport with Legislative Changes Made by HB 1215 (2012)

 

In 2012, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 1215, requiring the Virginia Board of Education to promulgate regulations establishing standards for the accreditation of public virtual schools that enroll students full-time. The original intent of the legislation was to address situations where a student would be enrolled in a public schools and take all coursework virtually, rather than in a traditional “brick and mortar” environment. The Board approved the NOIRA stage of this regulatory action on May 24, 2012. The NOIRA was approved and submitted for publication and a 30-day public comment period on June 14, 2012. The original proposed stage of this regulatory action was approved by the Board on April 25, 2013. The proposed stage was approved by the Governor on June 30, 2015 and submitted to the Registrar for publication and a public comment period on July 2, 2015. For reasons unknown to Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) staff, this regulatory action did not proceed following the proposed stage. The climate and necessity of virtual learning expanded drastically in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has highlighted areas of need for Virginia’s public education system to ensure equity of opportunity for all students. As school divisions pivoted to support students through multiple instructional methods including hybrid and virtual formats, several factors have had a large impact on consistent, effective implementation of quality instruction including: ? lack of broadband infrastructure and access for all students; ? lack of devices for each student to access virtual instruction; ? lack of capacity of school divisions and professional development for educators to support the shift to virtual teaching and learning; and ? the inadequacy of a virtual format to meet many students’ needs, particularly students with special needs and younger students. While promulgating regulations establishing standards for accreditation of public virtual schools may not address each aspect of those inadequacies, more consistent standards and expectations would likely have a positive impact on quality instruction and student achievement. At the April 22, 2021, meeting of the Virginia Board of Education, the Board voted to withdraw these regulations as they intended to start the process over by issuing a new NOIRA in the coming months.

Stages associated with this regulatory action.

Stage ID	Stage Type	Status
6189	NOIRA	Stage withdrawn on 04/27/2021 after the comment period had ended.
6574	Proposed	Stage withdrawn on 04/27/2021 after the comment period had ended.