Richmond, Virginia—Parents, students, and teachers are celebrating today as the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee Subcommittee on Public Education advanced two major education equity bills that would strengthen how our schools support historically underserved students. SB 90, sponsored by Senator Barbara Favola, passed unanimously (5-0) and SB 685, sponsored by Senator Stella Pekarsky, passed by a margin of 3-2. This is the first step in the legislative process, and the bills will now move to full committee votes with broad support from advocates and the education community.

“For years, parents and teachers have been asking the Commonwealth to see what they see every day in our classrooms. Kids who need more support are getting less, and families who don’t speak English are being shut out of their own children’s education,” said Ashleigh Crocker, Interim Executive Director at Progress Virginia. “Today’s passage of SB 90 and SB 685 is proof that advocacy works and that lawmakers are finally willing to fix parts of a system that has failed too many students for too long. These bills won’t solve everything, but they move us closer to a school system that funds students based on their needs and treats every family with respect.”

Background:

• SB 90 (Favola) would add structural changes to Virginia’s Standards of Quality to support equity in public school funding and staffing. The bill would establish an At-Risk Program to support services for students facing the greatest educational challenges and would codify existing funding add-ons for students with disabilities, strengthen the at-risk add-on, and create a new add-on for English language learners, paired with budget changes to boost adequacy of these supports.
• SB 685 (Pekarsky) would require every school board to adopt and publicly post language access plans that guarantee timely, effective oral interpretation and written translation services for limited English proficient parents at no cost. It sets statewide standards where practices have been inconsistent or missing, opening the door to better communication and family engagement for Virginia’s multilingual families.