Norfolk Federation of Teachers (NFT)

RICHMOND — A bill requiring full-time in-person instruction next school year took another step Monday toward becoming law.

The House Education Committee voted 17-3 to report the bill, an amended version of a one-sentence bill passed by the Senate earlier this month, to the full House of Delegates. It could come to floor vote as early as this week.

The Senate still must review and approve the amendments before the bill could become law, but the current version appears to have bipartisan support.

“This is a safe way for us to do the most important thing,” Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, who introduced the Senate version of the bill, told the committee Monday. “Undoubtedly, the number one health care crisis we now have in Virginia is what our children are suffering.”

The bill does not take effect immediately. The version, championed by Democrat Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg who has been working with Dunnavant, would take effect July 1.

The original version of the bill would’ve required in-person learning immediately using an emergency clause, but that was taken out before it passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote.

Some House Republicans tried to add the emergency clause back in Monday but were defeated. Dunnavant said she wants it to take effect immediately too, but she doesn’t think it will pass both the House and Senate with that provision.

“I lay the challenge at the feet of the House: if you deem this as important as I do and you want to put an emergency clause on it and you can garner that support, then I will do everything in my power to garner the same support back in the Senate,” Dunnavant said.

Things have changed significantly across the state since Dunnavant first introduced the bill. As of Jan. 26, about 31% of districts had only remote instruction, according to numbers from the Virginia Department of Education.

Since then, the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention come out with new school guidelines and Gov. Ralph Northam set a March 15 date for schools to start in-person instruction.

Those have helped push schools towards reopening. As of Monday, only two districts — Sussex County and Richmond — hadn’t told the state they plan to bring more students back soon. Another 20 remain fully virtual but have plans to bring students back.

VanValkenburg, who chairs the House subcommittee that approved a different version of the bill last week, said that they need to give schools time, given that almost all are already going back.

“I think it’s an appropriate thing, if we pass a bill, to adapt to this and to not force it down their throats with an emergency clause,” VanValkenburg said.

The bill approved by the committee Monday adds some additional detail to the subcommittee version, defining what counts as in-person instruction and clarifying that schools can offer virtual instruction to students whose families request it.

Schools would have to offer full-time instruction and follow CDC mitigation measures “to the maximum extent practicable.” If there are outbreaks in a school building, school districts can take some or all of that school virtual in line with Virginia Department of Health guidelines.

All school district staff are to be offered the vaccine, according to the bill, something that’s been underway for weeks in most of the state. The bill says that teachers who have work accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act should continue to be allowed to teach virtually. It also includes a one-year expiration date.

“We are not making policy. We are responding to extraordinary times,” VanValkenburg said.

The bill has broad support from Democrats following the extensive amendments championed by VanValkenburg, who worked extensively with Dunnavant to find a version that could pass both houses. It also has the support of the Virginia Education Association, which has pushed for teachers to be able to get the vaccine before returning to classrooms.

But some school leaders remain opposed, including the Virginia School Board Association.

It’s the chapter of an ongoing saga about who controls school closings and reopenings. Northam shut down schools unilaterally in March last year, but since the summer, the state has maintained the decision to reopen or not rests in the hands of local school boards. Even Northam’s March 15 deadline is just a strong suggestion — he hasn’t announced any plans to force schools to comply.

Gloucester County superintendent Walter Clemons said he was concerned about the legislature mandating what schools have to offer in fall, especially an all-virtual option for students to opt-in that he said could be expensive for some schools.

Tazewell County School Board member David Woodard told the committee that a mandate from the state prevents schools from adapting to their region. His board threatened to sue Northam over the summer over school closures.

“What works in Northern Virginia doesn’t work in southwest. What works in southwest doesn’t work in Hampton Roads,” Woodard said.