Higher education bills move ahead in House
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The first two bills passed focused on expanding in-state tuition to out-of-state guardsmen of the Virginia National Guard. SB 955, introduced by Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg, clarifies the military service obligation for members of the Virginia National Guard, and gives universities the ability to enter into special arraignment contracts with the National Guard to offer more opportunities for in-state tuition for out-of-state guardsmen.
The next bill, SB 1202, introduced by Orange County Sen. Bryce Reeves, similarly allows out-of-state guardsmen to receive in-state tuition if they serve in the National Guard. Reeves and others hope the bill will deter guardsmen from leaving Virginia for other states in pursuit of in-state tuition benefits.
“We are losing guardsmen left and right who are getting poached by other states,” Reeves said. “Retaining those troops that we have is pretty mission critical to what sustains our operational readiness here in the state.”
Both bills passed the subcommittee unanimously and were reported to the Committee on Appropriations.
Two bills failed to pass the subcommittee, both of which were proposed by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D- Richmond. The first, SB 1110, would ask that no institution of higher education withhold an academic transcript for a student who is in debt to the university if they are applying for employment or pursuing military service. The bill would prevent withholding the transcript if the student’s debt was less than $500 or if they were enrolled in a payment plan to which they had completed three consecutive monthly payments. “A low-income student who can pursue employment and get a job is in a better position to pay the debt that they may owe to an institution,” Hashmi said. The bill failed to report in a 4-5 decision.
Hashmi’s second bill, SB 1130, would establish a work group under the Virginia State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) to inform the General Assembly and Virginia institutions of higher learning for necessary areas that would fall into Virginia’s Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead program (G3).
“(G3) has been immensely successful in helping students obtain degrees and credentials in areas of high workforce need across the Commonwealth,” Hashmi said. “It focuses on needs in healthcare programs, education, technology, skilled manufacturing and has been a positive force in making sure we are combining the critical needs of our students in higher education and the areas of significant workforce development needs.”
The bill failed to report in a 4-6 vote.
Two of the bills passed were introduced by Sen. Shiobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, and would amend the curriculum for registered nurses in the Commonwealth. The first, SB 1172, would align the core curriculum for registered nursing classes across the state to ensure credits are transferable between different academic opportunities.
“This is about convening the entities to have them find alignment as we’ve done in the past to get more RNs in the field,” Dunnavant said.
Dunnavant’s second bill, SB 1286, is a request for Virginia community colleges to align the names and curriculum of all of their non-nursing medically related credentials and licensure.
“This would be a small lift for [community colleges] to ensure there is absolute clarity in curriculum requirements even if you switch community colleges,” Dunnavant said.
The final bill passed, SB 1499, introduced by Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, amends a current law in the Virginia Commonwealth University health system regarding the criteria for holding the Corporate Executive Officer title, by changing a “shall” to a “may”.
“Under current law the CEO of the VCU health system must also be the vice president for health sciences,” McClellan said. “This just changes that to ‘may’ to give the board more flexibility on who to hire as the CEO.”
The bill passed in a 10-0 vote.
The subcommittee will reconvene Monday.
