Virginia HB 877: Public high school students; opportunity to earn transferable meta-major associate degree, etc.

Bill Text

2026 SESSION

INTRODUCED

26101617D

HOUSE BILL NO. 877

Offered January 14, 2026

Prefiled January 13, 2026

A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 22.1-1, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 22.1-237.2 through 22.1-237.5, 22.1-253.13:1, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 23.1-100, 23.1-907, and 23.1-908 of the Code of Virginia, relating to high school students; postsecondary opportunities; independent dual enrollment; transferable meta-major associate degrees.

—————

Patrons—Rasoul, Anderson, Carroll, Clark, Cole, J.G., Cole, N.T., Convirs-Fowler, Dougherty, Franklin, L.V., Guzman, Laufer, Reaser, Schmidt, Scott, P.A., Simonds and Ware; Senator: Favola

—————

Referred to Committee on Education

—————

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 22.1-1, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 22.1-237.2 through 22.1-237.5, 22.1-253.13:1, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, 23.1-100, 23.1-907, and 23.1-908 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 22.1-1. (Effective until July 1, 2026) Definitions.

As used in this title, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Board" or "State Board" means the Board of Education.

"Department" means the Department of Education.

"Division superintendent" means the division superintendent of schools of a school division.

"Dual enrollment" means the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is creditable toward high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree at a public institution of higher education. "Dual enrollment" does not include the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is not creditable toward high school completion.

"Elementary" includes kindergarten.

"Elementary and secondary" and "elementary or secondary" include elementary, middle, and high school grades.

"Evidence-based literacy instruction" means structured instructional practices, including sequential, systematic, explicit, and cumulative teaching, that (i) are based on reliable, trustworthy, and valid evidence consistent with science-based reading research; (ii) are used in core or general instruction, supplemental instruction, intervention services, and intensive intervention services; (iii) have a demonstrated record of success in adequately increasing students' reading competency, vocabulary, oral language, and comprehension and in building mastery of the foundational reading skills of phonological and phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, phonics, spelling, and text reading fluency; and (iv) are able to be differentiated in order to meet the individual needs of students. "Evidence-based literacy instruction" does not include practices that instruct students to gain meaning from print through the use of (i) three-cueing, which includes semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic cues; (ii) meaning, structure, and visual cues; or (iii) visual memory for word recognition.

"Governing body" or "local governing body" means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, responsible for appropriating funds for such locality, as the context may require.

"Independent dual enrollment" means the enrollment of a high school student in an associate degree-level course, creditable toward high school completion, offered on a campus, center, location, or site operated by an associate-degree-granting public institution of higher education, as that term is defined in § 23.1-100.

"Meta-major" means a broad field of study, identified by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia pursuant to policy, that comprises programs of study that share common foundational coursework.

"Middle school" means separate schools for early adolescents and the middle school grades that might be housed at elementary or high schools.

"Parent" or "parents" means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child.

"Person of school age" means a person who will have reached his fifth birthday on or before September 30 of the school year and who has not reached twenty years of age on or before August 1 of the school year.

"School board" means the school board that governs a school division.

"Science-based reading research" means research that (i) applies rigorous, systematic, and objective observational or experimental procedures to obtain valid knowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading and writing difficulties and (ii) explains how proficient reading and writing develop, why some children have difficulties developing key literacy skills, and how schools can best assess and instruct early literacy, including the use of evidence-based literacy instruction practices to promote reading and writing achievement.

"Superintendent" means the Superintendent of Public Instruct