Bill Commons

VA HB 138

Status unknown

Public high schools; career coach required.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

Quick answers

Did VA HB 138 pass?

The current status of VA HB 138 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-02-18): Left in Committee Appropriations

What is VA HB 138 about?

Public high schools; personnel; career coach required. Requires each school board to employ at least one career coach in each public high school in the local school division whose duties shall include assisting students with securing internships, externships, and credentialing opportunities as required by the Profile of a Virginia Graduate, providing students with information on apprenticeship programs, and connecting students to career opportunities. The bill provides that each such individual shall work under the direction of school counselors to assist with direct counseling, as such term is defined in relevant law, relating to college and career readiness. The bill also provides that each such individual shall be employed in addition to and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions, specialized student support positions, or support services positions.

Who sponsors VA HB 138?

Shelly A. Simonds is the primary sponsor of VA HB 138, joined by 2 cosponsors.

Description

Public high schools; personnel; career coach required. Requires each school board to employ at least one career coach in each public high school in the local school division whose duties shall include assisting students with securing internships, externships, and credentialing opportunities as required by the Profile of a Virginia Graduate, providing students with information on apprenticeship programs, and connecting students to career opportunities. The bill provides that each such individual shall work under the direction of school counselors to assist with direct counseling, as such term is defined in relevant law, relating to college and career readiness. The bill also provides that each such individual shall be employed in addition to and not as a replacement for the required school counselor positions, specialized student support positions, or support services positions.

Introduced
2026-01-05
Latest action
2026-02-18 — Left in Committee Appropriations
Bill type
bill
Last updated

Sponsors

  • Shelly A. Simondsprimary
  • Debra D. Gardnercosponsor
  • May Nivarcosponsor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-05

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100528D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-05

    Referred to Committee on Education

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-01-23

    Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee

    referral-committee

  4. 2026-01-26

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB138)

  5. 2026-01-27

    Subcommittee recommends reporting and referring to Appropriations (7-Y 3-N)

  6. 2026-01-28

    Reported from Education and referred to Appropriations (14-Y 7-N)

    committee-passage

  7. 2026-01-28

    Assigned HAPP sub: Elementary & Secondary Education

    referral-committee

  8. 2026-01-30

    Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (6-Y 0-N)

  9. 2026-02-18

    Left in Committee Appropriations

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Subcommittee recommends reporting

    2026-01-27 · pass · 7-3

    Member-level votes (10)
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: no
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: no
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: no
  • Reported from Education

    2026-01-28 · pass · 14-7

    Member-level votes (22)
    • Sam Rasoul: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • Delores L. McQuinn: yes
    • Elizabeth R. Guzman: yes
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler: yes
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Nadarius E. Clark: yes
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: not voting
    • Amy J. Laufer: yes
    • Destiny LeVere Bolling: yes
    • Jessica L. Anderson: yes
    • Lindsey Dougherty: yes
    • Gretchen M. Bulova: yes
    • Mike A. Cherry: no
    • Anne Ferrell Tata: no
    • Phillip A. Scott: no
    • Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.: no
    • Eric R. Zehr: no
    • Hillary Pugh Kent: no
    • Madison Whittle: no
  • Subcommittee recommends laying on the table

    2026-01-30 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Delores L. McQuinn: not voting
    • Briana D. Sewell: yes
    • Charniele L. Herring: yes
    • Marcia S. "Cia" Price: yes
    • Shelly A. Simonds: yes
    • Bill Wiley: yes
    • Ellen H. McLaughlin: yes

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

Attribution

Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z

Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:

Use this data

Every field on this page is available from the free public API — no key or licence required. Fetch this bill as JSON: GET /api/v1/bills?jurisdiction=VA&identifier=HB 138. See the API docs or the MCP server for AI assistants.

Known limitations

  • Sponsor party and chamber affiliation are not yet captured by this API.
  • Committee referrals are not yet captured.

See the methodology page for data sources and limitations.