Bill Commons

VA HB 359

in committee

Private elementary or secondary school; use of public funds for tuition, standards.

Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · lower

Description

Use of public funds for private elementary or secondary school tuition; standards. Establishes several requirements and conditions relating to the use of certain public funds enumerated in the bill to fund student tuition at private elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth, including (i) requiring all students enrolled at schools who receive such funds to take Standards of Learning assessments; (ii) requiring all such schools to receive accountability ratings from the Board of Education; and (iii) prohibiting such schools from discriminating in admissions, enrollment, discipline, retention, or access to educational programs and services on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, special education status, language proficiency, or socioeconomic status.

Introduced
2026-01-12
Status date
—
Latest action
2026-02-11 — Continued to next session in Appropriations (Voice Vote)
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Sponsors

  • Dan I. Helmerprimary

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

  1. 2026-01-12

    Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105152D

    filing,introduction

  2. 2026-01-12

    Referred to Committee on Education

    referral-committee

  3. 2026-02-03

    Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB359)

  4. 2026-02-06

    House committee offered

  5. 2026-02-09

    Reported from Education with substitute and referred to Appropriations (13-Y 7-N)

    committee-passage

  6. 2026-02-09

    Committee substitute printed 26107420D-H1

    substitution

  7. 2026-02-09

    Assigned HAPP sub: Elementary & Secondary Education

    referral-committee

  8. 2026-02-11

    Subcommittee recommends continuing to (Voice Vote)

  9. 2026-02-11

    Continued to next session in Appropriations (Voice Vote)

Versions

Documents

Votes

  • Reported from Education with substitute

    2026-02-09 · pass · 13-7

    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: not voting
    • Alex Q. Askew: yes
    • Nadarius E. Clark: not voting
    • Rae Cousins: yes
    • Atoosa R. Reaser: yes
    • 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

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB359

Attribution

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

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