Virginia § 22.1-298.8 - Public elementary and secondary school teachers; certain training activities; requirements and limitations; index

§ 22.1-298.8. Public elementary and secondary school teachers; certain training activities; requirements and limitations; index

A. As used in this section, "non-academic training activity" means any training activity in which any public elementary or secondary school teacher is required to participate that is not related to the teacher's instructional, academic, or curricular duties. "Non-academic training activity" does not include any requirement relating to licensure.

B. Notwithstanding any other provision of law:

1. No public elementary or secondary school teacher shall be required to participate more frequently than once within six months of employment with the applicable school board and once every five years thereafter in any non-academic training activity, provided, however, that participation in additional training relating to secure mandatory test violations as set forth in §§ 22.1-19.1 and 22.1-292.1 may be required upon the determination of the school board or division superintendent that such additional training is necessary to comply with federal or state law or to remediate misconduct. Each teacher who completes any such training shall sign a written attestation that the teacher has been trained in and understands the relevant subject matter.

2. The total frequency and duration of non-academic training activities in which each public elementary or secondary school teacher is required to participate pursuant to (i) state law or regulation or (ii) policy or regulation of the applicable school board shall not exceed 25 hours every five years.

C. The provisions of subsection B shall not apply to any non-academic training activity or other training activity in which any public school teacher is required to participate pursuant to federal law or regulation.

D. Any non-academic training activity in which a public elementary or secondary school teacher voluntarily participates shall not count toward the maximum number of hours of non-academic training activities in which a public elementary or secondary school teacher may be required to participate pursuant to subdivision B 2.

E. The Department shall establish and maintain an index of each training in which any public elementary and secondary school teacher in the Commonwealth is required to participate pursuant to state or federal law or regulation, including training required as a condition of licensure by the Department. Such index shall include information on the classification of teacher required to complete each training; the topic, length, and frequency of each training activity; and the total number of hours of training that each teacher is required to complete in a specific period of time. The Department shall review and update such index annually, when a training is added, or when an existing training on the index is changed in length or frequency to ensure that the information therein is accurate. The Department shall post such index in an easily and publicly accessible format and location on its website.

2023, c. 641; 2025, cc. 477, 489, 643.