<h3>2022 VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY</h3>
<h3></h3>
<h3>VSBA Legislative Update Blog</h3>
<blockquote>For up-to-the-minute Action Alerts during the 2022 Virginia General Assembly, please visit the <a href="http://vsbalegislativeupdate.blogspot.com/" data-cke-saved-href="http://vsbalegislativeupdate.blogspot.com/">VSBA Legislative Update Blog</a>.</blockquote>
&nbsp;

<strong>Legislative Action Alert: Ask Your Senator to Vote NO on SB 739</strong>

Please contact your Senator TODAY and urge him or her to VOTE NO on SB739.
SB739 (Dunnavant) mandates in-person instruction for all students and would prevent schools from closing due to COVID-19 outbreaks and other health related concerns. More problematic, however, is a floor amendment that was adopted today that would take away local school boards’ authority to require masks under any circumstances. VSBA believes that the decision to require or not require masks in schools can and should be made only by the local school board.

<strong><u>This is about more than the mask debate – this is about state versus local control of our public schools. </u></strong>

<strong>Please ask your Senator to </strong><strong>VOTE NO on SB739.</strong>

Here is a link to find your Senator:<a href="https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/">https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/</a>
Here is a link to the bill: <a href="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001dB3MZkmUoHzQx3IcjamOEd5PMtJ8Ej8zUkABUdTmxWOCqP42nBlrkmZMzr5t7U-RVaN0fe9avcxRhkI1_wLmhoWvOnTZsUFHbOO1oUmx2W3nTQP2sCAFITeK-jxitZXADIb7vA9igoGC0hP9ZPfcB2w_URHkPAAz_QTdocH8ZFj_yz-qgqlYjtvogGFrkUZ-UQXrxpJbRn0=&amp;c=SyePNdPccruHlz3zT82V2EcDoE8t1C09quusL1_v3f71bHtkq9gPqg==&amp;ch=n5ZGH5deNYNgvs9YpctlON2np4vDIIrECcZ4mkIAECSt3wVGqsPsQA==">https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?221+ful+SB739S1</a>

<strong>Legislative Action Alert: Thank Senator McClellan, Senator Stanley, and Delegate Bourne
</strong>Please take a moment and send a Thank You to Senator Jennifer McClellan, Senator Bill Stanley, and Delegate Jeff Bourne for their commitment to school modernization in the Commonwealth.

Tell Senator McClellan, Senator Stanley, and Delegate Bourne that you support the recommendation of the Commission on School Construction and Modernization that would permit school boards to retain any unexpended local funds at year end to finance capital projects.

Ask them to make NO changes to the Commission’s recommendation as introduced in SB 276 (Stanley) and HB 608 (Bourne).

Contact Senator McClellan:
district09@senate.virginia.gov ,  (804) 698-7509

Contact Senator Stanley:
district20@senate.virginia.gov ,  (804) 698-7520

Contact Delegate Bourne:
DelJBourne@house.virginia.gov , (804) 698-1071

<hr>

<strong>Disclaimer: </strong><em>The VSBA Executive Director and lobbyists are in daily contact discussing legislation and policies that drive the Association’s lobbying efforts, including the decision to send action alerts to the membership. The Association's lobbying efforts are based on positions contained in the VSBA Legislative Positions Handbook that is approved each year by the VSBA Delegate Assembly. Local school boards are not bound to this handbook and can adopt local positions on legislation and policy.</em>

&nbsp;