                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

(EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2026) STANDARD 6. PLANNING AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT (§
22.1-253.13:6)

A. The Board shall adopt a statewide comprehensive, unified, long-range plan
based on data collection, analysis, and evaluation. Such plan shall be developed
with statewide participation. The Board shall review the plan biennially and
adopt any necessary revisions. The Board shall post the plan on the
Department&#8217;s website if practicable, and, in any case, shall make a hard
copy of such plan available for public inspection and copying.
			This plan shall include the objectives of public education in Virginia,
including strategies for first improving student achievement, particularly the
achievement of educationally at-risk students, then maintaining high levels of
student achievement; an assessment of the extent to which these objectives are
being achieved; a forecast of enrollment changes; and an assessment of the needs
of public education in the Commonwealth. In the annual report required by &#xA7;
22.1-18, the Board shall include an analysis of the extent to which these
Standards of Quality have been achieved and the objectives of the statewide
comprehensive plan have been met. The Board shall also develop, consistent with,
or as a part of, its comprehensive plan, a detailed comprehensive, long-range
plan to integrate educational technology into the Standards of Learning and the
curricula of the public schools in Virginia, including career and technical
education programs. The Board shall review and approve the comprehensive plan
for educational technology and may require the revision of such plan as it deems
necessary.

B. Each local school board shall adopt a divisionwide comprehensive, unified,
long-range plan based on data collection, an analysis of the data, and how the
data will be utilized to improve classroom instruction and student achievement.
The plan shall be developed with staff and community involvement and shall
include, or be consistent with, all other divisionwide plans required by state
and federal laws and regulations. Each local school board shall review the plan
biennially and adopt any necessary revisions. Prior to the adoption of any
divisionwide comprehensive plan or revisions thereto, each local school board
shall post such plan or revisions on the division&#8217;s Internet website if
practicable, and, in any case, shall make a hard copy of the plan or revisions
available for public inspection and copying and shall conduct at least one
public hearing to solicit public comment on the divisionwide plan or revisions.
			The divisionwide comprehensive plan shall include (i) the objectives of the
school division, including strategies for (a) improving student achievement,
particularly the achievement of educationally at-risk students, (b) maintaining
high levels of student achievement, and (c) supporting student achievement
through the adoption and implementation of textbooks and other high-quality
instructional materials; (ii) an assessment of the extent to which these
objectives are being achieved; (iii) a forecast of enrollment changes; (iv) a
plan for projecting and managing enrollment changes including consideration of
the consolidation of schools to provide for a more comprehensive and effective
delivery of instructional services to students and economies in school
operations; (v) an evaluation of the appropriateness of establishing regional
programs and services in cooperation with neighboring school divisions; (vi) a
plan for implementing such regional programs and services when appropriate;
(vii) a technology plan designed to integrate educational technology into the
instructional programs of the school division, including the school
division&#8217;s career and technical education programs, consistent with, or as
a part of, the comprehensive technology plan for Virginia adopted by the Board;
(viii) an assessment of the needs of the school division and evidence of
community participation, including parental participation, in the development of
the plan; (ix) any corrective action plan required pursuant to &#xA7;
22.1-253.13:3; and (x) a plan for parent and family involvement to include
building successful school and parent partnerships that shall be developed with
staff and community involvement, including participation by parents.
			The divisionwide comprehensive plan shall also include a divisionwide
literacy plan for pre-kindergarten through grade eight. The Board shall issue
guidance on the contents of such plans. The Department shall develop a template
for such plans. Each divisionwide literacy plan shall follow such template and
address how the local school board will align (a) literacy professional
development; (b) core reading and literacy curriculum for students in
kindergarten through grade five; and (c) screening, supplemental instruction,
and interventions for students in kindergarten through grade eight with
evidence-based literacy instruction practices aligned with science-based reading
research and how the school board will support parents to support the literacy
development of their children. When developing such divisionwide literacy plan,
each local school board shall use programs from the lists developed by the
Department pursuant to subsection C of &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:5 and subdivision I 2
of &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:1 or seek approval from the Department for the use of
alternative programs that consist of evidence-based literacy instruction and
align with science-based reading research. Each such divisionwide literacy plan
shall be submitted to the Department and shall identify which core literacy
curricula, supplemental instructional practices and programs, and intervention
programs from the list developed by the Department pursuant to subdivision I 2
of &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:1 or alternative programs approved by the Department that
consist of evidence-based literacy instruction and align with science-based
reading research will be used in each grade level, kindergarten through 12, at
each of the schools within such school division. Each local school board shall
post, maintain, and update as necessary on such school board&#8217;s website a
copy of its divisionwide literacy plan and the job description and contact
information for any reading specialist employed by such school division pursuant
to subsection G of &#xA7; 22.1-253.13:2 and for any dyslexia specialist employed
by such school division. The Department shall post each divisionwide literacy
plan on its website.
			A report shall be presented by each school board to the public by November 1
of each odd-numbered year on the extent to which the objectives of the
divisionwide comprehensive plan have been met during the previous two school
years.

C. Each public school shall also prepare a comprehensive, unified, long-range
plan, which the relevant school board shall consider in the development of its
divisionwide comprehensive plan.

D. The Board shall, in a timely manner, make available to local school boards
information about where current Virginia school laws, Board regulations and
revisions, and copies of relevant Opinions of the Attorney General of Virginia
may be located online.

HISTORY: 1988, cc. 645, 682; 1990, cc. 820, 839; 1992, c. 591; 1998, c. 106;
2000, c. 867; 2001, c. 484; 2004, cc. 939, 955, 965; 2005, cc. 331, 450; 2007,
c. 234; 2022, cc. 549, 550; 2023, cc. 124, 645, 646; 2024, cc. 12, 44; 2025, cc.
680, 683.