                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

STATE BOARD; DUTIES (§ 23.1-2904)

In addition to the duties of governing boards of public institutions of higher
education set forth in Chapter 13 (§ 23.1-1300 et seq.), the State Board shall:

1. Be the state agency with primary responsibility for coordinating workforce
training at the postsecondary through the associate degree level, exclusive of
the career and technical education programs provided through and administered by
the public school system. This responsibility shall not preclude other agencies
from also providing such services as appropriate, but these activities shall be
coordinated with the comprehensive community colleges;

2. Report on actions that comprehensive community colleges have taken to meet
the requirements of &#xA7; 23.1-2906 in its annual report to the General
Assembly on workforce development activities required by the general
appropriation act;

3. Prepare and administer a plan providing standards and policies for the
establishment, development, and administration of comprehensive community
colleges under its authority. It shall determine the need for comprehensive
community colleges and develop a statewide plan for their location and a time
schedule for their establishment. In the development of such plan, a principal
objective is to provide and maintain a system of comprehensive community
colleges, as that term is defined in &#xA7; 23.1-100 to make appropriate
educational opportunities and programs available throughout the Commonwealth. In
providing these offerings, the State Board shall recognize the need for
excellence in all curricula and shall establish and maintain standards
appropriate to the various purposes the respective programs are designed to
serve;

4. Establish policies providing for the creation of a local community college
board for each comprehensive community college established under this chapter
and the procedures and regulations under which such local boards shall operate.
These boards shall assist in ascertaining educational needs and enlisting
community involvement and support and shall perform such other duties as may be
prescribed by the State Board;

5. Adhere to the policies of the Council for the coordination of higher
education as required by law;

6. Develop a mental health referral policy directing comprehensive community
colleges to designate at least one individual at each college to serve as a
point of contact with an emergency services system clinician at a local
community services board, or another qualified mental health services provider,
for the purposes of facilitating screening and referral of students who may have
emergency or urgent mental health needs and of assisting the college in carrying
out the duties specified by &#xA7;&#xA7; 23.1-802 and 23.1-805. Each
comprehensive community college may establish relationships with community
services boards or other mental health providers for referral and treatment of
persons with less serious mental health needs;

7. Develop and implement, in coordination with the Council, the Department of
Education, and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, (i) a plan to
achieve and maintain the same standards regarding quality, consistency, and
level of evaluation and review for dual enrollment courses offered by local
school divisions pursuant to &#xA7; 23.1-907 as are required for all courses
taught in the System and (ii) a process and criteria for determining whether any
dual enrollment course offered in the Commonwealth that meets or exceeds such
standards is transferable to a public institution of higher education as (a) a
uniform certificate of general studies program or passport program course
credit, (b) a general elective course credit, or (c) a course credit meeting
other academic requirements of a public institution of higher education;

8. Prepare and administer a plan to standardize across all comprehensive
community colleges the courses offered and the quality and content of such
courses, as well as to standardize the application and registration process at
all comprehensive community colleges. Such plan shall allow for a comprehensive
community college to provide additional courses, beyond the standard class
content offered across the System, that meet specific regional interests and
needs. Regional courses shall be subject to the standards of quality applied to
all courses offered in the System;

9. Develop and implement a plan to standardize across all comprehensive
community colleges the courses offered for health care-related degree,
credential, or licensure programs, excluding any registered nursing programs.
Such plan shall include procedures and criteria for (i) standardizing such
courses by name, curriculum, coursework, quality, academic rigor, and standard
of evaluation; (ii) awarding credit toward the completion of any such health
care-related program for any student enrolled in a comprehensive community
college; and (iii) standardizing the manner in which academic and clinical hour
credits are awarded for such courses to ensure that they are stackable and
transferrable across the System; and

10. Develop and implement accountability measures to periodically, but in no
case less than every three years, review the performance of each comprehensive
community college to ensure that all standards established by the Board are
being met, with a goal of ensuring a consistent quality of education and
opportunity across the System. If it is found that such standards are not being
met at a particular institution, the Board shall develop a plan for corrective
action specific to the issues presented at that institution.

HISTORY: 1966, c. 679, §§ 23-215, 23-218, 23-220, 23-221; 1977, c. 413; 1996,
cc. 134, 486; 1998, cc. 111, 396; 2001, c. 483; 2002, cc. 586, 625; 2004, c.
146; 2006, c. 337; 2013, cc. 49, 606, § 23-219.1; 2015, cc. 63, 86; 2016, c.
588; 2018, cc. 787, 832, 845; 2023, c. 542.