Standard 6. Planning and public involvement
Va. Code Ann. § 22.1-253.13:6
in effectA. 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'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 § 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'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'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 § 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 § 22.1-253.13:5 and subdivision I 2 of § 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 § 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'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 § 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.
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 .
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/22.1-253.13:6/Fetched: 10/16/2026