School board hears legislative update on SOL reform, 'bell‑to‑bell' cell phone law and school funding

Joel Andrus, a legislative consultant with Kimber Consulting, briefed the Virginia Beach School Board on June 9 about major education measures from the 2025 General Assembly that they said will affect local testing, school rules on student phones and state education funding.

The presentation summarized technical funding changes, policy measures enacted and items the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and local divisions should watch as the 2025‑26 school year approaches. Andrus said the session was shortened by an early‑session water outage in Richmond and noted the state remains under divided government, which shaped both legislation and gubernatorial vetoes.

Andrus described several education provisions that the board should expect to implement or plan around. He said the SOL reform bill will: require Standards of Learning (SOL) results to count as 10% of students' grades where applicable; require some SOL administrations within the last two weeks of the school year; and adopt a 100‑point scoring scale for SOLs. The legislation, Andrus said, is delayed by one year and contains a reenactment clause requiring the…