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Commission reviews Delegate Green’s House Bill 2,052 on adding local government topics to 12th-grade SOL guidance
Summary
The Virginia Commission on Civic Education discussed House Bill 2,052, referred by the House Committee on Education, and considered a draft amendment asking the Department of Education to add local-government topics to SOL instructional guides; the commission tabled a formal recommendation pending further work and a forthcoming quorum.
The Virginia Commission on Civic Education reviewed a referral from the House Committee on Education regarding House Bill 2,052 (2025), which would require standards of learning (SOL) materials for 12th-grade Virginia and U.S. government to include specified content about local government.
The draft under discussion would add instructional guidance—rather than change the SOL language directly—so that Department of Education (VDOE) materials for twelfth-grade government would cover the purpose, role, responsibility and identity of local constitutional officers and local governing bodies, including city and town councils, boards of supervisors and school boards.
Commission staff member Ryan Brimmer summarized the bill’s history and the commission’s prior discussion at its May meeting. He said the House Committee on Education had referred the bill to the commission for study and that he drafted a simple “section 1” bill directing VDOE to update instructional guides for use in the 2026–27 school year. Brimmer said he had shared the draft with the bill’s patron, Delegate Green, but had not yet received written feedback.
Commissioners and former educators on the panel said the subjects the bill addresses tend to be deferred late in the school year and are therefore at risk of being skipped. Commissioner Jim Dillard noted the commission’s mission to “promote study of state and local government,” and Senator Dave Marsden and former teachers said adding guidance would complement the commission’s broader civic-education work, including a college-level civic course the commission is developing.
Because the commission did not have a full quorum at the start of the meeting, members agreed to postpone a formal recommendation on HB 2,052. Chair Jennifer Boyceko said the item would be tabled for action at a future meeting when the commission can vote with a quorum present.
Next steps identified in the meeting included refining the draft language to clarify that the proposal requests VDOE update instructional guides (not the statutory SOL text) and inviting Delegate Green to participate in the commission’s follow-up work. No formal vote or endorsement of the bill was recorded; the commission explicitly tabled a recommendation pending further review.
The discussion took place during the meeting’s early agenda items and was led by Ryan Brimmer, who provided the bill summary and the draft section language.
