Virginia school health committee forms subcommittee on diabetes care, highlights new laws and nurse scholarships

The School Health Services Committee met in Richmond and agreed to form a subcommittee to study Senate Bill 1303, the bill on diabetes medical management in public schools, while also reviewing several recently enacted laws and a new budgetary scholarship for school nurses.

Ryan Bremer, committee staff, told members the 2025 legislative session had been “very successful” for the panel: “4 of your endorsed proposals made it through, 3 statutory and 1 budgetary.” Those items include new laws to permit certain school staff to administer seizure rescue medication and to require cardiac emergency response plans in every public elementary and secondary school, a budgetary set-aside to help LPNs pursue RN training, and an extension of the committee’s sunset through 2028.

The committee created a subcommittee to take a “comprehensive review” of Senate Bill 1303 over the interim and to report back to the full committee. Bremer said the bill, which passed the Senate, was amended in the House and that the House substitute asked this committee to study the bill’s provisions. Committee leaders named co-chairs for the subcommittee and said the subcommittee will work outside or alongside the regular meeting schedule; the subcommittee is expected to report back to the full committee no later than Oct. 1.

Why it matters: committee members and public commenters said the topics touch everyday student safety and…