Citizen Portal

Senate panel OKs study of school tech to identify at-risk students, adds bias‑mitigation clause

Senate of Virginia — Education Subcommittee (Senate Committee Room C 311) · January 16, 2026
Article hero
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

The subcommittee approved Senator Favola’s SB 39 directing a VDOE work group to study technology used to identify students at risk of harming themselves or others, adopting an amendment requiring the group to consider racial and cultural bias mitigation; supporters cited privacy and implementation concerns, while a child psychiatrist urged stronger parental notification.

Sen. Favola presented SB 39, a section‑1 bill directing the Virginia Department of Education to convene a stakeholder work group to study how technology tools can help identify students who may be at risk of harming themselves or others. "This is a section 1 bill, and it directs the Department of Education to convene a work group with various stakeholders," Favola said, adding that a report would be required by Nov. 15, 2026.

The committee unanimously adopted an amendment that would ask the work group to "consider incorporating racial and cultural bias mitigation strategies" as it conducts its review. "What the amendment does is it wants this work group to consider incorporating racial and cultural bias mitigation strategies," Favola said during the amendment debate.

Supporters including Chris Bailey of the Virginia School Counselors Association, Sophia Simmons of the Virginia Education Association and Chelsea Duntory of the Legal Aid Justice Center told the subcommittee they backed the study and the amendment. "We support this bill and appreciate Senator Favola’s acknowledgment and awareness of the potential for cultural and racial bias to be built into these AI systems," Duntory said.

A child psychiatrist, Dr. Sheila Fury, testified in opposition and urged that parents be notified when surveillance or tracking occurs. "If a child is at risk and you're surveying and you're tracking that child, the parent ought to know," Fury said.

Committee members discussed whether work‑group requests should go through the rules committee; after debate the subcommittee voted to recommend referring SB 39 to the full committee (motion passed 4–1). The report will now be considered at the next committee level where members may further amend scope or direction.