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Bill

SB 968

School boards; support services personnel, annual collection of certain staffing data required.

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Jennifer Carroll Foy

Virginia requires school boards to annually collect and report standardized staffing data on support services personnel to identify resource gaps and enable evidence-based education decisions.

Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0578)
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Bill Summary · SB 968

Legislative bill overview

SB 968 requires Virginia school boards to annually collect and report standardized data on support services personnel (such as counselors, social workers, and paraprofessionals) employed in their districts. The bill mandates submission of this data to the Virginia Department of Education and establishes uniform reporting categories for staffing composition and workload metrics.

Why is this important

Understanding support services staffing levels directly affects student outcomes—inadequate counselor-to-student ratios, for example, correlate with reduced mental health support and academic intervention capacity. This data collection creates transparency that enables policymakers, school boards, and advocacy groups to identify resource gaps, benchmark staffing against district needs, and make evidence-based funding decisions. It also provides baseline metrics for assessing whether schools have adequate non-teaching support across their systems.

Potential points of contention

  • Administrative burden: School districts must establish new data collection and reporting processes, which requires time, potential software updates, and staff training at the local level
  • Defining "support services personnel": Ambiguity in which roles qualify (e.g., do office managers count? security personnel?) could create inconsistent reporting across districts and limit data comparability
  • Resource allocation concerns: While transparency can drive positive change, districts may face pressure to increase support staff spending before they have capacity or funding to do so, potentially straining other budget areas

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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