HJ117: Educators; Board of Education to establish code of ethics and professional responsibility.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 117

Offered January 10, 2018
Prefiled January 10, 2018
Requesting the Board of Education to establish a code of ethics and professional responsibility for educators in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth. Report.
Patron-- LaRock

Committee Referral Pending

WHEREAS, the purpose of public education in the United States is to produce knowledgeable and competent adults who are able to participate as informed citizens in the democratic process; and

WHEREAS, it has been established through testimony at legislative hearings that many teachers in public elementary and secondary school classrooms are abusing taxpayer resources and abusing their ability to speak to captive audiences of students in an attempt to indoctrinate or influence students to adopt specific political and ideological positions on issues of social and political controversy; and

WHEREAS, it has been established that some teacher training institutions, teacher licensing agencies, state education agencies, and professional teacher organizations have condoned such attempts to indoctrinate or influence students under the guise of "teaching for social justice" and other sectarian doctrines; and

WHEREAS, time spent on political or ideological indoctrination takes time away from instruction in the foundational academic subjects of mathematics, science, English, history, and civics and prevents students from receiving the best possible taxpayer-funded public education; and

WHEREAS, parents and taxpayers have a right to expect that tax revenue for schools will be spent on education and not on political or ideological indoctrination; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Board of Education be requested to establish a code of ethics and professional responsibility for educators in public elementary and secondary schools in the Commonwealth; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That such code of ethics and professional responsibility provide that no public elementary or secondary school teacher, regardless of continuing contract status, be permitted during class time to do the following:

1. Endorse, support, or oppose any candidate or nominee for public office or any local, state, or federal official, regardless of whether such official is elected or appointed;

2. Endorse, support, or oppose any local, state, or federal legislation or regulation, regardless of whether such legislation or regulation is pending, proposed, or enacted;

3. Endorse, support, or oppose any local, state, or federal court case or judicial action, regardless of whether such court case or judicial action is pending, proposed, or decided;

4. Endorse, support, or oppose any pending, proposed, or final executive action by any local, state, or federal executive branch agency;

5. Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the lawful access of military recruiters to school property;

6. Endorse, support, or engage in any activities that hamper or impede the actions of a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency; or

7. Advocate for any issue that is part of a political party platform at the national, state, or local level; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board of Education be encouraged to provide written notification of such code of ethics and professional responsibility to all public elementary and secondary school teachers and enrolled students and parents of such enrolled students; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board of Education be encouraged to provide at least three hours of annual continuing teacher education instruction regarding teachers' responsibilities under such code of ethics and professional responsibility; and be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Virginia Education Association be encouraged to adopt such code of ethics and professional responsibility.

The Board of Education shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary and report of its progress in meeting the requests of this resolution no later than the first day of the 2019 Regular Session of the General Assembly. The executive summary and report shall be submitted for publication as a report document as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.