WHEREAS, the cost of higher education has increased at a rate of 4.63 percent per year nationally and will likely continue to increase to accommodate rising inflation; and

WHEREAS, the total cost of public higher education for in-state undergraduates in the Commonwealth increased at an average annual rate of 1.77 percent between the 2018–2019 and 2021–2022 school years; and

WHEREAS, the total cost of public higher education for in-state undergraduates in the Commonwealth increased by 3.3 percent between the 2021–2022 school year and 2022–2023 school year and then increased by another 3.5 percent between the 2022–2023 school year and the 2023–2024 school year; and

WHEREAS, vacancies in public school instructional positions in the Commonwealth more than doubled between 2019 and 2021; and

WHEREAS, improving retention rates and mitigating shortages in public school instructional, administrative, and support personnel the Commonwealth is critical to ensuring the continued fulfillment of the Commonwealth's constitutional duty to provide a high quality public education system for all children, and it is therefore imperative to provide instructional, administrative, and support personnel with incentives to attain and remain in public school positions in the Commonwealth; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education, be requested to study the feasibility and efficacy of offering dependents of public school instructional, administrative, and support personnel reduced rate in-state tuition at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth for the purpose of improving retention rates of public school instructional, administrative, and support personnel in the Commonwealth.

In conducting its study, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education, shall:

1. Analyze the financial feasibility of offering dependents of public school instructional, administrative, and support personnel in the Commonwealth reduced rate in-state tuition for public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth;

2. Evaluate the potential for such incentive plan to effectively improve public school instructional, administrative, and support personnel retention rates in the Commonwealth;

3. Identify potential terms of employment to which instructional, administrative, and support personnel would consent or that such personnel would be required to satisfy in order to be eligible for the reduced rate tuition for their dependents, including extending the length of the contract period beyond the standard contractual period or establishing prerequisite instructional hours, teaching days, or months of employment; and

4. Identify other potential criteria for eligibility, including requirements for residency in the Commonwealth, if any, for instructional, administrative, and support personnel and their dependents or setting a maximum number of eligible dependents per eligible instructional, administrative, or support staff member.

Technical assistance shall be provided to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia by the Department of Education. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia for this study, upon request.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia shall complete its meetings by November 30, 2024, and shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an executive summary and a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summary and report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports no later than the first day of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.