# Virginia SB977: Standards of Quality; certain calculations, support services. Virginia SB977, Standards of Quality; certain calculations, support services., is a 2025 Regular Session Senate bill sponsored by Ghazala F. Hashmi (Democratic); status failed, last action 2025-02-05 (Left in Finance and Appropriations) (as of 2026-10-17). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB977-2025 - As of: 2026-10-17 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: Virginia SB977 - State: Virginia - Session: 2025 Regular Session - Title: Standards of Quality; certain calculations, support services. - Status: failed - Chamber: Senate - Introduced: 2025-01-07 - Last action: 2025-02-05, Left in Finance and Appropriations - Sponsor: Ghazala F. Hashmi (Democratic) - Cosponsors: 0 - Subjects: Finance and Appropriations - Touches household money: no - Roll calls: 1 (11 yes, 3 no in all) - Economic provisions PRIA read: 0 ## Summary Public schools; Standards of Quality; certain calculations; support services. Requires the Department of Education (the Department) (i) in calculating nonpersonal costs in the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include the costs associated with work-related employee travel and leased facilities; (ii) in calculating the deduction of federal funds in the Standards of Quality funding formula, to examine actual school division spending on support costs as a percentage of actual school division spending on all public education costs, with certain exceptions such as food service; (iii) in calculating the costs in the Standards of Quality funding formula beginning with fiscal year 2029, to include all employee benefit costs incurred by a majority of school divisions; (iv) in calculating the cost of salaries under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include facilities staff and transportation staff salaries in the calculation of any cost of competing adjustment to salaries for instructional and support positions; and (v) in estimating the cost of any compensation supplement for instruction and support positions under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include and estimate the cost of such a compensation supplement for facilities staff. The bill also prohibits the Department from applying any cap on inflation rate adjustments to non-personal cost categories during the biennial process of re-benchmarking the aid to the public education budget. The bill (a) requires a per-pupil Standards of Quality funding add-on to be provided for each special education student; (b) requires support services positions to be funded based on a calculation of prevailing costs and prohibits such positions from being subject to any method of funding calculation that caps the number of funded support services positions based on a ratio of such positions to students enrolled in the school division, with the exception of certain support services positions enumerated in the bill; and (c) establishes the At-Risk Program for the purpose of supporting programs and services for students who are educationally at-risk, including programs and services of prevention, intervention, or remediation. ## Bill overview No economic impacts identified for this bill. ## Sponsors and cosponsors - Sponsor: Ghazala F. Hashmi (Democratic), Senate ## Roll call votes | Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2025-01-16 | Senate | Reported from Education and Health and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations | pass | 11 | 3 | | ## Actions (4) - 2025-02-05: Left in Finance and Appropriations (Senate) - 2025-01-16: Reported from Education and Health and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (11-Y 3-N) (Senate) - 2025-01-07: Referred to Committee on Education and Health (Senate) - 2025-01-07: Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-08-2025 25104477D (Senate) ## Bill text - Introduced, 2025-01-07: [HTML](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014669.HTML), [PDF](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014667.PDF) ## Related bills - HR671: Commending JR's Auto Care. (adopted) - SB941: Robbery; use of air or gas operated weapon, etc., penalty. (failed) - HB1746: Public safety officer; definition. (failed) - HB1600: Budget Bill. (failed) - SB1449: Data centers; site assessment for high energy use facility. (failed) - HB1609: Essential health benefits benchmark plan; Commission to consider coverage for infertility treatment. (to governor) ## Sources - [Introduced (HTML)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014669.HTML) - [Introduced (PDF)](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1014667.PDF) ## Related - [HR671: Commending JR's Auto Care.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HR671-2025) - [SB941: Robbery; use of air or gas operated weapon, etc., penalty.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB941-2025) - [HB1746: Public safety officer; definition.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1746-2025) - [HB1600: Budget Bill.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1600-2025) - [SB1449: Data centers; site assessment for high energy use facility.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB1449-2025) - [HB1609: Essential health benefits benchmark plan; Commission to consider coverage for i…](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-HB1609-2025) - [Virginia bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia/bills) - [Virginia state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/virginia) - [All state legislation](https://policyrisk.com/state-bills) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/VA-SB977-2025 (as of 2026-10-17).