Department of Education Parental Notification for Sexually Explicit Instructional Material
Summary
Virginia's Governor signed SB19 into law (Chapter 322), requiring the Department of Education to revise model policies and school boards to adopt policies mandating parental notification for instructional materials containing sexually explicit content. The law defines 'instructional material' to include assigned materials regardless of format while excluding library books unless specifically assigned, and explicitly prohibits using these policies to censor or remove books from school libraries.
What changed
SB19 amends Virginia's existing parental notification law by defining 'instructional material' as any material assigned by a public school teacher for curricular completion, explicitly excluding library books unless specifically assigned. The amendment also includes anti-censorship provisions preventing school boards from using these policies to remove books from school libraries.
Virginia's public school divisions must update their policies to comply with new parental notification requirements by July 1, 2026. The Virginia Department of Education must revise its model policies accordingly. School administrators should ensure teachers understand which materials trigger parental notification obligations and establish procedures for communicating with parents about sexually explicit content in assigned materials.
What to do next
- Update school board policies to include parental notification procedures for sexually explicit instructional materials
- Revise Department of Education model policies to reflect new definitions and requirements
- Train teachers and staff on the definition of instructional material and notification procedures
Source document (simplified)
ChangeBridge / Virginia / SB19 Signed by Governor SB19 Senate Bill Signed by Governor 2026-04-06
DOE; policies relating to instructional material that contains sexually explicit content.
Department of Education; policies relating to instructional material that contains sexually explicit content; applicability; construction. Amends current law requiring the Department of Education to develop model policies and each school board to adopt policies consistent with the Department's model policies for ensuring parental notification of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content by (i) defining "instructional material" as any material, regardless of its format, assigned and provided to a student by a public school teacher directly for the completion of an assignment or curricular objective and clarifying that "instructional material" does not include any book or audiovisual material available in a public school library unless specifically required or assigned by a public school teacher directly for completion of an assignment or curricular objective and (ii) providing that nothing in the applicable law or any model policy or amendments thereto adopted by the Department or any policy or amendments thereto adopted by a school board pursuant to the applicable law shall be (a) construed to permit the censoring of books in any public elementary or secondary school or (b) utilized as a rationale or basis for the removal of books from any public elementary or secondary school. This bill is identical to HB 1499.
Bill Details
State Virginia
Session 2026 Regular Regular Session
Chamber Senate
Official Source lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB19
LegiScan View on LegiScan
Sponsors
Mamie Locke (Sen - D)
Action History
2026-04-06 Approved by Governor-Chapter 322 (effective 7/1/2026) 2026-03-10 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 2026-03-10 S Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 10, 2026 2026-02-24 S Signed by President 2026-02-24 H Signed by Speaker 2026-02-24 S Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB19) 2026-02-24 S Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB19ER) 2026-02-24 S Enrolled 2026-02-23 H Passed House (62-Y 34-N 0-A) 2026-02-23 H Read third time 2026-02-20 H Read second time 2026-02-18 H Reported from Education (14-Y 7-N) 2026-02-04 S Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB19) 2026-02-03 H Referred to Committee on Education 2026-02-03 H Read first time 2026-02-03 H Placed on Calendar 2026-01-27 S Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N 0-A) 2026-01-26 S Engrossed by Senate 2026-01-26 S Read second time 2026-01-26 S Engrossed by Senate (Voice Vote) 2026-01-23 S Passed by for the day 2026-01-23 S Passed by for the day (Voice Vote) 2026-01-23 S Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A) 2026-01-23 S Rules suspended 2026-01-22 S Reported from Education and Health (8-Y 5-N 1-A) 2026-01-15 S Assigned Education sub: Public Education 2025-11-17 S Referred to Committee on Education and Health 2025-11-17 S Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100692D
Votes
2026-01-22 Reported from Education and Health (8-Y 5-N 1-A) Yea: 8 Nay: 5 2026-01-23 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A) Yea: 39 Nay: 0 2026-01-27 Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N 0-A) Yea: 21 Nay: 18 2026-02-18 Reported from Education (14-Y 7-N) Yea: 14 Nay: 7 2026-02-23 Passed House (62-Y 34-N 0-A) Yea: 62 Nay: 34
Committee Referrals
2025-11-17 S Education and Health 2026-01-15 S Education: Public Education 2026-02-03 H Education
Bill Text Versions
2025-11-17 Introduced 2026-02-24 Enrolled Legislative data powered by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0)
Named provisions
Related changes
Get daily alerts for Virginia Legislative Events
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
Source
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when Virginia Legislative Events publishes new changes.