---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public schools; dyslexia advisor."
description: "Requires one reading specialist employed by each local school board that employs a reading specialist to have training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions, accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder and to have an understanding of the definition of dyslexia and a working knowledge of several topics relating to dyslexia. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 1516"
citation: "Virginia SB 1516 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Education"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard H. Black"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 27
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-19"
last_action: "2017-03-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/328443fe-b225-45a1-bbe5-c2102f738bb7"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+SB1516"
source_hash: "74f036e5700ff4abd059b84728e70cc796c5deca408b71d020e36fa92907dd9b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 1516 (2017) — Public schools; dyslexia advisor.

Requires one reading specialist employed by each local school board that employs a reading specialist to have training in the identification of and the appropriate interventions, accommodations, and teaching techniques for students with dyslexia or a related disorder and to have an understanding of the definition of dyslexia and a working knowledge of several topics relating to dyslexia. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0629)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0629)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 17105396D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1516H1)
3. **Senate: Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB1516ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1516ER)
4. **Senate: Committee substitute printed 17104995D-S1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1516S1)
5. **Senate: Presented and ordered printed 17103450D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+SB1516)

## Votes

- Reported from Education with substitute — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- House substitute rejected by Senate — **0–40** (fail) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **7–6** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Conference report agreed to by House — **95–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate acceded to request — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE — **97–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Richard H. Black — primary (person)
- Adam P. Ebbin — cosponsor (person)
- Barbara A. Favola — cosponsor (person)
- Jill Holtzman Vogel — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-19** Presented and ordered printed 17103450D `introduction`
- **2017-01-19** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2017-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 17104995D-S1
- **2017-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB1516S1
- **2017-02-09** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-02-09** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-14** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-02-15** Passed by for the day
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-16** Committee substitute agreed to 17105396D-H1
- **2017-02-16** Engrossed by House - committee substitute SB1516H1
- **2017-02-16** Passed House with substitute BLOCK VOTE (97-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2017-02-21** House insisted on substitute
- **2017-02-21** House requested conference committee
- **2017-02-22** Conferees appointed by Senate
- **2017-02-23** Conferees appointed by House
- **2017-02-24** Amended by conference committee
- **2017-02-24** Conference report agreed to by House (95-Y 0-N)
- **2017-03-07** Enrolled
- **2017-03-07** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-03-10** Signed by President
- **2017-03-13** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on 3/13/17
- **2017-03-13** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-20** Approved by Governor-Chapter 629 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/328443fe-b225-45a1-bbe5-c2102f738bb7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).