republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/sb-323.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "High school graduation requirements; advanced diploma, standard units of credit."
description: "Board of Education; high school graduation requirements; certain substitutions. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit a student who is pursuing an advanced diploma and whose individualized education program specifies a credit accommodation for world language to substitute two standard units of credit in computer science for two standard units of credit in a world language. The bill provides that for any student electing to substitute a credit in computer science for credit in world language, his school counselor shall provide notice to the student and parent or guardian of possible impacts related to college entrance requirements."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 323"
citation: "Virginia SB 323 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["George L. Barker"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 30
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-06"
last_action: "2020-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b7dd328-c32d-4b0b-a99e-ca72434be1b4"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB323"
source_hash: "958092e84efeb34b473a039304984f33fb9d566ae435807452082b475a10ccd4"
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 323 (2020) — High school graduation requirements; advanced diploma, standard units of credit.

Board of Education; high school graduation requirements; certain substitutions. Requires the Board of Education, in establishing high school graduation requirements, to permit a student who is pursuing an advanced diploma and whose individualized education program specifies a credit accommodation for world language to substitute two standard units of credit in computer science for two standard units of credit in a world language. The bill provides that for any student electing to substitute a credit in computer science for credit in world language, his school counselor shall provide notice to the student and parent or guardian of possible impacts related to college entrance requirements.

## Version chain

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

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0874)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0874)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB323ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB323ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB323)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB323)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB323S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB323S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Education (13-Y 8-N) — **13–8** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N) — **6–2** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Passage (80-Y 20-N) — **79–20** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute (13-Y 2-N) — **13–2** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) — **36–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- George L. Barker — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-06** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20103316D `introduction`
- **2020-01-06** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-14** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Impact statement from DPB (SB323)
- **2020-02-06** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (13-Y 2-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Committee substitute printed 20107085D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Impact statement from DPB (SB323S1)
- **2020-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 20107085D-S1
- **2020-02-10** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB323S1
- **2020-02-11** Read third time and passed Senate (36-Y 4-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-14** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-14** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-14** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** Assigned Education sub: SOL and SOQ `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-24** Subcommittee recommends reporting (6-Y 2-N)
- **2020-02-24** Reported from Education (13-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-26** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-27** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-27** Passed House (80-Y 20-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-27** VOTE: Passage (80-Y 20-N)
- **2020-03-04** Enrolled
- **2020-03-05** Impact statement from DPB (SB323ER)
- **2020-03-05** Signed by President
- **2020-03-05** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-04-08** Approved by Governor-Chapter 874 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5b7dd328-c32d-4b0b-a99e-ca72434be1b4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).