republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/sb-245.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	School boards; use of social media by schools, etc.	School boards; use of social media platforms as sole means of certain communications prohibited. Provides that each school board shall prohibit public elementary and secondary schools, school board employees, and school volunteers from using a social media platform as the sole means of communication with students for the facilitation of school-related extracurricular activities. The bill provides an exception to such prohibition when such use is required to meet an objective that cannot be reasonably achieved without such use, provided that the division superintendent or his designee (i) provides clear, written instructions on such use and (ii) may revoke such exception at any time.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2026	SB 245	Virginia SB 245 (2026)	bill		enacted	Christopher T. Head	7	41	10	2026-01-12	2026-04-06	openstates	ocd-bill/1481a8a7-fa44-42bf-b884-945c7f5eba09	https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/SB245	5262dd888f055e41470f39ef2d61f9201d4cfe5dc8ebbd3bc5cc9276f0be7a93	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 245 (2026) — School boards; use of social media by schools, etc.

School boards; use of social media platforms as sole means of certain communications prohibited. Provides that each school board shall prohibit public elementary and secondary schools, school board employees, and school volunteers from using a social media platform as the sole means of communication with students for the facilitation of school-related extracurricular activities. The bill provides an exception to such prohibition when such use is required to meet an objective that cannot be reasonably achieved without such use, provided that the division superintendent or his designee (i) provides clear, written instructions on such use and (ii) may revoke such exception at any time.

Version chain

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

1. Introduced (filed) — source
2. Chaptered (committee substitute) — source
3. Education Amendment (committee substitute) — source
4. Education and Health Substitute (committee substitute) — source
5. House Amendments (committee substitute) — source
6. K-12 Subcommittee Subcommittee Amendment (committee substitute) — source
7. Enrolled (enrolled) — source

Votes

• H VOTE: — 99–0 (pass) · lower
• Passage R — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) — 9–1 (pass) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (on 3rd reading) — 39–0 (pass) · upper
• H VOTE: — 98–0 (pass) · lower
• Concur House Amendments R — 40–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Education with amendment(s) — 22–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from Education and Health with substitute — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Constitutional reading dispensed R — 35–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from Finance and Appropriations — 15–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Christopher T. Head — primary (person)
• David R. Suetterlein — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2026-01-12 Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26100795D filing, introduction
• 2026-01-12 Referred to Committee on Education and Health referral-committee
• 2026-02-11 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB245)
• 2026-02-12 Reported from Education and Health with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-12 Senate committee offered
• 2026-02-12 Committee substitute printed 26107894D-S1 substitution
• 2026-02-12 Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-13 Rules suspended
• 2026-02-13 Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading) (35-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-02-13 Passed by for the day
• 2026-02-13 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB245)
• 2026-02-16 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-02-16 Committee substitute agreed to (Voice Vote) substitution
• 2026-02-16 Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute Block Vote (Voice Vote) substitution
• 2026-02-16 Rules suspended
• 2026-02-16 Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 3rd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
• 2026-02-16 Read third time and passed Senate (39-Y 0-N 0-A) passage, reading-3
• 2026-02-16 Blank Action
• 2026-02-19 Placed on Calendar
• 2026-02-19 Read first time reading-1
• 2026-02-19 Referred to Committee on Education referral-committee
• 2026-02-24 House subcommittee offered
• 2026-02-24 Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (9-Y 1-N)
• 2026-02-25 Reported from Education with amendment(s) (22-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2026-02-27 Read second time reading-2
• 2026-03-02 Read third time reading-3
• 2026-03-02 committee amendments agreed to amendment-passage
• 2026-03-02 Engrossed by House as amended
• 2026-03-02 Passed House with amendments (98-Y 0-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-03-02 Reconsideration of passage agreed to by House
• 2026-03-02 Passed House with amendments Block Vote (99-Y 0-N 0-A) passage
• 2026-03-04 House Amendments agreed to by Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) amendment-passage
• 2026-03-10 Enrolled enrolled
• 2026-03-10 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB245ER) passage
• 2026-03-10 Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (SB245)
• 2026-03-10 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2026-03-10 Signed by President passage
• 2026-03-14 Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 enrolled, executive-receipt
• 2026-03-14 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 executive-receipt
• 2026-04-06 Approved by Governor-Chapter 338 (effective 7/1/2026) executive-signature
• 2026-04-06 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0338)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1481a8a7-fa44-42bf-b884-945c7f5eba09. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).