republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2026/hb-298.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public elementary or secondary school students; evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices."
description: "Public elementary and secondary school students; consideration of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices required; exceptions; report. Prohibits any public elementary or secondary school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school unless the school first considers at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, as defined in the bill, except in the case of certain enumerated serious offenses or aggravating circumstances, as defined in the bill. The bill requires each school, any time it imposes exclusionary discipline instead of an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, to document in the student's disciplinary record, as a part of the school's existing disciplinary documentation practices and consistent with the guidelines adopted by the Department of Education (the Department) pursuant to the bill, the rationale for the decision to impose exclusionary discipline, including any factors supporting the decision not to utilize an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice. The bill directs the Department to (i) add the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices to the Student Behavior and Administrative Response survey in order to annually collect and analyze data on the use of such practices and publicly post an annual report containing an evaluation of the effectiveness of such practices based on the data collected and (ii) adopt and make available guidelines and support materials for considering, monitoring, and evaluating the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices. The provisions of the bill prohibiting any public school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school unless the school first considers at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice and requiring each school, any time it imposes exclusionary discipline instead of an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, to document in the student's disciplinary record the rationale for such decision, have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 298"
citation: "Virginia HB 298 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Delores L. McQuinn"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 44
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2026-01-09"
last_action: "2026-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f2a9fe3f-03a1-4c4f-b2bc-6f31d2084692"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB298"
source_hash: "073e164f87e8c74e67bfa439e06110dff323ca8f72001b62910b5a971df3c120"
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 HB 298 (2026) — Public elementary or secondary school students; evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices.

Public elementary and secondary school students; consideration of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices required; exceptions; report. Prohibits any public elementary or secondary school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school unless the school first considers at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, as defined in the bill, except in the case of certain enumerated serious offenses or aggravating circumstances, as defined in the bill. The bill requires each school, any time it imposes exclusionary discipline instead of an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, to document in the student's disciplinary record, as a part of the school's existing disciplinary documentation practices and consistent with the guidelines adopted by the Department of Education (the Department) pursuant to the bill, the rationale for the decision to impose exclusionary discipline, including any factors supporting the decision not to utilize an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice. The bill directs the Department to (i) add the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices to the Student Behavior and Administrative Response survey in order to annually collect and analyze data on the use of such practices and publicly post an annual report containing an evaluation of the effectiveness of such practices based on the data collected and (ii) adopt and make available guidelines and support materials for considering, monitoring, and evaluating the use of evidence-based restorative disciplinary practices. The provisions of the bill prohibiting any public school student from being suspended, expelled, or excluded from attendance at school unless the school first considers at least one evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice and requiring each school, any time it imposes exclusionary discipline instead of an evidence-based restorative disciplinary practice, to document in the student's disciplinary record the rationale for such decision, have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2027.

## Version chain

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

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1083446.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1218932.PDF)
3. **Education Amendment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1135417.HTML)
4. **Education Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139406.PDF)
5. **Education and Health Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1196304.PDF)
6. **K-12 Subcommittee Subcommittee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1139418.PDF)
7. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1212134.PDF)

## Votes

- H VOTE: — **65–34** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Education and Health with substitute — **9–6** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Appropriations — **14–7** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **21–19** (pass) · upper
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **7–3** (pass) · lower
- H VOTE: — **61–35** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education with substitute — **15–6** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **4–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Delores L. McQuinn — primary (person)
- Barbara A. Favola — cosponsor (person)
- Betsy B. Carr — cosponsor (person)
- Bonita G. Anthony — cosponsor (person)
- Lamont Bagby — cosponsor (person)
- Mamie E. Locke — cosponsor (person)
- Michael J. Jones — cosponsor (person)
- Rae Cousins — cosponsor (person)
- Stella G. Pekarsky — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-09** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26102624D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-09** Referred to Committee on Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-05** Assigned HED sub: K-12 Subcommittee `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-09** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-09** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB298)
- **2026-02-10** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-10** House subcommittee offered
- **2026-02-10** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (7-Y 3-N) `substitution`
- **2026-02-11** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB298)
- **2026-02-11** Reported from Education with substitute and referred to Appropriations (15-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-11** Committee substitute printed 26107705D-H1 `substitution`
- **2026-02-11** Assigned HAPP sub: Elementary & Secondary Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-13** Subcommittee recommends reporting (4-Y 2-N)
- **2026-02-13** Reported from Appropriations (14-Y 7-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-02-15** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-16** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2026-02-16** committee substitute agreed to `substitution`
- **2026-02-16** Engrossed by House - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-02-17** Read third time and passed House (62-Y 35-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-18** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-18** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-26** Assigned Education sub: Public Education `referral-committee`
- **2026-02-26** Senate subcommittee offered
- **2026-03-05** Reported from Education and Health with substitute (9-Y 6-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-05** Committee substitute printed 26108470D-S1 `substitution`
- **2026-03-05** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB298)
- **2026-03-06** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-06** Constitutional reading dispensed Block Vote (on 2nd reading) (39-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-06** Passed by for the day Block Vote (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-09** Passed by for the day
- **2026-03-10** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-10** Education and Health Substitute agreed to
- **2026-03-10** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute `substitution`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Senate with substitute (21-Y 19-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Senate substitute agreed to by House (65-Y 34-N 0-A) `substitution`
- **2026-03-30** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-30** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB298ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-30** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Fiscal Impact Statement from Department of Planning and Budget (HB298)
- **2026-03-31** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-31** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 31, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-31** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 586 (Effective - see bill) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-13** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0586)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f2a9fe3f-03a1-4c4f-b2bc-6f31d2084692`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).