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_ 155 Item Details($) Appropriations($) ITEM 117. First Year Second Year First Year Second Year FY2025 FY2026 FY2025 FY2026 Education shall coordinate to ensure alignment of professional development and supports for teachers of children with special needs. J. Out of this appropriation, $1,047,000 the first year and $1,047,000 the second year from the general fund is provided to ensure that select publicly-funded early childhood programs, including Virginia Preschool Initiative programs, have the quality of their teacher-child interactions assessed through a rigorous and research-based classroom observational instrument using the CLASS observational instrument for such assessment. These observations shall be used to verify accuracy and maintain reliability of the measurements required within Virginia's Unified Measurement and Improvement System, known as VQB5, established pursuant to § 22.1-289.05, Code of Virginia. K.1 Out of this appropriation, $9,978,283 the first year and $7,978,283 the second year from the general fund is provided to the University of Virginia's Virginia Literacy Partnership for implementation of literacy instruction aligned with science-based reading research. The Director of Planning and Budget shall transfer this amount to the University of Virginia to support the Virginia Literacy Partnership for the activities within this Item. 2. To maximize remaining federal pandemic relief funds in the first year, remaining balances from the Learning Acceleration Grants program after its May 31, 2024 expiration shall be used to supplant the general funds in paragraph K.1 and such supplanted general fund amounts shall be unallotted. 3. Of this amount, $3,400,000 the first year and $3,400,000 the second year shall be used to support literacy coaching, technical assistance and professional development. 4. Of this amount, $6,578,283 the first year and $4,578,283 the second year shall be used to support development and implementation of a statewide literacy screener. 5. For the review of literacy materials conducted by the University of Virginia's Virginia Literacy Partnership on behalf of the Department of Education, the Partnership shall be authorized to collect reasonable fees from applicants to offset costs incurred as part of such review. Prior to the collection of any such fees, the Partnership shall establish a schedule of fees. 6. Notwithstanding §22.1-253.13:1 G and H of the Code of Virginia, for students in grades 4 through 8, the administration of literacy screeners and development of student literacy plans shall not be required until the 2025-2026 school year. L. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall enter into a statewide contract with one or more telehealth providers to provide high-quality mental health care services to public school students. School divisions may opt to purchase such services through this contract. M. The Department of Education shall work collaboratively with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and the Department of Medical Assistance Services on a plan for creating a new program to deliver flexible mental health funds to divisions. The program should provide flexible funding to participating divisions for maintaining school-based mental health services and supports as well as technical assistance and evaluation capabilities to build out their mental health programs within a multi-tiered system of supports and consider maximizing existing funding and positions funded through the Standards of Quality such as specialized student support positions. The plan should include: (i) a proposed vision and goals for Virginia's school-based mental health program and action steps to meet these goals; (ii) proposed outcome measures to determine program success; (iii) a recommendation on the amount of funding that should be appropriated annually; (iv) a proposed funding mechanism to ensure funding flexibility and consistency over time; and (v) a structure for providing technical assistance and evaluation capabilities that will ensure the program is positively impacting the outcomes of students. The Department of Education shall provide such plan to the Chairs of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations Committee and the Behavioral Health Commission no later than December 1, 2024. N. Out of this appropriation, $100,000 the first year from the general fund is provided to identify and create model curriculum, tools, and resources to support local school divisions in teaching Asian American history, including the history of Virginians of Asian