2026 SESSION

HOUSE SUBSTITUTE

26108226D

SENATE BILL NO. 151

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Education

on February 25, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute—Senator Craig)

A BILL to require the Board of Education to include a program of instruction on water safety in its next regularly scheduled revision of the Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. The Board of Education, during its next regularly scheduled revision of the Health Education Standards of Learning and Curriculum Framework, shall develop and make available to each school board guidelines for a program of instruction on water safety to be provided as a part of any health education instruction provided to elementary school students and that shall include instruction on:

1. Awareness of water conditions;

2. Safe behaviors in and around the water; and

3. Preventing and reducing the risk of drowning and the risk of injury, including instruction on the proper use of flotation devices and the importance of swimming in areas monitored by a lifeguard.