Code of Virginia — Title 22.1 (Education), Chapter 15 (Teachers, Officers and Employees)
§ 22.1-302. (Effective until July 1, 2027) Written contracts required; execution of contracts; qualifications of temporarily employed teachers; rules and requirements.
A. A written contract, in a form permitted by the Board's regulations, shall be made by the school board with each teacher employed by it, except those who are temporarily employed, before such teacher enters upon his duties. Such contract shall be signed in duplicate, with a copy thereof furnished to both parties.

The standard 10-month contract shall include 200 days, including (i) a minimum of 180 teaching days or 990 instructional hours and (ii) up to 20 days for activities such as teaching, participating in professional development, planning, evaluating, completing records and reports, participating on committees or in conferences, or such other activities as may be assigned or approved by the local school board.

A "temporarily employed teacher," as used in this section, means (a) one who is employed to substitute for a contracted teacher for a temporary period of time during the contracted teacher's absence or (b) one who is employed to fill a teacher vacancy for a period of time, but for no longer than 180 teaching days in such vacancy, unless otherwise approved by the Superintendent on a case-by-case basis, during one school year.

B. Temporarily employed teachers, as defined in this section, shall be at least 18 years of age and shall hold a high school diploma or have passed a high school equivalency examination approved by the Board. Any such temporarily employed teacher who is employed to fill a teacher vacancy for more than 90 teaching days for any course other than a course for which a technical professional license is required shall, unless otherwise approved by the Superintendent, hold a baccalaureate degree and not meet the qualifications to apply for a provisional license or have held an active professional teaching license within the past 10 years in the Commonwealth.

A temporarily employed teacher is not required to be licensed by the Board, nor is the local school board required to enter into a written contract with a temporarily employed teacher. However, local school boards shall (i) establish employment qualifications for temporarily employed teachers that may exceed these requirements for the employment of such teachers; (ii) seek to ensure that temporarily employed teachers who are engaged as long-term substitutes exceed baseline employment qualifications; and (iii) execute a professional development plan with any temporarily employed teacher who is employed to fill a teacher vacancy for more than 90 teaching days that sets forth a mentoring and coaching plan and, for any temporarily employed teacher who is interested in obtaining licensure, a proposed licensure timeline and set of strategies for obtaining licensure by the Board. Any such proposed licensure timeline shall establish a track for any such temporarily employed teacher to apply for licensure by or after a specific date, such as July 1 following the year for which such temporarily employed teacher was employed or such other date as deemed appropriate by the local school board. Each school board shall submit to the Department by October 1 of each year a report on all data on temporarily employed teachers who were employed to fill a teacher vacancy for more than 90 teaching days in such school division in the preceding school year or who were employed before October 1 of the current school year, which shall include for each such teacher (a) the specific school in which he was employed, (b) the grade level or subject area he was employed to teach, and (c) his current licensure eligibility status.

C. A separate contract in a form permitted by the Board shall be executed by the school board with a teacher who is receiving a monetary supplement for any athletic coaching or extracurricular activity sponsorship assignment. This contract shall be separate and apart from the contract for teaching.

Termination of a separate contract for any athletic coaching or extracurricular activity sponsorship assignment by either party thereto shall not constitute cause for termination of the separate teaching contract of the coach or teacher.

All such contracts shall require the party intending to terminate the coaching or extracurricular activity sponsorship contract to give reasonable notice to the other party before termination thereof shall become effective.

For the purposes of this section, "extracurricular activity sponsorship" means an assignment for which a monetary supplement is received, requiring responsibility for any student organizations, clubs, or groups, such as service clubs, academic clubs and teams, cheerleading squads, student publication and literary groups, and visual and performing arts organizations except those that are conducted in conjunction with regular classroom, curriculum, or instructional programs.

Code 1950, § 22-217.2; 1968, c. 691; 1980, c. 559; 1989, c. 92; 1990, c. 388; 1996, c. 986; 1997, c. 689; 1999, c. 486; 2010, c. 93; 2013, cc. 588, 644, 650; 2014, c. 84; 2025, cc. 452, 468.