Bill to promote environmental literacy passes Virginia Senate

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A bill that would require the Virginia Board of Education to help local school boards with instructional materials on climate change and environmental literacy passed the Senate on Monday.

The Virginia Senate on Monday, March 2, passed House Bill 1037 21-19, a little over a month after patron Betsy Carr (D-District 78) reintroduced the bill on Jan. 14.

The bill is identical to failed House Bill 1088 from 2024, which passed the General Assembly in 2024 and was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

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“Climate change and protection of our environment are among the most critical issues facing us,” Carr wrote in a statement to 8News in January 2026. “Our children will have to address these crises if our earth is to survive. Our schools create the leaders of tomorrow and those leaders need to be prepared with accurate information on both climate change and conserving our environment. This bill is one small step to ensuring that happens and protecting our future.”

The bill would establish standards for climate change and environmental literacy materials in public schools and require that materials accurately portray climate and weather changes, along with the impacts of human activity, per the Legislative Information System.

The bill will go to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s (D) desk for a final decision, becoming the second time it passed both chambers.