COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 599
(By Senators Plymale and Edgell)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 22, 2007.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-2-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to eliminating the five hundred-
dollar early notification bonus for a classroom teacher who
gives early notification of his or her resignation from
employment at the end of the school year; providing that only
a retiring classroom teacher who gives early notification is
eligible for the bonus; and making certain technical
amendments.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-2-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
§18A-2-2. Employment of teachers; contracts; continuing contract
status; how terminated; dismissal for lack of need;
released time; failure of teacher to perform contract or violation thereof.
(a) Before entering upon their duties, all teachers shall
execute a contract with their
county boards,
of education, which
contract shall state the salary to be paid and shall be in the form
prescribed by the state superintendent.
of schools. Every such
Each contract shall be signed by the teacher and by the president
and secretary of the county board
of education and
when so signed
shall be filed, together with the certificate of the teacher, by
the secretary of the office of the
county board.
(b) A teacher's contract, under this section, shall be for a
term of not less than one nor more than three years, one of which
shall be for completion of a beginning teacher internship pursuant
to the provisions of section two-b, article three of this chapter,
if applicable
; and. If, after three years of such employment, the
teacher who holds a professional certificate, based on at least a
bachelor's degree, has met the qualifications for
the same a
bachelor's degree and the county board
of education enter into a
new contract of employment, it shall be a continuing contract,
subject to the following:
(1) Provided, That Any teacher holding a valid certificate
with less than a bachelor's degree who is employed in a county
beyond the
said three-year probationary period shall upon
qualifying for
said the professional certificate based upon a
bachelor's degree, if reemployed, be granted continuing contract status;
and
(2) Provided, however, That A teacher holding continuing
contract status with one county shall be granted continuing
contract status with any other county upon completion of one year
of acceptable employment if
such the employment is during the next
succeeding school year or immediately following an approved leave
of absence extending no more than one year.
(c) The continuing contract of any teacher shall remain in
full force and effect except as modified by mutual consent of the
school board and the teacher, unless and until terminated,
subject
to the following:
(1)
No continuing contract may be terminated except:
(A) By a majority vote of the full membership of the
county
board on or before the first Monday of April of the then current
year, after written notice, served upon the teacher, return receipt
requested, stating cause or causes and an opportunity to be heard
at a meeting of the board prior to the board's action
thereon on
the termination issue; or
(2) (B) By written resignation of the teacher before that
date, to initiate termination of a continuing contract;
(2) Such The termination shall take effect at the close of the
school year in which the contract is
so terminated;
(3) Provided, That The contract may be terminated at any time
by mutual consent of the school board and the teacher;
(4) and that This section
shall does not affect the powers of
the school board to suspend or dismiss a principal or teacher
pursuant to section eight of this article;
(5) Provided, however, That A continuing contract for any
teacher holding a certificate valid for more than one year and in
full force and effect during the school year one thousand nine
hundred eighty-four and one thousand nine hundred eighty-five shall
remain in full force and effect;
(6) Provided further, That A continuing contract shall not
operate to prevent a teacher's dismissal based upon the lack of
need for the teacher's services pursuant to the provisions of law
relating to the allocation to teachers and pupil-teacher ratios.
The written notification of teachers being considered for dismissal
for lack of need shall be limited to only those teachers whose
consideration for dismissal is based upon known or expected
circumstances which will require dismissal for lack of need. An
employee who was not provided notice and an opportunity for a
hearing pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section this subsection
may not be included on the list. In case of
such dismissal
for
lack of need, the teachers so a dismissed
teacher shall be placed
upon a preferred list in the order of their length of service with
that board.
and No teacher shall be employed by the board until
each qualified teacher upon the preferred list, in order,
shall
have has been offered the opportunity for reemployment in a position for which
they are he or she is qualified,
And provided
further, That he or she has not
including a teacher who has
accepted a teaching position elsewhere.
Such The reemployment
shall be upon a teacher's preexisting continuing contract and
shall
have has the same effect as though the contract had been suspended
during the time the teacher was not employed.
(d) In the assignment of position or duties of a teacher under
said a continuing contract, the board may provide for released time
of a teacher for any special professional or governmental
assignment without jeopardizing the contractual rights of
such the
teacher or any other rights, privileges or benefits under the
provisions of this chapter. Released time shall be provided for
any professional educator while serving as a member of the
Legislature during any duly constituted session of that body and
its interim and statutory committees and commissions without
jeopardizing his or her contractual rights or any other rights,
privileges, benefits or accrual of experience for placement on the
state minimum salary schedule in the following school year under
the provisions of this chapter, board policy and law.
(e) Any teacher who fails to fulfill his
or her contract with
the board, unless prevented from
so doing
so by personal illness or
other just cause or unless released from
such his or her contract
by the board, or who violates any lawful provision
thereof of the
contract, shall be disqualified to teach in any other public school in the state for a period of the next ensuing school year and the
State Department of Education or board may hold all papers and
credentials of
such the teacher on file for a period of one year
for
such the violation:
Provided, That marriage of a teacher shall
not be considered a failure to fulfill, or violation of, the
contract.
(f) Any classroom teacher, as defined in section one, article
one of this chapter, who desires to resign employment with a county
board
of education or request a leave of absence,
such the
resignation or leave of absence to become effective on or before
the fifteenth day of July of the same year and after completion of
the employment term, may do so at any time during the school year
by written notification
thereof of the resignation or leave of
absence and any
such notification received by a county board
of
education shall automatically extend
such the teacher's public
employee insurance coverage until the thirty-first day of August of
the same year.
(g) Any classroom teacher who gives written notice to the
county board
of education on or before the first day of February of
the school year of their
resignation or retirement from employment
with the board at the conclusion of the school year shall be paid
five hundred dollars from the "Early Notification of Retirement"
line item established for the Department of Education for this
purpose, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. If the appropriations to the Department of Education for this purpose are
insufficient to compensate all applicable teachers, the Department
of Education shall request a supplemental appropriation in an
amount sufficient to compensate all such teachers. Additionally,
if funds are still insufficient to compensate all applicable
teachers, the priority of payment is for teachers who give written
notice the earliest. This payment shall not be counted as part of
the final average salary for the purpose of calculating retirement.
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