Senate Bill No. 60

(By Senator Cookman)

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[Introduced January 8, 2014; referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9-3a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to publication of financial statements by county boards of education; providing that only a notice of availability of the statement be published; and providing that the cost of publishing the notice be paid from the board’s general fund.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That §18-9-3a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 9. SCHOOL FINANCES.

§18-9-3a. Preparation, publication and disposition of financial statements by county boards of education.

    The county board of every county, within ninety days after the beginning of each fiscal year, shall prepare on a form to be prescribed by the State Tax Commissioner and the State Superintendent of free Schools and cause to be published a statement revealing: (a) The receipts and expenditures of the board during the previous fiscal year arranged under descriptive headings; (b) the name of each firm, corporation and person who received more than $250 in the aggregate from all funds during the previous fiscal year, together with the aggregate amount received from all funds and the purpose for which paid: Provided, That such the statement shall may not include the name of any person who has entered into a contract with this board pursuant to the provisions of sections two, three, four and five, article two, chapter eighteen-a of this code; and (c) all debts of the board, the purpose for which each debt was contracted, its due date, and to what date the interest thereon has been paid. Such A notice of availability of the statement shall be published as a Class I-0 legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such the publication shall be is the county. The county board shall pay the cost of publishing such statement the notice from the maintenance general fund of the board.

    As soon as is practicable following the close of the fiscal year, a copy of the published statement herein required shall be filed by the county board with the State Tax Commissioner and with the State Superintendent of free Schools.

    The county board shall transmit to any resident of the county requesting the same it a copy of the published statement for the fiscal year designated, supplemented by a list of the names of all school personnel employed by the board during such the fiscal year showing the amount paid to each, and a list of the names of each firm, corporation, and person who received less than $500 from any fund during such the fiscal year showing the amount paid to each and the purpose for which paid.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that after a county board of education has prepared its annual financial statement only a notice of availability of the statement must be published. The bill also provides that the cost of publishing the notice be paid from the board’s general fund.

    Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.