FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Education.
A BILL to amend the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
§18-1-5, relating to
school curricular standards and assessments; discontinuing the use of common
core standards and assessments in the state; requiring the Department of
Education to promulgate new standards for academic curriculum and assessment;
and allowing school districts to develop academic standards that exceed
statewide standards.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section,
designated §18-1-5, to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DEFINITIONS; LIMITATIONS OF CHAPTER; GOALS
FOR EDUCATION.
§18-1-5. Public school curricular standards and
assessments.
(a) For purposes of this
section:
(1)
"Assessments" means the Smarter Balanced Assessments or any other
student assessments intended to measure student achievement in the common core
standards.
(2) "Common
Core" means the academic standards published by the Common Core State
Standards Initiative or the Next Generation Science Standards Initiative and
adopted by the West Virginia Board of Education, including the West Virginia
Next Generation Standards or any related program.
(b) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this code, effective July 1, 2017, the State Board of
Education may not:
(1) Continue to
implement the academic content standards for English, language arts,
mathematics or any other subject developed by the Common Core State Standards
Initiative or any assessments currently implemented as part of the initiative;
(2) Implement the
science standards developed by the Next Generation Science Standards Initiative
led by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences; or
(3) Use the Partnership
for Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers, the Smarter Balanced
Assessment Consortium, or any other assessment based on the Common Core
Standards or Next Generation Science Standards.
(b) As of the effective
date of this section, any actions taken to adopt or implement the Common Core
Standards or the Next Generation Science Standards are void.
(c) On or before July 1,
2017, the State Board of Education shall develop statewide academic content
standards to replace any Common Core or Next Generation Standards currently in
use.
(d) The state board
shall post for a minimum of ninety days public notice any proposed revision of
academic content standards on the department's website and shall invite
comments on the proposed changes from the general public, including parents,
teachers, experts on college and career readiness standards, representatives of
nonpartisan institutes and political, educational, and faith-based
organizations.
(e) A local Board of
Education may adopt for use by the school district academic content standards
that exceed those approved by the state board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to discontinue
the use of Common Core Standards and assessments in the state; require the Department
of Education to promulgate new standards for academic curriculum and
assessment; and allow school districts to develop academic standards that
exceed statewide standards.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.