Introduced Version
House Bill 2456 History
| Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2456
(By Delegates Marcum, R. Phillips, Andes, Ferro,
Ellington, Diserio, Ferns, Lawrence, White,
Eldridge and Reynolds)
[Introduced February 14, 2013; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-8-1a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to increasing the school dropout
age from sixteen to seventeen.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-8-1a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
§18-8-1a. Commencement and termination of compulsory school
attendance; public school entrance requirements;
exceptions.
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section one of this
article, compulsory school attendance begins with the school year
in which the sixth birthday is reached prior to September 1 of such
the year or upon enrolling in a publicly supported kindergarten
program and subject to subdivision (3) of this subsection,
continues to the sixteenth seventeenth birthday or for as long as
the student continues to be enrolled in a school system after the sixteenth seventeenth birthday.
(1) A child may be removed from such a kindergarten program
when the principal, teacher and parent or guardian concur that the
best interest of the child would not be served by requiring further
attendance: Provided, That the principal shall make the final
determination with regard to compulsory school attendance in a
publicly supported kindergarten program.
(2) The compulsory school attendance provision of this article
shall be enforced against a person eighteen years of age or older
for as long as the person continues to be enrolled in a school
system, and may not be enforced against the parent, guardian, or
custodian of the person.
(3) Beginning with the 2011-2012 high school freshman cohort
class of students, and notwithstanding the provisions of section
one of this article, compulsory school attendance begins with the
school year in which the sixth birthday is reached prior to
September 1 of such year or upon enrolling in a publicly supported
kindergarten program and continues to the seventeenth birthday or
for as long as the student continues to be enrolled in a school
system after the seventeenth birthday The Legislature finds that
increasing the age at which a student may drop out of school from
sixteen to seventeen gives the student more time to make an
educated decision about discontinuing education and may make them
less likely to become dependent on the state and less likely to be dependent on alcohol and other drugs.
(4) Beginning with the December 2010 interim meeting period,
and semiannually thereafter, the state superintendent shall report
to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability
on the impact of the increased age requirement of subdivision (3)
of this subsection, and the progress of the state board and the
county boards in implementing the requirements of section six of
this article.
(b) Attendance at a state-approved or Montessori kindergarten,
as provided in section eighteen, article five of this chapter, is
deemed school attendance for purposes of this section. Prior to
entrance into the first grade in accordance with section five,
article two of this chapter, each child must have either:
(1) Successfully completed such publicly or privately
supported, state-approved kindergarten program or Montessori
kindergarten program; or
(2) Successfully completed an entrance test of basic readiness
skills approved by the county in which the school is located. The
test may be administered in lieu of kindergarten attendance only
under extraordinary circumstances to be determined by the county
board.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and of
section five, article two of this chapter and section eighteen,
article five of this chapter, a county board may provide for advanced entrance or placement under policies adopted by said the
board for any child who has demonstrated sufficient mental and
physical competency for such advanced entrance or placement.
(d) This section does not prevent a student from another state
from enrolling in the same grade in a public school in West
Virginia as the student was enrolled at the school from which the
student transferred.
(e) Each county school system shall provide a program by which
any student who has reached ninth grade or higher and has failed to
achieve one or more credits necessary to permit graduation from
high school after the expected period of attendance, may earn or
recover one or more credits to ensure graduation at the appropriate
time.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the school
dropout age for all students from sixteen to seventeen, and to
require each county system to provide a program by which a student
who has fallen behind in credits necessary to graduate after the
expected period of attendance may earn those credits in order to
graduate on time.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.