WEST virginia Legislature

2016 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4686

By Delegates Butler, Waxman, Kelly, McGeehan, Frich, Faircloth, Azinger, Gearheart, atkinson,
R. smith and J. Nelson

[Introduced February 23, 2016; referred 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 prohibiting the State Board of Education from adopting new Common Core academic content standards and from purchasing, authorizing, or encouraging the purchase of Common Core instructional materials until January 1, 2019.

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.  Adoption of common core curricular standards and instructional materials prohibited.

(a) For the purposes of this section, “Common Core” means: the Common Core State Standards adopted by the West Virginia State Board of Education on May 12, 2010, and also referred to as the West Virginia Next Generation Standards; any Common Core state standards developed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative and adopted by the West Virginia State Board of Education; the Next Generation Science Standards; the West Virginia College and Career-Readiness Standards filed with the Secretary of State on December 18, 2015; and any other curricular standards based on or aligned with the Common Core State Standards Initiative or Next Generation Science Standards.

(b) Effective immediately, the State Board of Education is prohibited from adopting and implementing any new Common Core academic content standards for any academic subject.

(c) Effective immediately and until January 1, 2019, the State Board of Education is prohibited from purchasing, authorizing the purchase of, or otherwise directing or encouraging the purchase of any textbooks or classroom instruction materials that are based upon or aligned with Common Core academic content standards.

NOTE:  The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the state Board from adopting new common core academic content standards and to prohibit the state Board from purchasing, authorizing, or encouraging the purchase of Common Core instructional materials until January 1, 2019.

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