ENROLLED
H. B. 2637
(By Delegates Hutchins, L. White, Givens,
Ennis, Anderson and Manuel)
[Passed April 12, 1997; in effect July 1, 1997.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section two, article sixteen, chapter
five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; to amend and reenact section
thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of said code; and
to amend and reenact section one, article one, chapter
eighteen-a of said code, all relating to insurance benefits
for county board of education employees who job-share.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article sixteen, chapter five of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; that section thirteen, article
five, chapter eighteen be amended and reenacted; and that section
one, article one, chapter eighteen-a be amended and reenacted to
read as follows:
CHAPTER 5. GENERAL POWERS AND AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNOR,
SECRETARY OF STATE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL; BOARD OF PUBLIC
WORKS; MISCELLANEOUS AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, OFFICES,
PROGRAMS, ETC.
ARTICLE 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases as used in this article,
unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context,
have the following meanings:
(1) "Advisory board" means the public employees insurance
agency advisory board created by this article.
(2) "Agency" means the public employees insurance agency
created by this article.
(3) "Director" means the director of the public employees
insurance agency created by this article.
(4) "Employee" means any person, including elected officers,
who works regularly full time in the service of the state of West
Virginia and, for the purpose of this article only, the term
"employee" also means any person, including elected officers, who
works regularly full time in the service of a county board of
education; a county, city or town in the state; any separate
corporation or instrumentality established by one or more
counties, cities or towns, as permitted by law; any corporation
or instrumentality supported in most part by counties, cities or
towns; any public corporation charged by law with the performance
of a governmental function and whose jurisdiction is coextensive
with one or more counties, cities or towns; any comprehensive
community mental health center or comprehensive mental
retardation facility established, operated or licensed by the
secretary of health and human resources pursuant to section one,
article two-a, chapter twenty-seven of this code, and which is
supported in part by state, county or municipal funds; any person who works regularly full time in the service of the university of
West Virginia board of trustees or the board of directors of the
state college system; and any person who works regularly full
time in the service of a combined city-county health department
created pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code.
On and after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, and upon election by a county board of education to
allow elected board members to participate in the public
employees insurance program pursuant to this article, any person
elected to a county board of education shall be deemed to be an
"employee" during the term of office of the elected member:
Provided, That the elected member shall pay the entire cost of
the premium if he or she elects to be covered under this article.
Any matters of doubt as to who is an employee within the meaning
of this article shall be decided by the director.
On or after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-seven, a person shall be considered an "employee" if that
person meets the following criteria:
(i) Participates in a job-sharing arrangement as defined in
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of this code;
(ii) Has been designated, in writing, by all other
participants in that job-sharing arrangement as the "employee"
for purposes of this section; and
(iii) Works at least one third of the time required for a
full-time employee.
(5) "Employer" means the state of West Virginia, its boards,
agencies, commissions, departments, institutions or spending units; a county board of education; a county, city or town in the
state; any separate corporation or instrumentality established by
one or more counties, cities or towns, as permitted by law; any
corporation or instrumentality supported in most part by
counties, cities or towns; any public corporation charged by law
with the performance of a governmental function and whose
jurisdiction is coextensive with one or more counties, cities or
towns; any comprehensive community mental health center or
comprehensive mental retardation facility established, operated
or licensed by the secretary of health and human resources
pursuant to section one, article two-a, chapter twenty-seven of
this code, and which is supported in part by state, county or
municipal funds; and a combined city-county health department
created pursuant to article two, chapter sixteen of this code.
Any matters of doubt as to who is an "employer" within the
meaning of this article shall be decided by the director. The
term "employer" does not include within its meaning the national
guard.
(6) "Finance board" means the public employees insurance
agency finance board created by this article.
(7) "Plan" means the medical indemnity plan or a managed
care plan option offered by the agency.
(8) "Retired employee" means an employee of the state who
retired after the twenty-ninth day of April, one thousand nine
hundred seventy-one, and an employee of the university of West
Virginia board of trustees or the board of directors of the state
college system or a county board of education who retires on or after the twenty-first day of April, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-two, and all additional eligible employees who retire on
or after the effective date of this article and meet the minimum
eligibility requirements for their respective state retirement
system: Provided, That for the purposes of this article, the
employees who are not covered by a state retirement system shall,
in the case of education employees, meet the minimum eligibility
requirements of the state teachers retirement system, and in all
other cases, meet the minimum eligibility requirements of the
public employees retirement system.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-13. Authority of boards generally.
The boards, subject to the provisions of this chapter and the
rules of the state board, have authority:
(1) To control and manage all of the schools and school
interests for all school activities and upon all school property,
whether owned or leased by the county, including the authority to
require that records be kept of all receipts and disbursements of
all funds collected or received by any principal, teacher,
student or other person in connection with the schools and school
interests, any programs, activities or other endeavors of any
nature operated or carried on by or in the name of the school, or
any organization or body directly connected with the school, to
audit the records and to conserve the funds, which shall be
considered quasi-public moneys, including securing surety bonds
by expenditure of board moneys;
(2) To establish schools, from preschool through high school,
inclusive of vocational schools; and to establish schools and
programs, or both, for post high school instruction, subject to
approval of the state board of education;
(3) To close any school which is unnecessary and to assign the
pupils of the school to other schools: Provided, That the
closing shall be officially acted upon and teachers and service
personnel involved notified on or before the first Monday in
April, in the same manner as provided in section four of this
article, except in an emergency, subject to the approval of the
state superintendent, or under subdivision (5) of this section;
(4) To consolidate schools;
(5) To close any elementary school whose average daily
attendance falls below twenty pupils for two months in succession
and send the pupils to other schools in the district or to
schools in adjoining districts. If the teachers in the closed
school are not transferred or reassigned to other schools, they
shall receive one month's salary;
(6) (a) To provide at public expense adequate means of
transportation, including transportation across county lines, for
all children of school age who live more than two miles distance
from school by the nearest available road; to provide at public
expense and according to such rules as the board may establish,
adequate means of transportation for school children
participating in board-approved curricular and extracurricular
activities; and to provide in addition thereto at public expense,
by rules and within the available revenues, transportation for those within two miles distance; to provide in addition thereto,
at no cost to the board and according to rules established by the
board, transportation for participants in projects operated,
financed, sponsored or approved by the commission on aging:
Provided, That all costs and expenses incident in any way to
transportation for projects connected with the commission on
aging shall be borne by the commission, or the local or county
chapter of the commission: Provided, however, That in all cases
the school buses owned by the board of education shall be driven
or operated only by drivers regularly employed by the board of
education: Provided further, That the county board may provide,
under rules established by the state board, for the certification
of professional employees as drivers of board-owned vehicles with
a seating capacity of less than ten passengers used for the
transportation of pupils for school-sponsored activities other
than transporting students between school and home: And provided
further, That the use of the vehicles shall be limited to one
for each school-sponsored activity: And provided further, That
buses shall be used for extracurricular activities as provided in
this section only when the insurance provided for by this section
is in effect;
(b) To enter into agreements with one another to provide, on
a cooperative basis, adequate means of transportation across
county lines for children of school age subject to the conditions
and restrictions of subdivisions (6) and (8) of this section;
(7) (a) To lease school buses operated only by drivers
regularly employed by the board to public and private nonprofit organizations or private corporations to transport school-age
children to and from camps or educational activities in
accordance with rules established by the board. All costs and
expenses incurred by or incidental to the transportation of the
children shall be borne by the lessee;
(b) To contract with any college or university or officially
recognized campus organizations to provide transportation for
college or university students, faculty or staff to and from the
college or university: Provided, That only college and
university students, faculty and staff are being transported.
The contract shall include consideration and compensation for bus
operators, repairs and other costs of service, insurance and any
rules concerning student behavior;
(8) To provide at public expense for insurance against the
negligence of the drivers of school buses, trucks or other
vehicles operated by the board; and if the transportation of
pupils is contracted, then the contract for the transportation
shall provide that the contractor shall carry insurance against
negligence in an amount specified by the board;
(9) To provide solely from county funds for all regular
full-time employees of the board all or any part of the cost of
a group plan or plans of insurance coverage not provided or
available under the West Virginia public employees insurance act;
(10) To employ teacher aides, to provide in-service training
for teacher aides, the training to be in accordance with rules of
the state board and, in the case of service personnel assuming
duties as teacher aides in exceptional children programs, to provide a four-clock-hour program of training prior to the
assignment which shall, in accordance with rules of the state
board, consist of training in areas specifically related to the
education of exceptional children;
(11) To establish and conduct a self-supporting dormitory for
the accommodation of the pupils attending a high school or
participating in a post high school program and of persons
employed to teach in the high school or post high school program;
(12) To employ legal counsel;
(13) To provide appropriate uniforms for school service
personnel;
(14) To provide at public expense and under rules as
established by any county board of education for the payment of
traveling expenses incurred by any person invited to appear to be
interviewed concerning possible employment by the county board of
education;
(15) To allow or disallow their designated employees to use
publicly provided carriage to travel from their residences to
their workplace and return: Provided, That the usage is subject
to the supervision of the board and is directly connected with
and required by the nature and in the performance of the
employee's duties and responsibilities;
(16) To provide, at public expense, adequate public liability
insurance, including professional liability insurance for board
employees;
(17) To enter into agreements with one another to provide, on
a cooperative basis, improvements to the instructional needs of each county. The cooperative agreements may be used to employ
specialists in a field of academic study or support functions or
services, for the academic study. The agreements are subject to
approval by the state board of education;
(18) To provide information about vocational or higher
education opportunities to students with handicapping conditions.
The board shall provide in writing to the students and their
parents or guardians information relating to programs of
vocational education and to programs available at state funded
institutions of higher education. The information may include
sources of available funding, including grants, mentorships and
loans for students who wish to attend classes at institutions of
higher education;
(19) To enter into agreements with one another, with the
approval of the state board, for the transfer and receipt of any
and all funds determined to be fair when students are permitted
or required to attend school in a county other than the county of
their residence; and
(20) To enter into job-sharing arrangements, as defined in
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of this code, with
its professional employees: Provided, That a job sharing
arrangement shall meet all the requirements relating to posting,
qualifications and seniority, as provided for in article four,
chapter eighteen-a of this code: Provided, however, That,
notwithstanding any provisions of this code to the contrary, a
county board which enters into a job-sharing arrangement wherein
two or more professional employees voluntarily share an authorized full-time position shall provide the mutually agreed
upon employee coverage but shall not offer insurance coverage to
more than one of the job sharing employees, including any group
plan or group plans available under the state public employees
insurance act: Provided further, That all employees involved in
the job-sharing agreement meet the requirements of subdivision
(4), section two, article sixteen, chapter five of this code.
"Quasi-public funds" as used in this section means any money
received by any principal, teacher, student or other person for
the benefit of the school system as a result of curricular or
noncurricular activities.
The board of each county shall expend under rules it
establishes for each child an amount not to exceed the proportion
of all school funds of the district that each child would be
entitled to receive if all the funds were distributed equally
among all the children of school age in the district upon a per
capita basis.
CHAPTER 18A. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§18A-1-1. Definitions.
The definitions contained in section one, article one, chapter
eighteen shall be applicable to this chapter. In addition, the
following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings
pursuant thereto shall, unless the context clearly indicates a
different meaning, be construed as follows:
(a) "School personnel" means all personnel employed by a
county board of education whether employed on a regular full-time basis, an hourly basis or otherwise. School personnel shall be
comprised of two categories: Professional personnel and service
personnel.
(b) "Professional personnel" means persons who meet the
certification and/or licensing requirements of the state, and
shall include the professional educator and other professional
employees.
(c) "Professional educator" shall be synonymous with and shall
have the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one,
article one, chapter eighteen of this code. Professional
educators shall be classified as:
(1) "Classroom teacher" -- The professional educator who has
direct instructional or counseling relationship with pupils,
spending the majority of his time in this capacity.
(2) "Principal" -- The professional educator who as agent of
the board has responsibility for the supervision, management and
control of a school or schools within the guidelines established
by said board. The major area of such responsibility shall be
the general supervision of all the schools and all school
activities involving pupils, teachers and other school personnel.
(3) "Supervisor" -- The professional educator who, whether by
this or other appropriate title, is responsible for working
primarily in the field with professional and/or other personnel
in instructional and other school improvement.
(4) "Central office administrator" -- The superintendent,
associate superintendent, assistant superintendent and other
professional educators, whether by these or other appropriate titles, who are charged with the administering and supervising of
the whole or some assigned part of the total program of the
county-wide school system.
(d) "Other professional employee" means that person from
another profession who is properly licensed and is employed to
serve the public schools and shall include a registered
professional nurse, licensed by the West Virginia board of
examiners for registered professional nurses and employed by a
county board of education, who has completed either a two-year
(sixty-four semester hours) or a three-year (ninety-six semester
hours) nursing program.
(e) "Service personnel" means those who serve the school or
schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such
areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation,
school lunch and as aides.
(f) "Principals academy" or "academy" means the academy
created pursuant to section two-b, article three-a of this
chapter.
(g) "Center for professional development" means the center
created pursuant to section one, article three-a of this chapter.
(h) "Job-sharing arrangement" means a formal, written
agreement voluntarily entered into by a county board with two or
more of its professional employees who wish to divide between
them the duties and responsibilities of one authorized full-time
position.