H. B. 2146
(By Delegate Pettit)
[Introduced Janaury 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to education; county board of education; authority of boards generally; and authorizing county boards to employ school crossing guards.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
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 employ school crossing guards;
(13) (14) To provide appropriate uniforms for school service
personnel;
(14) (15) 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) (16) 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) (17) To provide, at public expense, adequate public
liability insurance, including professional liability insurance for board employees;
(17) (18) 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) (19) 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) (20) 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) (21) 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize county
boards of education to employ school crossing guards.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.