H. B. 2827


(By Delegates Stalnaker and Mezzatesta)
[Introduced January 31, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article five, chapter eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to setting forth certain requirements for transferring school aides.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article five, chapter eighteen-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. AUTHORITY; RIGHTS; RESPONSIBILITY.

§18A-5-8. Authority of certain aides to exercise control over pupils; compensation; transfers.
(a) Within the limitations provided herein, any aide who agrees to do so shall stand in the place of the parent or guardian and shall exercise such authority and control over pupils as is required of a teacher as defined and provided in section one of this article. The principal shall designate aides in the school who agree to exercise that authority on the basis of seniority as an aide and shall enumerate the instances in which the authority shall be exercised by an aide when requested by the principal, assistant principal or professional employee to whom the aide is assigned: Provided, That the authority does not extend to suspending or expelling any pupil, participating in the administration of corporal punishment or performing instructional duties as a teacher or substitute teacher.
An aide designated by the principal under this subsection shall receive a salary not less than one pay grade above the highest pay grade held by the employee under section eight-a, article four of this chapter, and any county salary schedule in excess of the minimum requirements of this article.
(b) An aide may not be required by the operation of this section to perform noninstructional duties for an amount of time which exceeds that required under the aide's contract of employment or that required of other aides in the same school, unless the assignment of such duties is mutually agreed upon by the aide and the county superintendent, or the superintendent's designated representative, subject to board approval. The terms and conditions of the agreement shall be in writing, signed by both parties, and may include additional benefits. The agreement shall be uniform as to aides assigned similar duties for similar amounts of time within the same school. Aides shall have the option of agreeing to supervise students and of renewing related assignments annually: Provided, That should an aide elect not to renew the previous agreement to supervise students, the minimum salary of the aide shall revert to the pay grade specified in section eight-a, article four of this chapter for the classification title held by the aide and any county salary schedule in excess of the minimum requirements of this article.
(c) For the purposes of this section, aide shall mean and include any aide class title as defined in section eight, article four of this chapter, regardless of numeric classification.
 (d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, no aide may be transferred from one job position to another position within a school or to a position in another school unless the aide is the successful applicant of a posted position as provided in section eight-b, article four of this chapter and no aide may be transferred from a job position unless the aide?s classroom job is abolished. Should it be necessary to reduce the number of aides in a school for the ensuing school year by eliminating their positions, the affected aide or aides shall be notified of recommendation for transfer and subsequent assignment in compliance with the requirements of section seven, article two of this chapter: Provided, That an aide may not be required as a condition of accepting a position to waive any right to which the employee is entitled under section seven, article two of this chapter or section eight-b, article four of this chapter, nor may any designation or title applied to an aide position negate compliance with these provisions.
(d) (e) An aide may transfer to another position of employment one time only during any one half of a school term, unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by the aide and the county superintendent, or the superintendent's designee, subject to board approval: Provided, That during the first year of employment as an aide, an aide may not transfer to another position of employment during the first one-half school term of employment, unless mutually agreed upon by the aide and county superintendent, subject to board approval.
(e) (f) Regular service personnel employed in a category of employment other than aide who seek employment as an aide shall hold a high school diploma or shall have received a general educational development certificate and shall have the opportunity to receive appropriate training pursuant to subsection (10), section thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of this code and section two, article twenty of said chapter.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set forth certain requirements for transferring school aides.

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