WEST virginia legislature

2017 regular session

ENROLLED

Committee Substitute

for

House Bill 2196

By Delegates Ellington, Gearheart and Overington

[Passed April 8, 2017; in effect ninety days form passage.]

 AN ACT to amend and reenact §18-2-25 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the Secondary Schools Athletic Commission; participation by home school, private and parochial school students without an interscholastic program available; providing that the private and parochial schools must be registered; setting forth standards for each nonenrolled student participant to meet; providing that each home school, private or parochial student pay the same fees associated with participation as public school students; and providing that the state board accumulate data as to the costs associated with the nonenrolled students participating in interscholastic activities.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §18-2-25 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2.  STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-25.  Authority of county boards to regulate athletic and other extracurricular activities of secondary schools; delegation of authority to West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission; authority of commission; approval of rules by state board; incorporation; funds; participation by private and parochial schools and by home schooled students.

            (a) The county boards of education shall exercise control, supervision and regulation of all interscholastic athletic events, and other extracurricular activities of the students in public secondary schools, and of those public schools of their respective counties.  The county board of education may delegate control, supervision and regulation of interscholastic athletic events and band activities to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.

            (b) The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is composed of the principals, or their representatives, of those secondary schools whose county boards of education have certified in writing to the state superintendent of Schools that they have elected to delegate the control, supervision and regulation of their interscholastic athletic events and band activities of the students in the public secondary schools in their respective counties to the commission.  The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission may exercise the control, supervision and regulation of interscholastic athletic events and band activities of secondary schools, delegated to it pursuant to this section.  The rules of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission shall contain a provision for a proper review procedure and review board and be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, but are, in all instances subject to the prior approval of the state board.  The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, may, with the consent of the State Board of Education, incorporate under the name of "West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, Inc.," as a nonprofit, nonstock corporation under the provisions of chapter thirty-one of this code.  County boards of education may expend moneys for and pay dues to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, and all moneys paid to the commission, as well as moneys derived from any contest or other event sponsored by the commission, are quasi-public funds as defined in article five, chapter eighteen, and the funds of the commission are subject to an annual audit by the State Tax Commissioner.

            (c) The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission shall promulgate reasonable rules providing for the control, supervision and regulation of the interscholastic athletic events and other extracurricular activities of private and parochial secondary schools that elect to delegate to the commission control, supervision and regulation, upon the same terms and conditions, subject to the same regulations and requirements and upon the payment of the same fees and charges as those provided for public secondary schools.  Any such private or parochial secondary school shall receive any monetary or other benefits in the same manner and in the same proportion as any public secondary school.

            (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section or the commission's rules, the commission shall consider eligible for participation in interscholastic activities of secondary schools a student who is receiving home instruction pursuant to subsection (c), section one, article eight, chapter eighteen of this code along with students who are enrolled in a registered private or parochial school that does not have interscholastic programs and who:

            (1) Has demonstrated satisfactory evidence of academic progress for two years in compliance with the provisions of that subsection; Provided, That:

(A) The home school student’s average test results are within or above the fourth stanine in all subject areas, and;

            (B) The private or parochial school students meet the same academic and attendance requirements of public school students.  

            (2) Has not reached the age of nineteen by August 1 of the current school year;

            (3) Is an amateur who receives no compensation, but participates solely for the educational, physical, mental and social benefits of the activity;

            (4) Agrees to comply with all disciplinary rules and regulations of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission and the county board in which the home-schooled, private or parochial student lives, applicable to all other athletes and activity participants; and

            (5) Agrees to obey all rules of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission governing awards, all-star games, parental consents, physical examinations and vaccinations applicable to all high school athletes.

            Eligibility is limited to participation in interscholastic programs at the public secondary, private or parochial school serving the attendance zone in which the student lives: Provided, That home school, private or parochial students who leave a member school during the school year shall be subject to the same transfer protocols that apply to member-to-member transfers. Homeschool, private, and parochial school students participating in interscholastic programs shall be required to pay the same amount that public school students pay when participating in these programs.

            One year following the effective date of this bill, the West Virginia State Board of Education shall determine the additional costs, on a per student basis, of non-enrolled students participating in interscholastic programs, and shall make recommendations to the Legislature regarding how the costs of these non-enrolled students have affected the school aid formula.