Senate Bill No. 2009
(By Senators Tomblin (Mr. President) and Hall,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced July 17, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §18-3-12; and to
amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated
§18A-4-2c, all relating to pilot programs to increase academic
achievement; requiring the state superintendent to establish
a special community development school pilot program for
implementation in a public school with significant enrollments
of disadvantaged, minority and underachieving students for the
purpose of developing and implementing strategies that could
be replicated; requiring the state board to promulgate a rule
that establishes special two-year pilot programs for
additional monetary payments for teachers, principals and
assistant principals based on certain circumstances; setting
forth minimum requirements for the rule; setting forth certain
reporting requirements; defining terms; and establishing
funding requirements.
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 §18-3-12; and that said
code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
§18A-4-2c, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 3. STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
§18-3-12. Special community development school pilot program.
(a) The state superintendent shall establish a special
community development school pilot program to be implemented in one
public school for the duration of five years. The public school
designated by the state superintendent for the pilot shall have
significant enrollments of disadvantaged, minority and
underachieving students. The designated public school under the
direction of the county board and county superintendent shall work
in collaboration with higher education, community organizations and
the state board to develop and implement strategies that could be
replicated in other public schools with significant enrollments of
disadvantaged, minority and underachieving students to improve
academic achievement.
(b) Beginning in January, 2011, on or before the first day of
the regular session of the Legislature, and each year thereafter,
the state superintendent shall make a status report to the
Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and to the state board. The report may include any recommendations based
on the progress of the demonstration project that he or she
considers either necessary for improving the operations of the
demonstration project or prudent for improving student achievement
in other public schools through replication of successful
demonstration school programs.
CHAPTER 18A. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
§18A-4-2c. Pilot projects for monetary incentive payments to
teachers, principals and assistant principals to
achieve equity in teacher, principal and assistant
principal distribution, reward student growth,
provide teacher career ladder programs and attract
teachers to areas of critical teacher need and
shortage.
(a)
Findings. -- The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) Creating conditions for effective teaching and learning
requires a collaborative and systemic approach that supports and
develops educator talent to promote meaningful, evidence-based
improvements across the educator career continuum;
(2) The state should encourage and reward all effective
teachers who provide high-quality instruction and achieve high
levels of student growth and performance;
(3) The state should encourage principals and assistant principals to provide quality support and leadership for creating
conditions conducive to high levels of student growth and
performance; and
(4) The state should encourage principals and assistant
principals to provide effective leadership in low performing, high
poverty or high minority schools.
(b) The purpose of this section is to determine the most
effective approach to promoting meaningful, evidence-based
improvements in the areas set forth above.
(c) The state board shall promulgate a rule in accordance with
article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a that establishes special
two-year pilot programs for additional monetary payments for
teachers, principals and assistant principals. The rule shall
include, but not be limited to:
(1) An application process for schools to apply to participate
in the programs. The application process shall require eighty
percent approval of the teachers at the school and the approval of
the county board:
Provided, That any federal funds awarded prior
to the effective date of this section are not subject to the eighty
percent approval requirement;
(2) A requirement for additional monetary payments for
teachers at participating schools based on any one or more of the
following circumstances:
(A) For teachers employed in:
(i) A school that is low performing, high poverty or high minority; or
(ii) A critical shortage area that the classroom teacher is
fully certified in and for which no other course work, program or
experience is needed to complete full certification; and
(B) For classroom teachers who participate in a career ladder
system that is fair and objective. The career ladder system shall
include at least the following as factors for determining career
advancement:
(i) Whether the classroom teacher has met goals for student
growth and other performance components as evidenced by multiple
measures;
(ii) Whether the classroom teacher is placed in a special
instructional assignment such as an academic coaching assignment or
an assignment as a mentor or is placed in a supervisory assignment.
(3) A requirement for additional monetary payments for
principals and assistant principals at participating schools based
on any one or more of the following circumstances:
(A) For principals and assistant principals who meet goals for
student growth during the previous school year as evidenced by
multiple measures; and
(B) For principals and assistant principals in a school with
a student population that is low performing, high poverty or high
minority; and
(4) Definitions for low performing school, critical shortage
area, goals for student growth as evidenced by multiple measures and career ladder system.
(d) The state superintendent shall make a preliminary status
report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability and to the state board after the first year of
implementation which shall include:
(1) The impact of the pilot on student growth and performance;
(2) The impact of the pilot on the recruitment and retention
of teachers, principals and assistant principals;
(3) The impact of the pilot on the recruitment and retention
of teachers, principals and assistant principals in low performing,
high poverty and high minority schools and the impact on the
recruitment and retention of teachers in critical shortage areas;
and
(4) The fiscal sustainability of the pilot programs.
At the end of the second year, the superintendent shall make
a final report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability and the state board which updates the report made
the previous year and includes recommendations for statewide
implementation.
(e) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "High poverty" means a school which is ranked within the
top twenty-five percent of the public schools in the state based on
the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price
lunches;
(2) "High minority" means a school in which the student population consists of twenty percent or more noncaucasian
students; and
(3) After a school is determined to have a student population
that is high poverty or high minority, the school remains
classified as such for one year beyond the year in which it is
determined that it no longer meets the definition of a high poverty
or high minority school.
(f) The state board shall submit the proposed legislative rule
required by this section to the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Education Accountability by December 1, 2010. The state board
shall promulgate the legislative rule by February 1, 2011. If
necessary to secure federal funding, the state board also may
promulgate an emergency rule consistent with this section.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that funding for the
pilot programs established by this section is limited to: (1)
Moneys received by the state from appropriations made by the
Congress of the United States; and (2) where received for the
specific purposes of funding the pilot programs, moneys received as
gifts, grants, bequests or donations made to the state, the state
board or the department from any nonpublic sources. No other
moneys received by the state may be expended for the purposes of
implementing the pilot programs. No provision of this code may be
construed to require any appropriation by the Legislature for the
specific purposes of funding the pilot programs or to impose any
requirement that the programs establish by this section be continued beyond the extent to which funding for the programs as
prescribed by this subsection is available.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish pilot programs
for increasing academic achievement. One pilot program requires
the state superintendent to establish a special community
development school pilot program for implementation in a public
school with significant enrollments of disadvantaged, minority and
underachieving students for the purpose of developing and
implementing strategies that can be replicated. Other pilot
programs are required that provide additional monetary payments to
teachers, principals and assistant principals based on certain
circumstances such as employment in a school that is low
performing, high poverty or high minority and other circumstances.
These sections are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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