HB2827 H ED AM 3-15 #1

The Committee on Education moves to amend the bill on page one, following the enacting clause, by striking the remainder of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

That §18-5-15e, §18-5-18b and §18-5-22 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said code be further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-8-6a; that §18-9A-8 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that §18-9D-2 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-5-15e. Comprehensive policy on healthy schools. Study on school equity.

County boards shall conduct a comprehensive study to determine equality of funding and programs among the various schools within each county. Such study shall consider issues including, but not limited to, cost per pupil and availability of curriculum and programs. County boards shall submit a report to the Legislative Oversight commission on education accountability by October 1, 1993.

(a) The Legislature hereby finds that obesity is a problem of epidemic proportions in this state. There is increasing evidence that all segments of the population, beginning with children, are becoming more sedentary, more overweight and more likely to develop health risks and diseases including Type II Diabetes, high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. The Legislature further finds that physical activity, physical education, healthy eating and proper nutrition, and involvement by school staff, families and communities are all parts of successful programs that help address this growing problem. Finally, the Legislature finds that public schools in this state and others have adopted a continuum of policies to implement low cost, effective programs that include each of these areas and that resources to assist schools in adopting policies and implementing programs are easily accessible on the internet and through the Office of Healthy Schools in the West Virginia Department of Education. These schools report that student academic performance frequently improves when comprehensive healthy schools initiatives are implemented.

(b) Every county board of education shall develop a profile of the health of their students, examine options available for comprehensive policies and programs to improve student health and establish a comprehensive policy on healthy schools that best meets the need of their student population.

(c) At least biennially over the ten-year period following an initial report during the 2014 legislative interims, the state board shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability on county comprehensive healthy schools policies and concurrent trends in student health and academic achievement. The initial report shall be for the 2013-14 school year.

§18-5-18b. School counselors in public schools.

(a) A school counselor means a professional educator who holds a valid school counselor's certificate in accordance with article three of this chapter article three, chapter eighteen-a of this code.

(b) Each county board shall provide counseling services for each pupil enrolled in the public schools of the county.

(c) The school counselor shall work with individual pupils and groups of pupils in providing developmental, preventive and remedial guidance and counseling programs to meet academic, social, emotional and physical needs; including programs to identify and address the problem of potential school dropouts. The school counselor also may provide consultant services for parents, teachers and administrators and may use outside referral services, when appropriate, if no additional cost is incurred by the county board.

(d) The state board may adopt rules consistent with the provisions of this section that define the role of a school counselor based on the “National Standards for School Counseling Programs” of the American school counselor association. A school counselor is authorized to perform such services as are not inconsistent with the provisions of the rule as adopted by the state board. To the extent that any funds are made available for this purpose, county boards shall provide training for counselors and administrators to implement the rule as adopted by the state board.

(e) Each county board shall develop a comprehensive drop-out prevention program utilizing the expertise of school counselors and any other appropriate resources available.

(f) School counselors shall be full-time professional personnel. School counselors shall spend at least seventy-five ninety percent of their work time in a direct counseling relationship with at-risk students and other pupils, and shall devote no more than one fourth of the work day to administrative activities: Provided, That such activities are counselor related and all remaining work time on only counseling related administrative and other counseling related duties.

(g) Subject to legislative appropriation, each county board shall employ full-time at least one school counselor for every three hundred fifty pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade students in net enrollment or major fraction thereof in the county. County boards may allocate counseling positions among the schools of the county as they determine appropriate, but no school counselor may have a caseload of more than five hundred students. Nothing in this section prohibits a county board from exceeding the provisions of this section. or requires any specific level of funding by the Legislature.

§18-5-22. Medical and dental inspection; school nurses; specialized health procedures; establishment of council of school nurses.

(a) County boards shall provide proper medical health and dental inspections assessments for all pupils attending the schools of their county and have the authority to take any other action necessary to protect the pupils and school personnel from infectious diseases, including the authority to require from all school personnel employed in their county, certificates of good health and of physical fitness.

(b) Each county board shall employ full time at least one school nurse for every one thousand five hundred kindergarten pre-kindergarten through seventh twelfth grade pupils in net enrollment or major fraction thereof in the county: Provided, That each county shall employ full time at least one school nurse: Provided, however, That a county board may contract with a public health department for services considered equivalent to those required by this section in accordance with a plan to be approved by the state board: Provided further, That the state board shall promulgate rules requiring the employment of school nurses in excess of the number required by this section to ensure adequate provision of services to severely handicapped pupils students with specialized health care needs. An appropriation may be made to the state department to be distributed to county boards to support school health service needs that exceed the capacity of staff as mandated in this section. Each county board shall apply to the state superintendent for receipt of this funding in a manner set forth by the state superintendent that assesses and takes into account varying acuity levels of students with specialized health care needs.

(c) Any person employed as a school nurse must be a registered professional nurse properly licensed by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses in accordance with article seven, chapter thirty of this code.

(d) Specialized health procedures that require the skill, knowledge and judgment of a licensed health professional may be performed only by school nurses, other licensed school health care providers as provided in this section, or school employees who have been trained and retrained every two years who are subject to the supervision and approval by school nurses. After assessing the health status of the individual student, a school nurse, in collaboration with the student's physician, parents and, in some instances, an individualized education program team, may delegate certain health care procedures to a school employee who shall be trained pursuant to this section, considered competent, have consultation with, and be monitored or supervised by the school nurse: Provided, That nothing in this section prohibits any school employee from providing specialized health procedures or any other prudent action to aid any person who is in acute physical distress or requires emergency assistance. For the purposes of this section "specialized health procedures" means, but is not limited to, catheterization, suctioning of tracheostomy, naso-gastric tube feeding or gastrostomy tube feeding. "School employee" means "teachers" as defined in section one, article one of this chapter and "aides" as defined in section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code. Commencing with the school year beginning on July 1, 2002, “school employee” also means “secretary I”, “secretary II” and “secretary III” as defined in section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code: Provided, however, That a “secretary I”, “secretary II” and “secretary III” shall be limited to the dispensing of medications.

(e) Any school service employee who elects, or is required by this section, to undergo training or retraining to provide, in the manner specified in this section, the specialized health care procedures for those students for which the selection has been approved by both the principal and the county board shall receive additional pay of at least one pay grade higher than the highest pay grade for which the employee is paid: Provided, That any training required in this section may be considered in lieu of required in-service training of the school employee and a school employee may not be required to elect to undergo the training or retraining: Provided, however, That commencing with July 1, 1989, any newly employed school employee in the field of special education is required to undergo the training and retraining as provided in this section: Provided further, That if an employee who holds a class title of an aide is employed in a school and the aide has received the training, pursuant to this section, then an employee in the field of special education is not required to perform the specialized health care procedures.

(f) Each county school nurse, as designated and defined by this section, shall perform a needs assessment. These nurses shall meet on the basis of the area served by their regional educational service agency, prepare recommendations and elect a representative to serve on the council of school nurses established under this section.

(g) There shall be a council of school nurses which shall be convened by the state Board of Education. This council shall prepare a procedural manual and shall provide recommendations regarding a training course to the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health who shall consult with the state Department of Education. The state board then has the authority to promulgate a rule in accordance with the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the training and to create standards used by those school nurses and school employees performing specialized health procedures. The council shall meet every two years to review the certification and training program regarding school employees.

(h) The State Board of Education shall work in conjunction with county boards to provide training and retraining every two years as recommended by the Council of School Nurses and implemented by the rule promulgated by the state board.

ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

§18-8-6a. Incentive for county board participation in circuit court juvenile probation truancy programs.

A county board that enters into a truancy program agreement with the circuit court of the county that (1) provides for the referral of truant juveniles for supervision by the court’s probation office pursuant to section eleven, article five, chapter forty-nine of this code and (2) requires the county board to pay for the costs of the probation officer or officers assigned to supervise truant juneniles, shall be reimbursed for one half of the costs of the probation officer or officers subject to appropriation of the Legislature for this purpose to the West Virginia Department of Education. For any year in which the funds appropriated are insufficient to cover the reimbursement costs, the county’s costs shall be reimbursed prorata.

ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.

§18-9A-8. Foundation allowance for professional student support services.

(a) The basic foundation allowance to the county for professional student support personnel shall be the amount of money determined in accordance with the following:

(1) The sum of the state minimum salaries, as determined in accordance with the provisions of article four, chapter eighteen of this code, for all state aid eligible school nurse and counselor positions in the county during the two thousand eight fiscal year which number shall be reduced in the same proportion as the number of professional educators allowed to be funded under section four of this article to the total number of professional educators employed that are state aid eligible. In performing this calculation, the numerator shall be the number of professional educators actually funded under section four of this article and the denominator shall be the total number of professional educators employed that are eligible to be funded under section four of this article;

(2) The amount derived from the calculation in subdivision (1) of this subsection is increased by one half percent;

(3) The amount derived from the calculation in subdivision (2) of this subsection is the basic foundation allowance to the county for professional student support personnel for the two thousand nine fiscal year;

(4) For fiscal years two thousand ten, two thousand eleven, two thousand twelve and two thousand thirteen, the basic foundation allowance to the county for professional student support personnel increases by one-half percent per year over the allowance for the previous year; and

(5) For all fiscal years thereafter, the basic foundation allowance to the county for professional student support personnel remains the same amount as in the two thousand thirteen fiscal year.

(b) The additional positions for counselors that may be created as a result of the one percent increase provided pursuant to this section shall be assigned to schools where the counselor can:

(1) Enhance student achievement;

(2) Provide early intervention for students in grades prekindergarten through five; and

(3) Enhance student development and career readiness.

(a) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July, two thousand thirteen, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the basic foundation allowance to the county for student support personnel shall be the amount of money required to pay the state minimum salaries, in accordance with provisions of article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code, to the personnel employed in the following enumerated positions and subject to the following limitations:

(1) For school nurse, no county shall receive an allowance for the personnel which number is in excess of one nurse to each one thousand five hundred students in net enrollment;

(2) For counselor, no county shall receive an allowance for the personnel which number is in excess of one counselor to each three hundred fifty students in net enrollment;

(b) Any county not qualifying under the provisions of subsection (a) for the maximum allowance for personnel is eligible for a growth rate in professional personnel in any one year not to exceed twenty-five percent of its total potential increase in personnel to achieve the maximum under subsection (a): Provided, That the number of growth positions shall not be less than five until the maximum allowance for personnel is reached.

ARTICLE 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.

§18-9D-2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

(1) "Authority" means the School Building Authority of West Virginia;

(2) "Bonds" means bonds issued by the authority pursuant to this article;

(3) "Construction project" means a project in the furtherance of a facilities plan with a cost greater than §1 million for the new construction, expansion or major renovation of facilities, buildings and structures for school purposes, including:

(A) The acquisition of land for current or future use in connection with the construction project;

(B) New or substantial upgrading of existing equipment, machinery and furnishings;

(D) Construction project does not include such items as books, computers or equipment used for instructional purposes other than computers; fuel; supplies; routine utility services fees; routine maintenance costs; ordinary course of business improvements; other items which are customarily considered to result in a current or ordinary course of business operating charge or a major improvement project;

(4) "Cost of project" means the cost of construction, expansion, renovation, repair and safety upgrading of facilities, buildings and structures for school purposes; the cost of land, equipment, machinery, furnishings, installation of utilities and other similar items related to making the project operational, including, if adequate playgrounds and play areas do not already exist, the cost of constructing, renovating and equipping playgrounds and play areas up to a cost not exceeding $25,000; and the cost of financing, interest during construction, professional service fees and all other charges or expenses necessary, appurtenant or incidental to the foregoing, including the cost of administration of this article;

(5) "Facilities plan" means the ten-year countywide comprehensive educational facilities plan established by a county board in accordance with guidelines adopted by the authority to meet the goals and objectives of this article that:

(A) Addresses the existing school facilities and facility needs of the county to provide a thorough and efficient education in accordance with the provisions of this code and policies of the state board. As used in this article, “facility” in the singular or plural includes school playgrounds and play areas to promote student health;

(B) Best serves the needs of individual students, the general school population and the communities served by the facilities, including, but not limited to, providing for a facility infrastructure that avoids excessive school bus transportation times for students consistent with sound educational policy and within the budgetary constraints for staffing and operating the schools of the county;

(D) Includes the county board’s school access safety plan required by section three, article nine-f of this chapter;

(E) Is updated annually to reflect projects completed, current enrollment projections and new or continuing needs; and

(F) Is approved by the state board and the authority prior to the distribution of state funds pursuant to this article to any county board or other entity applying for funds;

(6) "Project" means a construction project or a major improvement project;

(7) "Region" means the area encompassed within and serviced by a regional educational service agency established pursuant to section twenty-six, article two of this chapter;

(8) “Revenue" or "revenues" means moneys:

(A) Deposited in the School Building Capital Improvements Fund pursuant to section ten, article nine-a of this chapter;

(B) Deposited in the School Construction Fund pursuant to section thirty, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code and section eighteen, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code;

(C) Deposited in the School Building Debt Service Fund pursuant to section eighteen, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code;

(D) Deposited in the School Major Improvement Fund pursuant to section thirty, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code;

(E) Received, directly or indirectly, from any source for use in any project completed pursuant to this article;

(F) Received by the authority for the purposes of this article; and

(G) Deposited in the Excess Lottery School Building Debt Services Fund pursuant to section eighteen-a, article twenty-two, chapter twenty-nine of this code.

(9) "School major improvement plan" means a ten-year school maintenance plan that:

(A) Is prepared by a county board in accordance with the guidelines established by the authority and incorporated in its Countywide Comprehensive Educational Facilities Plan, or is prepared by the state board or the administrative council of an area vocational educational center in accordance with the guidelines if the entities seek funding from the authority for a major improvement project;

(B) Addresses the regularly scheduled maintenance for all school facilities of the county or under the jurisdiction of the entity seeking funding;

(C) Includes a projected repair and replacement schedule for all school facilities of the county or of entity seeking funding;

(D) Addresses the major improvement needs of each school within the county or under the jurisdiction of the entity seeking funding; and

(E) Is required prior to the distribution of state funds for a major improvement project pursuant to this article to the county board, state board or administrative council; and

(10) "School major improvement project" means a project with a cost greater than $50,000 and less than $1 million for the renovation, expansion, repair and safety upgrading of existing school facilities, buildings and structures, including the substantial repair or upgrading of equipment, machinery, building systems, utilities and other similar items related to the renovation, repair or upgrading in the furtherance of a school major improvement plan. A major improvement project does not include such items as books, computers or equipment used for instructional purposes other than computers; fuel; supplies; routine utility services fees; routine maintenance costs; ordinary course of business improvements; or other items which are customarily considered to result in a current or ordinary course of business operating charge.