SB451 HFIN AMT 2-12                                                                                                              McO

The Committee on Finance moves to amend the title of the bill to read as follows:

Eng. Com. Sub. For S. B. 451 -- “A BILL to amend and reenact §5-16-2 and §5-16-22 of the Code of the West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §11-8-6f of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §11-21-25; to amend and reenact §18-5-16, §18-5-16a, §18-5-18b, §18-5-32 and §18-5-46 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-15B-14 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated section §18-15B-15; to amend said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-5G-1, §18-5G-2, §18-5G-3, §18-5G-4, §18-5G-5, §18-5G-6, §18-5G-7, §18-5G-8, §18-5G-11, §18-5G-12, §18-5G-13 and §18-5G-14; to amend and reenact §18-7A-3 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-7B-2 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-8-4 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-9A-2, §18-9A-8, §18-9A-9 and §18-9A-12 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-20-5 of said code; to amend and reenact §18A-4-2, §18A-4-5, §18A-4-5a, §18A-4-7a, §18A-4-8a and §18A-4-10 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §18A-4-2d; to amend and reenact §18A-5-2 of said code; to amend and reenact §18C-4-1, §18C-4-2, §18C-4-3, §18C-4-4 and §18C-4-5 of said code; to amend and reenact §18C-4A-1, §18C-4A-2 and §18C-4-3 of said code; and to amend and reenact §29-12-5a of said code, all relating generally to comprehensive education reform; permitting a public charter school to participate in the Public Employees Insurance Agency program; removing tax rollback provisions; modifying regular levy rates; allowing county boards of education to increase their regular levy rates to the statutory maximum; establishing an education expense tax credit; requiring county boards to establish attendance zones; addressing the transfer and enrollment policies for students in public schools; establishing open enrollment policy that may be adopted by county boards; applicability of eligibility requirements for participation in extra-curricular activities established by the Secondary Schools Activities Commission; increasing the percentage of time school counselors must spend in direct counseling; providing that central office administrators, supervisors, and directors serve at the will and pleasure of the superintendent subject to county board approval; including teacher recommendations in the considerations for student promotion; allowing funding for magnet schools; creating and funding a new Innovation Zone Fund to provide grants and other financial assistance to innovation zone designated schools; authorizing the establishment of pilot program for two charter schools; providing legislative purpose and intent; defining terms; establishing requirements and powers for public charter schools; providing for the creation of governing boards; setting requirements for enrollment in public charter schools; creating process and requirements for application to establish public charter schools; providing duties and responsibilities for authorizers; establishing requirements for charter school contracts and process for renewal, nonrenewal, and revocation of contracts, including required rules by State Board of Education; establishing funding for charter school enrollment; providing for nonrenewal of a charter contract, or the revocation of a charter contract; creating prohibitions; allowing charter schools access to public facilities; establishing reporting requirements; establishing charter school employee eligibility for the State Teachers Retirement System and the Teachers’ Defined Contribution Retirement System; modifying provisions for addressing unexcused absences of student; expanding social and emotional support services provided to students; expanding the definition of “professional student support personnel”; increasing the basic foundation allowance for professional student support personnel; providing that counties with less than 1,400 in net enrollment shall be considered to have 1,400 in net enrollment for the purposes of determining the county’s basic foundation program; increasing maximum enrollment allowed for Advance Career Education programs and requiring programs meet certain performance standards; modifying definition of “levies for general current expense purposes;” establishing school aid formula allowance for professional student support personnel at 4.70 positions per 1,000 students in net enrollment; increasing the county allowance for current expenses to 71.25 percent of the county’s state average costs per square footage per student for operations and maintenance amount; establishing county local share at 2015-16 level for calculation of state aid purposes; providing appropriation disbursed to the public charter schools to serve needs of exceptional children; increasing salaries for teachers; granting additional experiences for purposes of pay scale to math teachers meeting specified requirements; providing additional pay for certain teachers providing math instruction; modifying salary equity provisions; enhancing counties’ ability to provide additional compensation to teachers; modifying factors for county board decisions, transfers, reassignments, reductions in the number of professional personnel, reductions in classroom teaching positions, and reductions in the workforce; increasing salaries for service personnel; providing for accrual of personal leave at the end of each pay period; providing bonus for four or less absences; providing for holidays and school closings; modifying certain student financial aid resources available to students pursuing public school teaching careers; abolishing the Underwood-Smith Teacher Loan Assistance Program; renaming the Underwood-Smith Teacher Scholarship and Loan Assistance Fund as the Underwood-Smith Teaching Scholars Program Fund; modifying program purpose to target certain academic disciplines and emphasize the academic distinction of award recipients; modifying award eligibility, renewal, and service agreement criteria to reflect modified program purpose; requiring certain mentoring services be provided to award recipients; preserving eligibility and service agreement criteria for current award recipients; modifying the amount of an award and limiting tuition and fee charges for program recipients; providing for public charter school coverage by the Board of Risk and Insurance Management; and requiring annual written notice of BRIM insurance coverages by county boards to employee insureds.”