ENROLLED
H. B. 3018
(By Delegate Williams, Stemple, Beach, Poling,
Stevens, Perry and Campbell)
[Passed April 8, 2005; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §15-1B-24 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §18-2-6 of said
code, all relating to cooperation of the State Board of
Education with the Mountaineer Challenge Academy; mandating a
rule for the approval of alternative education programs;
diplomas and certificates of proficiency; designation of
Academy as special alternative education program; calculation
of graduation rate for student attending an approved
alternative education program or the Academy; requiring State
Board rule to support the operation of the Academy; providing
minimum provisions to be included in the rule; application
limited to Academy consent; requiring report to Legislative
Oversight Commission on Education Accountability; and
technical amendments.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §15-1B-24 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §18-2-6 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 15. PUBLIC SAFETY.
ARTICLE 1B. NATIONAL GUARD.
§15-1B-24. Mountaineer Challenge Academy.
The Mountaineer Challenge Academy, operated by the Adjutant
General at Camp Dawson, is hereby acknowledged to be a program of
great value in meeting the educational needs of at-risk youth
throughout the state. Further, the Mountaineer Challenge Academy
is hereby designated as a special alternative education program as
is further provided pursuant to section six, article two, chapter
eighteen of this code. It is, therefore, the intent of the
Legislature that the Mountaineer Challenge Academy should enjoy the
full cooperation of the executive agencies of state government in
carrying out its program.
To this end, the State Board of Education shall,
notwithstanding any other provision in this code to the contrary:
(1) Include the Mountaineer Challenge Academy in the child
nutrition program;
(2) Provide the names and mailing addresses of all high school
dropouts in the state to the director of the Mountaineer Challenge
Academy annually; and
(3) Provide for Mountaineer Challenge Academy graduates to
participate in the adult basic education program.
Further cooperation with the Mountaineer Challenge Academy is
encouraged by the Legislature for the purpose of assisting the
Mountaineer Challenge Academy to achieve its mission and help
prepare young people for productive adulthood.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-6. Classification and standardization of schools; standards
for degrees and diploma; certificates of proficiency;
establishment of alternative education programs.
(a) The State Board shall promulgate rules for the
accreditation, classification and standardization of all schools in
the state, except institutions of higher education, and shall
determine the minimum standards for the granting of diplomas and
certificates of proficiency by those schools. The certificates of
proficiency shall include specific information regarding the
graduate's skills, competence and readiness for employment or
honors and advanced education and shall be granted, along with the
diploma, to every eligible high school graduate. The certificate
of proficiency shall include the program of study major completed
by the student only for those students who have completed the
required major courses, or higher level courses, advanced placement
courses, college courses or other more rigorous substitutes related
to the major, and the recommended electives.
(b) An institution of less than collegiate or university status may not grant any diploma or certificate of proficiency on
any basis of work or merit below the minimum standards prescribed
by the State Board.
(c) A charter or other instrument containing the right to
issue diplomas or certificates of proficiency may not be granted by
the State of West Virginia to any institution or other associations
or organizations of less than collegiate or university status
within the state until the condition of granting or issuing such
diplomas or other certificates of proficiency has first been
approved in writing by the State Board.
(d) The State Board shall promulgate a rule for the approval
of alternative education programs for disruptive students who are
at risk of not succeeding in the traditional school structure.
This rule may provide for the waiver of other policies of the State
Board, the establishment and delivery of a nontraditional
curriculum, the establishment of licensure requirements for
alternative education program teachers, and the establishment of
performance measures for school accreditation.
(e) If a student attends an approved alternative education
program or the Mountaineer Challenge Academy, which is designated
as a special alternative education program pursuant to section
twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code, and the
student graduates or passes the General Equivalency Development
(GED) tests within five years of beginning ninth grade, that student shall be considered graduated for the purposes of
calculating the high school graduation rate used for school
accreditation and school system approval, subject to the following:
(1) The student shall only be considered graduated to the
extent that this is not in conflict with any provision of federal
law relating to graduation rates;
(2) If the State Board determines that this is in conflict
with a provision of federal law relating to graduation rates, the
State Board shall request a waiver from the United States
Department of Education; and
(3) If the waiver is granted, notwithstanding the provisions
of subdivision (1) of this subsection, the student graduating or
passing the General Educational Development (GED) tests within five
years shall be considered graduated.
(f) The State Board shall promulgate a rule to support the
operation of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program operated by
the Adjutant General and known as the "Mountaineer Challenge
Academy" which is designated as a special alternative education
program pursuant to section twenty-four, article one-b, chapter
fifteen of this code, for students who are at risk of not
succeeding in the traditional school structure. The rule shall set
forth policies and procedures applicable only to the Mountaineer
Challenge Academy that provide for, but are not limited to, the
following:
(1) Implementation of provisions set forth in section
twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code;
(2) Precedence of the policies and procedures designated by
the National Guard Bureau for the operation of the Mountaineer
Challenge Academy special alternative education program;
(3) Consideration of a student participating in the
Mountaineer Challenge Academy special alternative education program
at full enrollment status in the referring county for the purposes
of funding and calculating attendance and graduation rates, subject
to the following:
(A) The student shall only be considered at full enrollment
status for the purposes of calculating attendance and graduation
rates to the extent that this is not in conflict with any provision
of federal law relating to attendance or graduation rates;
(B) If the State Board determines that this is in conflict
with a provision of federal law relating to attendance or
graduation rates, the State Board shall request a waiver from the
United States Department of Education;
(C) If the waiver is granted, notwithstanding the provisions
of paragraph (A) of this subdivision, the student shall be
considered at full enrollment status in the referring county for
the purposes of calculating attendance and graduation rates; and
(D) Consideration of the student at full enrollment status in
the referring county is for the purposes of funding and calculating attendance and graduation rates only. For any other purpose, a
student participating in the Academy is considered withdrawn from
the public school system.
(4) Articulation of the knowledge, skills and competencies
gained through alternative education so that students who return to
regular education may proceed toward attainment or attain the
standards for graduation without duplication; and
(5) Consideration of eligibility to take the General
Educational Development (GED) Tests by qualifying within the
extraordinary circumstances provisions established by State Board
rule of a student participating in the Mountaineer Challenge
Academy special alternative education program who does not meet any
other criteria for eligibility.
(g) Nothing in this section or the rules promulgated hereunder
compels the Mountaineer Challenge Academy to be operated as a
special alternative education program or to be subject to any other
laws governing the public schools except by its consent.
(h) The State Board shall report to the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Education Accountability on or before the first day
of January of each year on its efforts to cooperate with and
support the Mountaineer Challenge Academy pursuant to this section
and section twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this
code.
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