Senate Bill No. 132
(By Senator Deem)
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[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the Committee on
Education.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §18A-3A-2b of said
code, all relating to requiring principals to take on greater
authority and control over teachers' classroom teaching
performance; and requiring the state board to propose rules
for legislative approval designed to develop and implement a
program to train principals to act with greater control and
authority over the teachers in their schools in a manner
similar to corporate chief executive officers in order to
maintain higher standards in the classroom and promote
constant professional improvement of teachers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §18A-3A-2b of said code be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
§18A-2-9. Duties and responsibilities of school principals;
assistant principals.
Upon the recommendation of the county superintendent of
schools, the county board of education shall employ and assign,
through written contract, public school principals who shall
supervise the management and the operation of the school or schools
to which they are assigned. Such principals shall hold valid
administrative certificates appropriate for their assignments.
Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, the prerequisites for issuance of an administrative
certificate for principals shall include that the person has
successfully completed at least six credit hours of approved course
work in public school management techniques at an accredited
institution of higher education and has successfully completed
education and training in evaluation skills through the center for
professional development, or equivalent education and training in
evaluation skills approved by the state board.
Under the supervision of the superintendent and in accordance
with the rules
and regulations of the county board of education,
the principal shall assume administrative and instructional
supervisory responsibility for the planning, management, operation
and evaluation of the total educational program of the school or
schools to which he
or she is assigned.
The principal may submit recommendations to the superintendent
regarding the appointment, assignment, promotion, transfer and
dismissal of all personnel assigned to the school or schools under
said principal's control. Such recommendation shall be submitted
in writing as prescribed by the superintendent.
Upon completion of training required under the provisions of
subsection (e), section two-b, article three-a of this chapter,
principals shall maintain minimum teaching performance standards by
teachers under their supervision and authority within each
classroom for which they are responsible.
The principal shall perform such other duties as may be
assigned by the superintendent pursuant to the rules
and
regulations of the county board of education.
Upon recommendation of the county superintendent of schools,
the county board of education shall, when needed, employ and
assign, through written contract, assistant principals who shall
work under the direction of the school principal. Such assistant
principals shall hold valid administrative certificates appropriate
for their assignments.
On or before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
eighty-nine and continuing thereafter, each county board of
education shall assign a certificated principal to each school and
no principal may be assigned more than two schools:
Provided, That
where enrollment exceeds four hundred students there will be no additional schools assigned to that principal.
No principal assigned to more than one school may be assigned
any teaching duties except on a temporary emergency basis. No
county shall have more teaching principalships or multischool
principalships than was present on the first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-eight.
On or before the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three and continuing thereafter, each county board of
education shall employ a full-time supervising principal at each
school whose net enrollment equals or exceeds one hundred seventy
students. A principal assigned to a school with a net enrollment
equal to or greater than one hundred seventy students may not be
assigned any teaching duties except on a temporary emergency basis.
When a principal is assigned on a full-time basis to a school whose
net enrollment is more than seventy-five students but less than one
hundred seventy students, such principal shall have a minimum of
twenty hours per week for nonteaching duties. A principal assigned
on a full-time basis to a school with seventy-five students or less
shall have a minimum of ten hours per week for nonteaching duties:
Provided, That nothing in this section prohibits a county board of
education from assigning a full-time supervising principal to a
school with a net enrollment of less than one hundred seventy
students.
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to reduce or limit the rights and privileges of principals and assistant
principals as teachers under the provisions of section one, article
one, chapter eighteen of the Code of West Virginia as amended;
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a; and other provisions
of this code:
Provided, That on or before the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the State Board of
Education shall not deny a county board of education the right to
place a principal in a school with less than one hundred seventy
students.
ARTICLE 3A. CENTER FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
§18A-3A-2b. The Principals Academy; CEO training of principals.
(a) There is hereby established within the Center for
Professional Development the "Principals Academy". Training
through the Principals Academy shall include at least the
following:
(1) Training designed to build within principals the minimum
qualities, proficiencies and skills that will be required of all
principals pursuant to the rules of the state board;
(2) Specialized training and professional development programs
for all principals; and
(3) Specialized training and professional development programs
for the following principals:
(A) Newly appointed principals;
(B) Principals whose schools have been designated as seriously impaired, which programs shall commence as soon as practicable
following the designation;
(C) Principals subject to improvement plans; and
(D) Principals of schools with significantly different grade
level configurations.
(b) The Legislature finds that the quality of the principal of
a school is one of the most important factors in determining the
academic achievement of students and that well-trained, highly
qualified principals should be a priority for the state.
(c) The Legislature further finds that while the Principals
Academy has been effective in training quality leaders for the
state's public schools, the training provided is such a significant
factor in determining their success that a new position is needed
to coordinate and focus primarily on the Principals Academy to
increase further the quality of the training.
(d) Therefore, from appropriations to the Center for
Professional Development, the center board shall employ and fix the
compensation of the Coordinator of the Principals Academy. The
coordinator serves at the will and pleasure of the center board.
It is the duty of the coordinator, subject to direction and
oversight by the center and the chief executive officer, to lead
the Principals Academy, to focus primarily on the Principals
Academy and to make a continuous effort to enhance further the
quality of the training and professional development programs of the academy. The center board, the chief executive officer, or
both, may assign duties to the coordinator other than those that
relate to the Principals Academy so long as the coordinator is able
to focus primarily on the Principals Academy.
(e) The Legislature finds that in order to foster and develop
higher standards of teaching performance within the classroom of
this state that principles need greater control and authority to
hold teachers accountable for classroom performance in a similar
manner in which a chief executive officer is responsible for
corporate performance. The state board is therefore directed to
propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the
provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
designed to develop and implement an intensive program of training,
with the intended goal to train principals to act with greater
control and authority, in similar fashion and with similar
methodology as corporate chief executive officers, charged with
meeting operational goals in the management of the schools for
which they are individually responsible and to develop and enforce
minimum standards of classroom performance by classroom teachers
while striving for continued professional development and
improvement of teachers in the classroom. The proposed rules for
legislative approval shall also include the requirement that
principals, upon being trained to act with greater control and
authority, shall enter into performance contracts with the state board which shall require principals to uphold minimum/mandatory
standards within the classrooms and that each principal's
performance in this regard shall be commensurately tied to
employment-related incentives and disincentives, whichever is
appropriate.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require principals to
take on greater authority and control over teachers' classroom
teaching performance. Toward this goal the bill requires the State
Board of Education to propose rules for legislative approval
designed to develop and implement a program to train principals to
act with greater control and authority over the teachers in their
schools in a manner similar to corporate CEO's in order to maintain
higher standards in the classroom and promote constant professional
improvement of teachers.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.