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Enrolled Version - Final Version Senate Bill 436 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted

ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 436

(By Senators Plymale, Browning, Unger, Kessler (Mr. President), Prezioso, Klempa, Beach and Jenkins)

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[Passed March 10, 2012; in effect from passage.]

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AN ACT to repeal §18-27-1, §18-27-2, §18-27-3, §18-27-4, §18-27-5, §18-27-6, §18-27-7, §18-27-8, §18-27-9, §18-27-10, §18-27-11, §18-27-12, §18-27-13, §18-27-14, §18-27-15, §18-27-16, §18-27-17, §18-27-18, §18-27-19, §18-27-20, §18-27-21 and §18-27-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §18-2-10 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-2B-1, §18-2B-2, §18-2B-3, §18-2B-4 and §18-2B-7 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-13-1, §18-13-2, §18-13-3, §18-13-4 and §18-13-5; to amend said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §18B-3B-1, §18B-3B-2 and §18B-3B-3; to amend and reenact §18B-3C-1, §18B-3C-2 and §18B-3C-4 of said code; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §18B-14-1, all relating to public education generally; state institutions of higher education; career and technical education; seamless curricula; programs of study; requiring state board to provide adult basic education programs on certain college campuses; creating West Virginia EDGE initiative; establishing initiative goals; providing for administration and accountability; requiring certain joint rule; clarifying that no specific level of appropriation is required; creating collaborative degree completion program; setting forth legislative findings, intent and program objectives; specifying program applicability; setting forth powers and duties of participating agencies; requiring certain agreements and specifying approval procedures; clarifying legislative findings and intent regarding community and technical college system; renaming certain consortia planning districts and clarifying duties; specifying certain accountability procedures; providing for consortia cochairs; assigning responsibility for developing collaborative degree completion programming; defining programs of study and directing consortia to focus on identifying and providing student programs of study leading to placement in high-demand, high-wage occupations; requiring initial consortia compacts and annual updates by certain date and specifying approval process; specifying facilitating institutions for certain consortia; providing for select committee to examine higher education outcomes-based funding models; specifying membership; requiring report of findings with recommendations to Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and Joint Committee on Government and Finance by certain date; updating names of agencies and institutions; making technical corrections; and deleting obsolete language.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That §18-27-1, §18-27-2, §18-27-3, §18-27-4, §18-27-5, §18-27-6, §18-27-7, §18-27-8, §18-27-9, §18-27-10, §18-27-11, §18-27-12, §18-27-13, §18-27-14, §18-27-15, §18-27-16, §18-27-17, §18-27-18, §18-27-19, §18-27-20, §18-27-21 and §18-27-22 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be repealed; that §18-2-10 of said code be amended and reenacted; that §18-2B-1, §18-2B-2, §18-2B-3, §18-2B-4 and §18-2B-7 of said code be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-13-1, §18-13-2, §18-13-3, §18-13-4 and §18-13-5; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §18B-3B-1, §18B-3B-2 and §18B-3B-3; that §18B-3C-1, §18B-3C-2 and §18B-3C-4 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18B-14-1, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.

ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-10. Certificates and awards.

    The State Board shall promulgate rules and shall determine the minimum standards for the granting of certificates and awards for secondary vocational education, adult basic education, adult occupational education and adult technical preparatory education, subject to the provisions of section two, article two-b of this chapter and article three-a of chapter eighteen-b of this code.

    The State Board shall provide a program of adult basic education at each state community and technical college campus where developmental education services are provided in cooperation with the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education and the institutional board of governors of each college. This approach to providing adult basic education links these programs with developmental education and creates a simpler, clearer pathway for adults to enter college.

ARTICLE 2B. AREA VOCATIONAL PROGRAM.

§18-2B-1. Aims and purposes of program; areas where available.

    The aims and purposes of the area vocational educational program are to provide vocational training or retraining on an organized basis designed to prepare individuals for useful employment in recognized occupations. The program shall be made available to residents of West Virginia in an area or areas designated and approved by the State Board.

§18-2B-2. Authority to establish programs, etc.; Division of Vocational Education established; rules; director.

    (a) The State Board may establish, operate and maintain area vocational educational programs including the acquisition by purchase, lease, gift or otherwise of necessary lands and the construction, expansion, remodeling, alteration and equipping of necessary buildings for the purpose of operating and conducting educational training centers.

    (b) The State Board may delegate its operational authority for multicounty vocational centers to an administrative council composed of equal representation from each of the participating county boards of education, the superintendent of schools from each participating county, and the state director of vocational education or his or her representative. To this end, there is hereby expressly established in the State Board a division of vocational education which shall determine the area or areas in which the programs are to be conducted and is authorized to promulgate rules necessary to carry out the provisions of this article, pursuant to article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The director of the division of vocational education administers and supervises the area vocational educational programs.

§18-2B-3. Area vocational education program funds.

    There is hereby established a fund to be known as the Area Vocational Education Program Fund for Secondary Education. There is hereby established a separate fund to be known as the Area Vocational Education Program Fund for Post-Secondary Vocational Education. All moneys appropriated for such purpose by the Legislature as well as any gifts or grants made to the appropriate fund by any governmental subdivision of the state or by the United States government or by any individual, firm or corporation, to carry out the provisions of this article shall be expended by the State Board.

§18-2B-4. Expenditure of funds; title to property.

    The State Board may expend the area vocational education program funds for salaries; teachers' retirement contributions and necessary traveling expenses of teachers and other necessary employees, including, but not limited to, vocational guidance counselors; for purchase, rental, maintenance and repair of instructional equipment, buildings and supplies; and for the necessary costs of transportation of certified students.

§18-2B-7. Transportation of students.

    The State Board may pay for the transportation of any certified unemployed person participating in any area vocational educational program during the period of time that he or she is engaged in the training program at any of the instructional centers.

ARTICLE 13. WEST VIRGINIA EDGE.

§18-13-1. Earn a Degree - Graduate Early (EDGE) initiative established; purposes.

    The Earn a Degree - Graduate Early initiative herein established is known and may be cited as “West Virginia EDGE”. This program is part of the programs of study and seamless curriculum initiative that focuses on aligning curriculum between education levels. Specifically, West Virginia EDGE is established to connect public schools with higher education for the following purposes:

    (a) To prepare public high school students for success in the workplace or post-secondary education; and

    (b) To provide the opportunity for these students to earn community and technical college credit free-of-charge for the duplicated secondary and post-secondary courses identified during the curriculum alignment process.

§18-13-2. Goals for West Virginia EDGE.

    In order to serve the citizens of the state by promoting a higher college-going rate, reducing the time and cost for students to obtain college credentials and expanding opportunities for economic development, the West Virginia EDGE initiative shall meet the following goals:

    (1) Create incentives for more students to continue their education beyond high school by providing all students with information about and access to courses that will prepare them to meet college-level standards;

    (2) Expand successful concurrent enrollment programs that include all students, not just those who are designated as college bound. The goal here is to prepare all students for both work and post-secondary education with the same rigorous curriculum;

    (3) Align junior and senior year secondary courses with community and technical college certificate and associate degree programs. This alignment provides access to early entrance college courses which offer all students the opportunity to establish a college transcript while still in high school;

    (4) Increase the number of students attending public community and technical colleges by participating in a collaborative partnership between the public schools and the state community and technical colleges; and

    (5) Establish programs of study pathways in combination with early entrance college courses which together allow a student to obtain an associate degree one year after high school graduation or to receive an associate degree along with the high school diploma.

§18-13-3. Program administration and accountability.

    (a) West Virginia EDGE is administered by the Assistant State Superintendent of the Division of Technical, Adult and Institutional Education who serves as State Tech-Prep Coordinator. The community and technical college/career and technical education consortia planning districts created by section four, article three-c, chapter eighteen-b of this code serve as regional consortia to implement the program.

    (b) The duties of State Tech-Prep Coordinator include, but are not limited to, the following:

    (1) Developing a collaborative agreement with the facilitating state community and technical college or colleges in each consortium district and with the Council for Community and Technical College Education to meet the goals and objectives of this article.

    (2) Meeting the record-keeping requirements of section nine, article eight, chapter five of this code:

    (A) By developing or adapting an existing comprehensive relational data base and data analysis system for student tracking to assure that consistent, reliable data relevant to the goals of the program are available; and

    (B) By tracking and evaluating EDGE outcomes across all eight consortia districts and by creating a standardized reporting procedure for collecting consistent EDGE data at the state level;

    (3) Assuring that coordinators in the district consortia prepare and retain reliable supporting source documents necessary to validate the data included with the state electronic database;

    (4) Providing documentation to substantiate program outcomes, including, but not limited to, the number of students who enroll in the program, specific courses taken, student course and final exam grades, the number who earn EDGE credits and, of these, the number who apply the credits in pursuit of degrees or certifications at state community and technical colleges; and

    (5) Collecting data relevant to the goals and objectives established for this initiative, analyzing the data, and preparing a report for the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability by December 1, 2012, and annually thereafter. The specific focus of the report is the analysis of data on program outcomes to demonstrate to what degree the initiative has met the goals and objectives of this article.

§18-13-4. Joint rule required.

    The State Board and the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education, created in section three, article two-b, chapter eighteen-b of this code, shall promulgate a joint legislative rule in accordance with article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, for the administration of West Virginia EDGE. This rule shall incorporate strategies designed to achieve the overall goals of the program, methods of operation, and step-by-step procedures for achieving the objectives outlined in section two and for implementing the reporting and accountability measures set forth in section three of this article.

§18-13-5. No specific level of appropriation required.

    The Legislature recognizes the importance of the West Virginia EDGE Program and will endeavor to provide sufficient funds to meet program goals and objectives. However, funding is subject to appropriation by the Legislature and nothing in this article requires any specific level of appropriation.

CHAPTER 18B. HIGHER EDUCATION.

ARTICLE 3B. COLLABORATIVE DEGREE COMPLETION PROGRAM.

§18B-3B-1. Legislative findings and intent.

    (a) The Legislature makes the following findings:

    (1) Evidence from national studies shows clearly that the need to increase the number of Americans who hold post-secondary credentials has reached a critical point. According to Complete College America, the United States has fallen from its long-held position as first among the nations and now ranks tenth in the percentage of young adults with a college degree. Even more discouraging is the statistic which shows that, for the first time in national history, the current generation of college-age Americans will be less educated than their parents’ generation.

    (2) In West Virginia, the large numbers of high school students who are uninterested and/or unprepared for college can be attributed to three primary factors:

    (A) Lack of alignment in courses between public education and public colleges and universities;

    (B) Lack of clear career pathways presented to students early enough to help them choose and follow an articulated path from high school through post-secondary education; and

    (C) Lack of knowledge among students and parents about financial aid opportunities that can help them and their families defray the cost of attending college.

    (3) Sixty-three percent of jobs now available or to become available in the near future require post-secondary education. This statistic is particularly relevant for community and technical college students, but even for students who choose to pursue a four-year degree, it is critical that they be clearly focused on career goals in order to succeed.

    (4) Currently, a severe gap exists between the demands for technically skilled workers in West Virginia and the aspirations and programmatic focus of many of our students. Nearly thirty percent of the state’s high school students have failed to enroll in either the pre-baccalaureate professional pathway or the career and technical education skilled pathway. Most of these individuals could be better served in a focused program of study that begins in the public schools and makes a seamless transition to the post-secondary level in the state community and technical colleges.

    (5) The best way to promote this focus on career goals among our students is through implementation of career pathways. This is an integrated collection of programs and services intended to develop students’ core academic, technical and employability skills; provide them with continuous education and training; and place them in high-demand, high-opportunity jobs.

    (6) In West Virginia, preparing students to achieve higher levels of education is a responsibility shared among the state agencies responsible for providing education and workforce development training. Since increasing the education level of state citizens enhances West Virginia’s economic future and the general well-being of its citizens, providing additional opportunities to earn a college credential is the responsibility of all public secondary education and state institutions of higher education.

    (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to encompass the entire public higher education system to remove those obstacles that block these pathways to college completion and to direct agencies and institutions to collaborate and cooperate to deliver needed services. Therefore, the object of this article is two-fold:

    (1) To set forth a viable collaborative model that public community and technical colleges and public school career centers shall adopt to increase the number of West Virginians with a college credential; and

    (2) To maximize existing resources and capacity to train the work force in West Virginia by encouraging the most efficient expenditure of available dollars.

§18B-3B-2. Collaborative degree completion program established; program applicability and objectives.

    (a) The Collaborative Degree Completion Program is hereby established as a collaborative partnership which includes the following:

    (1) The public school career and technical centers which includes state technology centers, technical centers, career centers and career/technical centers; and

    (2) The state community and technical colleges.

    (b) The program shall meet the following objectives:

    (1) Increasing the number of West Virginians who hold a college credential and providing opportunities for a larger number of adults to earn that credential;

    (2) Increasing the education and technical skill levels of the state’s work force; and

    (3) Delivering post-secondary technical education in the most effective and cost efficient manner by maximizing the available resources of career centers and community and technical colleges.

    (c) The program shall be adopted by each community and technical college/career and technical education consortia planning district. Each district shall assess the needs of its employers, institutions and centers and may adapt the basic model to fit the needs of the area to be served; however, each model shall include the following basic strategies to meet the objectives established in this article:

    (1) Identify post-secondary adult career-technical education programs offered by the public school career centers that are to be evaluated for delivery as a Certificate of Applied Science or an Associate of Applied Science Degree;

    (2) Ensure that all collaborative programs meet the conditions of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges which is the accrediting body for state community and technical colleges;

    (3) Ensure that all collaborative programs meet the academic standards of the participating college; and

    (4) Provide for the collaborative program to remain onsite at the career and technical center if participating agencies determine that site to be the best location for achieving program objectives.

§18B-3B-3. Powers and duties of agencies participating in collaborative degree completion program.

    Members of each community and technical college/career and technical education consortia planning district shall enter into an agreement that delineates the division of responsibilities among the facilitating community and technical college pursuant to section four, article three-c of this chapter and the career and technical centers, including activities for which these entities are jointly responsible.

    (a) The following activities are the responsibility of the facilitating community and technical college in each consortia planning district:

    (1) Approve all curricula course and/or programs through the college’s approval process;

    (2) Maintain authority over the curriculum as required by the college’s accrediting agency;

    (3) Deliver all program general education courses;

    (4) Award the appropriate degree;

    (5) Employ all general education faculty and approve the employment of all technical program faculty;

    (6) Enroll students through the college’s admission and registration process and administer student financial aid, including coordinating and administering veterans’ education benefits;

    (7) Charge and collect the college’s tuition and fees; and

    (8) Pay the career and technical center for technical faculty time.

    (b) The following activities are the responsibility of each career and technical center within the consortium planning district:

    (1) Deliver the majority of the technical content courses;

    (2) Maintain equipment and laboratories and provide adequate instructional space if the program is delivered onsite at the career and technical center; and

    (3) Employ technical content faculty, if needed. If participants choose, these faculty members may be provided by the facilitating community and technical college.

    (c) The following activities are the joint responsibility of the facilitating community and technical college and each career and technical center in the consortium planning district:

    (1) Maintain programmatic accreditation, if required;

    (2) Maintain student transcripts at both the community and technical college and the career and technical center. The college transcript is the official transcript of record;

    (3) Determine admission standards and student acceptance into the programs;

    (4) Market the program and share the cost of marketing as determined in the consortia agreement;

    (5) Develop and implement a program of cross counseling in which counselors from secondary and post-secondary career and technical centers and state community and technical colleges meet with students and their parents, beginning in the eighth grade to answer their education and career-related questions, to serve as a source of support through high school graduation and to provide specific, targeted information on career pathways and financial aid opportunities; and

    (6) Determine the feasibility of collaboratively developing and implementing post-secondary-level programs to extend high school programs that currently are terminal.

ARTICLE 3C. COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM.

§18B-3C-1. Legislative findings.

    (a) The Legislature makes the following findings related to state community and technical colleges:

    (1) Community and technical colleges are a distinctively American invention. They fill a critical gap between public secondary education and the baccalaureate institutions and universities and they provide a connection between adult basic education and higher education. Their overriding mission is to provide affordable access to post-secondary education and to provide this education and related services to people who otherwise might not have enrolled in a college or university. They provide access to students who live in geographic proximity and who seek low-cost post-secondary education.

    (2) As the state’s primary provider of workforce education and training, community and technical colleges located in every region of West Virginia are essential to a statewide strategy to prepare students for high-demand, high-wage jobs, workforce development necessary to diversify and grow the state’s economy, and further post-secondary education and life long learning.

    (3) The mission of state community and technical colleges is to provide comprehensive education services that combine the critical functions of career-technical education and work force development, non-credit industry training, transfer education, developmental education and continuing education.

    (4) While the student population of state community and technical colleges is now evenly divided between those who are under age twenty-five and adults who are twenty-five and older, the number in both categories who earn a degree or industry-recognized certificate within six years remains low. The declining numbers of high school graduates in the state makes it imperative for the community and technical college system to focus on increasing the numbers of adults who enroll and who complete programs to earn a degree or industry-recognized certificate within six years.

    (b) In carrying out their mission, the governing boards of the community and technical colleges shall collaborate with public high schools and career and technical centers to deliver services effectively and efficiently in the locations where they are needed most.

§18B-3C-2. Legislative intent.

    The following comprise the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article:

    (a) To establish community and technical college education that is well articulated with the public schools, the career and technical education centers and other state institutions of higher education; that encourages traditional and nontraditional students and adult learners to pursue a lifetime of learning; that serves as an instrument of economic development; and that has the independence and flexibility to respond quickly to changing needs of citizens and employers in the state;

    (b) To establish community and technical college/career and technical education consortia districts for each of the community and technical colleges in order to ensure that the full range of community and technical college education programs and services is provided in all areas of the state, including the implementation of seamless programs of study as exemplified by West Virginia EDGE, established in article thirteen, chapter eighteen of this code and the Collaborative Degree Completion Program, established in article three-b of this chapter;

    (c) To define the full range of programs and services that each community and technical college has the responsibility to provide; and

    (d) To establish other policies and procedures necessary to ensure that the needs of West Virginia, its people and its businesses are met for the programs and services that can be provided through a comprehensive system of community and technical colleges.

§18B-3C-4. Community and technical college/career and technical education consortia planning districts.

    (a) Unless otherwise designated, the presidents of the community and technical colleges facilitate the formation of community and technical college/career and technical education consortia in the state. Each consortium includes representatives of community and technical colleges, public career and technical education centers and state baccalaureate institutions offering associate degrees. The consortium is responsible for carrying out the following actions:

    (1) Completing a comprehensive assessment of the district to determine what education and training programs are necessary to meet the short- and long-term workforce development needs of the district;

    (2) Coordinating efforts with regional labor market information systems to identify the ongoing needs of business and industry, both current and projected, and to provide information to assist in an informed program of planning and decision-making;

    (3) Planning and developing a unified effort between the community and technical colleges and public career and technical education to meet the documented workforce development needs of the district through individual and cooperative programs; shared facilities, faculty, staff, equipment and other resources; and the development and use of distance learning and other education technologies;

    (4) Collaborating and developing jointly the collaborative programming for adults between the community and technical colleges and the public career and technical centers. The focus of these collaborative efforts is the development of advanced skill programming that builds on the secondary curriculum and allows career and technical education graduates to acquire more in-depth preparation in their occupational area of interest;

 

    (5) As a consortium, regularly reviewing and revising curricula to ensure that the work force needs are met; developing new programs and phasing out or modifying existing programs, as appropriate, to meet such needs; and streamlining procedures for designing and implementing customized training programs;

    (6) Increasing the integration of secondary and post-secondary curriculum and programs that are targeted to meet regional labor market needs, including implementing seamless programs of study, including West Virginia EDGE, and the Collaborative Degree Completion Program:

    (A) Research shows that well-planned, well-coordinated programs of study have a positive impact on school attendance, student grades, achievement scores, retention rates and career planning. To be successful, programs of study must include coherent and rigorous content aligned with challenging academic standards and relevant career and technical education content. They must provide for student movement through a coordinated, nonduplicative progression of courses that align secondary education with community and technical college education to prepare students to succeed at the community and technical college level and in high-wage, high-demand occupations;

    (B) Therefore, the focus of each consortium is to identify the high-demand, high-wage occupations within the service district and develop programs of study, based on the findings, that lead to an industry-recognized credential, a certificate of applied science degree or an associate degree;

    (C) The initial consortium compact and each annual update required in subsection (d) of this section shall identify the programs of study that are to be implemented in the district service area;

    (7) Planning and implementing integrated professional development activities for secondary and post-secondary faculty, staff and administrators;

    (8) Ensuring that program graduates have attained the competencies required for successful employment through the involvement of business, industry and labor in establishing student credentialing;

    (9) Assessing student knowledge and skills which may be gained from multiple sources so that students gain credit toward program completion and advance more rapidly without repeating course work in which they already possess competency;

    (10) Cooperating with workforce investment boards to establish one-stop-shop career centers with integrated employment and training and labor market information systems that enable job seekers to assess their skills, identify and secure needed education training, and secure employment, and that allow employers to locate available workers;

    (11) Increasing the integration of adult literacy, adult basic education, federal Work Force Investment Act and community and technical college programs and services to expedite the transition of adults from welfare to gainful employment, including cooperating with the State Department of Education to provide adult basic education programs on each community and technical college campus in the state where developmental education services are provided; and

    (12) Establishing a single point of contact for employers and potential employers to access education and training programs throughout the district.

    (b) The community and technical college education consortium shall cooperate with the regional workforce investment board in the district and shall participate in any development or amendment to the regional workforce investment plan.

    (c) To carry out the provisions of this section, community and technical college/career and technical education consortia planning districts are established and defined as follows:

    (1) Northern Panhandle District includes Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall and Wetzel counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is West Virginia Northern Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include West Virginia Northern Community and Technical College; John Marshall High School; Cameron High School; John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (2) North Central West Virginia District includes Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Barbour, Randolph, Doddridge, Harrison, Braxton, Lewis, Calhoun, Gilmer and Upshur counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is Pierpont Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include Pierpont Community and Technical College; Glenville State College; Randolph County Technical Center; Monongalia County Technical Education Center; United Technical Center; Marion County Technical Center; Fred W. Eberle Technical Center; Calhoun Gilmer Career Center; Taylor County Technical Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (3) Mid-Ohio Valley District includes Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood, Wirt, Jackson and Roane counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

    (B) Participating institutions include West Virginia University at Parkersburg; Roane-Jackson Technical Center; Wood County Technical Center; Mid Ohio Valley Technical Institute and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (4) Potomac Highlands District includes Tucker, Pendleton, Grant, Hardy, Mineral and Hampshire counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College; South Branch Career and Technical Center; Mineral County Technical Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (5) Shenandoah Valley District includes Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is Blue Ridge Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include Blue Ridge Community and Technical College; James Rumsey Technical Institute; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (6) Advantage Valley District includes Fayette, Kanawha, Clay, Putnam, Cabell, Mason and Wayne counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution for Cabell, Mason and Wayne counties is Mountwest Community and Technical College. The facilitating institutions for Clay, Fayette, Kanawha and Putnam counties are Bridgemont Community and Technical College and Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include Mountwest Community and Technical College; Bridgemont Community and Technical College; Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College; Carver Career and Technical Education Center; Garnet Career Center; Ben Franklin Career and Technical Center; Putnam Career and Technical Center; Cabell County Career-Technology Center; Mason County Career Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (7) Southern Mountains District includes Lincoln, Boone, Logan, Mingo, Wyoming and McDowell counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College; Boone County Career and Technical Center; Wyoming County Career and Technical Center; Ralph R. Willis Career and Technical Center; McDowell County Career and Technology Center; Mingo Extended Learning Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (8) Southeastern District includes Raleigh, Summers, Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Monroe and Mercer counties.

    (A) The facilitating institution is New River Community and Technical College.

    (B) Participating institutions include New River Community and Technical College; Bridgemont Community and Technical College; Bluefield State College; Academy of Careers and Technology; Fayette Institute of Technology; Summers County High School; Monroe County Technical Center; Mercer County Technical Education Center; Nicholas County Career and Technical Center; and other public career and technical centers offering post-secondary programs.

    (9) Cochairs preside over each consortium as follows:

    (A) The president of the facilitating community and technical college, or his or her designee; and

    (B) A career and technical education center administrator, or his or her designee, representing one of the participating institutions and selected by the consortium administrative leaders.

    (d) In the role of the facilitating institution of the consortium, the college:

    (1) Communicates to the Council and State Board;

    (2) Facilitates the delivery of comprehensive community and technical college education in the region, which includes the seven areas of comprehensive community and technical college education delivery as required by section six of this article;

    (3) Facilitates development of a statement of commitment signed by all participating institutions in the region setting forth how community and technical college education will be delivered; and

    (4) Facilitates the development of a consortium compact to be submitted to the Council and State Board before July 1, 2012, and annually thereafter.

    (e) Participating institutions are not subordinate to the facilitating institution but shall sign the statement of commitment to participate.

    (f) The Council is responsible for carrying out the following activities:

    (1) Annually evaluating the progress made in meeting the compact goals for each consortium through the development and collection of performance indicator data; and

    (2) Providing each consortium with a model format for developing and revising a consortium compact outlining strategies and procedures for achieving stated goals. The compact shall be submitted to the Council and State Board for their respective approvals before July 1, 2012, and annually thereafter. The Council is responsible for approving the compact components related to community and technical college education. The State Board is responsible for approving the compact components related to career and technical education. Each compact shall include implementation of seamless programs of study, the Collaborative Degree Completion Program and the West Virginia EDGE Program.

ARTICLE 14. MISCELLANEOUS.

§18B-14-1. Select committee on outcomes-based funding models in higher education.

    (a) The Legislature makes the following findings regarding public higher education:

    (1) It is in the best interest of the citizens to have an effective and comprehensive system for the delivery of public higher education services. In order to achieve desired goals of economic growth and societal well being, it is critical that more citizens have some level of education beyond high school.

    (2) In Senate Bill 595 (Vision 2020), enacted in 2008 regular session, state policymakers established detailed goals and objectives that state institutions are expected to work toward achieving by the year 2020. Vision 2020 also provides mechanisms for measuring success and for holding the state systems of higher education accountable. It establishes clear-cut connections between the budget cycle, the goals and objectives and both positive and negative consequences.

    (3) A variety of policy tools are available to influence and direct public higher education behavior, including organizing institutions into functional systems, creating governance structures and mechanisms designed to ensure that these systems and individual institutions focus on the public policy agenda and establishing outcomes-based goals, accountability measures and regulatory devices.

    (4) While these policy tools are useful, they are not sufficient to influence institutions, students and employers to behave in ways consistent with achieving the goals and objectives of Vision 2020 the public policy agenda. Resources appropriated to public higher education are used most effectively and efficiently when the attention of state colleges and universities is focused on meeting established priorities. This focus is developed and sustained only when the state financing policy contains a direct connection between the Legislature’s power to appropriate money and desired institutional outcomes. Unlike rules which can be bent; law can be creatively interpreted; accountability requirements which can lose their effectiveness as they are filtered through layers of bureaucracy; and responsibility for implementation which is divided among agencies and, ultimately, is totally dependent upon institutional discretion, a financing policy that ties the flow of funds directly to progress on achieving established state goals and objectives commands immediate attention.

    (b) It is the constitutional responsibility of the Legislature to determine how to make the best use of available resources to meet state needs and established goals; therefore, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance shall create a select committee for the two-fold purpose of making a specific and detailed analysis of outcomes-based funding models used in higher education and providing recommendations to the Legislature on incorporating one or more of these models as an effective piece of the state’s financing policy.

    (c) The select committee consists of the following members:

    (1) The President of the Senate or designee;

    (2) The Speaker of the House of Delegates or designee;

    (3) The chairs of the Senate and House of Delegates Committees on Education, who shall cochair the committee;

    (4) The vice chairs of the Senate and House of Delegates Committees on Education;

    (5) The chairs of the Senate and House of Delegates Committees on Finance or their designees;

    (6) The cochairs of the Joint Commission on Economic Development or their designees;

    (7) Two members each from the Senate Committees on Finance and Education appointed by the President of the Senate; and

    (8) Two members each from the House Committees on Finance and Education appointed by the Speaker of the House.

    (d) The select committee shall develop a report with recommendations on implementing a state-level financing plan which includes, but is not limited to, the following items:

    (1) A review of existing outcomes-based funding models for institutions and systems of higher education;

    (2) Identification of the top three to five public policy objectives that are to be the focus of the financing policy;

    (3) A review of outcomes-based funding models implemented in other states, including an evaluation of the degree to which these policies have succeeded in influencing institutional and system behavior;

    (4) Recommendations on methods to balance the inherent need of institutions for stability with the demands of the state for services as identified in Vision 2020 and the public policy agenda;

    (5) Recommendations on methods to develop a workable balance between addressing the well-being of institutions and the success of students; and

    (6) An analysis of the impact of different models on institutions with widely-differing missions, including recommendations on selecting and implementing the appropriate model for each type of institution specifically noting the impact of selected models on community and technical colleges, baccalaureate colleges and regional universities, and research universities.

    (e) The committee shall commence its work before May 15, 2012, and shall deliver its report and recommendations, together with draft legislation to implement the recommendations, to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance by December 1, 2012.

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