WEST virginia legislature
2019 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
House Bill 2378
By Delegate Espinosa, Westfall and Lavender-Bowe
[Introduced January 14, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-3-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating generally to grounds for revocation of a teaching certificate; and providing that a teaching certificate or license shall be automatically revoked if a teacher is convicted of certain crimes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 3. Training, Certification, Licensing, Professional Development.
§18A-3-6. Ground for revocation of certificates; recalling certificates for correction.
(a) The state
superintendent may, after 10 days' notice and upon proper evidence, revoke the
certificates of any teacher for any of the following causes: Intemperance;
untruthfulness; cruelty; immorality; the conviction of a felony or a guilty
plea or a plea of no contest to a felony charge; the conviction, guilty plea or
plea of no contest to any charge involving sexual misconduct with a minor or a
student; or for using fraudulent, unapproved or insufficient credit to obtain
the certificates: Provided, That the certificates of
a teacher may not be revoked for any matter for which the teacher was
disciplined, less than dismissal, by the county board that employs the teacher,
nor for which the teacher is meeting or has met an improvement plan determined
by the county board, unless it can be proven by clear and convincing evidence
that the teacher has committed one of the offenses listed in this subsection
and his or her actions render him or her unfit to teach:
Provided, however, That in order for any conduct of a teacher
involving intemperance; cruelty; immorality; or using fraudulent, unapproved or
insufficient credit to obtain the certificates to constitute grounds for the
revocation of the certificates of the teacher, there must be a rational nexus
between the conduct of the teacher and the performance of his or her job. The
state superintendent may designate the West Virginia commission for
professional teaching standards or members thereof to conduct hearings on
revocations or certificate denials and make recommendations for action by the
state superintendent: Provided further, That a teacher, as
defined by West Virginia Code §18-1-1(g), convicted under §61-8D-3 or
§61-8D-5 of this code, any criminal offense that requires the teacher to
register as a sex offender, or any criminal offense which has as an element delivery
or distribution of a controlled substance, shall have his or her
certificate or license automatically revoked. Should the conviction
resulting in automatic revocation pursuant to this section be overturned by any
Court of this State or the United States, the teacher’s certification shall be
reinstated unless otherwise prohibited by law.
(b) It shall be the duty
of Any county superintendent who knows of any acts on the part of any
teacher for which a certificate may be revoked in accordance with this section to
shall report the same this, together with all the facts
and evidence, to the state superintendent for such action as in the state
superintendent's judgment may be proper.
(c) If a certificate has
been granted through an error, oversight, or misinformation, the state
superintendent has authority to may recall the certificate and
make such corrections as will conform to the requirements of law and the state
board.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to revoke teaching certificate of teacher’s conviction of any offense that requires the teacher to register as a sex offender.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.