H. B. 2729
(By Delegates Hubbard, Tucker, Caputo, Kuhn and Sparks)
[Introduced March 25, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to repeal section five-a, article nine-a, chapter eighteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; to amend article eight, chapter
eleven of said code by adding thereto a new section,
designated section six-h; to amend and reenact sections two,
four, five and nine, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of
said code, all relating to total state basic foundation
programs for public education; reducing automatic payments
from county boards of education to public libraries;
increasing the caps on gifted and honors and advanced
placement programs; changing the definition of professional
educators to professional personnel; increasing the number
of professional personnel and increasing the number of
substitutes for professional educators; providing a one million five hundred thousand dollar grant program for service personnel and increasing the number of substitutes
for service personnel; repealing the net enrollment cap for
professional and service personnel; and increasing the
allocation for faculty senates and establishing an
allocation for staff development councils.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five-a, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be repealed; that article eight, chapter eleven of
said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section six-h; and that sections two, four, five and nine,
article nine-a, chapter eighteen of said code, be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 11. TAXATION.
ARTICLE 8. LEVIES.
§11-8-6h. Effect on levy contributions to local libraries or
park boards where levy rates are fixed by a special
act of the Legislature.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law to the
contrary, where the provisions of section six-e or six-f of this
article cause any contributing municipality, county commission or
county board of education to reduce its levy rates to less than
the rates allowed under the provisions of section six-b, six-c or six-d, the local levy rates set by special act for the support of
a local library or park board shall likewise be reduced. The
previous maximum rate for Class I property shall be divided into
the Class I levy rate adopted by the levying body for the fiscal
year beginning the next following first day of July, and the
resulting percentage shall be applied to each rate in the special
act. The resulting adjusted levy rates, when applied to the
assessed value of taxable property in each class of property as
contained on the levying body's official levy estimate document
will be the levying body's contribution amount for the fiscal
year.
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-2. Definitions.
For the purpose of this article:
"State board" means the West Virginia board of education.
"County board" or "board" means a county board of education.
"Professional salaries" means the state legally mandated
salaries of the professional educators as provided in article
four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
"Professional educator personnel" shall be synonymous with
and shall have the same meaning as "teacher" "professional
personnel" as defined in section one, article one, chapter eighteen eighteen-a of this code.
"Professional instructional personnel" means a professional
educator personnel whose regular duty is as that of a classroom
teacher, librarian, counselor, attendance director, school
psychologist or school nurse with a bachelors degree and who is
licensed by the West Virginia board of examiners for registered
professional nurses. A Professional educator personnel having
both instructional and administrative or other duties shall be
included as professional instructional personnel for that ratio
of the school day for which he or she is assigned and serves on
a regular full-time basis in appropriate instruction, library,
counseling, attendance, psychologist or nursing duties.
"Service personnel salaries" shall mean the state legally
mandated salaries for service personnel as provided in section
eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
"Service personnel" shall mean means all personnel as
provided for in section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a
of this code. For the purpose of computations under this article
of ratios of service personnel to adjusted enrollment, a service
employee shall be counted as that number found by dividing his or
her number of employment days in a fiscal year by two hundred:
Provided, That the computation for any such person employed for
three and one-half hours or less per day as provided in section
eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code shall be calculated as one-half an employment day.
"Net enrollment" means the number of pupils enrolled in
special education programs, kindergarten programs and grades one
to twelve, inclusive, of the public schools of the county.
Commencing with the school year beginning on the first day of
July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, net enrollment
further shall include adults enrolled in regular secondary
vocational programs existing as of the effective date of this
section: Provided, That net enrollment shall include no more
than one thousand such adults counted on the basis of full-time
equivalency and apportioned annually to each county in proportion
to the adults participating in regular secondary vocational
programs in the prior year counted on the basis of full-time
equivalency: Provided, however, That no tuition or special fees
beyond that required of the regular secondary vocational student
is charged for such adult students.
"Adjusted enrollment" means the net enrollment plus twice
the number of pupils enrolled for special education. Commencing
with the school year beginning on the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety, adjusted enrollment means the net
enrollment plus twice the number of pupils enrolled for special
education, including exceptional gifted, plus the number of
pupils in grades nine through twelve enrolled for honors and advanced placement programs, plus the number of pupils enrolled
on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine,
in the gifted program in grades nine through twelve: Provided,
That commencing with the school year beginning on the first day
of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety, no more than four
five percent of net enrollment of grades one through eight may be
counted as enrolled in gifted education and no more than six
seven percent of net enrollment of grades nine through twelve may
be counted as enrolled in gifted education, exceptional gifted
education, subject to the limitation set forth in section one,
article twenty of this chapter, and honors and advanced placement
programs for the purpose of determining adjusted enrollment
within a county: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall be
construed to limit the number of students who may actually enroll
in gifted, honors or advanced placement education programs in any
county: Provided further, That until the school year beginning
on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two,
the preceding percentage limitations shall not restrict the
adjusted enrollment definition for a county to the extent that
those limitations are exceeded by students enrolled in gifted
education programs on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred eighty-nine: And Provided further, That no pupil may
be counted more than three times for the purpose of determining adjusted enrollment. Such The enrollment shall be adjusted to
the equivalent of the instructional term and in accordance with
such the eligibility requirements and rules as established by the
state board. No pupil shall be counted more than once by reason
of transfer within the county or from another county within the
state, and no pupil shall be counted who attends school in this
state from who resides in another state.
"Levies for general current expense purposes" means ninety- eight five percent of the levy rate for county boards of
education calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the
provisions of section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of
this code.
§18-9A-4. Foundation allowance for professional personnel.
The basic foundation allowance to the county for
professional educators personnel shall be the sum of the
following:
(a) The amount of money required to pay the state minimum
salaries, for the ensuing fiscal year in accordance with
provisions of article four, chapter eighteen-a of the code, to
the personnel employed: Provided, That in making this
computation no county shall receive an allowance for the
personnel which number is in excess of educators fifty-three four
and one-half professional educators to each one thousand students in adjusted enrollment: Provided, however, That in the school
year beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-seven, each county shall receive an allowance for such
personnel which number is equal to fifty-four and one-half
professional personnel to each one thousand students in adjusted
enrollment: Provided, however, That any county not qualifying
under the provision of section fourteen of this article is
eligible for a growth rate in professional personnel in any one
year not to exceed twenty percent of its total potential increase
under this provision, except that in no case shall the limit be
fewer than five professionals Provided further, That the number
of and the allowance for personnel paid in part by state and
county funds shall be prorated: And provided further, That where
two or more counties join together in support of a vocational or
comprehensive high school or any other program or service, the
professional educators personnel for the school or program may be
prorated among the participating counties on the basis of each
one's enrollment therein and that the personnel shall be
considered within the above-stated limit: And provided further,
That in the school year beginning the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, and in each school year
thereafter, each county board shall establish and maintain a
minimum ratio of fifty professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in adjusted enrollment: And provided
further, That in the school year beginning the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight and in each school year
thereafter, each county board shall establish and maintain a
minimum ratio of fifty-one professional instructional personnel
per one thousand students in adjusted enrollment. Any county
board which does not establish and maintain this minimum ratio
shall suffer a pro rata reduction in the allowance for
professional personnel under this section: And provided further,
That no permanent substitute shall be included in the minimum
ratio for professional instructional personnel. Permanent
substitutes may be included in the computation for professional
educators personnel. For the purposes of this section, permanent
substitute means a full-time employee who performs the duties of
a day-to-day substitute: And provided further, That no county
shall have less than a total of five principals and central
office administrators: Any county board which does not establish
and maintain this minimum ratio shall suffer a pro rata reduction
in the allowance for professional educators under this section.
And provided further, That no county shall be penalized if it has
increases in enrollment during that school year: And provided
further, That any county board which does not establish and
maintain this minimum ratio shall utilize any and all allocations to it by provision of section fourteen of this article solely to
employ professional instructional personnel until the minimum
ratio is attained. Every county shall utilize methods other than
reductions in force, such as attrition and early retirement,
before implementing their reductions in force policy to comply
with the limitations of this section. It is the intent of the
Legislature that in planning reductions in force to comply with
reduced ratios of professional educators to students in adjusted
enrollment, county boards shall consider positions for
elimination in the following order: (1) Central office
administrators; (2) assistant principals; and (3) principals.
No county shall increase the number of administrative
personnel employed as either professional educators personnel or
pay grade "H" service personnel above the number which were
employed, or for which positions were posted, on the thirtieth
day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety, and, therefore,
county boards shall whenever possible utilize classroom teachers
for curriculum administrative positions through the use of
modified or extended contracts; Provided, That the governor
shall submit a recommendation to the Legislature at the beginning
of the regular session thereof in the year one thousand nine
hundred ninety-one, which proposes a method for establishing a
responsible level of administrative support for each county
school system and a pay scale differentiation on a daily rate between classroom positions and administrative positions when all
other factors are equal; plus
(b) For professional educator substitutes, three and five-
tenths percent of the computed state allocation for professional
educators as determined in subsection (a) of this section.
§18-9A-5. Foundation allowance for service personnel.
The basic foundation allowance to the county for service
personnel shall be the sum of the following:
(a) The amount of money required to pay the annual state
minimum salaries for the ensuing fiscal year in accordance with
the provisions of article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code,
to such the service personnel employed: Provided, That no county
shall receive an allowance for: (1) An amount of service
personnel, excluding bus operators, in excess of thirty-four
twenty-nine service personnel per one thousand students in
adjusted enrollment. Any county which has less than twenty-nine
service personnel, excluding bus operators, per one thousand
students in adjusted enrollment as of the first day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven, shall receive an
allowance for each of the next ten years of one tenth of the
difference between twenty-nine service personnel per one thousand
students in adjusted enrollment and the number of service
personnel, excluding bus operators, employed as of the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six; plus (2) an
allowance for bus operators employed as of the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six. Provided,
however, That An allowance for additional bus operators shall be
made by the state superintendent of schools is authorized and in
accordance with rules and regulations established by the state
board and upon request of when a county superintendent to waive
the maximum ratio of thirty-four service personnel per one
thousand students in adjusted enrollment and the twenty percent
per year growth cap provided in this section, to the extent
appropriations are provided, in those cases where the state
superintendent determines demonstrates: (A) That student
population density and miles of bus route driven justify the
waiver, additional bus operators; or (B) that students spend an
extraordinary amount of time in transportation and that the
additional bus operators will reduce the transportation time for
these students; or (C) that consolidation or other transportation
needs require additional bus operators. except that no waiver
shall be granted to any county whose financial statement shows a
net balance in general current expense funds greater than three
percent at the end of the previous fiscal year For the school
year beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-six and every year thereafter, the allowance for additional bus operators shall be a minimum of one million five
hundred thousand dollars: Provided, further however, That on or
before the first day of each regular session of the Legislature,
the state board, through the state superintendent, shall make to
the Legislature a full report concerning the number of waivers
additional bus operators granted and the fiscal impact related
thereto. Every county shall utilize methods other than reduction
in force, such as attrition and early retirement, before
implementing their reductions in force policy to comply with the
limitations of this section.
For any county which has in excess of thirty-four twenty-
nine service personnel, excluding bus operators, per one thousand
students in adjusted enrollment, the allowance shall be computed
based upon the average state minimum pay scale salary of all
service personnel in the county: Provided, That for any county
having fewer than thirty-four service personnel per one thousand
students in adjusted enrollment, in any one year, the number of
service personnel used in making this computation may be
increased the succeeding years by no more than twenty percent per
year of its total potential increase under this provision, except
that in no case shall the limit be fewer than two service
personnel until the county attains the maximum ratio set forth:
Provided, however, That where two or more counties join together in support of a vocational or comprehensive high school or any
other program or service, the service personnel for the school or
program may be prorated among the participating counties on the
basis of each one's enrollment therein and that the personnel
shall be considered within the above-stated limit; plus
(b) For service personnel substitutes, three and five-
tenths percent of the computed state allowance for service
personnel as determined in subsection (a) of this section.
§18-9A-9. Foundation allowance for other current expense faculty
senates, and staff development councils.
The total allowance for other current expense and substitute
employees shall be the sum of the following: Provided, That each
of the three amounts set forth in sub-paragraphs (1), (2) and (3)
of this section shall not exceed the preceding year's allowance
by more than four percent:
(1) For current expense, for the year one thousand nine
hundred ninety--ninety-one and thereafter, ten percent of the sum
of the computed state allocation for professional educators and
service personnel as determined in sections four and five of this
article. Distribution to the counties shall be made proportional
to the average of each county's average daily attendance for the
preceding year and the county's second month net enrollment; plus
(2) For professional educator substitutes or current expense, two and five-tenths percent of the computed state
allocation for professional educators as determined in section
four of this article. Distribution to the counties shall be made
proportional to the number of professional educators authorized
for the county in compliance with sections four and five-a of
this article; plus
(3) For service personnel substitutes or current expense,
two and five-tenths percent of the computed state allocation for
service personnel as determined in section five of this article.
Distribution to the counties shall be made proportional to the
number of service personnel authorized for the county in
compliance with sections five and five-a of this article; plus
(4) (2) For academic materials, supplies equipment for use
in instructional programs, two three hundred dollars multiplied
by the number of professional instructional personnel employed in
the schools of the county. Distribution shall be made to each
county for allocation to the faculty senate of each school in the
county on the basis of two three hundred dollars per professional
instructional personnel employed at the school. Faculty senate
means a faculty senate created pursuant to section five, article
five-a of this chapter. Decisions for the expenditure of such
the funds shall be made at the school level by the faculty senate
in accordance with the provisions of said section five, article
five-a, except that each classroom teacher shall have available one hundred dollars annually for the purchase of materials,
supplies or equipment which in the judgment of the teacher or
librarian will assist him or her in providing instruction in his
or her assigned academic subjects: Provided, That nothing
contained herein may prohibit funds from being used for programs
and materials that, in the opinion of the teacher, enhance
student behavior, increase academic achievement, improve self- esteem and address the problems of students at-risk. and Funds
available to faculty senates shall may not be used to supplant
the current expense expenditures of the county. Beginning on the
first day of September, one thousand nine hundred and ninety- four, and every September thereafter, boards shall forward to
each school for the use by faculty senates the appropriation
specified in this section. Each school shall be responsible for
keeping accurate records of expenditures.
(5) (3) There shall be an additional appropriation of five
hundred thousand dollars to be distributed to the counties on a
needs basis. Funds shall be distributed to those very few
counties in which costs for the delivery of educational services
are extraordinarily greater than in the vast majority of
counties, thus impairing the quality of education in those few
counties. The factors used to determine eligibility for funds
shall be sparsity of student population, combined with
geographical barriers to the efficient transportation of students; or extraordinary growth in net enrollment for school
year one thousand nine hundred ninety-seven--ninety-eight which
exceed the allowance for increased enrollment appropriated in the
budget for that year. Prior to the distribution of funds, the
state superintendent shall establish that the applying county has
demonstrated efficiency and fiscal responsibility in staffing,
and in maximum sharing of services with adjoining counties and
the regional educational service agency for that county in the
use of the total local county budget: plus
(4) Beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven and every year thereafter, the allowance for
county professional staff development councils established
pursuant to section eight, article three, chapter eighteen-a
shall be one tenth of one percent of the computed state
allocation for professional educators as determined in section
four of this article: Provided, That the money allocated under
this subsection shall be used solely by the county professional
staff development councils in accordance with section eight,
article three, chapter eighteen-a; plus
(5) Beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-seven and every year thereafter, the allowance for
county service personnel staff development councils shall be one
tenth of one percent of the computed state allocation for service
personnel as determined in section five of this article: Provided, That the money allocated under this subsection shall be
used solely by the county service personnel staff development
councils in accordance with section nine, article three, chapter
eighteen-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to revise the school aid
formula in order to: Proportionately reduce automatic payments
from county boards of education to public libraries when regular
levies are reduced by the Legislature; increase caps on gifts
and honors and advanced placement programs; provide a definition
for professional administrators personnel; eliminate a one year
delay in reimbursing county boards of education for years of
experience incremental pay for teachers and service personnel;
increase the number of professional instructional personnel and
the number of professional educators; eliminate the reductions in
professional and service personnel based on net enrollment;
increase the number of allowed service personnel; increase the
payment to county boards of education for professional and
service personnel substitutes; and increase the appropriation for
faculty senate from $200 per instructional personnel to $300 per
instructional personnel.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§11-8-6h is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.