H. B. 2823
(By Delegates Armstead, Azinger, Harrison,
Shelton, Stemple, Anderson and Fletcher)
[Introduced February 18, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen-a, article five,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to school
closing or consolidation; setting a nine-month time limit
for county boards of education to prepare reasons for
proposed closures or consolidations of schools; setting an
eight-month time limit to publish proposal to close or
consolidate a school or schools; providing required
information to be contained in the published notice;
requiring county board to hold a special board meeting
within two weeks of final publication of notice for purpose
of appointing an educational community advisory committee;
providing what persons serve as members of the educational
community advisory committee; defining "affected school";
requiring committee to elect chair to establish times for
meetings; providing what constitutes a quorum with the educational community advisory committee; requiring
committee to make recommendations to county board regarding
proposed closure or consolidation; and, requiring county
board to make the committee's findings and recommendations
available for public inspection.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen-a, article five, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-13a. School closing or consolidation.
(a) In addition to the provisions of section thirteen of
this article, prior to any final decision of a county board of
education on any proposal to close or consolidate any school,
except in cases in which a construction bond issue was passed by
the voters and which bond issue included the schools to be closed
or consolidated, the county board of education shall
take the
following steps:
(1) No less than nine months prior to the date the proposed
closure or consolidation is to become effective, the county board
of education shall prepare and reduce to writing its reasons and
supporting data regarding
such the school closing or
consolidation. The written reasons required under this section
shall be available for public inspection in the office of the county school superintendent during the four successive weeks
before the date of the
special board meeting required by
subdivision (3) and shall remain available for public inspection
during regular business hours at all times prior to the public
hearing required by
subdivision (6) of this
section subsection;
and
(2) No less than eight months prior to the date the proposed
closure or consolidation is to become effective, the county board
of education shall cause to be published, in a newspaper of
general circulation in the locality of the affected school, at
least once a week for two successive weeks, a notice that the
county board will consider the closure or consolidation. The
notice required by this section shall include the following: (A)
The name of the school or schools to be closed or consolidated;
(B) the name of the school or schools that the students affected
by the closure or consolidation are proposed to attend if the
proposed closure or consolidation is approved; (C) the proposed
effective date of the closure or consolidation; (D) a brief
statement of the reasons the county board is considering the
closure or consolidation; (E) a statement that the county board's
reasons and supporting data are available for inspection as set
forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection; and (F) the date,
time and place of the special board meeting required by
subdivision (3);
(3) Within two weeks of the final publication of the notice
required by subdivision (2) of this subsection, the county board
shall hold a special board meeting for the purpose of appointing
an educational community advisory committee to consider the
proposed school closure or consolidation. The educational
community advisory committee shall consist of the following: (A)
Two members of the county school board elected by a vote of the
board members present at the special board meeting; (B) the
principals of the affected schools; (C) the three teachers from
the affected schools who serve on the local school improvement
council for their respective schools pursuant to subdivision (2),
subsection (a), section two, article five-a of this chapter; (D)
the three parents or legal guardians from each affected school
who serve on the local school improvement council for their
respective schools pursuant to subdivision (4), subsection (a),
section two, article five-a of this chapter; and (E) the two
at-large members from each affected school who serve on the local
school improvement council for their respective schools pursuant
to subdivision (5), subsection (a), section two, article five-a
of this chapter: Provided, That as used in this section, the
terms "affected school" and "affected schools" include the school
or schools proposed to be closed or consolidated and school or
schools that will receive the students who are relocated as a
result of the closure or consolidation;
(4) The educational community advisory committee shall elect
one of its members as chair and shall meet as often as it is
considered necessary and appropriate, but in no event less than
twice, to consider the proposed closure or consolidation. The
chair shall establish the date, time and location of the meetings
in consultation with the members, and shall provide all members
of the committee written notice of any meeting no less than five
business days prior to such meeting. A majority of the members
provided for in subdivision (3) of this subsection shall
constitute a quorum;
(5) The educational community advisory committee shall
consider the proposed closure or consolidation and make
recommendations to the county board of education regarding such
closure or consolidation. The educational community advisory
committee shall consider the following: (A) The reasons for the
proposed closure or consolidation as set forth by the county
board of education; (B) the impact the proposed closure or
consolidation would have on curricula offered to students
affected by the closure or consolidation; (C) the impact the
proposed closure or consolidation would have on travel times to
and from school for students affected by the closure or
consolidation; (D) the impact the proposed closure or
consolidation would have on extra-curricular activities offered
to students affected by the closure or consolidation; (E) the impact the proposed closure or consolidation would have on
parental and community involvement in the schools and with the
students affected by the closure or consolidation; (F) the impact
the proposed closure or consolidation would have on the county
board of education's ability to provide a thorough and efficient
education to students affected by the closure or consolidation;
(G) reasonable alternatives to the proposed closure or
consolidation; and (H) any other factors the educational
community advisory committee considers appropriate for
consideration and any other factors set forth in guidelines
established by the state board of education;
(6) No later than six months prior to the proposed effective
date of the closure or consolidation, the educational community
advisory committee shall submit findings and recommendations to
the county board relating to the proposed closure or
consolidation, including recommendations relating to: (A) The
advisability of proceeding with the proposed closure or
consolidation; (B) any reasonable alternatives to closure or
consolidation; (C) the anticipated impact of proceeding with the
proposed closure or consolidation and the anticipated impact of
not proceeding with the proposed closure or consolidation; (D)
suggestions for resolving the closure or consolidation proposal
in a manner that best serves the interests of the students; and
(E) any other matters or recommendations the committee considers appropriate; and
(2) (7) Upon receipt of the educational community advisory
committee's findings and recommendations, the county board shall
make such findings and recommendations available for public
inspection and shall provide for a public hearing, notice of
which shall be advertised by publication in a newspaper of
general circulation in the locality of the affected school at
least once a week for
four two successive weeks prior to the date
of the hearing. The notice shall contain the time and place of
the hearing and the proposed action of the school board. A copy
of
such the notice shall be posted at the affected school in
conspicuous working places for all professional and service
personnel to observe, and
such the notice shall remain posted
for four successive weeks prior to the date of the required
public hearing. At least a quorum of the school board members
and the county superintendent from the county wherein the
affected school is located shall attend and be present at the
public hearing. Members of the public shall have the right to be
present, to submit statements and testimony, and to question
county school officials at the public hearing.
(b) Any
such proposal to close or consolidate any school by
any county board of education shall be further subject to any
current rules
and regulations of the state board of education
relating to school closing or consolidation:
Provided, That after the effective date of this section the state board shall
promulgate rules
and regulations which shall prescribe in detail
the type of supporting data a county board of education shall
include as part of its written statement of reasons required by
this section for school closing or consolidation, including the
transportation time of the affected students and which shall
include any data required by the state board of education to
amend a county's comprehensive educational facilities plan.
(c) This section shall take effect on the date of passage
and shall affect any school not physically closed or consolidated
as of that date:
Provided, That the written reasons shall
include all supporting data required by the state board of
education to amend a county's comprehensive education facilities
plan.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a mechanism
to address issues of proposed school closings or consolidations.
The proposed legislation specifically provides for the following:
(1) Sets a nine-month time limit for county boards of education
to prepare reasons for proposed closures or consolidations of
schools; (2) sets an eight-month time limit to publish proposal
to close or consolidate a school or schools; (3) requires certain
information to be contained in the published notice; (4) requires
county boards to hold special board meetings within two weeks
of a final publication of a notice proposing closure or
consolidation for the purpose of appointing an educational
community advisory committee; (5) provides what persons serve as
members of the educational community advisory committee; (6)
defines "affected school"; (7) requires the committee to elect a
chair to establish times for meetings; (8) provides what
constitutes a quorum with the educational community advisory
committee; (9) requires committees to make recommendations to county boards regarding proposed closures or consolidations; and
(10) requires county boards to make a committee's findings and
recommendations available for public inspection.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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