Committee Substitute
House Bill 2836 History
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Committee Substitute
for
H. B. 2836
(By Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Thompson) and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Originating in theCommittee on Education.]
[March 17, 2009]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §18-5B-1, §18-5B-2,
§18-5B-3, §18-5B-4, §18-5B-5, §18-5B-6, §18-5B-7 and §18-5B-8,
all relating to school innovation zones; setting forth
legislative findings, intent and purpose; authorizing State
Board to designate school innovation zones; establishing
processes for application and plan review and approval and
amendment; providing process for grant of exceptions to State
Board and county policies, rules and interpretations, and
statutes, and prohibiting exceptions from certain policies,
rules and interpretations, and statutes;
providing for
revocation of designation and plan approval;
requiring annual
report by the State Board; providing for the voluntary
transfer of employees; providing for teacher job postings that
exceed certain qualifications and requirements; and
authorizing the board of education to promulgate rules and emergency rules.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-5B-1, §18-5B-2,
§18-5B-3, §18-5B-4, §18-5B-5, §18-5B-6, §18-5B-7 and §18-5B-8, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5B. SCHOOL INNOVATION ZONES ACT.
§18-5B-1. Title.
This article shall be known as the "School Innovation Zones
Act."
§18-5B-2. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) Legislative findings. -- The Legislature finds that:
(1) Decades of school improvement literature substantiate that
schools where the principal uses a collaborative and distributed
approach to leadership and where the teachers have a unity of
purpose, operate in a cohesive learning-centered culture and
implement consistent, pervasive and research-based approaches to
learning, can and do improve student learning;
(2) As in all enterprises,
rules are established
in public
education to manage the resources
efficiently, allot time among the
activities and processes required and ensure attention to the goals
mandated, but rules, by their nature, also limit the flexibility of
professional educators to engage in those activities and implement
those approaches that may best improve the learning of their students for the 21st century;
(3) Allowing individual schools to seek and receive exceptions
from certain statutes, policies, rules and interpretations through
the creation of school innovation zones will provide them greater
control over important educational factors that impact student
achievement, such as curriculum, personnel, organization of the
school day, organization of the school year, technology utilization
and the delivery of educational services to improve student
learning; and
(4) Providing greater flexibility at innovation zones schools
will enable school-level professional educators
to exercise more
fully their professional judgement to improve student learning for
the 21st century
by instituting creative and innovative practices.
(b) Intent and purpose. -- The intent and purpose of this
article is to:
(1) Provide for the establishment of school innovation zones
to improve educational performance;
(2) Provide principals and teachers at schools approved as
innovation zones with greater flexibility and control to meet the
needs of a diverse population of students by removing certain
policy, rule, interpretive and statutory constraints;
(3) Provide a testing ground for innovative educational reform
programs and initiatives to be applied on an individual school
level;
(4) Provide information regarding the effects of specific innovations and policies on student achievement;
(5) Document educational strategies that enhance student
success; and
(6) Increase the accountability of the state's public schools
for student achievement as measured by
the state assessment
programs and local assessment processes identified by the schools.
§18-5B-3. School innovation zones; application for designation;
State Board rule.
(a) The State Board shall promulgate a rule, including an
emergency rule if necessary, in accordance with article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the provisions of
this article. The rule shall include provisions for at least the
following:
(1) A process for schools to apply for designation as
innovation zones that encompasses at least the following:
(A) The manner, time and process for the submission of a
school's innovation zone application;
(B) The contents of the application; and
(C) Factors to be considered by the state board when
evaluating a school's application, which shall include, but are not
limited to, the following factors:
(i) The level of staff commitment to apply for designation as
an innovation zone
as determined by a vote by secret ballot
at a
special meeting of all employees regularly employed at
the school
as provided in section six of this article
;
(ii) Support from parents, students, the county board of
education, the local school improvement council and the school's
business partners; and
(iii) The potential for a school to be successful as an
innovation zone; and
(2) Standards for the State board to review school
applications for designation
as innovation zones and to make
determinations on the designation of innovation zone schools.
(b)
The State Board shall review a school's application in
accordance with the standards adopted by the board and shall
determine whether to designate the school as an innovation zone.
The State Board shall notify a school of the Board's determination
within sixty days of receipt of the school's innovation zone
application
.
§18-5B-4. Innovation zone schools; required plans; plan approval;
State Board rule.
(a) The rule promulgated by the State Board pursuant to
section three of this article shall also include at least the
following:
(1) Each school designated as an innovation zone in accordance
with this article shall develop an innovation zone plan;
(2) The innovation zone plan shall contain:
(A) A description of the programs, policies or initiatives the
school intends to implement as an innovative strategy to improve
student learning if the plan is approved in accordance with section five of this article;
(B) A list of all county and state board rules, policies and
interpretations, and all statutes, if any, that the school has
identified as prohibiting or constraining the implementation of the
plan, including an explanation of the specific exceptions to the
rules, policies and interpretations and statutes required for plan
implementation. A school may not request an exception from any
State Board rule, policy or interpretation, or from any statute,
nor may an exception be granted or otherwise authorized under any
provisions of this article, from any of the following:
(i) An assessment program administered by the West Virginia
Department of Education;
(ii) Any provision of law or policy required by the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law No. 107-110
; and
(iii) Section seven, article two and sections seven-a, seven-
b, eight and eight-b, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this
code, except as provided in section eight of this article
; and
(C) Any other information the State Board requires; and
(3) The innovation zone plan may include:
(1)
An emphasis in the early childhood through intermediate
grade levels on ensuring that each student is prepared fully at
each grade level, including additional intervention strategies at
grade levels three and eight to reinforce the preparation of
students who are not prepared fully for promotion, or an emphasis
in the secondary grade levels on ensuring that each student is prepared fully for college or other post-secondary education, as
applicable for the school; and
(2) An emphasis on innovative strategies that allow
academically advanced students to pursue academic learning above
grade level or not available through the normal curriculum at the
school.
(b) Each school designated as an innovation zone shall submit
its innovation zone plan to the school's employees, the county
superintendent and board having jurisdiction over the school, the
State Board, and the State Superintendent in accordance with
section five of this article.
§18-5B-5. Approval of innovation zone plans; waiver of statutes,
policies, rules or interpretations.
(a) Each school designated as an innovation zone shall:
(1) Submit its innovation zone plan to the employees assigned
to the school for review. An innovation zone plan is approved by
the school when approved
by a vote by secret ballot
at a special
meeting of all employees regularly employed at the school as
provided in section six of this article;
(2) Submit its innovation zone plan as approved by vote of the
school's employees to the county superintendent and board for
review. The county board shall within sixty days of receipt of the
plan
review the plan and with recommendations from the county
superintendent report its support or concerns, or both, and return
the plan and report to the school principal, faculty senate and local school improvement council; and
(3) Submit its innovation zone plan as approved by vote of the
school's employees along with the report of the county board to the
State Board and State Superintendent for review. The county board
shall be given an opportunity to present its concerns with the
plan, if any, to the State Board during its review. Except as
provided in subsection (c) of this section, the State Board and
State Superintendent shall approve or disapprove the plan within
sixty days of receipt.
(b) Upon the approval of a school's innovation zone plan by
the State Board and State Superintendent, all exceptions to county
and State Board rules, policies and interpretations listed within
the plan are granted.
(c) If a school's innovation zone plan, or a part thereof, may
not be implemented unless an exception to a statute is granted by
Act of the Legislature, the State Board and State Superintendent
may approve the plan, or the part thereof, only upon the condition
that the Legislature acts to grant the exception. If the State
Board and State Superintendent approve a plan upon such a
condition, the State Board and State Superintendent shall submit
the plan with the request for an exception to a statute, along with
supporting reasons, to the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Education Accountability. The Commission shall review the plan and
request and make a recommendation to the Legislature on the
exception requested.
(d) The rule promulgated by the State Board pursuant to
section three of this article shall include a process for amending
or revising an innovation zone plan. The process shall require
that any amendments or revisions to an innovation zone plan are
subject to the approval requirements of subsection (a) of this
section.
§18-5B-6. School approval of innovation plan application and plan;
transfer of employees.
(a) A secret ballot
vote at a special meeting of all
employees
regularly employed at
the school
is required for each of the
following:
(1) Determining the level of staff commitment to apply for
designation as an innovation zone in accordance with section three
of this article; and
(2) The approval of an innovation zone by a plan by a school
as provided in section five of this article
.
(b) A panel consisting of the elected officers of the school's
faculty senate, one representative of the service personnel
employed at the school and one parent member of the school's local
school improvement council shall call the meetings required in
subsection (a) of this section, conduct the votes and certify the
results to the principal, the county superintendent and the
president of the county board
. The panel shall provide notice of
the special meetings to all employees regularly employed at
the
school at least two weeks prior to the meeting and shall provide an absentee ballot to each employee who can not attend the meeting to
vote.
(c) At least eighty percent of the employees regularly
employed at
the school and voting as provided in this section must
vote to apply for designation as an innovation zone
before the
level of staff commitment at the school is sufficient for the
school to apply.
(d) At least eighty percent of the employees regularly
employed at
the school and voting as provided in this section must
vote to approve the school's innovation zone
plan before
the plan
is approved by the school: Provided, That if there is no
possibility for an employee regularly employed at
the school who
will be affected by implementation of the innovation zone plan to
be granted a lateral transfer as provided in subsection (e) of this
section because there are no other schools in the county with a
position that the employee is qualified to hold, the affirmative
vote of all affected employees voting must be one hundred percent
to approve an innovation zone plan.
(e) An employee regularly employed at
a school applying for or
designated as an innovation zone who is or will be affected by
implementation of the innovation zone plan or proposed plan may
request a transfer to another school in the school district. The
county board shall make every reasonable effort to accommodate the
transfer.
§18-5B-7. Progress reviews and annual reports.
(a) At least annually, the State Board or its designated
committee shall review the progress of the development or
implementation of a school's innovation zone plan. If, following
such a review, the State Board determines that a designated school
has not made adequate progress toward developing or implementing
its plan, the board shall submit a report to the school identifying
its areas of concern. The State Board or its designated committee
may conduct an additional review within six months of submitting a
report in accordance with this section. If, following such
additional review, the State Board or its designated committee
determines that the school has not made adequate progress toward
developing or implementing its innovation zone plan, the State
Board may revoke the school's designation as an innovation zone or,
if the school's innovation zone plan has been approved in
accordance with section five of this article, rescind its approval
of the plan.
(b) The State Board shall provide an annual report on
innovation zones and the progress of innovation zone plans to the
Legislative Oversight Committee for Educational Accountability.
§18-5B-
8. Teacher vacancies in an innovation zone; job postings
exceeding certain qualifications and requirements;
approval of postings.
A school designated as an innovation zone whose school
innovation zone plan has been approved in accordance with section
five of this article may make a job posting for a teacher vacancy at the school that sets forth standards or qualifications that
exceed the standards and qualifications provided in section seven-
a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code: Provided, That
teachers in the county approve the job posting by majority vote:
Provided, however, That the county superintendent administers the
vote and the record of the vote remains on file in the personnel
office of the county board until the school is no longer designated
as an innovation zone.