Senate Bill No. 355
(By Senator Lucht)
____________
[Introduced
March 11, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Education.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article five,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to county
boards of education providing transportation for students.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, 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.
§18-5-13. Authority of boards generally.
The boards, subject to the provisions of this chapter and
the rules and regulations of the state board, shall have
authority:
(1) To control and manage all of the schools and school
interests for all school activities and upon all school property,
whether owned or leased by the county, including the authority to
require that records be kept of all receipts and disbursements ofall funds collected or received by any principal, teacher,
student or other person in connection therewith, any programs,
activities or other endeavors of any nature operated or carried
on by or in the name of the school, or any organization or body
directly connected with the school, to audit such records and to
conserve
such funds, which shall be deemed quasi-public moneys,
including securing surety bonds by expenditure of board moneys;
(2) To establish schools, from preschool through high
school, inclusive of vocational schools; and to establish schools
and programs, or both, for post high school instruction, subject
to approval of the state board of education;
(3) To close any school which is unnecessary and to assign
the pupils thereof to other schools:
Provided, That
such the
closing shall be officially acted upon and teachers and service
personnel involved notified on or before the first Monday in
April, in the same manner as provided in section four of this
article, except in an emergency, subject to the approval of the
state superintendent, or under subdivision (5) of this section;
(4) To consolidate schools;
(5) To close any elementary school whose average daily
attendance falls below twenty pupils for two months in succession
and send the pupils to other schools in the district or to
schools in adjoining districts. If the teachers in the school so
closed are not transferred or reassigned to other schools, they
receive one month's salary;
(6) (a) To provide at public expense adequate means oftransportation, including transportation across county lines, for
all children of school age who live more than two miles distance
from
school the nearest bus stop by the nearest available road;
to provide at public expense and according to such regulations as
the board may establish, adequate means of transportation for
school children participating in board-approved curricular and
extracurricular activities; and to provide in addition thereto at
public expense, by rules and regulations and within the available
revenues, transportation for those within two miles distance
from
a school; to provide in addition thereto, at no cost to the board
and according to rules and regulations established by the board,
transportation for participants in projects operated, financed,
sponsored or approved by the commission on aging:
Provided, That
all costs and expenses incident in any way to transportation for
projects connected with the commission on aging shall be borne by
such commission, or the local or county chapter thereof:
Provided, however, That in all cases the school buses owned by
the board of education shall be driven or operated only by
drivers regularly employed by the board of education:
Provided
further, That the county board may provide, under rules
established by the state board, for the certification of
professional employees as drivers of board-owned vehicles with a
seating capacity of less than ten passengers used for the
transportation of pupils for school-sponsored activities other
than transporting students between school and home:
And provided
further, That the use of such vehicles shall be limited to onefor each school-sponsored activity:
And provided further, That
buses shall be used for extracurricular activities as herein
provided only when the insurance provided for by this section
shall have been effected;
(b) To enter into agreements with one another to provide, on
a cooperative basis, adequate means of transportation across
county lines for children of school age subject to the conditions
and restrictions of subdivisions (6) and (8) of this section;
(7) (a) To lease school buses operated only by drivers
regularly employed by the board to public and private nonprofit
organizations or private corporations to transport school-age
children to and from camps or educational activities in
accordance with rules and regulations established by the board.
All costs and expenses incurred by or incidental to the
transportation of such children shall be borne by the lessee;
(b) To contract with any college or university or officially
recognized campus organizations to provide transportation for
college or university students, faculty or staff to and from such
college or university:
Provided, That only college and/or
university students, faculty and staff are being transported.
The contract shall include consideration and compensation for
bus operators, repairs and other costs of service, insurance and
any rules and regulations concerning student behavior;
(8) To provide at public expense for insurance against the
negligence of the drivers of school buses, trucks or other
vehicles operated by the board; and if the transportation ofpupils be contracted, then the contract therefor shall provide
that the contractor shall carry insurance against negligence in
such an amount as the board shall specify;
(9) To provide solely from county funds for all regular
full-time employees of the board all or any part of the cost of
a group plan or plans of insurance coverage not provided or
available under the West Virginia public employees insurance act;
(10) To employ teacher aides, to provide in-service training
for teacher aides, the training to be in accordance with rules
and regulations of the state board and, in the case of service
personnel assuming duties as teacher aides in exceptional
children programs, to provide a four-clock-hour program of
training prior to such assignment which shall, in accordance with
rules and regulations of the state board, consist of training in
areas specifically related to the education of exceptional
children;
(11) To establish and conduct a self-supporting dormitory
for the accommodation of the pupils attending a high school or
participating in a post high school program and of persons
employed to teach therein;
(12) To employ legal counsel;
(13) To provide appropriate uniforms for school service
personnel;
(14) To provide at public expense and under regulations as
established by any county board of education for the payment of
traveling expenses incurred by any person invited to appear tobe interviewed concerning possible employment by such county
board of education;
(15) To allow or disallow their designated employees to use
publicly provided carriage to travel from their residences to
their workplace and return:
Provided, That such usage is subject
to the supervision of such board and is directly connected with
and required by the nature and in the performance of such
employee's duties and responsibilities;
(16) To provide, at public expense, adequate public
liability insurance, including professional liability insurance
for board employees;
(17) To enter into agreements with one another to provide,
on a cooperative basis, improvements to the instructional needs
of each county. Said cooperative agreements may be used to
employ specialists in a field of academic study or support
functions or services, therefor.
Such These agreements shall be
subject to approval by the state board of education; and
(18) To provide information about vocational or higher
education opportunities to students with handicapping conditions.
The board shall provide in writing to the students and their
parents or guardians information relating to programs of
vocational education and to programs available at state funded
institutions of higher education.
Such This information may
include sources of available funding, including grants,
mentorships and loans for students who wish to attend classes at
institutions of higher education.
"Quasi-public funds" as used herein means any money received
by any principal, teacher, student or other person for the
benefit of the school system as a result of curricular or
noncurricular activities.
The board of each county shall expend under such regulations
as it establishes for each child an amount not to exceed the
proportion of all school funds of the district that each child
would be entitled to receive if all the funds were distributed
equally among all the children of school age in the district upon
a per capita basis.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the authority
of boards of education to provide transportation for students who
live two miles from a school to two miles from the nearest bus
stop.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.