H. B. 210
(By Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Thompson) and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Introduced July 17, 2010; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to establishing pilot projects for
alternative schools or other placements at elementary and
middle school levels; requiring uniform definitions and
standards for disruptive behavior and placement; and requiring
reports.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-2-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-6. Classification and standardization of schools; standards
for degrees and diplomas; certificates of proficiency;
establishment of alternative education programs.
(a) (1) The state board shall promulgate rules for the accreditation, classification and standardization of all schools in
the state, except institutions of higher education, and shall
determine the minimum standards for the granting of diplomas and
certificates of proficiency by those schools. The certificates of
proficiency shall include specific information regarding the
graduate's skills, competence and readiness for employment or
honors and advanced education and shall be granted, along with the
diploma, to every eligible high school graduate. The certificate
of proficiency shall include the program of study major completed
by the student only for those students who have completed the
required major courses, or higher level courses, advanced placement
courses, college courses or other more rigorous substitutes related
to the major, and the recommended electives.
(b) (2) An institution of less than collegiate or university
status may not grant any diploma or certificate of proficiency on
any basis of work or merit below the minimum standards prescribed
by the state board.
(c) (3) A charter or other instrument containing the right to
issue diplomas or certificates of proficiency may not be granted by
the State of West Virginia to any institution or other associations
or organizations of less than collegiate or university status
within the state until the condition of granting or issuing such
the diplomas or other certificates of proficiency has first been
approved in writing by the state board.
(d) (b) The state board shall promulgate a rule for the
approval of alternative education programs for disruptive students
who are at risk of not succeeding in the traditional school
structure. This rule may provide for the waiver of other policies
of the state board, the establishment and delivery of a
nontraditional curriculum, the establishment of licensure
requirements for alternative education program teachers, and the
establishment of performance measures for school accreditation.
This rule shall provide uniform definitions of disruptive student
behavior and uniform standards for the placement of students in
alternative settings or providing other interventions to correct
student behavior so that they can return to a regular classroom
without engaging in further disruptive behavior.
(c) The state board shall establish up to five pilot projects
at the elementary or middle school levels, or both, that employ
alternative schools or other placements for disruptive students to
learn appropriate behaviors so they can return to the regular
classroom without further disrupting the learning environment. The
state board shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Education Accountability by December 1, 2010, on its progress in
establishing the pilot projects and by December 1 in each year
after that for the duration of the pilot projects on the effect of
the projects on maintaining student discipline.
(e) (d) If a student attends an approved alternative education program or the Mountaineer Challenge Academy, which is designated
as a special alternative education program pursuant to section
twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code, and the
student graduates or passes the General Equivalency Development
(GED) Tests within five years of beginning ninth grade, that
student shall be considered graduated for the purposes of
calculating the high school graduation rate used for school
accreditation and school system approval, subject to the following:
(1) The student shall only be considered graduated to the
extent that this is not in conflict with any provision of federal
law relating to graduation rates;
(2) If the state board determines that this is in conflict
with a provision of federal law relating to graduation rates, the
state board shall request a waiver from the United States
Department of Education; and
(3) If the waiver is granted, notwithstanding the provisions
of subdivision (1) of this subsection, the student graduating or
passing the General Educational Development (GED) Tests within five
years shall be considered graduated.
(f) (e) The state board shall promulgate a rule to support the
operation of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program operated by
the Adjutant General and known as the "Mountaineer Challenge
Academy" which is designated as a special alternative education
program pursuant to section twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code, for students who are at risk of not
succeeding in the traditional school structure. The rule shall set
forth policies and procedures applicable only to the Mountaineer
Challenge Academy that provide for, but are not limited to, the
following:
(1) Implementation of provisions set forth in section
twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code;
(2) Precedence of the policies and procedures designated by
the National Guard Bureau for the operation of the Mountaineer
Challenge Academy special alternative education program;
(3) Consideration of a student participating in the
Mountaineer Challenge Academy special alternative education program
at full enrollment status in the referring county for the purposes
of funding and calculating attendance and graduation rates, subject
to the following:
(A) The student shall only be considered at full enrollment
status for the purposes of calculating attendance and graduation
rates to the extent that this is not in conflict with any provision
of federal law relating to attendance or graduation rates;
(B) If the state board determines that this is in conflict
with a provision of federal law relating to attendance or
graduation rates, the state board shall request a waiver from the
United States Department of Education;
(C) If the waiver is granted, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (A) of this subdivision, the student shall be
considered at full enrollment status in the referring county for
the purposes of calculating attendance and graduation rates; and
(D) Consideration of the student at full enrollment status in
the referring county is for the purposes of funding and calculating
attendance and graduation rates only. For any other purpose, a
student participating in the academy is considered withdrawn from
the public school system;
(4) Articulation of the knowledge, skills and competencies
gained through alternative education so that students who return to
regular education may proceed toward attainment or attain the
standards for graduation without duplication; and
(5) Consideration of eligibility to take the General
Educational Development (GED) Tests by qualifying within the
extraordinary circumstances provisions established by state board
rule of a student participating in the Mountaineer Challenge
Academy special alternative education program who does not meet any
other criteria for eligibility.
(g) (f) Nothing in this section or the rules promulgated
hereunder under this section compels the Mountaineer Challenge
Academy to be operated as a special alternative education program
or to be subject to any other laws governing the public schools
except by its consent.
(h) (g) The state board shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability on or before
January 1 of each year on its efforts to cooperate with and support
the Mountaineer Challenge Academy pursuant to this section and
section twenty-four, article one-b, chapter fifteen of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide uniformity in
alternative schools and to require a pilot program that will allow
alternative schools in elementary and middle schools.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.