COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2268
(By Delegates Susman, Poling, Perry, Beach, Renner,
Hartman and Tabb)
(Originating in the Committee on Education)
[January 16, 2004]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-2-3 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §18C-4-2 of said
code, all relating to the employment of retired teachers in
areas of critical need and shortage; defining area of critical
need and shortage; adding conditions for county board policy
to restrict such employment; providing for future expiration
of provisions; and providing priority in selection for
Underwood-Smith scholarships for areas of critical need and
shortage
.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-2-3 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §18C-4-2 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 18A. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
ARTICLE 2. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
§18A-2-3. Employment of substitute teachers and retired teachers
as substitutes in areas of critical need and shortage;
employment of prospective employable professional personnel.
(a) The county superintendent, subject to approval of the
county board, may employ and assign substitute teachers to any of
the following duties: (a) (1) To fill the temporary absence of any
teacher or an unexpired school term made vacant by resignation,
death, suspension or dismissal; (b) (2) to fill a teaching position
of a regular teacher on leave of absence; and (c) (3) to perform
the instructional services of any teacher who is authorized by law
to be absent from class without loss of pay, providing the absence
is approved by the board of education in accordance with the law.
The substitute shall be a duly certified teacher.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, a substitute teacher who has been assigned as a classroom
teacher in the same classroom continuously for more than one half
of a grading period and whose assignment remains in effect two
weeks prior to the end of the grading period, shall remain in the
assignment until the grading period has ended, unless the principal
of the school certifies that the regularly employed teacher has
communicated with and assisted the substitute with the preparation
of lesson plans and monitoring student progress or has been
approved to return to work by his or her physician. For the
purposes of this section, teacher and substitute teacher, in the singular or plural, mean professional educator as defined in
section one, article one, of this chapter.
(c)(1) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that due to
a shortage of qualified substitute teachers, a compelling state
interest exists in expanding the use of retired teachers to provide
service as substitute teachers in areas of critical need and
shortage. The Legislature further finds that diverse circumstances
exist among the counties for the expanded use of retired teachers
as substitutes. For the purposes of this subsection, "area of
critical need and shortage" means an area of certification and
training in which the number of available substitute teachers in
the county who hold certification and training in that area and who
are not retired is insufficient to meet the projected need for
substitute teachers.
(2) A person receiving retirement benefits under the
provisions of article seven-a of this chapter or who is entitled to
retirement benefits during the fiscal year in which that person
retired may accept employment as a substitute teacher for an
unlimited number of days each fiscal year without affecting the
monthly retirement benefit to which the retirant is otherwise
entitled if the following conditions are satisfied:
(A) The county board adopts a policy recommended by the
superintendent to address areas of critical need and shortage;
(B) The policy provides for the employment of retired teachers as substitute teachers during the school year on an expanded basis
in areas of critical need and shortage as provided in this
subsection;
(C) The policy provides that a retired teacher will be
employed as a substitute teacher in an area of critical need and
shortage only when no other teacher who holds certification and
training in the area and who is not retired is available and
accepts the substitute assignment;
(C) (D) The policy is effective for one school year only and
is subject to annual renewal by the county board;
(D) (E) The state board approves the policy and the use of
retired teachers as substitute teachers on an expanded basis in
areas of critical need and shortage as provided in this subsection;
and
(E) (F) Prior to employment of such substitute teacher beyond
the post-retirement employment limitations established by the
consolidated public retirement board, the superintendent of the
affected county submits to the consolidated public retirement
board, in a form approved by the retirement board, an affidavit
signed by the superintendent stating the name of the county, the
fact that the county has adopted a policy to employ retired
teachers as substitutes to address areas of critical need and
shortage and the name or names of the person or persons to be
employed pursuant to the policy.
(3) Any person who retires and begins work as a substitute
teacher within the same employment term shall lose those retirement
benefits attributed to the annuity reserve, effective from the
first day of employment as a retiree substitute in such employment
term and ending with the month following the date the retiree
ceases to perform service as a substitute.
(4) With respect to the expanded substitute service provided
in this subsection, retired teachers employed as such substitutes
are considered day-to-day, temporary, part-time employees. The
substitutes are not eligible for additional pension or other
benefits paid to regularly employed employees and shall not accrue
seniority.
(5)
When a retired teacher is employed as a substitute to fill
a vacant position, the county board must continue to post the
vacant position until it is filled with a regularly employed
teacher.
(5) (6) Until this subsection is expired pursuant to
subdivision (6) (7) of this subsection, the state board, annually,
shall report to the joint committee on government and finance prior
to the first day of February of each year. Additionally, a copy
shall be provided to the legislative oversight commission on
education accountability. The report shall contain information
indicating the effectiveness of the provisions of this subsection
on expanding the use of retired substitute teachers to address areas of critical need and shortage.
(6) (7) The provisions of this subsection shall expire on the
thirtieth day of June, two thousand three six.
(d)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, each year a county superintendent may employ prospective
employable professional personnel on a reserve list at the county
level subject to the following conditions:
(A) The county board adopts a policy to address areas of
critical need and shortage as identified by the state board. The
policy shall include authorization to employ prospective employable
professional personnel;
(B) The county board posts a notice of the areas of critical
need and shortage in the county in a conspicuous place in each
school for at least ten working days; and
(C) There are not any potentially qualified applicants
available and willing to fill the position.
(2) Prospective employable professional personnel may only be
employed from candidates at a job fair who have or will graduate
from college in the current school year or whose employment
contract with a county board has or will be terminated due to a
reduction in force in the current fiscal year.
(3) Prospective employable professional personnel employed are
limited to three full-time prospective employable professional
personnel per one hundred professional personnel employed in a county or twenty-five full-time prospective employable professional
personnel in a county, whichever is less.
(4) Prospective employable professional personnel shall be
granted benefits at a cost to the county board and as a condition
of the employment contract as approved by the county board.
(5) Regular employment status for prospective employable
professional personnel may be obtained only in accordance with the
provisions of section seven-a, article four of this chapter.
(e) The state board annually shall review the status of
employing personnel under the provisions of subsection (d) of this
section and annually shall report to the legislative oversight
commission on education accountability on or before the first day
of November of each year. The report shall include, but not be
limited to, the following:
(A) The counties that participated in the program;
(B) The number of personnel hired;
(C) The teaching fields in which personnel were hired;
(D) The venue from which personnel were employed;
(E) The place of residency of the individual hired; and
(F) The state board's recommendations on the prospective
employable professional personnel program.
CHAPTER 18C. STUDENT LOANS; SCHOLARSHIPS AND STATE AID.
ARTICLE 4. UNDERWOOD-SMITH TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.
§18C-4-2. Selection criteria and procedures.
(a) The governor shall designate an existing scholarship
selection agency or panel to select the recipients of
Underwood-Smith teacher scholarships who meet the eligibility
criteria set forth in subsection (b) of this section. If no such
agency or panel exists, the governor shall appoint a scholarship
selection panel for this purpose which shall consist of seven
persons representative of public school administrators, teachers,
including preschool teachers, and parents.
(b) Eligibility for an Underwood-Smith teacher scholarship
award shall be limited to West Virginia resident students who:
(1) Have graduated or are graduating from high school, and
rank in the top ten percent of their graduating class or the top
ten percent statewide of those West Virginia students taking the
American college test;
(2) Have a cumulative grade point average of at least three
and twenty-five one hundredths on a possible scale of four after
successfully completing two years of course work at an approved
institution of higher education;
(3) Are public school aides or paraprofessionals as defined in
section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code, and
who have a cumulative grade point average of at least three and
twenty-five one hundredths on a possible scale of four after
successfully completing two years of course work at an approved
institution of higher education; or
(4) Are graduate students at the master's degree level who
have graduated or are graduating in the top ten percent of their
college graduating class.
(c) In accordance with the rules of the governing boards, the
senior administrator shall develop criteria and procedures for the
selection of scholarship recipients that reflect the purposes of
this article and the areas in which particular efforts will be made
in the selection of scholars as set forth in section one of this
article and which also may include, but not be limited to, the
grade point average of the applicant, involvement in
extracurricular activities, financial need, current academic
standing and an expression of interest in teaching as expressed in
an essay written by the applicant. Such criteria and procedures
further may require the applicant to furnish letters of
recommendation from teachers and others. It is the intent of the
Legislature that academic abilities be the primary criteria for
selecting scholarship recipients:
Provided, That the qualified
applicants with the highest academic abilities who intend to pursue
teaching careers in areas of critical need and shortage as
determined by the state board of education shall be given priority.
(d) In developing the selection criteria and procedures to be
used by the panel, the senior administrator shall solicit the views
of public and private education agencies and institutions and other
interested parties. These views: (1) Shall be solicited by means of written and published selection criteria and procedures in final
form for implementation; and (2) may be solicited by means of
public hearings on the present and projected teacher needs of the
state or such other methods as the senior administrator may
determine to be appropriate to gather such information.
(e) The senior administrator shall make application forms for
Underwood-Smith teacher scholarships available to public and
private high schools in the state and in other locations convenient
to applicants, parents and others, and shall make an effort to
attract students from low-income backgrounds, ethnic or racial
minority students, students with disabilities, and women or
minority students who show interest in pursuing teaching careers in
mathematics and science and who are under represented in those
fields.
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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