H. B. 4579
(By Delegates Campbell, Stowers, Eldridge,
Frazier and Manchin)
[Introduced
February 19, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9A-2, §18-9A-4, §18-9A-10,
§18-9A-11, §18-9A-13b and §18-9A-21 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to the school aid
formula; reducing over two years from ninety percent to
eighty, then to seventy percent the amount of the regular levy
deducted from county boards of education for general current
expense purposes; providing that improved instructional
programs receive at least $33 million annually; providing at
least $5 million to the State Board of Education to assist low
performing schools; providing the capture of moneys from
declining enrollment and directing those moneys to the
salaries of classroom teachers and service personnel; and
requiring at least $8 million in annual appropriations for
alternative education programs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-9A-2, §18-9A-4, §18-9A-10, §18-9A-11, §18-9A-13b and
§18-9A-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-2. Definitions.
For the purpose of this article:
(a) "State board" means the West Virginia Board of Education.
(b) "County board" or "board" means a county board of
education.
(c) "Professional salaries" means the state legally mandated
salaries of the professional educators as provided in article four,
chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(d) "Professional educator" shall be is synonymous with and
shall have has the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section
one, article one of this chapter, and includes technology
integration specialists.
(e) "Professional instructional personnel" means a
professional educator whose regular duty is as that of a classroom
teacher, librarian, attendance director or school psychologist. A
professional educator having both instructional and administrative
or other duties shall be included as professional instructional
personnel for that ratio of the school day for which he or she is
assigned and serves on a regular full-time basis in appropriate
instruction, library, attendance, or psychologist duties.
(f) "Professional student support personnel" means a "teacher"
as defined in section one, article one of this chapter who is
assigned and serves on a regular full-time basis as a counselor or as a school nurse with a bachelor's degree and who is licensed by
the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional
Nurses. For all purposes except for the determination of the
allowance for professional educators pursuant to section four of
this article, professional student support personnel are
professional educators.
(g) "Service personnel salaries" means the state legally
mandated salaries for service personnel as provided in section
eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(h) "Service personnel" means all personnel as provided in
section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code. For
the purpose of computations under this article of ratios of service
personnel to net enrollment, a service employee shall be counted as
that number found by dividing his or her number of employment days
in a fiscal year by two hundred: Provided, That the computation
for any service person employed for three and one-half hours or
less per day as provided in section eight-a, article four, chapter
eighteen-a of this code shall be calculated as one-half an
employment day.
(i) "Net enrollment" means the number of pupils enrolled in
special education programs, kindergarten programs and grades one to
twelve, inclusive, of the public schools of the county. Net
enrollment further shall include:
(1) Adults enrolled in regular secondary vocational programs
existing as of the effective date of this section, subject to the following:
(A) Net enrollment includes no more than one thousand of those
adults counted on the basis of full-time equivalency and
apportioned annually to each county in proportion to the adults
participating in regular secondary vocational programs in the prior
year counted on the basis of full-time equivalency; and
(B) Net enrollment does not include any adult charged tuition
or special fees beyond that required of the regular secondary
vocational student;
(2) Students enrolled in early childhood education programs as
provided in section forty-four, article five of this chapter,
counted on the basis of full-time equivalency;
(3) No pupil shall be counted more than once by reason of
transfer within the county or from another county within the state,
and no pupil shall be counted who attends school in this state from
another state;
(4) The enrollment shall be modified to the equivalent of the
instructional term and in accordance with the eligibility
requirements and rules established by the state board; and
(5) For the purposes of determining the county's basic
foundation program, only, for any county whose net enrollment as
determined under all other provisions of this definition is less
than one thousand four hundred, the net enrollment of the county
shall be increased by an amount to be determined in accordance with
the following:
(A) Divide the state's lowest county student population
density by the county's actual student population density;
(B) Multiply the amount derived from the calculation in
paragraph (A) of this subdivision by the difference between one
thousand four hundred and the county's actual net enrollment;
(C) If the increase in net enrollment as determined under this
subdivision plus the county's net enrollment as determined under
all other provisions of this subsection is greater than one
thousand four hundred, the increase in net enrollment shall be
reduced so that the total does not exceed one thousand four
hundred; and
(D) During the 2008-2009 interim period and every three
interim periods thereafter, the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Education Accountability shall review the provisions of this
subdivision to determine whether or not they properly address the
needs of counties with low enrollment and a sparse population
density.
(j) "Sparse-density county" means a county whose ratio of net
enrollment, excluding any increase in the net enrollment of
counties pursuant to subdivision (5) of the definition of net
enrollment, to the square miles of the county is less than five.
(k) "Low-density county" means a county whose ratio of net
enrollment, excluding any increase in the net enrollment of
counties pursuant to subdivision (5) of the definition of net
enrollment, to the square miles of the county is equal to or greater than five but less than ten.
(l) "Medium-density county" means a county whose ratio of net
enrollment, excluding any increase in the net enrollment of
counties pursuant to subdivision (5) of the definition of net
enrollment, to the square miles of the county is equal to or
greater than ten but less than twenty.
(m) "High-density county" means a county whose ratio of net
enrollment, excluding any increase in the net enrollment of
counties pursuant to subdivision (5) of the definition of net
enrollment, to the square miles of the county is equal to or
greater than twenty.
(n) "Levies for general current expense purposes" means
ninety-four percent of the levy rate for county boards of education
calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of
section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code:
Provided, That beginning July 1, 2008, "levies for general current
expense purposes" means ninety percent of the levy rate eighty
percent of the levy rate for county boards of education beginning
July 1, 2010, and seventy percent of the levy rate beginning July
1, 2011 and thereafter for county boards of education calculated or
set by the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of section six-f,
article eight, chapter eleven of this code: Provided, however
That effective July 1, 2010, the definitions set forth in this
subsection are subject to the provisions of section two-a of this
article.
(o) "Technology integration specialist" means a professional
educator who has expertise in the technology field and is assigned
as a resource teacher to provide information and guidance to
classroom teachers on the integration of technology into the
curriculum.
(p) "State aid eligible personnel" means all professional
educators and service personnel employed by a county board in
positions that are eligible to be funded under this article and
whose salaries are not funded by a specific funding source such as
a federal or state grant, donation, contribution or other specific
funding source not listed.
§18-9A-4. Foundation allowance for professional educators.
(a) The basic foundation allowance to the county for
professional educators shall be the amount of money required to pay
the state minimum salaries, in accordance with provisions of
article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code, to the personnel
employed, subject to the following:
(1) Subject to subdivision (2) of this subsection, in making
this computation no county shall receive an allowance for the
personnel which number is in excess of professional educators to
each one thousand students in net enrollment as follows:
(A) For each high-density county, the number of personnel for
which a county shall receive the allowance shall may not exceed
seventy-two and one tenth professional educators per each one
thousand students in net enrollment;
(B) For each medium-density county, the number of personnel
for which a county shall receive the allowance shall may not exceed
seventy-two and twenty-five one hundredths professional educators
per each one thousand students in net enrollment;
(C) For each low-density county, the number of personnel for
which a county shall receive the allowance shall may not exceed
seventy-two and four tenths professional educators per each one
thousand students in net enrollment; and
(D) For each sparse-density county, the number of personnel
for which a county shall receive the allowance shall not exceed
seventy-two and fifty-five one hundredths professional educators
per each one thousand students in net enrollment;
(2) For the ratios applicable to each of the four density
categories set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the
number of professional educators per each one thousand students in
net enrollment increases by five one hundredths per year for each
of fiscal years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. For each fiscal year
thereafter, the ratios remain at the 2013 level.
(3) The number of and the allowance for personnel paid in part
by state and county funds shall be prorated; and
(4) Where two or more counties join together in support of a
vocational or comprehensive high school or any other program or
service, the professional educators for the school or program may
be prorated among the participating counties on the basis of each
one's enrollment therein and the personnel shall be considered within the above-stated limit.
(b) Subject to subsection (c) of this section, each county
board shall establish and maintain a minimum ratio of professional
instructional personnel per one thousand students in net enrollment
as follows:
(1) For each high-density county, the minimum number of
professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in
net enrollment is sixty-five and eight tenths;
(2) For each medium-density county, the minimum number of
professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in
net enrollment is sixty-five and nine tenths;
(3) For each low-density county, the minimum number of
professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in
net enrollment is sixty-six;
(4) For each sparse-density county, the minimum number of
professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in
net enrollment is sixty-six and five one hundredths.
(c) For the ratios applicable to each of the four density
categories set forth in subsection subsections (b) and (c) of this
section, the number of professional instructional personnel per
each one thousand students in net enrollment increases by five one
hundredths per year for each of fiscal years 2010, 2011, 2012 and
2013. For each fiscal year thereafter, the ratios remain at the
2013 level.
(d) Any county board which does not establish and maintain the applicable minimum ratio required in subsection (b) of this section
shall suffer a pro rata reduction in the allowance for professional
educators under this section: Provided, That no county shall may
be penalized if it has increases in enrollment during that school
year: Provided, however, That for the school year 2008-2009, only,
no county shall may be penalized for not meeting the applicable
minimum ratio required in subsection (b) of this section.
(e) No county shall increase the number of administrative
personnel employed as either professional educators or pay grade
"H" service personnel above the number which were employed, or for
which positions were posted, on June 30, 1990, and, therefore,
county boards shall whenever possible utilize classroom teachers
for curriculum administrative positions through the use of modified
or extended contracts.
(f) As the number of professional educators per each one
thousand students in net enrollment increases during fiscal years
2009 through 2013, any additional positions that are created as a
result of that increase shall be positions that will enhance
student achievement and are consistent with the needs as identified
in each county board's electronic county strategic improvement
plan. County boards are encouraged to fill at least some of the
additional positions with technology integration specialists.
(g) During the 2008-2009 interim period, and every three
interim periods thereafter, the Legislative Oversight Commission on
Education Accountability shall review the four density categories created in section two of this article, the ratios for professional
educators established in this section and the ratios for service
personnel established in section five of this article.
§18-9A-10. Foundation allowance to improve instructional programs.
(a) The total allowance to improve instructional programs
shall be the sum of no less than $50 million to be used for the
following:
(1) For instructional improvement in accordance with county
and school electronic strategic improvement plans required by
section five, article two-e of this chapter, an amount equal to
fifteen percent of the increase in the local share amount for the
next school year above any required allocation pursuant to section
six-b of this article shall be added to the amount of the
appropriation for this purpose for the immediately preceding school
year. The sum of these amounts shall be distributed to the
counties as follows:
(A) $150,000 shall be allocated to each county;
(B) Distribution to the counties of the remainder of these
funds shall be made proportional to the average of each county's
average daily attendance for the preceding year and the county's
second month net enrollment. Moneys allocated by provision of this
section shall be used to improve instructional programs according
to the county and school electronic strategic improvement plans
required by section five, article two-e of this chapter and
approved by the state board: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, moneys allocated by
provision of this section may also be used in the implementation
and maintenance of the uniform integrated regional computer
information system.
Up to twenty-five percent of this allocation may be used to
employ professional educators and service personnel in counties
after all applicable provisions of sections four and five of this
article have been fully utilized.
Prior to Before the use of any funds from this section for
personnel costs, the county board must receive authorization from
the State Superintendent of Schools. The State Superintendent
shall require the county board to demonstrate: (1) The need for
the allocation; (2) efficiency and fiscal responsibility in
staffing; (3) sharing of services with adjoining counties and the
regional educational service agency for that county in the use of
the total local district board budget; and (4) employment of
technology integration specialists to meet the needs for
implementation of the West Virginia 21st Century Strategic
Technology Learning Plan. County boards shall make application for
available funds for the next fiscal year by May 1 of each year. On
or before June 1, the state superintendent shall review all
applications and notify applying county boards of the distribution
of the allocation. The funds shall be distributed during the
fiscal year appropriate. The State Superintendent shall require
the county board to demonstrate the need for an allocation for personnel based upon the county's inability to meet the
requirements of state law or state board policy: Provided, That
the funds available for personnel under this section may not be
used to increase the total number of professional noninstructional
personnel in the central office beyond four. The plan shall be
made available for distribution to the public at the office of each
affected county board; plus
(2) For the purposes of the West Virginia 21st Century
Strategic Technology Learning Plan provided for in section seven,
article two-e of this chapter, an amount equal to fifteen percent
of the increase in the local share amount for the next school year
above any required allocation pursuant to section six-b of this
article shall be added to the amount of the appropriation for this
purpose for the immediately preceding school year. The sum of
these amounts shall be allocated to the counties as provided in
section seven, article two-e of this chapter to meet the objectives
of the West Virginia 21st Century Strategic Technology Learning
Plan; plus
(3) One percent of the state average per pupil state aid
multiplied by the number of students enrolled in dual credit,
advanced placement and international baccalaureate courses, as
defined by the state board, distributed to the counties
proportionate to enrollment in these courses in each county; plus
(4) An amount not less than the amount required to meet debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued prior to before January 1, 1994, and the debt service requirements on any revenue
bonds issued for the purpose of refunding revenue bonds issued
prior to before January 1, 1994, shall be paid into the School
Building Capital Improvements Fund created by section six, article
nine-d of this chapter and shall be used solely for the purposes of
that article. The School Building Capital Improvements Fund shall
not be utilized to meet the debt services requirement on any
revenue bonds or revenue refunding bonds for which moneys contained
within the School Building Debt Service Fund have been pledged for
repayment pursuant to that section.
(b) When the school improvement bonds secured by funds from
the School Building Capital Improvements Fund mature, the State
Board of Education shall annually deposit an amount equal to
$24,000,000 from the funds allocated in this section into the
School Construction Fund created pursuant to the provisions of
section six, article nine-d of this chapter to continue funding
school facility construction and improvements.
(c) Any project funded by the School Building Authority shall
be in accordance with a comprehensive educational facility plan
which must be approved by the state board and the School Building
Authority.
(d) For the fiscal beginning on July 1, 2010, and each fiscal
year thereafter, the foundation allowance for capacity building to
assist schools that have been identified as seriously impaired in
accordance with section five, article two-e, of this chapter and schools that have not met adequate yearly progress for two
consecutive years under the federal No Child Left Behind statute
shall be an amount of at least $5 million. The allowance for
capacity building shall be appropriated to the state board. The
state board shall adopt a rule in accordance with article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code establishing criteria for
distribution of these funds to schools. The first priority shall
be schools that have been identified as seriously impaired, and the
second priority shall be schools that have failed to make adequate
yearly progress on test assessments for at least two consecutive
years. Each year the state board shall make a report to the
legislative oversight commission on education accountability on the
number of schools that received capacity building money the
previous year and what impact these resources had on removing a
school from the seriously impaired list or the list of schools
failing to meet adequate yearly progress under the provisions of
the No Child Left Behind Act.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of
property; public library support.
(a) On the basis of each county's certificates of valuation as
to all classes of property as determined and published by the
assessors pursuant to section six, article three, chapter eleven of
this code for the next ensuing fiscal year in reliance upon the
assessed values annually developed by each county assessor pursuant
to the provisions of articles one-c and three of said chapter, the state board shall for each county compute by application of the
levies for general current expense purposes, as defined in section
two of this article, the amount of revenue which the levies would
produce if levied upon one hundred percent of the assessed value of
each of the several classes of property contained in the report or
revised report of the value, made to it by the Tax Commissioner as
follows:
(1) The state board shall first take ninety-five percent of
the amount ascertained by applying these rates to the total
assessed public utility valuation in each classification of
property in the county; and
(2) The state board shall then apply these rates to the
assessed taxable value of other property in each classification in
the county as determined by the Tax Commissioner and shall deduct
therefrom five percent as an allowance for the usual losses in
collections due to discounts, exonerations, delinquencies and the
like. All of the amount so determined shall be added to the
ninety-five ninety percent of public utility taxes computed as
provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection and this total shall
be further reduced by the amount due each county assessor's office
pursuant to the provisions of section eight, article one-c, chapter
eleven of this code and this amount shall be the local share of the
particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local
share required prior to before the report to the Legislature by the Tax Commissioner, the state shall use the most recent projections
or estimations that may be available from the Tax Department for
that purpose.
(b) Effective July 1, 2013, subsection (a) of this section is
void and local share shall be calculated in accordance with the
following:
(1) The state board shall for each county compute by
application of the levies for general current expense purposes, as
defined in sections two and two-a of this article, the amount of
revenue which the levies would produce if levied upon one hundred
percent of the assessed value calculated pursuant to section
five-b, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code;
(2) Five percent shall be deducted from the revenue calculated
pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection as an allowance for
the usual losses in collections due to discounts, exonerations,
delinquencies and the like; and
(3) The amount calculated in subdivision (2) of this
subsection shall further be reduced by the sum of money due each
assessor's office pursuant to the provisions of section eight,
article one-c, chapter eleven of this code and this reduced amount
shall be the local share of the particular county.
(c) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of this
section in setting the valuations of property for assessment
purposes in any class or classes of property in the county, the State Tax Commissioner shall review the valuations for assessment
purposes made by the county assessor and the county commission and
shall direct the county assessor and the county commission to make
corrections in the valuations as necessary so that they comply with
the requirements of chapter eleven of this code and this section
and the Tax Commissioner shall enter the county and fix the
assessments at the required ratios. Refusal of the assessor or the
county commission to make the corrections constitutes grounds for
removal from office.
(d) For the purposes of any computation made in accordance
with the provisions of this section, in any taxing unit in which
tax increment financing is in effect pursuant to the provisions of
article eleven-b, chapter seven of this code, the assessed value of
a related private project shall be the base-assessed value as
defined in section two of said article.
(e) For purposes of any computation made in accordance with
the provisions of this section, in any county where the county
board of education has adopted a resolution choosing to use the
provisions of the Growth County School Facilities Act set forth in
section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code,
estimated school board revenues generated from application of the
regular school board levy rate to new property values, as that term
is designated in said section, may not be considered local share
funds and shall be subtracted before the computations in
subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a) of this section or in subdivisions (2) and (3), subsection (b) of this section, as
applicable, are made.
(f) The Legislature finds that public school systems
throughout the state provide support in varying degrees to public
libraries through a variety of means including budgeted
allocations, excess levy funds and portions of their regular school
board levies as may be provided by special act. A number of public
libraries are situated on the campuses of public schools and
several are within public school buildings serving both the
students and public patrons. To the extent that public schools
recognize and choose to avail the resources of public libraries
toward developing within their students such legally recognized
elements of a thorough and efficient education as literacy,
interests in literature, knowledge of government and the world
around them and preparation for advanced academic training, work
and citizenship, public libraries serve a legitimate school purpose
and may do so economically. For the purposes of any computation
made in accordance with the provisions of this section, the library
funding obligation on the regular school board levies which is
created by a special act and is due and payable from the levy
revenues to a library shall be paid from the county school board's
discretionary retainage, which is hereby defined as the amount by
which the regular school board levies exceeds the local share as
determined hereunder. If the library funding obligation which is
created by a special act and is due and payable to a library is greater than the county school board's discretionary retainage, the
library funding obligation created by the special act is amended
and is reduced to the amount of the discretionary retainage,
notwithstanding any provisions of the special act to the contrary.
Any excess of the discretionary retainage over the library funding
obligation shall be available for expenditure by the county board
in its discretion for its properly budgeted purposes.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that whenever a
provision of subsection (f) of this section is contrary to any
special act of the Legislature which has been or may in the future
be enacted by the Legislature that creates a library funding
obligation on the regular school board levy of a county, subsection
(f) of this section controls over the special act. Specifically,
the special acts which are subject to said subsection upon the
enactment of this section during the 2007 regular session of the
Legislature include:
(1) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 11, passed on February 12, 1970,
applicable to the Berkeley County Board of Education;
(2) Enrolled House Bill No. 1352, passed on April 7, 1981,
applicable to the Hardy County Board of Education;
(3) Enrolled Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2833,
passed on March 14, 1987, applicable to the Harrison County Board
of Education;
(4) Enrolled House Bill No. 161, passed on March 6, 1957,
applicable to the Kanawha County Board of Education;
(5) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 313, passed on March 12, 1937, as
amended by Enrolled House Bill No. 1074, passed on March 8, 1967,
and as amended by Enrolled House Bill No. 1195, passed on January
18, 1982, applicable to the Ohio County Board of Education;
(6) Enrolled House Bill No. 938, passed on February 28, 1969,
applicable to the Raleigh County Board of Education;
(7) Enrolled House Bill No. 398, passed on March 1, 1935,
applicable to the Tyler County Board of Education;
(8) Enrolled Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 450,
passed on March 11, 1994, applicable to the Upshur County Board of
Education; and
(9) Enrolled House Bill No. 2994, passed on March 13, 1987,
applicable to the Wood County Board of Education.
(h) Notwithstanding any provision of any special act set forth
in subsection (g) of this section to the contrary, the county board
of any county with a special act creating a library obligation out
of the county's regular school levy revenues may transfer that
library obligation so that it becomes a continuing obligation of
its excess levy revenues instead of an obligation of its regular
school levy revenues, subject to the following:
(1) If a county board chooses to transfer the library
obligation pursuant to this subsection, the library funding
obligation shall remain an obligation of the regular school levy
revenues until the fiscal year in which the excess levy is
effective or would have been effective if it had been passed by the voters;
(2) If a county board chooses to transfer the library
obligation pursuant to this subsection, the county board shall
include the funding of the public library obligation in the same
amount as its library funding obligation which exists or had
existed on its regular levy revenues as one of the purposes for the
excess levy to be voted on as a specifically described line item of
the excess levy: Provided, That if the county board has
transferred the library obligation to the excess levy and the
excess levy fails to be passed by the voters or the excess levy
passes and thereafter expires upon the time limit for continuation
as set forth in section sixteen, article eight, chapter eleven of
this code, then in any subsequent excess levy which the county
board thereafter submits to the voters the library funding
obligation again shall be included as one of the purposes of the
subsequent excess levy as a specifically described line item of the
excess levy;
(3) If a county board chooses to transfer the library
obligation pursuant to this subsection, regardless of whether or
not the excess levy passes, effective the fiscal year in which the
excess levy is effective or would have been effective if it had
been passed by the voters, a county's library obligation on its
regular levy revenues is void notwithstanding any provision of the
special acts set forth in subsection (g) of this section to the
contrary; and
(4) Nothing in subdivision (3) of this subsection prohibits a
county board from funding its public library obligation
voluntarily.
(i) Any additional funds received by a county board as a
result of reduction in percentage of levies for general current
expense purpose from ninety percent to eighty, then to seventy
percent and from the reduction of the computation of public utility
taxes as provided in subdivision (1) of this section shall be used
to improve the salaries of classroom teachers and service personnel
employed by the county board. These funds shall be distributed
seventy percent to increase the salaries of classroom teachers and
thirty percent to increase the salaries of service personnel.
§18-9A-13b.
Allowance for legislative reserve fund, current
expense and substitute costs Reserve allowance for education
salary enhancements.
Commencing with the school fiscal year beginning on July 1,
2000, funds which accrue from allocations due to decreases 2010 and
every
fiscal year thereafter
a separate appropriation shall be made
in the State Department of Education budget, to be designated as
the education salary enhancement line item, that is equal to the
reduction in the amount of funds required to be appropriated for
the basic foundation program pursuant to this article as a result
of a decrease in net and adjusted enrollment from the net and
adjusted enrollments of the preceding school year. shall be deposited in a special revenue fund which is hereby created in the
State Treasury, designated the "legislative reserve fund". The
fund shall be an interest bearing account and shall be appropriated
by the Legislature The allocation of the funds appropriated for
this purpose each year shall be used to enhance the salaries of
classroom teachers and service personnel and shall be allocated
seventy percent for classroom teachers and thirty percent for
service personnel.
§18-9A-21. Funding for alternative education programs.
(a) Commencing with the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2010,
and every fiscal year thereafter, an appropriation may of at least
$8 million shall be made to the state department to be distributed
to county boards for the operation of alternative education and
prevention programs established in accordance with policies and
procedures adopted by the state board under section six, article
two of this chapter. The appropriation shall be an amount equal to
twelve dollars per student in net enrollment, subject to
appropriation by the Legislature The state board shall distribute
ninety-seven percent $2 million of the total appropriation to the
county boards proportionate to each county's net enrollment and $6
million The remaining three percent of the appropriation shall be
retained distributed by the state department to support the
provision of services to the county boards in administering
programs established in accordance with policies and procedures
adopted by the state board under section six, article two of this chapter: Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed
to require any specific level of funding by the Legislature as
competitive grants to county boards for the operation of pilot or
innovative alternative education programs.
(b) The State Superintendent shall grant county boards awards
for pilot or innovative alternative education programs that promote
safe schools based on the following criteria: (1) Programs that
will serve the most students in the alternative program; (2)
programs in elementary schools that utilize in-school suspension
and requirements that alternative students work their way back into
the regular classroom through improved behavior; (3) programs in
middle schools or junior high schools and high schools that provide
at least sixteen hours of instruction per week and requirements
that students work their way back to the regular classroom through
improved behavior; and (4) other criteria developed by the State
Board of Education. Each county board shall apply to the state
superintendent for competitive grants in the manner set forth by
the State Superintendent consistent with the policies and
procedures adopted by the state board for the establishment and
maintenance of alternative education programs.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reform the school aid
formula by reducing over two years from ninety percent to eighty
percent, then to seventy percent the amount of the regular levy
deducted from county boards of education for general current
expense purposes by ensuring that improved instructional programs
receive at least $33 million annually, by providing at least $5 million to the State Board of Education to assist low performing
schools, by capturing moneys from declining enrollment and
directing it to salaries of classroom teachers and service
personnel and by requiring at least $8 million in annual
appropriations for alternative education programs.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.