SENATE
HOUSE
JOINT
BILL STATUS
STATE LAW
REPORTS
EDUCATIONAL
CONTACT
home
home
Introduced Version House Bill 4579 History

   |  Email
Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
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.
This Web site is maintained by the West Virginia Legislature's Office of Reference & Information.  |  Terms of Use  |   Email WebmasterWebmaster   |   © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **


X

Print On Demand

Name:
Email:
Phone:

Print