Senate Bill No. 650
(By Senator Plymale)
____________
[Introduced February 23, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-9A-10, §18-9A-11 and §18-9A-13b
of
the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
public school support; addressing the allowances for capacity
building and safe schools; and providing salary enhancements.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-9A-10, §18-9A-11 and §18-9A-13b
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-10. Foundation allowance to improve instructional programs.
(a) For the school year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, and thereafter the sum of
the allocations shall be the amount appropriated by the Legislature
for those two thousand four, and after,
at least thirty-three
million dollars shall be allocated for the purposes specified in this subsection:
(1) One hundred fifty thousand dollars shall be allocated to
each county;
(2) 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 a plan for instructional improvement which the affected county
board shall file with the state board by the first day of August of
each year, to be approved by such the state board by the first day
of September of that year if the plan substantially complies with
standards to be adopted 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.
(3) 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 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 district board to demonstrate: (1) The need for the
allocation; (2) efficiency and fiscal responsibility in staffing;
and (3) the 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. District boards shall make
application for available funds for the next fiscal year by the
first day of May of each year. On or before the first day of June,
the state superintendent shall review all applications and notify
applying district boards of the distribution of the allocation.
The funds shall be distributed during the fiscal year as
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 instructional improvement plan shall be
made available for distribution to the public at the office of each
affected county board.
(b) An amount not less than the amount required to meet debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued prior to the first
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and the debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued for the purpose of
refunding revenue bonds issued prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, 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.
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 twenty-four
million dollars from the funds allocated in this section into the
school construction fund created pursuant to the provisions of
section six, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of this code 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 year beginning on the first day of July,
two thousand four, and each fiscal year after, 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 adequately yearly progress for two consecutive years under the
federal "No Child Left Behind Act" shall be an amount of at least
five million dollars. 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. The second priority shall be
schools that have failed to make adequately 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 adequately
yearly progress under the provisions of the "No Child Left Behind
Act."
(e) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
two thousand four, and each fiscal year after, the foundation
allowance for safe schools shall be an appropriation of at least
eight million dollars. The state superintendent shall grant county
boards awards for pilot or innovative alternative education
programs that promote safe schools based on the following:
(1) Programs that will serve the most students in the alternative program;
(2} Programs in elementary schools that use in-school
suspension and requirements that alternative students work their
way back into the regular classroom through improved behavior;
(3) Programs in middle schools, 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.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of
property.
(a) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, and thereafter 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 each 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, chapter eleven of this
code, 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 such 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 such 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.
(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 percent of public utility taxes computed as provided
above, 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 is the local share of the particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local
share that may be required prior to the report to the Legislature
by the tax commissioner, the state board of education shall use the
most recent projections or estimations that may be are available
from the tax department division for such purpose.
(b) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county
commission shall fail or refuse 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 such corrections in the valuations as may be
necessary so that they shall to 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 such the corrections shall constitute ground is grounds for
removal from office.
(c) 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 is the base assessed value as
defined in section two of said that article.
(d) For the fiscal year beginning on the first day of July,
two thousand four, and each fiscal year after, any additional
growth in revenues from one fiscal year to the next in local share
shall be appropriated to section two, article four, chapter
eighteen-a of this code and used to provide a salary increment of
five hundred seventy dollars, or the usual increment whichever is higher, for teachers who have between twenty-one and twenty-eight
years of service. The growth in revenues from the local share
shall first be applied to increment at year twenty-one, and then
year twenty-two until year twenty-eight is funded. However, if the
growth in local share is inadequate to fully fund the usual yearly
increment the growth in local share shall be used to fund as much
of the yearly increment as the growth in local share allows. The
growth in local share in the succeeding year shall be used to fund
the remaining portion of the usual yearly increment. After the
growth in local share revenues has fully funded an increment for
teachers with twenty-eight years of service, any additional growth
in local share revenues shall be appropriated to fund increments of
five hundred seventy dollars, or the usual yearly increment
whichever is higher for teachers with a bachelor?s degree or
teachers who have a bachelor?s degree plus fifteen hours of
graduate work and who have between fourteen years of service and
twenty years of service and to teachers who have a master's degree
or teachers who have a master?s degree plus fifteen hours of
graduate work and who have between seventeen years of service and
twenty years of service. The growth in local share revenue shall
first be applied to fund one year of increments for teachers who
have a bachelor?s degree or a bachelor?s degree and fifteen hours
of graduate work with fourteen years of service and to teachers who
have a master?s degree or a master?s degree with fifteen hours of graduate work and seventeen years of service. If the growth local
share is inadequate to fully fund the usual yearly increment, the
growth in local share shall be used to fund as much of the usual
yearly increment as the growth in local share allows. However, the
growth in local share the succeeding year shall be used to fund the
remaining portion to attain the usual yearly increment. After the
revenues from the growth in local share provides teachers with the
usual yearly increments through twenty years of experience, any
additional growth in local share revenues shall be appropriated to
fund across-the-board salary increases for teachers and service
personnel in proportion to the foundation allowance for
professional educators under section four of this article divided
by the total foundation allowance for sections four and five of
this article, and the foundation allowance for service personnel
under section five of this article divided by the total foundation
allowance for sections four and five.
§18-9A-13b. Reserve allowance for salary enhancements.
Commencing with the fiscal year beginning on the first day of
July, two thousand four, and every fiscal year after, 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 enrollments from the net and adjusted enrollments of the preceding
year. The allocation of the funds appropriated for this purpose
each year shall be used to enhance the salaries of professional
educators and service personnel.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to modify the school aid
formula for public school support by addressing the allowances for
capacity building and safe schools and providing salary
enhancements.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§18-9A-13b has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
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