Senate Bill No. 433
(By Senators Chafin and Green)
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[Introduced February 2, 2010; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-8-1a of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to changing the age of
compulsory school attendance from sixteen to eighteen.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-8-1a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, to be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
§18-8-1a. Compulsory school attendance; public school entrance
requirements; exceptions thereto.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section one of this
article, compulsory school attendance shall begin with the school
year in which the sixth birthday is reached prior to September 1
of such year or upon enrolling in a publicly supported
kindergarten program and continue to the
sixteenth eighteenth
birthday or for as long as the student shall continue to be
enrolled in a school system after the
sixteenth eighteenth
birthday:
Provided, That a child may be removed from such
kindergarten program when the principal, teacher and parent or
guardian concur that the best interest of the child would not be
served by requiring further attendance:
Provided, however, That
the principal shall make the final determination with regard to
compulsory school attendance in a publicly supported kindergarten
program:
Provided further, That the compulsory school attendance
provision of this article shall be enforced against a person
eighteen years of age or older for as long as the person
continues to be enrolled in a school system, and shall not be
enforced against the parent, guardian, or custodian of such
person.
Attendance at a state-approved or Montessori kindergarten,
as provided for in section eighteen, article five of this
chapter, shall be deemed school attendance for purposes of this
section. Prior to entrance into the first grade in accordance
with section five, article two of this chapter, each child must
have either: (1) Successfully completed such publicly or
privately supported, state-approved kindergarten program or
Montessori kindergarten program; or (2) successfully completed an
entrance test of basic readiness skills approved by the county in
which the school is located:
Provided, That such test be
administered in lieu of kindergarten attendance only under
extraordinary circumstances to be determined by the board. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section and of section
five, article two of this chapter and section eighteen, article
five of this chapter, a county board may provide for advanced
entrance or placement under policies adopted by said board for
any child who has demonstrated sufficient mental and physical
competency for such entrance or placement. Nothing herein shall
prevent a student from another state from enrolling in a public
school in West Virginia in such grade as the student was
enrolled at the school from which the student transferred.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the age of
compulsory school attendance from sixteen to eighteen.
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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