WEST virginia legislature

2017 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 2491

By Delegates Cooper, Ambler, Rowan, Dean, Maynard, Wagner, Morgan, Westfall, Kelly, Zatezalo and Romine R.

[Introduced February 16, 2017; Referred
to the Committee on Education.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-45 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to school calendar and testing; changing mandatory instructional days from one hundred eighty separate days to a total number of minutes; permitting excess minutes to be banked and used later in the school year; establishing dates for when a school year begins and when it ends; requiring students to take achievement tests; exempting students who test at certain level from attending school past a certain date; and retaining certain current school policies.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §18-5-45 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and re-enacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5.  COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-5-45.  School calendar.

(a) As used in this section:

(1) "Instructional day" means a day within the instructional term which meets the following criteria:

(A) Instruction is offered to students for at least the minimum amount of hours provided by state board rule;

(B) Instructional time is used for instruction and cocurricular activities; and

(C) Other criteria as the state board determines appropriate.

(2) "Cocurricular activities" are activities that are closely related to identifiable academic programs or areas of study that serve to complement academic curricula as further defined by the state board.

(b) Findings. –

(1) The primary purpose of the school system is to provide instruction for students.

(2) The school calendar, as defined in this section, is designed to define the school term both for employees and for instruction.

(3) The school calendar shall provide for one hundred eighty separate instructional days, converted into minutes pursuant to subdivision (2), subsection (c) of this section.

(c) The county board shall provide a school term for its schools that contains the following:

(1) An employment term that excludes Saturdays and Sundays and consists of at least two hundred days, which need not be successive.  The beginning and closing dates of the employment term may not exceed forty-eight weeks;

(2) Within the employment term, an instructional term for students of no less than one hundred eighty separate instructional days, which includes an inclement weather and emergencies plan designed to guarantee an instructional term for students of no less than one hundred eighty separate instructional days based upon the minimum amount of hours of instruction offered to students provided by state board rules and converted to minutes as follows:

(A) For grades 1 to 5, three hundred fifteen minutes a day or fifty-six thousand seven hundred minutes over a period of not less than one hundred eighty days;

(B) For grades 6 to 8, three hundred thirty minutes a day or fifty-nine thousand four hundred minutes over a period of not less than one hundred eighty days; and

(C) For grades 9 to 12, three hundred forty-five minutes a day or sixty-two thousand one hundred minutes over a period of not less than one hundred eighty days;

(3) Any instructional minutes in excess of the allotted minutes per day pursuant to subdivision (2) of this subsection may be banked and used before the end of that instructional term.

(4) The instructional term for students begins the day after Labor Day and ends two weeks after Memorial Day of each year.

(3) (5) Within the employment term, noninstructional days shall total twenty and shall be comprised of the following:

(A) Seven paid holidays;

(B) Election day as specified in section two, article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code;

(C) Six days to be designated by the county board to be used by the employees outside the school environment, with at least four outside the school environment days scheduled to occur after the one hundred and thirtieth instructional day of the school calendar; and

(D) The remaining days to be designated by the county board for purposes to include, but not be limited to:

(i) Curriculum development;

(ii) Preparation for opening and closing school;

(iii) Professional development;

(iv) Teacher-pupil-parent conferences;

(v) Professional meetings;

(vi) Making up days when instruction was scheduled but not conducted; and

(vii) At least four two-hour blocks of time for faculty senate meetings with each two-hour block of time scheduled once at least every forty-five instructional days; and

(4) (6) Scheduled out-of-calendar days that are to be used for instructional days in the event school is canceled for any reason.

(d) A county board of education shall develop a policy that requires additional minutes of instruction in the school day or additional days of instruction to recover time lost due to late arrivals and early dismissals.

(e) If it is not possible to complete one hundred eighty separate instructional days with the current school calendar, the county board shall schedule instruction on any available noninstructional day, regardless of the purpose for which the day originally was scheduled, or an out-of-calendar day and the day will be used for instruction of students: Provided, That the provisions of this subsection do not apply to:

(A) Holidays;

(B) Election day;

(C) Saturdays and Sundays.

(f) The instructional term shall commence and terminate on a date selected by the county board.

(g) The state board may not schedule the primary statewide assessment program more than thirty days prior to the end of the instructional year unless the state board determines that the nature of the test mandates an earlier testing date.

(h) The following applies to cocurricular activities:

(1) The state board shall determine what activities may be considered cocurricular;

(2) The state board shall determine the amount of instructional time that may be consumed by cocurricular activities; and

(3) Other requirements or restrictions the state board may provide in the rule required to be promulgated by this section.

(i) Extracurricular activities may not be used for instructional time.

(j) Noninstructional interruptions to the instructional day shall be minimized to allow the classroom teacher to teach.

(k) Prior to implementing the school calendar, the county board shall secure approval of its proposed calendar from the state board or, if so designated by the state board, from the state superintendent.

(l) In formulation of a school's calendar, a county school board shall hold at least two public meetings that allow parents, teachers, teacher organizations, businesses and other interested parties within the county to discuss the school calendar.  The public notice of the date, time and place of the public hearing must be published in a local newspaper of general circulation in the area as a Class II legal advertisement, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code.

(m) The county board may contract with all or part of the personnel for a longer term of employment.

(n) The minimum instructional term may be decreased by order of the state superintendent in any county declared a federal disaster area and where the event causing the declaration is substantially related to a reduction of instructional days.

(o) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the state board may grant a waiver to a county board for its noncompliance with provisions of chapter eighteen, eighteen-a, eighteen-b and eighteen-c of this code to maintain compliance in reaching the mandatory one hundred eighty separate instructional days established in this section.

(p)(1) Two weeks prior to Memorial Day all students shall take achievement tests in subjects as determined by the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE). The assessment may be the testing procedures currently being used. County boards shall, however, devise and administer assessment instruments for grades not currently being tested. The WVDE shall determine achievement criteria for each subject tested.

(2) Notwithstanding any provision in this article to the contrary, students who meet the achievement level set by WVDE in subdivision one of this subsection are not required to attend school past Memoria! Day. Students who do not score at the predetermined achievement level shall participate in reteach activities for ten additional school days after Memorial Day. At the end of the ten days of the reteach activities the students shall be retested, thus determining which students have achieved a passing grade. The current policy on retention and promotion will be followed in respect to students not achieving a satisfactory score. The status of students with exceptional needs shall be in accordance with current policy as established by the WVDE.

(p) (q) The state board shall promulgate a rule in accordance with the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this section.

(q)(r) The amendments to this section during the 2013 2017 regular session of the Legislature shall be effective for school years beginning on or after July 1, 2014, 2018, and the provisions of this section existing immediately prior to the 2013 2017 regular session of the Legislature remain in effect for school years beginning prior to July 1, 2014 2018. Nothing in the amendments to this section made during the 2017 regular session of the Legislature affects the current employment contracts of school personnel.

 

NOTE:  The purpose of this bill is to change the mandatory school instructional days from one hundred separate eighty days to a certain number of minutes depending on the grade. The bill permits excess minutes to be banked and used later in the school year. The bill establishes dates for when a school year begins and when it ends. The bill requires students to take achievement tests The bill permits students who test at certain level to not attend school past a certain date The bill retains certain current school policies.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.