H. B. 2525
(By Delegates Campbell, Williams, Perry and Beach)
[Introduced
February 21, 2005
; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-13 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to removing the requirement to
contract for independent evaluation and report to Legislative
Oversight Commission every two years on character education
program in public schools.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-2-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-13. Character education integration.
(a) The State Board shall establish a comprehensive approach
to integrate character education into all aspects of school
culture, school functions and existing curriculum.
(b) The State Board shall require all public schools that
operate from preschool to grade twelve to develop and integrate components of character development into their existing curriculum.
The schools may incorporate such programs as "life skills,"
"responsible students," or any other program encompassing any of
the following components:
(1) Honesty;
(2) Caring;
(3) Citizenship;
(4) Justice;
(5) Fairness;
(6) Respect;
(7) Responsibility;
(8) Voting;
(9) Academic achievement;
(10) Completing homework assignments;
(11) Improving daily attendance;
(12) Avoiding and resolving conflicts;
(13) Alternatives to violence;
(14) Contributing to an orderly positive school environment;
(15) Participating in class;
(16) Resisting social peer pressures to smoke, drink and use
drugs;
(17) Developing greater self-esteem and self-confidence;
(18) Effectively coping with social anxiety;
(19) Increasing knowledge of the immediate consequences of substance abuse;
(20) Increasing knowledge of the consequences of one's
actions;
(21) The corrupting influence and chance nature of gambling;
and
(22) The value of decent, honest work.
(c) Character education shall be integrated into each public
school curriculum by the first day of September, two thousand one.
(d) The State Board shall assist county boards in developing
in-service training regarding integrated character education as
provided in this section.
(e) The state board shall contract with an independent agency
to evaluate the results of the character education as defined in
this section, and report the results to the legislative oversight
commission on education accountability during the September, two
thousand three interim meeting period, and every two years
thereafter.
(f) (e) The State Department of Education is encouraged to
utilize any existing moneys available to the Department for
existing character development programs, along with any new funds
appropriated for the purposes of this section, to secure the
maximum amount of any federal funding available for which the State
Department is eligible to receive for implementing character
development in the schools.
(g) (f) Funding for this initiative shall be derived from the
0313 unclassified account within the State Department of Education
Budget.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
that the State Board of Education contract for independent
evaluation of character education program in public schools every
two years and report the results to Legislative Oversight
Commission on Education Accountability.
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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