WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2023 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 3375

By Delegates E. Pritt, Walker, Hornbuckle, Pushkin, Young, Hansen, Garcia, Williams, and Fluharty

[Introduced February 13, 2023; Referred to the Committee on Education]

A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-43 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to additional disciplinary issues to be addressed by the Department of Education; reports to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability; and data of the Department of Education dashboard for public access.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-43. Addressing disciplinary action in West Virginia schools.

(a) The Department of Education shall analyze statewide data collected on school disciplinary action and, based on the findings of this data, develop a statewide program intended to address the number of disciplinary actions taken by school personnel and county school boards against students enrolled in grades K-12. This program will include information by subgroup, including, but not limited to, race, gender, and disability.

(b) County boards of education shall implement the program outlined in subsection (a) of this section with the ultimate goal of improving disciplinary outcomes.

(c) The Department of Education shall prepare a report on the findings of statewide disciplinary data and, in addition to these findings, provide a summary of the progress of the statewide program and individual county programs, evaluating the extent to which the programs have successfully led to making a positive impact in disciplinary actions in West Virginia school systems. The Department of Education shall present these findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years starting in the year 2022.

(d) The Department of Education shall:

(1) Provide an annual report on school discipline to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability with a status on progress made with the state wide school discipline plan In addressing school discipline state wide;

(2) Provide the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability with periodic updates on state wide school discipline during legislative interim meetings; and

(3) Include school discipline data on the Department of Education dashboard for public access.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to itemize additional disciplinary issues to be addressed by the Department of Education and reports to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.  It also requires the Department of Education to include discipline data on its dashboard for public access.

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