H. B. 4390

         (By Delegates Butler, Pasdon, Ellem,

         Gearheart, Cooper, Storch, Folk,

         Kump, Cowles, Householder and Sobonya)

         [Introduced February 3, 2014; referred to the

         Committee on Education then Finance.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-1A-1, §18-1A-2, §18-1A-3, §18-1A-4 and §18-1A-5, all relating to public school curricular standards and assessments; definitions; development, establishment, and revision of curriculum standards; establishing Curriculum Content Standards Advisory Council; restrictions on collection of personally identifiable data; and conflict of law.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated §18-1A-1, §18-1A-2, §18-1A-3, §18-1A-4 and §18-1A-5, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 1A. DEVELOPING BETTER EDUCATION STANDARDS BASED ON EMPIRICALLY PROVEN TECHNIQUES.

§18-1A-1. Definitions.

    (a) For purposes of this article:

    (1) "State Board" means the West Virginia State Board of Education;

    (2) "Department" means the West Virginia State Department of Education;

    (3) "Education entity" means any agency or department of state or local government that exercises any responsibility with respect to K-12 public education in the State of West Virginia;

    (4) "State official" means any official in state or local government in West Virginia, whether elected or appointed; and

    (5) "Personally identifiable information" has the same meaning as that term is given in 34 C.F.R. Part 99.3, as defined by the version of that regulation in effect on December 31, 2013.

§18-1A-2. Development, establishment, and revision of curriculum standards.

    (a) Any actions taken by the state board or the department to advance the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, known in West Virginia as the Next Generation Standards, or the Next Generation Science Standards as of the effective date of this code section are void ab initio.

    (b) Upon the effective date of this code section, the West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools shall immediately initiate the procedure, outlined in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium Governance Structure Document (July 1, 2010, amended September 19, 2013), to withdraw the state from such consortium. All statewide k-12 tests and assessments shall be solely owned and solely controlled by the State of West Virginia and may not be in any way conditioned on, linked to, or controlled by any federally funded assessment consortium.

    (c) The State of West Virginia shall retain sole control over the development, establishment, and revision of curriculum standards established pursuant to this article. Neither the State Board of Education nor any other state education entity, nor any state official, may join any consortium or any other organization when participation in that consortium or organization would cede any measure of control over any aspect of West Virginia public education to entities outside the state, nor may any such person or entity condition or delay a decision on standards or curriculum on the decision of any consortium, organization, any other state government, or the federal government. No curriculum standards that were not developed under the sole authority of the State of West Virginia, including, but not limited to, the Next Generation Science Standards, the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies, the National Health Education Standards, and the National Sexuality Education Standards, and no standards that use the same model frameworks as such standards developed primarily by entities other than the State of West Virginia, may be adopted or implemented without public hearings held in each congressional district, an open comment period of one year, open hearings before a joint committee composed of the House Education Committee and Senate Education Committee, and approval by both houses of the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

§18-1A-3. Curriculum Content Standards Advisory Council.

    (a) Curriculum Content Standards Advisory Council.

    (1) Beginning on July 1, 2014, the state board shall establish a Curriculum Content Standards Advisory Council to advise the state board in creating and adopting world-class curriculum content standards that will lead to a broad liberal-arts education, resulting in college- and career-readiness, for all students. The advisory council shall include one curriculum director with expertise in curriculum and standards from the kindergarten through grade twelve education community; three parent representatives; one certified elementary teacher, one certified middle school teacher, and one certified high school teacher, each employed by a local school system or retired from teaching in public school and each with at least ten years' teaching experience in core curriculum; one professor from the mathematics department of a college of arts and sciences; one professor from the English literature department of a college of arts and sciences; one representative from a technical college; one representative from the business community; two local board members or superintendents from local school systems appointed by the chairperson of the House Education Committee; two local board members or superintendents from local school systems appointed by the chairperson of the Senate Education Committee; and two clinical psychologists or psychiatrists with expertise in child cognitive development.

    (2) All members of the advisory council must be citizens of the State of West Virginia for at least six months before appointment. Members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the advisory council. Members, as well as any members of their families or their business entities, may not have conflicts of interest with regard to actions taken by the advisory council and may not accept any money, meals, trips, gifts, or any other favors from any person, business, or organization that would benefit, financially or otherwise, from actions taken by the advisory council. The advisory council shall be as fairly balanced as reasonably possible with members from each of the congressional districts representing urban, suburban, and rural areas. Advisory council members shall serve no longer than four years. Each member rotating off the advisory council shall be replaced within thirty days.

    (b) Subcommittees.

    (1) The advisory council shall establish a subcommittee for each of the subject areas of the curriculum content standards. Subcommittee members need not be members of the advisory council. Each subcommittee shall include among its required members at least the following: Three certified teachers employed by local school systems or retired from teaching, whether in public or private schools, and having at least ten years of teaching experience with at least five years in the academic content area of the subcommittee; three parents of students enrolled in public schools; three professors, each with a doctoral degree in the specific academic content area of the subcommittee, who are employed by or have retired from a four-year institution of higher education; one member appointed by the chairperson of the House Education Committee; and one member appointed by the chairperson of the Senate Education Committee. Subcommittees that address high school subject areas may also include one representative from a technical college and one representative from the business community.

    (2) All members of each subcommittee must be citizens of the State of West Virginia for at least six months before appointment. Members shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenditures incurred in the performance of their duties as members of the advisory council. Members, as well as any members of their families or their business entities, may not have financial conflicts of interest with regard to actions taken by the subcommittees or the advisory council and may not accept any money, meals, trips, gifts, or any other favors from any person, business, or organization that would benefit, financially or otherwise, from actions taken by the subcommittees or the advisory council. Subcommittees shall be as fairly balanced as reasonably possible with members from urban, suburban, and rural areas. Subcommittee members shall serve no longer than four years. Each required member rotating off a subcommittee shall be replaced within thirty days.

    (3) Each subcommittee shall review the standards in effect in West Virginia as of May 11, 2010, in its subject area to ensure that they contain clarity, rigor, content, depth, and coherence. For perspective, each subcommittee shall also examine curriculum reform efforts over the past few decades to ensure that current efforts do not take place without historical context. The subcommittee shall:

    (A) Review relevant research on the subject area and identify areas in the standards where revision is appropriate;

    (B) Examine curriculum standards for the subject area adopted by other states;

    (C) Collect feedback on the standards from teachers, parents, and other citizens and make feedback available to the public via Internet posting; and

    (D) Solicit feedback from appropriate content-related organizations, associations, and societies.

    (4) Each subcommittee shall prepare proposed revisions of the standards to reflect its findings from the research conducted pursuant to subdivision (3) of this subsection.

    (5) Each subcommittee, through the Department of Education, shall provide an electronic copy of the revised standards to each local school system and shall make such revised standards available to the public via Internet posting. Each local school system shall notify parents or guardians of its students that the curriculum content standards are being revised and that there is an opportunity to provide feedback. Each subcommittee, through the Department of Education, shall also provide an electronic copy of the revised standards to the relevant department heads of each institution of higher education in this state. An electronic copy of all high school standards shall be sent to the department heads of the content areas addressed by those standards; for example, English language arts standards shall be sent to the heads of the English departments, history standards shall be sent to the heads of the history departments, and so on. High school mathematics standards shall be sent to the heads of departments of mathematics, engineering, physical and biological sciences, and computer science. A public comment period of at least sixty days shall be provided, and each subcommittee shall conduct at least one public hearing for the purpose of permitting the public to comment on the rigor, clarity, and reasonableness of the standards developed by the subcommittee. The standards shall be revised as appropriate.

    (6) At the conclusion of the revision process, each subcommittee shall submit the revised standards to the advisory council for its review and approval.

    (c) Upon receipt of the revised standards from the subcommittees, the advisory council shall review and finalize the standards before forwarding them to the state board. The state board shall then present the standards during at least one public hearing held in every congressional district and at an open hearing before a joint committee composed of the House Education Committee and the Senate Education Committee. After considering the findings and recommendations of the Advisory Council, the state board shall make such changes in the curriculum standards as which are in the best interest of the state and its citizens and shall report such proposed changes to local school systems and the Legislature for review.

    (d) During the process outlined in this section, until the new standards are adopted, the standards in effect prior to the common core standards were adopted on May 12, 2010, shall remain in effect.

    (e) Beginning in 2014, the K-12 standards for mathematics, history, science, and English shall be reviewed pursuant to this section at least every eight years, with the review for only one subject being initiated in a given year. Notwithstanding this paragraph, the standards for English Language Arts shall be reviewed this year and then again no more than eight years hence, and the standards for math shall be reviewed this year and then again no more than six years hence.

§18-1A-4. Restrictions on collection of personally identifiable data.

    (a) On and after July 1, 2014, neither the state board, the department, nor any other education entity shall:

    (1) Collect personally identifiable information on any student or teacher without receiving prior affirmative written consent, and only after providing the parent or teacher with a written explanation of why the information is being requested, and what it will be used for.

    (2) Expend any funds, whether from federal grants, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds, or elsewhere, on construction, enhancement, or expansion of any state-wide longitudinal data system designed to track students beyond their K-12 careers, or to compile their personal, nonacademic information beyond what is necessary either for administrative functions directly related to the student's education, for evaluation of academic programs and student progress, or for compliance with the requirements of the United States Department of Education as outlined in subdivision (5) of this subsection;

    (3) Share any personally identifiable information compiled on students or teachers with any entity outside the State of West Virginia, except as provided in this section: Provided, That this does not include hard data storage located in safe locations outside the state, or cloud data storage as long as the cloud computing provider agrees in writing that it will not redisclose such information or use the information for any secondary purposes that benefit the provider or any third party, including, but not limited to, online behavioral advertising, creating or correcting an individual or household profile primarily for the provider's benefit, the sale of data for any commercial purpose, or any other commercial for-profit activity;

    (4) Share any personally identifiable information about any student or teacher with any entity that will use that information for development of commercial products or services or that will transfer that data to any other entity for use in development of commercial products or services;

    (5) Share any personally identifiable information about any student or teacher with any entity inside the State of West Virginia unless that entity is an education agency or institution that will not:

    (A) Use the data to develop commercial products or services;

    (B) Transfer the data to any other entity to use in development of commercial products or services; or

    (C) Use or transfer the data pursuant to any economic or workforce development research or initiatives.

    (6) Share any personally identifiable information on students and teachers with the United States Department of Education unless:

    (A) Such sharing is required by the United States Department of Education as a condition of receiving a federal education grant;

    (B) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to use the data only to evaluate the program or programs funded by the grant;

    (C) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing that the data will not be used for any research beyond that related to evaluation of the program or programs funded by the grant, unless the parent or guardian of any student, and any teacher, whose data will be used for such research affirmatively consents in writing to that use;

    (D) The United States Department of Education agrees in writing to destroy the data upon completion of the evaluation of the program or programs for which the data were compiled; and

    (E) The grant or program in connection with which the data are required is one authorized by federal statute or by federal rule properly promulgated under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Section 500, et seq.

    (b) If the United States Department of Education requires, as a condition of making a federal education grant, that the grant recipient shares student or teacher data under circumstances that do not comply with subdivision (5) of subsection (e) of this section, the grant recipient shall provide written notification to the parents or guardians of every student whose data will be shared or every teacher whose data will be shared of the following:

    (1) That the grant recipient has been required to turn over the student's or teacher's data to the United States Department of Education;

    (2) That neither the grant recipient nor any other entity within the State of West Virginia will have control over the use or further sharing of that data; and

    (3) The contact information, including telephone number and e-mail address, of the United States Department of Education official who demands the data.

    (c) No state or national student assessment may be adopted or administered in this state that collects any type of psychological data, including assessment of noncognitive skills or attributes, psychological resources, mindsets, learning strategies, effortful control, attitudes, dispositions, social skills, or other interpersonal or intrapersonal resources.

§18-1A-5. Conflict of law.

    All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this article are repealed.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to improve the education of West Virginia Children by developing better education standards that are based on empirically proven techniques by education professionals who are from West Virginia. This bill also better protects student's and teacher's private information, and helps return control of the child's private information to the parents or guardians.

    This article is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.