ENROLLED
H. B. 4413
(By Delegates Mezzatesta, Williams, Paxton, Davis, Fletcher,
Houston and Calvert)
[Passed March 9, 2000; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section twenty-six, article two,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to establishing
regional education service agencies; purposes; authority to
implement regional services; and compensation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-six, article two, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-26. Establishment of multicounty regional educational
service agencies; purposes; authority to implement
regional services.
(a) In order to consolidate and administer more effectively
existing educational programs and services so individual districts
will have more discretionary moneys for educational improvement and in order to equalize and extend educational opportunities, the
state board of education shall establish multicounty regional
educational service agencies for the purpose of providing high
quality, cost effective educational programs and services to the
county school systems, and shall make such rules as may be
necessary for the effective administration and operation of the
agencies.
(b) In furtherance of these purposes, the board of directors
of each regional educational service agency shall continually
explore possibilities for the delivery of services on a regional
basis which will facilitate equality in the educational offerings
among counties in its service area, permit the delivery of high
quality educational programs at a lower per student cost,
strengthen the cost effectiveness of education funding resources,
reduce administrative and/or operational costs, including the
consolidation of administrative, coordinating and other county
level functions into region level functions, and promote the
efficient administration and operation of the public school systems
generally.
Technical, operational, programmatic or professional services
are among the types of services appropriate for delivery on a
regional basis.
(c) In addition to performing the services and functions
required by the provisions of this or any other section of this
code, a regional educational service agency may implement regional programs and services by a majority vote of its board of directors.
When the vote is not unanimous, the board of directors shall file
a plan for the service or program delivery with the state board
describing the program or service, the manner of delivery and the
projected savings and/or the improved quality of the program or
service. The state board shall promulgate rules requiring a county
board that declines to participate in the programs or services to
show just cause for not participating and the estimated savings
accruing to the county from the program or services. If a county
board fails to show that savings will accrue to the county or that
the quality of the program will be significantly and positively
affected as a result of its decision not to participate, the state
board shall withhold from the county's foundation allowance for
administrative cost the lesser of the amount of the estimated
savings or the allocation for the county's foundation allowance for
administrative cost.
(d) The state board, in conjunction with the various regional
educational service agencies, shall develop an effective model for
the regional delivery of instruction in subjects where there exists
low student enrollment or a shortage of certified teachers or where
the delivery method substantially improves the quality of an
instructional program. The model shall incorporate an interactive
electronic classroom approach to instruction. To the extent funds
are appropriated or otherwise available, county boards or regional
educational service agencies may adopt and utilize the model for the delivery of the instruction.
(e) Each county board of education shall use the uniform
integrated regional computer information system recommended by the
state board of education for data collection and reporting to the
state department of education. County boards of education shall
bear the cost of and fully participate in the implementation of the
system by: (1) Acquiring necessary, compatible equipment to
participate in the regional computer information system; or (2)
following receipt of a waiver from the state superintendent,
operating a comparable management information system at a lower
cost which provides at least all uniform integrated regional
computer information system software modules and allows on-line,
interactive access for schools and the county board of education
office onto the statewide communications network. All data formats
shall be the same as for the uniform integrated regional
information system and will reside at the regional computer. Any
county granted a waiver shall receive periodic notification of any
incompatibility or deficiency in its system. No county shall
expand any system either through the purchase of additional
software or hardware that does not advance the goals and
implementation of the uniform integrated regional computer
information system as recommended by the state board.
(f) Each regional educational service agency shall submit a
report and evaluation of the services provided and utilized by the
schools within each respective region. Furthermore, each school shall submit an evaluation of the services provided by the regional
educational service agency, which shall include an evaluation of
the regional educational service agency program, suggestions as to
how to improve utilization and the individual school's plan as to
development of new programs and enhancement of existing programs.
The reports is due by the first day of January of each year and
shall be made available to the state board of education,
the standing committees on education of the West Virginia Senate
and House of Delegates and to the secretary of education and the
arts.
(g) A regional board may receive and disburse funds from the
state and federal governments, member counties, gifts and grants.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, employees of regional educational service agencies shall
be reimbursed for travel, meals and lodging at the same rate as
state employees under the travel management office of the
department of administration.
(i) Regional educational service agencies shall hold at least
one half of their regular meetings during hours other than those of
a regular school day.
(j) Regional educational service agencies shall serve as the
lead agency for computer installation, maintenance and repair for
the basic skills computer program. Each regional educational
service agency shall submit a quarterly status report on turn
around time for computer installation, maintenance and repair to the state superintendent of schools who shall then submit a report
to the legislative oversight commission on education
accountability. The status report for turn around time for
computer installation, maintenance and repair shall be based on the
following suggested time schedules:
Network File Servers............forty-eight hours
Local Area Networks.............forty-eight hours
West Virginia Education
Information System..............twenty-four hours
Computer Workstations...........three to five days
Printers........................three to five days
Other Peripherals...............three to five days
Regional educational service agencies shall also submit an audit
report to the legislative oversight commission on education
accountability each year.
(k) Pursuant to the processes and provisions of section
twenty-three-a, article two, chapter eighteen of this code, each
regional educational service agency shall provide coordinated
professional development programs within its region to meet the
professional development goals established by the state board.
(l) Notwithstanding any other provision of the code to the
contrary, county board members serving on regional education
service agency boards may receive compensation at a rate not to
exceed one hundred dollars per meeting attended, not to exceed
fifteen meetings per year. County board members serving on regional education service agency boards may be reimbursed for travel at the
same rate as state employees under the rules of the travel
management office of the department of administration.
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