Senate Bill No. 380
(By Senators Dalton and Wiedebusch)
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[Introduced March 17, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eighteen-a, article five,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to maximum
teacher-pupil ratios.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eighteen-a, article five, 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 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-18a. Maximum teacher-pupil ratio.
County boards of education shall provide, by the school year
one thousand nine hundred eighty-three--eighty-four, ninety-
three--ninety-four and thereafter, sufficient personnel,
equipment and facilities as will ensure that each first and
second grade classroom, or classrooms having two or more grades
that include either the first or second grades shall not have
more than twenty-five fifteen pupils for each teacher of thegrade or grades and shall not have more than twenty pupils for
each kindergarten teacher per session, unless the state
superintendent has excepted a specific classroom upon application
therefor by a county board.
County boards shall provide by the school year one thousand
nine hundred eighty-four--eighty-five, and continue thereafter,
sufficient personnel, equipment and facilities as will ensure
that each third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade classroom, or
classrooms having two or more grades that include one or more of
the third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades, shall not have more
than twenty-five pupils for each teacher of the grade or grades.
Beginning with the school year one thousand nine hundred
eighty-six--eighty-seven, and thereafter, no county shall
maintain a greater number of classrooms having two or more grades
that include one or more of the grade levels referred to in this
section than were in existence in said county as of the first day
of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-three: Provided,
That for the prior school years, and only if there is
insufficient classroom space available in the school or county,
a county may maintain one hundred ten percent of such number of
classrooms.
During the school year one thousand nine hundred eighty-
four--eighty-five, ninety-three--ninety-four, and thereafter, the
state superintendent is authorized, consistent with sound
educational policy, (a) to permit on a statewide basis, in grades
four through six, more than twenty-five pupils per teacher in aclassroom for the purposes of instruction in physical education,
and (b) to permit more than twenty pupils per teacher in a
specific kindergarten classroom and twenty-five fifteen pupils
per teacher in a specific classroom in grades one and two, and
twenty-five pupils per teacher in a specific class room in grades
three through six during a school year in the event of
extraordinary circumstances as determined by the state
superintendent after application by a county board of education.
The state board shall establish guidelines for the
exceptions authorized in this section, but in no event shall the
superintendent except classrooms having more than three pupils
above the pupil-teacher ratio as set forth in this section.
The requirement for approval of an exception to exceed the
twenty pupils per kindergarten teacher per session limit or the
twenty-five fifteen pupils per teacher limit in grades one
through six and two or the twenty-five pupils per teacher limit
in grades three through six is waived in schools where the
schoolwide pupil-teacher ratio is twenty-five or less in grades
one through six: Provided, That a teacher shall not have more
than three pupils above the teacher/pupil ratio as set forth in
this section. Any kindergarten teacher who has more than twenty
pupils per session and any classroom teacher of grades one
through six and two who has more than twenty-five fifteen pupils
and any classroom teacher in grades three through six who has
more than twenty-five pupils shall be paid additional
compensation based on the affected classroom teacher's averagedaily salary divided by twenty for kindergarten teachers or
twenty-five fifteen for teachers of grades one through six and
two, and twenty-five pupils for grades three through six for
every day times the number of additional pupils enrolled up to
the maximum pupils permitted in the teacher's classroom. All
such additional compensation shall be paid from county funds
exclusively.
No provision of this section is intended to limit the number
of pupils per teacher in a classroom for the purpose of
instruction in choral, band or orchestra music.
Each school principal shall assign students equitably among
the classroom teachers, taking into consideration reasonable
differences due to subject areas and/or grade levels.
The state board shall collect from each county board of
education information on class size and the number of pupils per
teacher for all classes in grades seven through twelve. The
state board shall report such information to the legislative
oversight commission on education accountability before the first
day of January of each year.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the teacher-
pupil ratio for first and second grade teachers to one teacher to
fifteen pupils.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.