Senate Bill No. 403

(By Senator Jones)

____________

[Introduced March 18, 1993; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

____________




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 requiring county boards of education to limit the number of pupils in each kindergarten and each first grade class to not more than fifteen pupils for each teacher for classes without a qualified aide; and to limit the number of pupils in each kindergarten and each first grade class to not more than twenty-one pupils for each teacher for classes with a qualified aide.

 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 yearone 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 the grade or grades in classrooms without a qualified aide and not more than twenty-one pupils in classrooms with a qualified aide. County boards of education shall ensure that each kindergarten session shall not have more than twenty fifteen pupils for each kindergarten teacher without the assistance of a qualified aide per session and not more than twenty-one pupils for each kindergarten teacher with the assistance of a qualified aide per session, unless the state superintendent has excepted a specific classroom or a specific kindergarten session upon application therefor by a county board of education.
County boards of education shall provide by the school year one thousand nine hundred eighty-four--eighty-five, ninety-three- -ninety-four, and continue thereafter, sufficient personnel, equipment and facilities as will ensure that each second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade classroom, or classrooms having two or more grades that include one or more of the second, 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 shallmaintain 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, 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 a classroom for the purposes of instruction in physical education, and (b) to permit more than twenty fifteen pupils per teacher in a specific kindergarten classroom and twenty-five pupils per teacher in a specific classroom in grades one two 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 fifteen pupils per teacher in first grade classrooms andthe fifteen pupils per kindergarten teacher per session limit or the twenty-five pupils per teacher limit in grades one two through six is waived in schools where the schoolwide pupil-teacher ratio is twenty-five or less in grades one two 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 fifteen pupils per session, any first grade teacher who has more than fifteen pupils per classroom and any classroom teacher of grades one two through six who has more than twenty-five pupils shall be paid additional compensation based on the affected classroom teacher's average daily salary divided by twenty fifteen for kindergarten and first grade teachers or twenty-five for teachers of grades one two 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. Thestate 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 require county boards of education to limit the number of pupils in each kindergarten session and each first grade class to not more than fifteen pupils for each teacher without the assistance of a qualified aide and not more than twenty-one pupils for each teacher with the assistance of a qualified aide.

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