SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7
(By Senators Bailey, Boley and Minear)
[Introduced February 28, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section two, article twelve thereof,
relating to education and supervision of free schools;
eliminating the office of state superintendent of free
schools as a constitutional board; providing that the powers
and duties of the office and board shall be performed by a
department or person to be prescribed by law; numbering and
designating the proposed amendment; and providing a
summarized statement of the purpose of the proposed
amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an
amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be
submitted to the voters of the State at the next general election
to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight,
which proposed amendment is that section two, article twelve
thereof be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE XII. EDUCATION.
§2. Supervision of free schools.
The supervision of the free schools of the State shall be
vested in a department within the executive branch of state
government to be prescribed by law, which department shall have
powers and perform duties as shall be prescribed by law.
Wherever in this constitution reference is made to the West
Virginia board of education or superintendent of free schools,
the reference shall henceforth be understood to mean,
respectively, the department or person specified by law as being
responsible for the performance of the powers and duties
previously vested in the board and superintendent. Until the
effective date of the law, the supervision of the free schools
shall continue to be vested in the West Virginia board of
education, and the state superintendent of free schools shall
continue to be the chief school officer of the state.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, this proposed
amendment is numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as the
"Education Reorganization Amendment", and the purpose of the
proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "To amend the State
Constitution to eliminate the office of the state superintendent
of free schools as a constitutional office and the West Virginia
board of education as a constitutional board, and to vest the responsibility for the exercise and performance of the powers and
duties of the state superintendent and state board in a
department of state government or person as shall be prescribed
by
law."
NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to eliminate the
office of the state superintendent of free schools as a
constitutional office and the West Virginia board of education as
a constitutional board. Powers and duties of the superintendent
and the board would be delegated to another department or person
by law.
This section has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.