H. B. 2679
(By Delegates Mezzatesta, Williams, Harrison, Hall,
C. White and Shelton)
(Originating in the Committee on Education)
[January 14, 1998]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article nine-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and
reenact section thirteen, article nine-b of said chapter,
all relating to the clarification of increased enrollment
funding; and granting county boards of education the
authority to select accounting firms to perform annual
audits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section thirteen,
article nine-b of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
§18-9A-15. Allowance for increased enrollment.
To provide for the support of increased net enrollments in
the counties in a school year over the net enrollments used in
the computation of total state aid for that year, there shall be
appropriated for that purpose from the general revenue fund an amount equal to the average total state aid per net pupil
multiplied by the total of all of the increases in the net
enrollments of the counties made by comparing the most recent
reports of net enrollment for the second school month to the
immediately previous year's reports for the same school month.
Upon determination of the several increases in the
respective counties' net enrollments, as of the close of the
second school month, each county showing such increase shall be
allocated an amount equal to that county's average per net pupil
total state aid multiplied by the increase in that county's net
enrollment determined as provided heretofore. Such allocations
shall be distributed not later than the thirty-first day of
December of each year to the counties having increases in net
enrollment as heretofore provided. If the amount appropriated
for this purpose shall not be sufficient to provide payment in
full for the total of these several allocations, each county
allocation shall be reduced to an amount which is proportionate
to the appropriation compared to the total of the several
allocations, and the allocations as thus adjusted shall be
distributed to the counties as provided in this section:
Provided, That the governor shall request a supplemental
appropriation at the next legislative session for the reduced
amount.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to require any
specific level of funding by the Legislature.
§18-9B-13. Inspection and audit of school finance
administration.
The board of finance may, through its duly authorized
representatives, make inspections and examinations of the fiscal
administration of a county school district. The inspection and
examination may extend to any matter or practice subject to
regulation by the state board. Regular and special audits shall
be made by the tax commissioner, as required by law, but the The
board may make selective audits to determine the accuracy of
statements and reports made by a county board or superintendent.
The report of the examination shall be certified to the
county board of education, together with instructions for the
correction of procedures and practices found to be not in
accordance with the requirements of the state board. The county
board shall comply with the instructions forthwith.
The state board, through its duly authorized
representatives, shall have full access to all books, records,
papers and documents of the county board of education.
A board of education may elect to have its books, records
and accounts audited by an independent public accountant in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and
"Government Auditing Standards" issued by the Comptroller General
of the United States and forward a copy of the report to the
state tax commissioner, which shall be found, declared and
determined to be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of
article nine, chapter six of this code pertaining to the annual
audit by the state tax commissioner. A copy of the report shall
also be forwarded to the state board of education within thirty
days of receipt of the report.