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.