ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2349
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect July 1, 1999.]
AN ACT to amend article four, chapter eighteen-a of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
two-a, relating to providing a salary bonus for classroom
teachers who hold a valid certificate issued by the national
board of professional teaching standards and reimbursement
for teachers in the process of receiving certification.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article four, chapter eighteen-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section two- a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
§18A-4-2a. State minimum salary bonus for classroom teachers with national board certification.
(a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the rigorous standards and processes for certification by the
national board for professional teaching standards (NBPTS) helps
to promote the quality of teaching and learning. Therefore,
classroom teachers in the public schools of West Virginia should
be encouraged to achieve national board certification through a
reimbursement of expenses and an additional salary bonus which
reflects their additional certification, to be paid in accordance
with subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-eight, and subject to legislative appropriation,
one thousand dollars shall be paid annually at the conclusion of
the first semester to each classroom teacher who holds a valid
certificate issued by the national board of professional teaching
standards for the life of the certification, but in no event more
than ten years for any one certification.
(c) Subject to legislative appropriation, one thousand
dollars shall be paid for reimbursement once to each teacher who
enrolls in the program for the national board for professional
teaching standards certification and one thousand dollars shall
be paid for reimbursement once to each teacher who completes the
national board for professional teaching standards certification.
Teachers who achieve national board for professional teaching
standards certification may be reimbursed a maximum of six
hundred dollars for expenses actually incurred while obtaining
the national board for professional teaching standards certification.
(d) The state board shall limit the number of teachers who
receive the initial reimbursements to one hundred teachers
annually. The state board shall establish selection criteria for
the one hundred teachers by the legislative rule required
pursuant to subsection (g) of this section.
(e) Funding for the nNational bBoard for pProfessional tTeaching
sStandards certifications shall be administered by the state
department of education from an appropriation established for
that purpose by the Legislature. If funds appropriated by the
Legislature to accomplish the purposes of this section are
insufficient, the state department shall prorate the
reimbursements for expenses and salary bonuses and shall request
of the Legislature, at its next regular session, funds sufficient
to accomplish the purposes of this section, including needed
retroactive payments.
(f) Nothing is this section shall be construed to require any level of appropriation by the Legislature nor to create any
entitlement for payments pursuant to the provisions of this
section.
(g) The state board shall promulgate legislative rules
pursuant to article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
to implement the provisions of this section.