H. B. 2052


(By Delegates Fleischauer, Hubbard, Stemple,
Williams and Kelley)
[Introduced Janaury 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article nine-a, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to public school support; and amending the foundation allowance for professional educators to allow an exemption to the cap on professional educators for counties with small population density.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article nine-a, 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 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.

§18-9A-4. Foundation allowance for professional educators.

The basic foundation allowance to the county for professional educators shall be the amount of money required to pay the state minimum salaries, in accordance with provisions of article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code, to the personnel employed: Provided, That in making this computation, no county shall may receive an allowance for the personnel which number is in excess of educators fifty-three and one-half professional educators to each one thousand students in adjusted enrollment: Provided, however, That any county not qualifying under the provision of section fourteen of this article is eligible for a growth rate in professional personnel in any one year not to exceed twenty percent of its total potential increase under this provision, except that in no case shall the limit be fewer than five professionals: That the state superintendent of schools is authorized in accordance with rules established by the state board and upon request of a county superintendent to waive the maximum ratio of fifty-three and one-half professional educators per one thousand students in adjusted enrollment as provided in this section in those cases where the state superintendent determines that student population density justifies this waiver: Provided further, That the number of and the allowance for personnel paid in part by state and county funds shall be prorated: And provided further, That where two or more counties join together in support of a vocational or comprehensive high school or any other program or service, the professional educators for the school or program may be prorated among the participating counties on the basis of each one's enrollment therein and that the personnel shall be considered within the above-stated limit: And provided further, That in the school year beginning the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, and in each school year thereafter, each county board shall establish and maintain a minimum ratio of fifty professional instructional personnel per one thousand students in adjusted enrollment: And provided further, That no permanent substitute shall may be included in the minimum ratio for professional instructional personnel. Permanent substitutes may be included in the computation for professional educators. For the purposes of this section, permanent substitute means a full-time employee who performs the duties of a day-to-day substitute: And provided further, That no county shall may have less than a total of five principals and central office administrators. Any county board which does not establish and maintain this minimum ratio shall suffer a pro rata reduction in the allowance for professional educators under this section: And provided further, That no county shall may be penalized if it has increases in enrollment during that school year: And provided further, That any county board which does not establish and maintain this minimum ratio shall utilize any and all allocations to it by provision of section fourteen of this article solely to employ professional instructional personnel until the minimum ratio is attained. Every county shall utilize methods other than reductions in force, such as attrition and early retirement, before implementing their reductions in force policy to comply with the limitations of this section. It is the intent of the Legislature that in planning reductions in force to comply with reduced ratios of professional educators to students in adjusted enrollment, county boards shall consider positions for elimination in the following order: (1) Central office administrators, (2) assistant principals, and (3) principals.
No county shall may increase the number of administrative personnel employed as either professional educators or pay grade "H" service personnel above the number which were employed, or for which positions were posted, on the thirtieth day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety, and, therefore, county boards shall whenever possible utilize classroom teachers for curriculum administrative positions through the use of modified or extended contracts: Provided, That the governor shall submit a recommendation to the Legislature at the beginning of the regular session thereof in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, which proposes a method for establishing a responsible level of administrative support for each county school system and a pay scale differentiation on a daily rate between classroom positions and administrative positions when all other factors are equal.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the state board of education to grant waivers to sparsely populated counties for relief from the ratio limitations on state funding of professional educators.

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