H. B. 4515
(By Delegates Mezzatesta, Stemple,
Pethtel and Williams)
[Introduced February 11, 2000; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section thirteen, article five, chapter
eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of said code,
all relating to expanding the personnel covered by job sharing
in the school system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirteen, article five, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended be amended and reenacted; and that section one, article
one, chapter eighteen-a of said code be amended and reenacted, all
to read as follows:
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-13. Authority of boards generally.
The boards, subject to the provisions of this chapter and the
rules of the state board, have authority:
(1) To control and manage all of the schools and school
interests for all school activities and upon all school property,
whether owned or leased by the county, including the authority to
require that records be kept of all receipts and disbursements of
all funds collected or received by any principal, teacher, student
or other person in connection with the schools and school
interests, any programs, activities or other endeavors of any
nature operated or carried on by or in the name of the school, or
any organization or body directly connected with the school, to
audit the records and to conserve the funds, which shall be
considered quasi-public moneys, including securing surety bonds by
expenditure of board moneys;
(2) To establish schools, from preschool through high school,
inclusive of vocational schools; and to establish schools and
programs, or both, for post high school instruction, subject to
approval of the state board of education;
(3) To close any school which is unnecessary and to assign the
pupils of the school to other schools: Provided, That the closing
shall be officially acted upon and teachers and service personnel
involved notified on or before the first Monday in April, in the
same manner as provided in section four of this article, except in
an emergency, subject to the approval of the state superintendent, or under subdivision (5) of this section;
(4) To consolidate schools;
(5) To close any elementary school whose average daily
attendance falls below twenty pupils for two months in succession
and send the pupils to other schools in the district or to schools
in adjoining districts. If the teachers in the closed school are
not transferred or reassigned to other schools, they shall receive
one month's salary;
(6)(a) To provide at public expense adequate means of
transportation, including transportation across county lines, for
all children of school age who live more than two miles distance
from school by the nearest available road; to provide at public
expense and according to such rules as the board may establish,
adequate means of transportation for school children participating
in board-approved curricular and extracurricular activities; and to
provide in addition thereto at public expense, by rules and within
the available revenues, transportation for those within two miles
distance; to provide in addition thereto, at no cost to the board
and according to rules established by the board, transportation for
participants in projects operated, financed, sponsored or approved
by the commission on aging: Provided, That all costs and expenses
incident in any way to transportation for projects connected with
the commission on aging shall be borne by the commission, or the
local or county chapter of the commission: Provided, however, That in all cases the school buses owned by the board of education
shall be driven or operated only by drivers regularly employed by
the board of education: Provided further, That the county board
may provide, under rules established by the state board, for the
certification of professional employees as drivers of board-owned
vehicles with a seating capacity of less than ten passengers used
for the transportation of pupils for school-sponsored activities
other than transporting students between school and home: And
provided further, That the use of the vehicles shall be limited to
one for each school-sponsored activity: And provided further, That
buses shall be used for extracurricular activities as provided in
this section only when the insurance provided for by this section
is in effect;
(b) To enter into agreements with one another to provide, on
a cooperative basis, adequate means of transportation across county
lines for children of school age subject to the conditions and
restrictions of subdivisions (6) and (8) of this section;
(7)(a) To lease school buses operated only by drivers
regularly employed by the board to public and private nonprofit
organizations or private corporations to transport school-age
children to and from camps or educational activities in accordance
with rules established by the board. All costs and expenses
incurred by or incidental to the transportation of the children
shall be borne by the lessee;
(b) To contract with any college or university or officially
recognized campus organizations to provide transportation for
college or university students, faculty or staff to and from the
college or university: Provided, That only college and university
students, faculty and staff are being transported. The contract
shall include consideration and compensation for bus operators,
repairs and other costs of service, insurance and any rules
concerning student behavior;
(8) To provide at public expense for insurance against the
negligence of the drivers of school buses, trucks or other vehicles
operated by the board; and if the transportation of pupils is
contracted, then the contract for the transportation shall provide
that the contractor shall carry insurance against negligence in an
amount specified by the board;
(9) To provide solely from county funds for all regular
full-time employees of the board all or any part of the cost of a
group plan or plans of insurance coverage not provided or available
under the West Virginia public employees insurance act;
(10) To employ teacher aides, to provide in-service training
for teacher aides, the training to be in accordance with rules of
the state board and, in the case of service personnel assuming
duties as teacher aides in exceptional children programs, to
provide a four-clock-hour program of training prior to the
assignment which shall, in accordance with rules of the state board, consist of training in areas specifically related to the
education of exceptional children;
(11) To establish and conduct a self-supporting dormitory for
the accommodation of the pupils attending a high school or
participating in a post high school program and of persons employed
to teach in the high school or post high school program;
(12) To employ legal counsel;
(13) To provide appropriate uniforms for school service
personnel;
(14) To provide at public expense and under rules as
established by any county board of education for the payment of
traveling expenses incurred by any person invited to appear to be
interviewed concerning possible employment by the county board of
education;
(15) To allow or disallow their designated employees to use
publicly provided carriage to travel from their residences to their
workplace and return: Provided, That the usage is subject to the
supervision of the board and is directly connected with and
required by the nature and in the performance of the employee's
duties and responsibilities;
(16) To provide, at public expense, adequate public liability
insurance, including professional liability insurance for board
employees;
(17) To enter into agreements with one another to provide, on a cooperative basis, improvements to the instructional needs of
each county. The cooperative agreements may be used to employ
specialists in a field of academic study or support functions or
services, for the academic study. The agreements are subject to
approval by the state board of education;
(18) To provide information about vocational or higher
education opportunities to students with handicapping conditions.
The board shall provide in writing to the students and their
parents or guardians information relating to programs of vocational
education and to programs available at state funded institutions of
higher education. The information may include sources of available
funding, including grants, mentorships and loans for students who
wish to attend classes at institutions of higher education;
(19) To enter into agreements with one another, with the
approval of the state board, for the transfer and receipt of any
and all funds determined to be fair when students are permitted or
required to attend school in a county other than the county of
their residence; and
(20) To enter into job-sharing arrangements, as defined in
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of this code, with its
professional employees: Provided, That a job sharing arrangement
shall meet all the requirements relating to posting,
qualifications and seniority, as provided for in article four,
chapter eighteen-a of this code: Provided, however, That, notwithstanding any provisions of this code to the contrary, a
county board which enters into a job-sharing arrangement wherein
two or more professional employees voluntarily share an authorized
full-time position shall provide the mutually agreed upon employee
coverage but shall not offer insurance coverage to more than one of
the job sharing employees, including any group plan or group plans
available under the state public employees insurance act: Provided
further, That all employees involved in the job-sharing agreement
meet the requirements of subdivision (4), section two, article
sixteen, chapter five of this code.
"Quasi-public funds" as used in this section means any money
received by any principal, teacher, student or other person for the
benefit of the school system as a result of curricular or
noncurricular activities.
The board of each county shall expend under rules it
establishes for each child an amount not to exceed the proportion
of all school funds of the district that each child would be
entitled to receive if all the funds were distributed equally among
all the children of school age in the district upon a per capita
basis.
CHAPTER 18A. SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§18A-1-1. Definitions.
The definitions contained in section one, article one, chapter
eighteen shall be applicable to this chapter. In addition, the
following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings
pursuant thereto shall, unless the context clearly indicates a
different meaning, be construed as follows:
(a) "School personnel" means all personnel employed by a
county board of education whether employed on a regular full-time
basis, an hourly basis or otherwise. School personnel shall be
comprised of two categories: Professional personnel and service
personnel.
(b) "Professional personnel" means persons who meet the
certification and licensing requirements of the state, and shall
include the professional educator and other professional employees.
(c) "Professional educator" shall be synonymous with and shall
have the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one,
article one, chapter eighteen of this code. Professional educators
shall be classified as:
(1) "Classroom teacher" -- The professional educator who has
direct instructional or counseling relationship with pupils,
spending the majority of his or her time in this capacity.
(2) "Principal" -- The professional educator who as agent of
the board has responsibility for the supervision, management and
control of a school or schools within the guidelines established by
said board. The major area of such responsibility shall be the general supervision of all the schools and all school activities
involving pupils, teachers and other school personnel.
(3) "Supervisor" -- The professional educator who, whether by
this or other appropriate title, is responsible for working
primarily in the field with professional or other personnel in
instructional and other school improvement.
(4) "Central office administrator" -- The superintendent,
associate superintendent, assistant superintendent and other
professional educators, whether by these or other appropriate
titles, who are charged with the administering and supervising of
the whole or some assigned part of the total program of the
county-wide school system.
(d) "Other professional employee" means that person from
another profession who is properly licensed and is employed to
serve the public schools and shall include a registered
professional nurse, licensed by the West Virginia board of
examiners for registered professional nurses and employed by a
county board of education, who has completed either a two-year
(sixty-four semester hours) or a three-year (ninety-six semester
hours) nursing program.
(e) "Service personnel" means those who serve the school or
schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including such
areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation,
school lunch and as aides.
(f) "Principals academy" or "academy" means the academy
created pursuant to section two-b, article three-a of this chapter.
(g) "Center for professional development" means the center
created pursuant to section one, article three-a of this chapter.
(h) "Job-sharing arrangement" means a formal, written
agreement voluntarily entered into by a county board with two or
more of its professional employees who wish to divide between them
the duties and responsibilities of one authorized full-time
position.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added