H. B. 2247
(By Delegates Faircloth, Douglas and Trump)
[Introduced
February 15, 2001
; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article nine-d, chapter eighteen of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen, relating to mandating the school building authority
to request an appropriation for school construction and
improvements in growth counties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article nine-d, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.
§18-9D-19. Appropriation request for growth counties.
(a) The Legislature finds:
(1) That growth counties have special needs regarding school
construction and improvements;
(2) That requiring full day, every day kindergarten has been
especially expensive for growth counties;
(3) That the use of enrollment figures from the previous year
for calculating an allocation in accordance with the state aid
formula also adds to the financial problems that growth counties
experience; and
(4) That although the allowance for increased enrollment helps
growth counties, it is intended for the operation of the schools
and is not sufficient for the school construction and improvement
needs of growth counties.
(b) Each year, the school building authority shall determine
which counties have experienced growth in net enrollment, as
defined in section two, article nine-a of this chapter, of one and
a half percent or more over the previous year. For the purposes of
this section, these counties shall be classified as "growth
counties."
(c) The school building authority also shall determine the amount that the regular school levy grew over the past fiscal year
in all of the growth counties as determined in subsection (b) of
this section.
(d) The school building authority shall request of the
governor and of the Legislature an appropriation in the amount
calculated in subsection (c) of this section.
(e) The school building authority shall promulgate rules
pursuant to article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
that implement this section and that include at least the
following:
(1) The school building authority may use the funds
appropriated pursuant to this section only for school construction
or improvements in counties classified as growth counties for
either the current or previous two fiscal years, as determined in
subsection (b) of this section; and
(2) The school building authority may use the funds
appropriated pursuant to this section only for school construction
or improvements in counties that the school building authority
determines need additional building space as a result of the
increase in net enrollment.
(f) Nothing in this section may be interpreted as requiring any appropriation by the Legislature.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the school
building authority to request an appropriation for school
construction and improvements in growth counties.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.