H. B. 2835
(By Delegates Williams, Fletcher, Hubbard, Mathews and
Paxton)
[Introduced March 12, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter eighteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section thirty-five,
relating to expanding the use of programs to strengthen
student learning ability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, 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
thirty-five, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-35. Programs to strengthen student learning ability.
(a) The Legislature finds that teachers at schools which have
implemented programs to strengthen student learning ability are
reporting substantial improvement in the performance of students referred to the programs. The Legislature further finds that the
programs are being implemented with funding grants from the office
of the secretary of education and the arts. The Legislature also
finds that the funds granted by the secretary of education and the
arts have been from the unclassified line item appropriations and
appropriations for community schools mini grants and that the
grants have been made on a year-to-year basis. It is the intent of
the Legislature through this section to establish a more formal
method to fund programs that strengthen student learning ability.
(b) The state board shall promulgate rules in accordance with
article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement
the provisions of this section. The rules shall include, but are
not limited to:
(1) A procedure for schools to apply for the funds to
implement programs to strengthen student learning ability in
accordance with the provisions of this section;
(2) Specific factors and a method for determining need for
each school applying for the funds and judging applications for
funds on a competitive basis; and
(3) A determination of the maximum percentage of total funds
appropriated in accordance with this section which may be
distributed for use in grades nine through twelve so that the
priority for program implementation is at the pre-kindergarten and
elementary levels.
(c) No school is eligible to receive an award of funds
appropriated for the purposes of this section unless the proposed
program includes the following:
(1) Assessment of the cognitive abilities of students;
(2) Physical screening that identifies barriers to a student's
ability to learn;
(3) Development of a student-specific program to improve
student learning ability based on the results of the assessment and
physical screening;
(4) Administration of learning development exercises that
strengthen the ability of students to learn; and
(5) An evaluation of the program's impact, including factors
such as student test scores and other measures of student
performance, the program's impact on special education referrals,
program cost, and other information considered important for
judging the value of the program.
(d) All the funds which are appropriated for the purposes of
this section shall be distributed to schools based upon need as
determined by the state board. In determining need, the state
board may consider such things as the assessment test scores of the
students, percentage of students who are enrolled in special
education programs, dropout rates, attendance rates, the number of
at-risk students, monetary and in-kind resources available from
other sources that will be committed to the program, and any other indicators the state board determines appropriate.
(e) The Legislature may appropriate funds to the department of
education for the implementation of the programs to strengthen
student learning ability in accordance with the provisions of this
section. Nothing in this section requires any specific level of
funding by the Legislature.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand the use of
programs that strengthen student learning abilities.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.