H. B. 2884
(By Delegates Anderson and Armstead)
[Introduced March 16, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections nine and ten, article nine-a,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to public
school support; foundation allowance; foundation allowance for
other current expense and substitute employees and academic
materials, supplies and equipment, and to improve
instructional programs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections nine and ten, article nine-a, chapter eighteen
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
§18-9A-9. Foundation allowance for other current expense and
substitute employees.
The total allowance for other current expense and substitute
employees shall be the sum of the following: Provided, That for
the fiscal year beginning the first day of July, two thousand one,
and thereafter, each of the three amounts set forth in subdivisions
(1), (2) and (3) of this section shall may not exceed the preceding
year's allowance by more than four and one-half percent:
(1) For current expense, for the year one thousand nine
hundred ninety--ninety-one and thereafter ten percent of the sum
of the computed state allocation for professional educators and
service personnel as determined in sections four and five of this
article. Distribution to the counties shall be made proportional
to the average of each county's average daily attendance for the
preceding year and the county's second month net enrollment; plus
(2) For professional educator substitutes or current expense,
two and five-tenths percent of the computed state allocation for
professional educators as determined in section four of this
article. Distribution to the counties shall be made proportional
to the number of professional educators authorized for the county
in compliance with sections four and five-a of this article; plus
(3) For service personnel substitutes or current expense, two
and five-tenths percent of the computed state allocation for
service personnel as determined in section five of this article.
Distribution to the counties shall be made proportional to the number of service personnel authorized for the county in compliance
with sections five and five-a of this article; plus
(4) For academic materials, supplies and equipment for use in
instructional programs, two hundred dollars multiplied by the
number of professional instructional personnel employed in the
schools of the county. Distribution shall be made to each county
for allocation to the faculty senate of each school in the county
on the basis of two hundred dollars per professional instructional
personnel employed at the school. Faculty senate means a faculty
senate created pursuant to section five, article five-a of this
chapter. Decisions for the expenditure of such funds shall be made
at the school level by the faculty senate in accordance with the
provisions of said section five, article five-a and shall may not
be used to supplant the current expense expenditures of the county.
Beginning on the first day of September, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, and every September thereafter Each September, county
boards shall forward to each school for the use by faculty senates
the appropriation specified in this section. Each school shall be
is responsible for keeping accurate records of expenditures.
§18-9A-10. Foundation allowance to improve instructional programs.
(a) For each school year beginning on the first day of July,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight two thousand one, and
thereafter, the sum of the allocations shall be is the amount appropriated by the Legislature for such those purposes:
(1) One hundred fifty thousand dollars shall be allocated to
to each county;
(2) Distribution to the counties of the remainder of these
funds shall be made proportional to the average of each county's
average daily attendance for the preceding year and the county's
second month net enrollment. Moneys allocated by provision of this
section shall be used to improve instructional programs according
to a plan for instructional improvement which the affected county
board shall file with the state board by the first day of August of
each year, to be approved by the state board by the first day of
September of that year, if such the plan substantially complies
with standards to be adopted by the state board: Provided, That
notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary,
moneys allocated by provision of this section may also be used in
the implementation and maintenance of the uniform integrated
regional computer information system; and
(3) Up to twenty-five ten percent of this allocation may be
used to employ professional educators and service personnel in
counties after all applicable provisions of sections four and five
of this article have been fully utilized.
Prior to the use of any funds from this section for personnel
costs, the county board must receive authorization from the state superintendent of schools. The state superintendent shall require
the district board to demonstrate: (1) (A) The need for the
allocation; (2) (B) efficiency and fiscal responsibility in
staffing; and (3) (C) sharing of services with adjoining counties
and the regional educational service agency for that county in the
use of the total local district board budget. District boards
shall make application apply for available funds for the next
fiscal year by the first day of May of each year. On or before the
first day of June, the state superintendent shall review all
applications and notify applying district boards of the
distribution of the allocation. The funds shall be distributed
during the fiscal year as appropriate. The state superintendent
shall require the county board to demonstrate the need for an
allocation for personnel based upon the county's inability to meet
the requirements of state law or state board policy: Provided,
however That the funds available for personnel under this section
may not be used to increase the total number of professional
noninstructional personnel in the central office beyond four. The
instructional improvement plan shall be made available for
distribution to the public at the office of each affected county
board.
(b) An amount not less than the amount required to meet debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued prior to the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and the debt
service requirements on any revenue bonds issued for the purpose of
refunding revenue bonds issued prior to the first day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, shall be paid into the
school building capital improvements fund created by section six,
article nine-d of this chapter, and shall be is used solely for the
purposes of that article. The school building capital improvements
fund shall may not be utilized to meet the debt services
requirement on any revenue bonds or revenue refunding bonds for
which moneys contained within the school building debt service fund
have been pledged for repayment pursuant to that section.
When the school improvement bonds secured by funds from the
school building capital improvements fund mature, the state board
of education shall annually deposit an amount equal to twenty-four
million dollars from the funds allocated in this section into the
school construction fund created pursuant to the provisions of
section six, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of this code to
continue funding school facility construction and improvements.
(c) Any project funded by the school building authority shall
be in accordance with a comprehensive educational facility plan
which must be approved by the state board and the school building
authority.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase educational
spending limitations on current expense, professional educator and
service personnel substitutes by school boards from 4% of the
preceding year's allowance to 4 ½%. The bill also provides that
funds from school improvement bonds shall be deposited in an amount
of $24,000,000 into the school construction fund.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.