Senate Bill No. 471

(By Senators Hunter, Boley, Mitchell, Oliverio, Redd, Rowe and Minard)

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[Introduced March 13, 2001; referred to the Committee on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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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 recognizes that the office of the secretary of education and the arts has been funding programs that strengthen student learning ability on a year-to-year basis. It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a more ongoing method to fund programs that strengthen student learning ability.

(b) In order to promote the expansion of programs that strengthen student learning ability, the Legislature may appropriate additional funds to the state board for the implementation of the programs: Provided, That nothing in this section requires any specific level of funding by the Legislature.

(c) All the funds which are appropriated for the purpose set forth in 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 or any other indicators the state board determines appropriate.

(d) No school is eligible to receive the funds provided for in this section unless the proposed program includes the following:

(1) Assessment of the cognitive abilities of students;

(2) Physical screening that identifies barriers to learning;

(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.

(e) 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;

(2) Specific factors and a method for determining need for each school applying for the funds; 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.




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.