H. B. 2325


(By Delegates Mezzatesta and Williams)

[Introduced January 16, 2003 ; referred to the

Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections sixteen and nineteen, article nine-d, chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to the school building authority; requiring county-wide comprehensive educational facilities plans and annual plan updates to include up-to-date projections of student enrollments; requiring the authority to provide funding for construction of comprehensive vocational technical facilities for middle schools in approved county plans; authorizing comprehensive vocational facilities constructed at existing high schools to include facilities for community and technical college education; providing for involvement of multicounty vocational technical center in planning construction of comprehensive high schools and middle schools for programs that complement center programs, including community and technical education facilities at center; providing that programs at comprehensive high or middle school may not replace program at multicounty vocational technical center without consent of center board; providing comprehensive vocational technical facilities at high schools and middle schools may not be required in counties with county comprehensive centers; and providing requirements for consideration in planning comprehensive high schools and middle schools in counties with county centers.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections sixteen and nineteen, article nine-d, 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 9D. SCHOOL BUILDING AUTHORITY.
§18-9D-16. Facilities and major improvement plans generally; need-based eligibility.

(a) To facilitate the goals as stated in section fifteen of this article and to assure the prudent and resourceful expenditure of state funds for construction projects as described in subsection (d) of said section, each county board of education shall submit a county-wide comprehensive educational facilities plan that addresses the facilities and major improvement needs of the county and includes up-to-date projections of student enrollments pursuant to such guidelines as shall be adopted by the authority in accordance with this section and in accordance with each county's facilities plan approved by the state board of education. Any project receiving funding shall must be in furtherance of such the approved county-wide facilities plan.
(1) To assure efficiency and productivity in the project approval process, the county-wide facilities plan shall may be submitted only after a preliminary plan, a plan outline or a proposal for a plan has been submitted to the authority. Selected members of the authority, which selection shall include citizen members, shall then meet promptly with those persons designated by the county board to attend the facilities plan consultation. The purpose of the consultation is to assure understanding of the general goals of the school building authority and the specific goals encompassed in the following criteria and to discuss ways the plan may be structured to meet those goals.
(2) The guidelines for the development of a facilities plan shall must state the manner, timeline and process for submission of any plan to the authority; such project specifications as may be deemed considered appropriate by the authority; and those matters which are deemed considered by the authority to be important reflections of how the project will further the overall goals of the authority.
(b) To facilitate the goals as stated in section fifteen of this article and to assure the prudent and resourceful expenditure of state funds derived from the school major improvement fund, each county board of education shall submit to the authority a ten-year county-wide school major improvement plan that addresses the major improvement needs of each school within the county. If the state board of education or the administrative council of an area vocational educational center chooses to seek funding for a major improvement project from the authority pursuant to subsection (f) of said section, the state board or such the administrative council shall submit a ten-year school major improvement plan that addresses the major improvement needs of the school or area vocational educational center for which funding is sought. Each ten-year school major improvement plan shall must be prepared pursuant to such guidelines as shall be adopted by the authority in accordance with this section and shall must be updated annually to reflect projects completed, current enrollment projections and new or continuing needs. Any school major improvement project funded by the authority shall must be in furtherance of such the approved school major improvement plan.
The guidelines for the development and annual updates of a ten-year school major improvement plan shall must state the manner, timeline and process for submission of any plan, including a repair and replacement schedule for school facilities, to the authority; such the maintenance specifications as may be deemed considered appropriate by the authority; and those matters which are deemed considered by the authority to be important reflections of how the major improvement project or projects will further the overall goals of the authority.
(c) The guidelines regarding submission of the facilities plans and school major improvement plans shall must include requirements for public hearings, comments or other means of providing broad-based input within a reasonable time period as the authority may deem consider appropriate. The submission of each plan shall must be accompanied by a synopsis of all comments received and a formal comment by the county board, the state board or the administrative council of an area vocational educational center submitting such the plan.
The guidelines regarding project specifications may include such matters as energy efficiency, preferred siting, construction materials, maintenance plan or any other matter related to how the project is to proceed. If a county board of education proposes to finance a construction project through a lease with an option to purchase pursuant to an investment contract as described in subsection (e), section fifteen of this article, the specifications for such the project shall must include the term of the lease, the amount of each lease payment, including the payment due upon exercise of the option to purchase, and the terms and conditions of the proposed investment contract.
(d) The guidelines pertaining to quality educational facilities shall must require that a facilities plan address how the current facilities do not meet and how the proposed plan and any project thereunder does meet the following goals:
(1) Student health and safety;
(2) Economies of scale, including compatibility with similar schools that have achieved the most economical organization, facility utilization and pupil-teacher ratios;
(3) Reasonable travel time and practical means of addressing other demographic considerations;
(4) Multicounty and regional planning to achieve the most effective and efficient instructional delivery system;
(5) Curriculum improvement and diversification, including computerization and technology and advanced senior courses in science, mathematics, language arts and social studies;
(6) Innovations in education;
(7) Adequate space for projected student enrollments; and
(8) To the extent constitutionally permissible, each facilities plan shall must address the history of efforts taken by the county board to propose or adopt local school bond issues or special levies.
If the project is to benefit more than one county in the region, the facilities plan shall must state the manner in which the cost and funding of the project shall will be apportioned among the counties.
(e) The guidelines pertaining to quality educational facilities shall must require that a school major improvement plan address how the proposed plan and any project thereunder meet the following goals:
(1) Student health and safety, including, but not limited to, critical health and safety needs; and
(2) Economies of scale, including regularly scheduled preventive maintenance: Provided, That each county board's school maintenance plan shall must address regularly scheduled maintenance for all facilities within the county.
(f) Each county board's facilities plan and school major improvement plan shall must prioritize all the construction projects or major improvement projects, respectively, within the county. A school major improvement plan submitted by the state board or the administrative council of an area vocational educational center shall must prioritize all the school improvement projects contained in such the plan. Such The priority list shall be is one of the criteria to be considered by the authority in determining how available funds shall must be expended. In prioritizing the projects, the county board, the state board or the administrative council submitting a plan shall make determinations in accordance with the objective criteria formulated by the school building authority.
(g) Each facilities plan and school major improvement plan shall must include the objective means to be utilized used in evaluating implementation of the overall plan and each project included therein. Such The evaluation shall must measure each project's furtherance of each applicable goal stated in this section and any guidelines adopted hereunder, as well as the overall success of any project as it relates to the facilities plan or school major improvement plan and the overall goals of the authority.
(h) The state department of education shall conduct on-site inspections, at least annually, of all facilities which have been funded wholly or in part by moneys from the authority or state board to ensure compliance with the county board's facilities plan and school major improvement plan as related to such the facilities; to preserve the physical integrity of the facilities to the extent possible; and to otherwise extend the useful life of the facilities: Provided, That the state board shall submit reports regarding its on-site inspections of facilities to the authority within thirty days of completion of such the on-site inspections: Provided, however, That the state board shall promulgate rules regarding such the on-site inspections and matters relating thereto, in consultation with the authority, as soon as practical and shall submit such proposed rules for legislative review no later than the first day of December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four.
(i) The authority may adopt guidelines for requiring that a county board modify, update, supplement or otherwise submit changes or additions to an approved facilities plan or for requiring that a county board, the state board or the administrative council of an area vocational educational center modify, update, supplement or otherwise submit changes or additions to an approved county board facilities plan or school major improvement plan. The authority shall provide reasonable notification and sufficient time for such the change or addition as delineated in guidelines developed by the authority.
(j) Based on its on-site inspection or notification by the authority to the state board that the changes or additions to a county's board facilities plan or school major improvement plan required by the authority have not been implemented within the time period prescribed by the authority, the state board shall restrict the use of the necessary funds or otherwise allocate funds from moneys appropriated by the Legislature for those purposes set forth in section nine, article nine-a of this chapter.
 §18-9D-19. Comprehensive high schools.
(a) The Legislature finds the following:
(1) The decline in student enrollment over the last twenty years has necessitated consolidation of schools in many counties;
(2) It is projected that the decline in student enrollment during the period two thousand two through two thousand twelve may be as great as eighteen percent and will continue the necessity to consolidate schools;
(3) The new consolidated school buildings now being built across the state provide an opportunity for communities to have comprehensive high schools and middle schools that include space for vocational-technical courses, community college courses and other workforce related courses for the students and the public at large;
(4) Requiring students to be bused to remote vocational centers has sometimes deterred student participation in vocational courses and has sometimes been considered a stigma upon those students attending vocational courses;
(5) Offering vocational, community college and workforce programs in close proximity to each other compliment the high school and the programs; and
(6) The change in the season for girls' basketball to coincide with boys' basketball has placed significant pressures on the availability of gymnasium space and often has caused practices to be scheduled late in the evenings and on weekends, interfering with time needed for studying and rest.
(b) When planning the construction of a high school or a middle school which has been approved by the authority and which meets the required authority efficiencies, the authority shall provide funding for comprehensive vocational facilities to be located, when feasible, on the same site as the high school or the middle school and may, in cooperation with the higher education policy commission, established in section one, article one-b, chapter eighteen-b, provide funding for facilities for community and technical college education. When building in conjunction with the higher education policy commission, an educational specification shall must be developed for the proposed new facility by the appropriate institutional governing board as defined in section two, article one, chapter eighteen-b of this code. The county board is the fiscal agent for construction. All planning, design, bidding and construction shall must be completed with authority guidelines and under the supervision of the authority.
(c) When planning the construction of a high school which has been approved by the authority and meets the required authority efficiencies, the authority shall provide funding sufficient for the construction of at least one auxiliary gymnasium. The authority may establish standards for the auxiliary gymnasium.
(d) Upon application of a county board to construct comprehensive vocational facilities at an existing high school, the authority will provide technical assistance to the county in developing a plan for construction of the comprehensive vocational facility. The facility may, in cooperation with the higher education policy commission in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, include facilities for community and technical college education. Upon development of the plan, the authority shall consider funding based on the following criteria:
(1) The distance of any existing vocational facilities from the high schools it serves;
(2) The time required to travel to and from the vocational facility to the high schools it serves;
(3) The ability of the county board to provide local funds for the construction of new comprehensive vocational facilities;
(4) The size of the existing high schools and the demand for vocational technical courses;
(5) The age and physical condition of the existing vocational facilities; and
(6) Such other criteria as the authority shall consider appropriate.
(e) When planning the construction of a high school or a middle school in a county which is served by a multicounty vocational technical facility, the county may not be required to include the construction of a comprehensive vocational facility in the plan. If the county board elects to construct a comprehensive vocational facility pursuant to this section, the board shall include the multicounty center director and board in planning program s to be offered at the vocational facility which complement the programs offered at the multicounty center and may as part of the plan include facilities for community and technical college education at the multicounty center. The programs offered at the vocational facility may not replace the programs offered at the multicounty vocational technical center without the consent of the center board.
(f) Notwithstanding other provisions of this section to the contrary, the board of a county in which there is an existing county comprehensive vocational center may not be required to plan construction of a comprehensive vocational facility when planning the construction of a new high school or middle school. If the county elects to do so, the plan must consider programs which complement the programs of the county center and may include facilities for community and technical college education in accordance with this section.

Note: The purpose of this bill is to establish alternative considerations in planning construction of comprehensive high schools for counties that have existing county comprehensive vocational technical centers or are served by multicounty centers. In addition, the School Building Authority is required to fund comprehensive middle schools in approved county plans and county plans are required to use up-to-date projections of enrollment.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.