H. B. 2347
(By Delegate Walters)
[Introduced January 16, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article two-a, chapter
eighteen-b of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing
colleges and universities to charge county boards of education
for remedial education classes attended by graduates of West
Virginia high schools.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article two-a, chapter eighteen-b of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. INSTITUTIONAL BOARDS OF GOVERNORS.
§18B-2A-4. Powers and duties of governing boards generally.
Each governing board separately has the following powers and
duties:
(a) Determine, control, supervise and manage the financial, business and education policies and affairs of the state
institutions of higher education under its jurisdiction;
(b) Develop a master plan for the institutions under its
jurisdiction; except the administratively linked community and
technical colleges shall develop their master plans subject to the
provisions of section one, article six of this chapter. The
ultimate responsibility for developing and updating the master
plans at the institutional level resides with the board of
governors or board of advisors, as applicable, but the ultimate
responsibility for approving the final version of the institutional
master plans, including periodic updates, resides with the
commission. Each master plan shall include, but not be limited to,
the following:
(1) A detailed demonstration of how the master plan will be
used to meet the goals and objectives of the institutional compact;
(2) A well-developed set of goals outlining missions, degree
offerings, resource requirements, physical plant needs, personnel
needs, enrollment levels and other planning determinates and
projections necessary in such a plan to assure that the needs of
the institution's area of responsibility for a quality system of
higher education are addressed;
(3) Documentation of the involvement of the commission,
institutional constituency groups, clientele of the institution and
the general public in the development of all segments of the institutional master plan.
The plan shall be established for periods of not less than
three nor more than six years and shall be revised periodically as
necessary, including the addition or deletion of degree programs
as, in the discretion of the appropriate governing board, may be
necessary.
(c) Prescribe for the institutions under its jurisdiction, in
accordance with its master plan and the compact for each
institution, specific functions and responsibilities to meet the
higher education needs of its area of responsibility and to avoid
unnecessary duplication;
(d) Direct the preparation of a budget request for the
institutions under its jurisdiction, such the request to relate
directly to missions, goals and projections as found in the
institutional master plans and the institutional compacts;
(e) Consider, revise and submit to the commission a budget
request on behalf of the institutions under its jurisdiction;
(f) Review, at least every five years, all academic programs
offered at the institutions under its jurisdiction. The review
shall address the viability, adequacy and necessity of the programs
in relation to its institutional master plan, the institutional
compact and the education and work force needs of its
responsibility district. As a part of the review, each governing
board shall require the institutions under its jurisdiction to conduct periodic studies of its graduates and their employers to
determine placement patterns and the effectiveness of the education
experience. Where appropriate, these studies should coincide with
the studies required of many academic disciplines by their
accrediting bodies;
(g) The governing boards shall ensure that the sequence and
availability of academic programs and courses offered by the
institutions under their jurisdiction is such that students have
the maximum opportunity to complete programs in the time frame
normally associated with program completion. Each governing board
is responsible to see that the needs of nontraditional college-age
students are appropriately addressed and, to the extent it is
possible for the individual governing board to control, to assure
core coursework completed at institutions under its jurisdiction is
transferable to any other state institution of higher education for
credit with the grade earned;
(h) Subject to the provisions of article one-b of this
chapter, the appropriate governing board has the exclusive
authority to approve the teacher education programs offered in the
institution under its control. In order to permit graduates of
teacher education programs to receive a degree from a nationally
accredited program and in order to prevent expensive duplication of
program accreditation, the chancellor may select and utilize one
nationally recognized teacher education program accreditation standard as the appropriate standard for program evaluation;
(i) Utilize faculty, students and classified employees in
institutional-level planning and decision making when those groups
are affected;
(j) Subject to the provisions of federal law and pursuant to
the provisions of article nine of this chapter and to rules adopted
by the commission, administer a system for the management of
personnel matters, including, but not limited to, personnel
classification, compensation, and discipline for employees of the
institutions under their jurisdiction;
(k) Administer a system for hearing employee grievances and
appeals. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the
contrary, the procedure established in article six-a, chapter
twenty-nine of this code is the exclusive mechanism for hearing
prospective employee grievances and appeals. In construing the
application of article six-a, chapter twenty-nine to grievances of
higher education employees, the following apply:
(1) "Chief administrator" means the president of a state
institution of higher education as to those employees employed by
the institution and the chancellor as to those employees employed
by the commission;
(2) The state division of personnel may not be a party to nor
have any authority regarding a grievance initiated by a higher
education employee; and
(3) The provisions of this section supersede and replace the
grievance procedure set out in article twenty-nine, chapter
eighteen of this code for any grievance initiated by a higher
education employee after the first day of July, two thousand one.
(l) Solicit and utilize or expend voluntary support, including
financial contributions and support services, for the institutions
under its jurisdiction;
(m) Appoint a president or other administrative head for the
institutions under its jurisdiction subject to the provisions of
section six, article one-b of this chapter;
(n) Conduct written performance evaluations of each
institution's president pursuant to section six, article one-b of
this chapter;
(o) Submit to the commission no later than the first day of
November of each year an annual report of the performance of the
institutions under its jurisdiction during the previous fiscal year
as compared to stated goals in its master plan and institutional
compact;
(p) Enter into contracts or consortium agreements with the
public schools, private schools or private industry to provide
technical, vocational, college preparatory, remedial and customized
training courses at locations either on campuses of the public
institution of higher education or at off-campus locations in the
institution's responsibility district. To accomplish this goal, the boards are permitted to share resources among the various
groups in the community;
(q) Provide and transfer funding and property to certain
corporations pursuant to section ten, article twelve of this
chapter;
(r) Delegate, with prescribed standards and limitations, the
part of its power and control over the business affairs of a
particular institution under its jurisdiction to the president or
other administrative head of the institution in any case where it
considers the delegation necessary and prudent in order to enable
the institution to function in a proper and expeditious manner and
to meet the requirements of its institutional compact. If a
governing board elects to delegate any of its power and control
under the provisions of this subsection, it shall notify the
chancellor. Any such delegation of power and control may be
rescinded by the appropriate governing board or the chancellor at
any time, in whole or in part;
(s) Unless changed by the chancellor, the governing boards
shall continue to abide by existing rules setting forth standards
for acceptance of advanced placement credit for their respective
institutions. Individual departments at institutions of higher
education may, upon approval of the institutional faculty senate,
require higher scores on the advanced placement test than scores
designated by the appropriate governing board when the credit is to be used toward meeting a requirement of the core curriculum for a
major in that department;
(t) Each governing board, or its designee, shall consult,
cooperate and work with the state treasurer and the state auditor
to update as necessary and maintain an efficient and cost-effective
system for the financial management and expenditure of special
revenue and appropriated state funds at the institutions under its
jurisdiction that ensures that properly submitted requests for
payment be paid on or before due date, but in any event, within
fifteen days of receipt in the state auditor's office;
(u) The governing boards in consultation with the chancellor
and the secretary of the department of administration shall
develop, update as necessary and maintain a plan to administer a
consistent method of conducting personnel transactions, including,
but not limited to, hiring, dismissal, promotions and transfers at
the institutions under their jurisdiction. Each such personnel
transaction shall be accompanied by the appropriate standardized
system or forms which will be submitted to the respective governing
board and the department of finance and administration;
(v) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the governing boards may transfer funds from any account
specifically appropriated for their use to any corresponding line
item in a general revenue account at any agency or institution
under their jurisdiction as long as such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated. The governing boards may transfer
funds from appropriated special revenue accounts for capital
improvements under their jurisdiction to special revenue accounts
at agencies or institutions under their jurisdiction as long as
such transferred funds are used for the purposes appropriated; and
(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, the governing boards may acquire legal services as are
considered necessary, including representation of the governing
boards, their institutions, employees and officers before any court
or administrative body. The counsel may be employed either on a
salaried basis or on a reasonable fee basis. In addition, the
governing boards may, but are not required to, call upon the
attorney general for legal assistance and representation as
provided by law.
(x)
Effective the first day of July, two thousand four, each
governing board shall in consultation with the chancellor and the
secretary of the department of administration develop, update as
necessary and maintain a procedure to charge county boards of
education for remedial education classes attended by graduates of
West Virginia high schools.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
authorize colleges and
universities to charge county boards of education for remedial
education classes attended by graduates of West Virginia high
schools.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.