H. B. 2970


(By Delegates Williams, Hartman, Crosier, Tabb,

Renner, Sumner and WakimSPONSOR)

(Originating in the Committee on Education)


[February 11, 2003]



A BILL to amend and reenact sections five-a, five-b and six-b, article nine-a, chapter eighteenBill Title of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to Title Languageincreasing the ratios of professional and service personnel to students in net enrollment; establishing the ratios for school year beginning in two thousand four; commencing and concluding allocation and appropriation over period of years; providing legislative intent to examine efficiency of elements of support program in funding to meet performance standards; and providing for certain allocation and appropriation from increase in local share for purpose of increasing ratios in net enrollment.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That Enacting Sectionsections five-a, five-b and six-b, article nine-a, chapter eighteenBill Title 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-5a. Ratio of foundation allowances for professional educators and service personnel to net enrollment.

(a) The purpose of this section is to establish maximum ratios between the numbers of professional educators and service personnel in the counties which are funded through the public school support plan and the net enrollment in the counties, such ratios are in addition to the ratios provided for in sections four and five of this article. It is the intent of the Legislature to adjust these ratios pursuant to legislative act as may be appropriate when additional personnel are needed to perform additional duties.
(b) Commencing with the school year one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine--ninety beginning on the first day of July, two thousand three, and each school year thereafter, in computing the basic foundation allowance to a county for professional educators and the basic foundation allowance to a county for service personnel under sections four and five of this article, a county shall not receive an allowance for such personnel which number per one thousand students in net enrollment is in excess of the number of professional educators and the number of service personnel in the county computed as follows:
Maximum professional
Maximum service

educators per 1000
personnel per 1000

net enrollment the
net enrollment the

For the
preceding year
preceding year

school
year
1998-99 74.0 43.5
 Maximum service Maximum service
Personal per 1000 personnel per 1000
Maximum professional net enrollment the net enrollment the
For the educators per 1000 preceding year for preceding year for
school year net enrollment the each high density each low density
1999-2000 preceding year county county
and thereafter
2003-2004 74.0 43.6 44.5
Maximum professional Maximum service
educators per 1000 personnel per 1000
net enrollment the net enrollment the
For the preceding year preceding year
school High density Low density High density Low density
year County County County County
2004-200574.1074.2543.7444.75
(c) Every county shall utilize methods other than reductions in force, such as attrition and early retirement, before implementing their reductions in force policy to comply with the limitations of this section.
§18-9A-5b. Foundation allowance for increasing professional and service personnel positions.

Commencing with the school year beginning on the first day of July, two thousand five four, two million five hundred thousand dollars shall be appropriated for the purpose of increasing the ratios of professional and service personnel per one thousand students in net enrollment. For each of the eleven following school years, an additional two million five hundred thousand dollars shall be added to the appropriation for this purpose. The increases in the ratios of professional and service personnel per one thousand students in net enrollment shall be made in a manner which reflects the greater need of counties with a low student population density for additional personnel. It is the intent of the Legislature to examine the efficiency of the various elements of the total state basic foundation program in funding schools and school systems to meet or exceed the standards for student, school and school system performance and to make such adjustments as may be necessary, if any.
 §18-9A-6b. Allocation of growth of local share.
(a) Beginning with the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, and thereafter, an appropriation and allocation due to the increase in local share not to exceed seven million dollars above that computed for the previous year, which increase may be attributable to any increase in the tax rate as enacted by the Legislature in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b), section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code, shall be allocated to the state teachers retirement system, which appropriation and allocation shall be used to reduce the amounts required by section six-a of this article or any other retirement contributions as may be required to the state teachers retirement system set forth in article seven-a of this chapter and which shall be accumulated in the employers accumulation fund created in section eighteen of said article seven-a.
(b) Beginning for the school year commencing on the first day of July, two thousand four, and concluding after the school year commencing on the first day of July, two thousand fifteen, two million, five hundred thousand dollars of the increase in local share above that computed for the previous year shall be allocated and appropriated for the total state basic foundation program in accordance with sections five-a and five-b of this article for the purpose of increasing the ratios of professional and service personnel to students in net enrollment.