Senate Bill No. 633

(By Senators Plymale, Unger, Edgell, Bailey,

Dempsey, Boley, Guills and Sprouse)

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[Originating in the Committee on Education;

reported February 17, 2006.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-37 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto three new sections, designated §18-9A-27, §18-9A-28 and §18- 9A-29, all relating to requiring a study on advanced placement, international baccalaureate and dual credit courses; providing each county meeting the definition of critical shortage area and each county having one or more subject matter critical shortage areas with potential for additional funding and the authority to contract with teachers on a more timely basis; encouraging the use of federal funds for teacher recruitment and retention purposes; and providing an allowance for technology integration specialists.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-2-37 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto three new sections, designated §18-9A-27, §18-9A-28 and §18-9A-29, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-37. State board study on advanced placement, international baccalaureate and dual credit courses.

(a) The state board shall conduct a study of:
(1) Implementing requirements for advanced placement, international baccalaureate and dual credit courses in each high school;
(2) Appropriate methods of attracting and training teachers to provide instruction in any required advanced placement, international baccalaureate and dual credit courses; and
(3) Requiring higher education institutions to include advanced placement training for all students enrolled in content- specific approved secondary education personnel preparation programs prior to graduation.
(b) The state board shall report its conclusions, recommendations or both to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability before the beginning of the two thousand seven regular session.
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.

§18-9A-27. Allowance for critical shortage areas.
(a) For the purpose of this section:
(1) "Vacancy" means an unfilled teaching position advertised in a county for which no appropriately certified teacher applied, that resulted in a teacher on permit, an out-of-field teacher or a substitute teacher being employed for that unfilled position; and
(2) "Critical shortage area" means any county in which:
(A) The percentage of teacher vacancies to total teaching positions is twice the statewide percentage as those percentages are calculated pursuant to subsection (b) of this section;
(B) The enrollment increased at least one percent; and
(C) Second month net enrollment has increased by fifty or more students during at least three of the last five years, as determined by the West Virginia Department of Education.
(b) Annually, the state board shall calculate for each county, based on the certified list of educators submitted annually by counties, the percentage of the number of vacancies to the number of teaching positions. Annually, the state board also shall calculate the statewide percentage of the number of vacancies to the number of teaching positions.
(c) A county that meets the definition of a critical shortage area:
(1) May contract with teachers at any time and is not subject to the requirements of section seven-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code to the extent those requirements would prevent the county from contracting with teachers at the time the county determines is necessary for the purpose of recruitment, but the number of teachers contracted with pursuant to this subdivision may not exceed the number of vacancies; and
(2) Is eligible to receive funding to address the critical shortage pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.
(d) The state board shall establish a fund to be known as the Teacher Critical Shortage Area Fund, and the Legislature may appropriate annually to the fund sufficient money to meet the requirements of this section. With the money in the Teacher Critical Shortage Area Fund , the state board, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, shall allocate to each county that meets the definition of a critical shortage area the entire amount of the state average salary of beginning teachers for each vacancy in the county, subject to the following:
(1) If appropriations to the fund are insufficient to allocate the required amount to each county, the allocation to each county meeting the definition of a critical shortage area shall be reduced to an amount that is proportional to the actual appropriations as compared with the appropriations that would be required to fully fund this section; and
(2) In the event a county would otherwise qualify for funds pursuant to both this section and section twenty-eight of this article, the county is only eligible to receive the funds pursuant to the section in which the county would derive the most funds. No county is eligible to receive funds pursuant to both sections during the same fiscal year.
(e) No county that qualifies as a critical shortage area may receive any funds pursuant to this section until the county develops a plan for addressing its critical shortage, including its plans for the use of the funds it receives pursuant to this section, and submits the plan to the state board and the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.
(f) Annually, the state board shall cause an audit to be conducted in each county meeting the definition of critical shortage area to verify that the reported number of vacancies is correct.
(g) The Legislature encourages each county to use federal funds, such as funds provided through Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U. S. C. 6601, et seq.), for teacher recruitment and retention purposes.
§18-9A-28. Allowance for teacher subject matter critical shortage areas.

(a) The subjects of math, science and foreign language are designated as legislative priorities, and, therefore, are subjects for which the state should strive to place certified teachers in each classroom in which one of those subjects is taught.
(b) For the purpose of this section:
(1) "Vacancy" means an unfilled teaching position advertised in a county for which no appropriately certified teacher applied that resulted in a teacher on permit, an out-of-field teacher or a substitute teacher being employed for that unfilled position; and
(2) "Subject matter critical shortage area" means any of the subjects of math, science, foreign language or any combination of these subjects in which there is one or more vacancies and in which the percentage of vacancies for the subject to the number of teaching positions in the subject is twice the statewide percentage in the subject.
(c) Annually, the state board shall calculate for each of the subjects of math, science and foreign language, based on the certified list of educators submitted annually by counties, the percentage of the number of vacancies to the number of teaching positions in each county. Annually, the state board also shall calculate for each of those subjects the statewide percentage of the number of vacancies to the number of teaching positions.
(d) A county that has a subject matter critical shortage area:
(1) May contract with teachers at any time and is not subject to the requirements of section seven-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code to the extent those requirements would prevent the county from contracting with a teacher at the time the county determines is necessary for the purpose of recruitment, but the number of teachers contracted with pursuant to this subdivision may not exceed the number of vacancies in that subject; and
(2) Is eligible to receive funding to address the subject matter critical shortage area pursuant to subsection (e) of this section.
(e) The state board shall establish a fund to be known as the Teacher Subject Matter Critical Shortage Area Fund, and the Legislature may appropriate annually to the fund sufficient money to meet the requirements of this section. With the money in the Teacher Subject Matter Critical Shortage Area Fund, the state board, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, shall allocate to each county the entire amount of the state average salary for beginning teachers for each vacancy in any subject matter critical shortage area, subject to the following:
(1) If appropriations to the fund are insufficient to allocate the required amount to each county, the allocation to each county having one or more subject matter critical shortage areas shall be reduced to an amount that is proportional to the actual appropriations as compared with the appropriations that would be required to fully fund this section; and
(2) In the event a county would otherwise qualify for funds pursuant to both this section and section twenty-seven of this article, the county is only eligible for the funds pursuant to the section in which the county would derive the most funds. No county is eligible to receive funds pursuant to both sections during the same fiscal year.
(f) No county that has a subject matter critical shortage area may receive any funds pursuant to this section until the county develops a plan for addressing its critical shortage, including its plans for the use of the funds it receives pursuant to this section, and submits the plan to the state board and the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.
(g) Annually, the state board shall cause an audit to be conducted in each county having one or more subject matter critical shortage areas to verify that the reported number of vacancies is correct.
(h) The Legislature encourages each county to use federal funds, such as funds provided through Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (20 U. S. C. 6601, et seq.), for teacher recruitment and retention purposes.
§18-9A-29. Allowance for technology integration specialists.
(a) The Legislature finds that technology integration specialists are needed to ensure the integration of technology into the school curriculum.
(b) The Legislature may appropriate sufficient funds to the West Virginia Department of Education to fund the employment of two technology integration specialists by each regional education service agency. Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, each regional education service agency shall employ two technology integration specialists.