Adopted by House 3-8-07
SB541 HFIN AM
The Committee on Finance moves to amend the bill on page three, following the enacting clause, by striking out the remainder of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
"That §18-9A-2, §18-9A-11 and §18-9A-15 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT.
18-9A-2. Definitions.
For the purpose of this article:
(a) "State board" means the West Virginia Board of Education.
(b) "County board" or "board" means a county board of education.
(c) "Professional salaries" means the state legally mandated salaries of the professional educators as provided in article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(d) "Professional educator" shall be synonymous with and shall have the same meaning as "teacher" as defined in section one, article one, chapter eighteen of this code.
(e) "Professional instructional personnel" means a professional educator whose regular duty is as that of a classroom teacher, librarian, counselor, attendance director, school psychologist or school nurse with a bachelors degree and who is licensed by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses. A professional educator having both instructional and administrative or other duties shall be included as professional instructional personnel for that ratio of the school day for which he or she is assigned and serves on a regular full-time basis in appropriate instruction, library, counseling, attendance, psychologist or nursing duties.
(f) "Service personnel salaries" shall mean means the state legally mandated salaries for service personnel as provided in section eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
(g) "Service personnel" shall mean means all personnel as provided for in section eight, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code. For the purpose of computations under this article of ratios of service personnel to adjusted enrollment, a service employee shall be counted as that number found by dividing his or her number of employment days in a fiscal year by two hundred: Provided, That the computation for any such service person employed for three and one-half hours or less per day as provided in section eight-a, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this code shall be calculated as one half an employment day.
(h) "Net enrollment" means the number of pupils enrolled in special education programs, kindergarten programs and grades one to twelve, inclusive, of the public schools of the county. Commencing with the school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-eight, Net enrollment further shall include adults enrolled in regular secondary vocational programs existing as of the effective date of this section subject to the following: Provided, That
(1) Net enrollment shall include includes no more than one thousand such of those adults counted on the basis of full-time equivalency and apportioned annually to each county in proportion to the adults participating in regular secondary vocational programs in the prior year counted on the basis of full-time equivalency; and Provided, however, That No
(2) Net enrollment does not include any adult charged tuition or special fees beyond that required of the regular secondary vocational student. is charged for such adult students.
(l) "Adjusted enrollment" means the net enrollment plus twice the number of pupils enrolled for special education. Commencing with the school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety, adjusted enrollment means the net enrollment plus twice the number of pupils enrolled for special education, including exceptional gifted plus the number of pupils in grades nine through twelve enrolled for honors and advanced placement programs, plus the number of pupils enrolled on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, in the gifted program in grades nine through twelve: Provided, That commencing with the school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety, no more than four percent of net enrollment of grades one through eight may be counted as enrolled in gifted education and no more than six percent of net enrollment of grades nine through twelve may be counted as enrolled in gifted education, exceptional gifted education (subject to the limitation set forth in section one, article twenty of this chapter) and honors and advanced placement programs for the purpose of determining adjusted enrollment within a county: Provided, however, That nothing herein shall be construed to limit the number of students who may actually enroll in gifted, honors or advanced placement education programs in any county: Provided further, That until the school year beginning on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, the preceding percentage limitations shall not restrict the adjusted enrollment definition for a county to the extent that those limitations are exceeded by students enrolled in gifted education programs on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine: And provided further, That no pupil may be counted more than three times for the purpose of determining adjusted enrollment. Such enrollment shall be adjusted to the equivalent of the instructional term and in accordance with such eligibility requirements and rules as established by the state board. No pupil shall be counted more than once by reason of transfer within the county or from another county within the state, and no pupil shall be counted who attends school in this state from another state.
(j) "Levies for general current expense purposes" means ninety-eight ninety-four percent of the levy rate for county boards of education calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code.
"Basic resources per pupil" for the state and the several counties means the total of (a) ninety-five percent of the property tax revenues computed at the levy rate for county boards of education calculated or set by the Legislature pursuant to the provisions of section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code, but excluding revenues from increased levies as provided in section ten, article X of the Constitution of West Virginia, and (b) basic state aid as provided in sections twelve and thirteen of this article, but excluding the foundation allowance to improve instructional programs as provided in section ten of this article, and excluding any funds appropriated for the purpose of achieving salary equity among county board employees, this total divided by the number of students in adjusted enrollment: Provided, That beginning with the school year commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, and thereafter, the foundation allowance for transportation costs as provided in section seven of this article shall also be excluded and the total shall be divided by the number of students in net enrollment: Provided, however, That any year's allocations to the counties of the eighty percent portion of the foundation allowance to improve instructional programs, as provided in section ten of this article, shall be determined on the basis of the immediately preceding school year's basic resources per pupil.
§18-9A-11. Computation of local share; appraisal and assessment of property.

(a) On the basis of each county's certificates of valuation as to all classes of property as determined and published by the assessors pursuant to section six, article three, chapter eleven of this code for the next ensuing fiscal year in reliance upon the assessed values annually developed by each county assessor pursuant to the provisions of articles one-c and three of said chapter, the state board shall for each county compute by application of the levies for general current expense purposes, as defined in section two of this article, the amount of revenue which the levies would produce if levied upon one hundred percent of the assessed value of each of the several classes of property contained in the report or revised report of the value, made to it by the tax commissioner as follows:
(1) The state board shall first take ninety-five percent of the amount ascertained by applying these rates to the total assessed public utility valuation in each classification of property in the county.
(2) The state board shall then apply these rates to the assessed taxable value of other property in each classification in the county as determined by the tax commissioner and shall deduct therefrom five percent as an allowance for the usual losses in collections due to discounts, exonerations, delinquencies and the like. All of the amount so determined shall be added to the ninety-five percent of public utility taxes computed as provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection and this total shall be further reduced by the amount due each county assessor's office pursuant to the provisions of section eight, article one-c, chapter eleven of this code and this amount shall be the local share of the particular county.
As to any estimations or preliminary computations of local share that may be required prior to the report to the Legislature by the tax commissioner, the state board of education shall use the most recent projections or estimations that may be available from the tax department for that purpose.
(b) Whenever in any year a county assessor or a county commission shall fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of this section in setting the valuations of property for assessment purposes in any class or classes of property in the county, the state tax commissioner shall review the valuations for assessment purposes made by the county assessor and the county commission and shall direct the county assessor and the county commission to make corrections in the valuations as necessary so that they shall comply with the requirements of chapter eleven of this code and this section and the tax commissioner shall enter the county and fix the assessments at the required ratios. Refusal of the assessor or the county commission to make the corrections constitutes grounds for removal from office.
(c) For the purposes of any computation made in accordance with the provisions of this section, in any taxing unit in which tax increment financing is in effect pursuant to the provisions of article eleven-b, chapter seven of this code, the assessed value of a related private project shall be the base assessed value as defined in section two of said article.
(d) For purposes of any computation made in accordance with the provisions of this section, in any county where the county board of education has adopted a resolution choosing to use the provisions of the growth county school facilities act set forth in section six-f, article eight, chapter eleven of this code, estimated school board revenues generated from application of the regular school board levy rate to new property values, as that term is designated in said section, may not be considered local share funds and shall be subtracted before the computations in subdivisions (1) and (2), subsection (a) of this section are made.
(e) The Legislature finds that public school systems throughout the state provide support in varying degrees to public libraries through a variety of means including budgeted allocations, excess levy funds and portions of their regular school board levies as may be provided by Special Act. A number of public libraries are situated on the campuses of public schools and several are within public school buildings serving both the students and public patrons. To the extent that public schools recognize and choose to avail the resources of public libraries toward developing within their students such legally recognized elements of a thorough and efficient education as literacy, interests in literature, knowledge of government and the world around them and preparation for advanced academic training, work and citizenship, public libraries serve a legitimate school purpose and may do so economically. For the purposes of any computation made in accordance with the provisions of this section, the library funding obligation on the regular school board levies created by a Special Act shall be paid from that portion of the levies which exceeds the proportion determined to be local share. If the library funding obligation is greater than the amount available in excess of the county's local share, the obligation created by the Special Act is reduced to the amount which is available, not withstanding any provisions of the Special Act to the contrary.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature that whenever a provision of subsection (e) of this section is contrary to any Special Act of the Legislature which has been or or may in the future be enacted by the Legislature that creates a library funding obligation on the regular school board levy of a county, subsection (e) of this section controls over the Special Act. Specifically, the Special Acts which are subject to subsection (e) of this section upon the enactment of this section during the two thousand seven regular session of the Legislature include:
(1) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 11, passed on the twelfth day of February, one thousand nine hundred seventy, applicable to the Berkeley County Board of Education;
(2) Enrolled House Bill No. 1352, passed on seventh day of April, one thousand nine hundred eighty-one, applicable to the Hardy County Board of Education;
(3) Enrolled Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 2833, passed on the fourteenth day of March, one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, applicable to the Harrison County Board of Education;
(4) Enrolled House Bill No. 161, passed on the sixth day of March, one thousand nine hundred fifty-seven, applicable to the Kanawha County Board of Education;
(5) Enrolled Senate Bill No. 313, passed on the twelfth day of March, one thousand nine hundred thirty-seven, as amended by Enrolled House Bill No. 1074, passed on the eighth day of March, one thousand nine hundred sixty-seven, and as amended by Enrolled House Bill No. 1195, passed on the eighteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-two, applicable to the Ohio County Board of Education;
(6) Enrolled House Bill No. 938, passed on the twenty-eighth day of February, one thousand nine hundred sixty-nine, applicable to the Raleigh County Board of Education;
(7) Enrolled House Bill No. 398, passed on the first day of March, one thousand nine hundred thirty-five, applicable to the Tyler County Board of Education;
(8) Enrolled Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 450, passed on the eleventh day of March, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, applicable to the Upshur County Board of Education; and
(9) Enrolled House Bill No. 2994, passed on the thirteenth day of March, one thousand nine hundred eighty-seven, applicable to the Wood County Board of Education.
§18-9A-15. Allowance for increased enrollment; extraordinary sustained increased enrollment impact supplement.

(a) To provide for the support of increased net enrollments in the counties in a school year over the net enrollments used in the computation of total state aid for that year, there shall be appropriated for that purpose from the general revenue fund an amount to be determined in accordance with this section as follows:.
(b) On or before the first day of September, two thousand five, (1) The State Board shall promulgate a rule pursuant to article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code that establishes an objective method for projecting the increase in net enrollment for each school district. The State Superintendent shall use the method prescribed by the rule to project the increase in net enrollment for each school district.
(c) (2) The State Superintendent shall multiply the average total state aid per net pupil by the sum of the projected increases in net enrollment for all school districts and report this amount to the Governor for inclusion in his or her proposed budget to the Legislature. The Legislature shall appropriate to the West Virginia Department of Education the amount calculated by the State Superintendent and proposed by the Governor.
(d) (3) The State Superintendent shall calculate each school district's share of the appropriation by multiplying the projected increase in net enrollment for the school district by the average total state aid per net pupil and shall distribute sixty percent of each school district's share to the school district on or before the first day of September of each year. The State Superintendent shall make a second distribution of the remainder of the appropriation in accordance with subsection (e) subdivision (4) of this section.
(e) (4) After the first distribution pursuant to subsection (d) subdivision (3) of this section is made and after the actual increase in net enrollment is available, the State Superintendent shall compute the total actual amount to be allocated to each school district for the year. The total actual amount to be allocated to each school district for the year is the actual increase in the school district's net enrollment multiplied by the average total state aid per net pupil. The State Superintendent shall make the second distribution to each school district in an amount determined so that the total amount distributed to the district for the year, in both the first and second distributions, equals the actual increase in net enrollment multiplied by the average total state aid per net pupil. The State Superintendent shall make the second distribution on or before the thirty-first day of December of each year: Provided, That if the amount distributed to a school district during the first distribution is greater than the total amount to which a district is entitled to receive for the year, the district shall refund the difference to the Department of Education prior to the thirtieth day of June of the fiscal year in which the excess distribution is made.
(f) (5) If the amount of the appropriation for increased enrollment is not sufficient to provide payment in full for the total of these several allocations, each county allocation shall be reduced to an amount which is proportionate to the appropriation compared to the total of the several allocations and the allocations as thus adjusted shall be distributed to the counties as provided in this section: Provided, That the Governor shall request a supplemental appropriation at the next legislative session for the reduced amount.
(b) To help offset the budgetary impact of extraordinary and sustained increases in net enrollment in a county, there shall be included in the basic state aid of any county whose most recent three-year average growth in second month net enrollment is two percent or more, an amount equal to one fourth of the state average per pupil state aid multiplied by the increase in the county's second month net enrollment in the latest year.
(g) (c) No provision of this section shall be construed to in any way affect the allocation of moneys for educational purposes to a county under other provisions of law."