Senate Bill No. 287

(By Senators Takubo, Boley, Carmichael, Gaunch, Stollings, Walters, Williams, Trump and Blair)

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[Introduced January 23, 2015; referred to the Committee on Education.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-34a, relating to the State Board of Education; providing for awarding of posthumous high school diploma to parents of high school senior who dies during senior year; providing exceptions; and designating said section as "Todd's Law".

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §18-2-34a, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

§18-2-34a. Posthumous high school diplomas for parents of certain students.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, but subject to subsection (b) of this section, on the request of the parent or parents of a deceased student who died while enrolled in the school district at grade level twelve, the state board shall provide for the awarding of a posthumous high school diploma: Provided, That the student was academically eligible, at the time of death, to receive a diploma at the end of the school year in which the student died. For the purposes of this section, "school year" includes any summer session following the spring semester.

(b) A school district is not required to issue a high school diploma to a student described in subsection (a) if the student was, at any time before the death of the student, convicted of a criminal offense or adjudicated as having engaged in conduct constituting a felony offense.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the awarding of a posthumous high school diploma to parents of a high school senior who dies during the senior year. The bill is to be known as "Todd's Law".

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.