West Virginia Legislature
2016 Regular Session
Introduced
House
Bill 2082
[Introduced January 13, 2016; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, relating to county boards of education; school libraries; requiring
each school to have a certified library media specialist; and requiring the
board to develop professional standards and the salary for the certified
library media specialist.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-20
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to
read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-20.
School libraries; librarian.
(a) The board may provide libraries for its schools
and may purchase books, bookcases, and other things necessary therefor, and
shall pay the cost of such the libraries out of school funds of
the county. In connection with any such school library, the board may
employ a full-time librarian or may require one of the teachers at the school
to serve as a part-time librarian. Any such full-time librarian or any such
teacher-librarian, who holds a degree in library science based upon the
successful completion of a full year of graduate work at an institution
qualified and approved to offer such degree, and who holds a collegiate
elementary, first-class high school, or other certificate of equal rank, shall
be paid the same salary as is prescribed by law for teachers holding a master's
degree.
(b) The board shall have has
authority to employ during the vacation period a librarian for any school
having a library of one hundred or more volumes, and to pay such the
librarian out of the school funds of the county an amount to be determined by
the board. Any librarian so appointed shall keep the library open at least one
day a week, at which time the patrons and pupils of the school may draw books
from the library under such rules and regulations for the care and return
thereof as the board may prescribe.
(c) The board shall employ in each school a certified
library media specialist whose professional standards and salary shall be
developed and determined by the West Virginia Board of Education.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require county boards of
education to employ a certified library media specialist in each county school.
The bill also requires the board to develop professional standards and the
salary for the certified library media specialist.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the
present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.