H. B. 3349
(By Delegate Spencer)
[Introduced March 25, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-5 and §18-5-40 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to changing the
cut-off date for attaining the age of five prior to being
eligible to attend kindergarten.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-5 and §18-5-40
of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-5. Kindergarten programs.
(a) County boards shall provide kindergarten programs for all
children who have attained the age of five prior to the first day
of September June of the school year in which the pupil enters the
kindergarten program and may, pursuant to the provisions of section
forty-four, article five, chapter eighteen of this code, establish
kindergarten programs designed for children below the age of five. The programs for children who shall have attained the age of five
shall be full-day everyday programs.
(b) Persons employed as kindergarten teachers, as
distinguished from paraprofessional personnel, shall be required to
hold a certificate valid for teaching at the assigned level as
prescribed by regulations established by the State Board. The
State Board shall establish and prescribe guidelines and criteria
setting forth the minimum requirements for all paraprofessional
personnel employed in kindergarten programs established pursuant to
the provisions of this section and no such paraprofessional
personnel shall be employed in any kindergarten program unless he
or she meets such minimum requirements.
(c) The State Board with the advice of the State
Superintendent shall establish and prescribe guidelines and
criteria relating to the establishment, operation and successful
completion of kindergarten programs in accordance with the other
provisions of this section. Guidelines and criteria so established
and prescribed also are intended to serve for the establishment and
operation of nonpublic kindergarten programs and shall be used for
the evaluation and approval of such programs by the State
Superintendent, provided application for such evaluation and
approval is made in writing by proper authorities in control of
such programs. The State Superintendent, annually, shall publish
a list of nonpublic kindergarten programs, including Montessori kindergartens that have been approved in accordance with the
provisions of this section. Montessori kindergartens established
and operated in accordance with usual and customary practices for
the use of the Montessori method which have teachers who have
training or experience, regardless of additional certification, in
the use of the Montessori method of instruction for kindergartens
shall be considered to be approved.
(d) Pursuant to such guidelines and criteria, and only
pursuant to such guidelines and criteria, the county boards may
establish programs taking kindergarten to the homes of the children
involved, using educational television, paraprofessional personnel
in addition to and to supplement regularly certified teachers,
mobile or permanent classrooms and other means developed to best
carry kindergarten to the child in its home and enlist the aid and
involvement of its parent or parents in presenting the program to
the child; or may develop programs of a more formal kindergarten
type, in existing school buildings, or both, as such county board
may determine, taking into consideration the cost, the terrain, the
existing available facilities, the distances each child may be
required to travel, the time each child may be required to be away
from home, the child's health, the involvement of parents and such
other factors as each county board may find pertinent. Such
determinations by any county board shall be final and conclusive.
§18-5-40. School entry age; operation of schools on semester basis.
(a) The State Board shall establish guidelines prior to the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, for
the operation of public kindergarten and elementary schools on a
semester basis within the applicable provisions of this article and
chapter relating to the school term. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this code to the contrary relating to compulsory
school attendance, any child required or allowed by proximity to
attend a school operated on a semester basis shall be deemed to
have reached compulsory school age and shall enroll as follows:
(1) For the fall semester, in such year when the sixth birthday is
reached on or between by the first day of July June and the last
day of December, and; (2) for the spring semester, when the sixth
birthday is reached on or between the first day of January and
the last day of June of that year: Provided, That the state board
shall establish guidelines for enrollment prior to a child's
reaching compulsory school age. Student progress within and
between the various grade levels shall be determined on a semester
by semester basis, and promotion or assignment to the middle or
junior high school grade levels is conditioned upon completion of
either of the last two semesters offered at the elementary school.
(b) By the school year one thousand nine hundred
eighty-nine--ninety, the State Board shall select at least four
elementary schools with kindergarten programs which may be operated on a semester basis upon applications submitted, with preference
being given in such selection to schools in different regional
educational service agency areas to the extent reasonable and
practical based on the applications. The operation of these
schools on a semester basis shall be phased in by grade level
beginning with kindergarten and progressing by one additional grade
level in each successive school year until all of the grade levels
offered at that school are operated on a semester basis.
Any regulations adopted under this section shall utilize the
flexibility contained herein so as to provide the students of West
Virginia a more successful educational experience.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
change the cut-off date
for attaining the age of five prior to being eligible to attend
kindergarten.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.