H. B. 109
(By Mr. Speaker, (Mr. Thompson) and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Introduced May 31, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Education.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §18-5B-1, §18-5B-2,
§18-5B-3, §18-5B-4, §18-5B-5, §18-5B-6, §18-5B-7, §18-5B-8 and
§18-5B-9, all relating to school innovation zones; setting
forth legislative findings, intent and purpose; authorizing
state board to designate school innovation zones in schools,
groups of schools and departments or subdivisions of a school
or schools; establishing an application, plan review, approval
and amendment process; authorizing exceptions to certain
policies, rules, interpretations and statutes; providing for
approval of the innovation zone plan by certain employees of
a school; providing for revocation of designation and plan
approval; requiring annual report by the state board;
designating the order in which the state board must consider
applications; providing for the voluntary transfer of employees; authorizing teacher job postings that exceed
certain qualifications and requirements; providing that a
state institution of higher education may establish a school
designated as an innovation zone and that such school may not
receive certain funds; providing the procedure in which a
state institution of higher education may apply for and
establish an innovation zone school; providing for the
approval mechanism for an innovation zone school established
by a state institution of higher education by the county board
and state board; and authorizing the State Board of Education
to promulgate rules and emergency rules.
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 article, designated §18-5B-1, §18-5B-2,
§18-5B-3, §18-5B-4, §18-5B-5, §18-5B-6, §18-5B-7, §18-5B-8 and
§18-5B-9, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5B. SCHOOL INNOVATION ZONES ACT.
§18-5B-1. Title.
This article shall be known as the "School Innovation Zones
Act".
§18-5B-2. Legislative findings and purpose.
(a) Legislative findings. -- The Legislature finds that:
(1) Decades of school improvement literature substantiate that
schools where the principal uses a collaborative and distributed approach to leadership and where the teachers have a unity of
purpose, operate in a cohesive learning-centered culture and
implement consistent, pervasive and research-based approaches to
learning, can and do improve student learning;
(2) As in all enterprises, rules are established in public
education to manage the resources efficiently, allot time among the
activities and processes required and ensure attention to the goals
mandated, but rules, by their nature, also limit the flexibility of
professional educators to engage in those activities and implement
those approaches that may best improve the learning of their
students for the twenty-first century;
(3) Allowing individual schools to seek and receive exceptions
from certain statutes, policies, rules and interpretations through
the creation of school innovation zones will provide them greater
control over important educational factors that impact student
achievement, such as curriculum, personnel, organization of the
school day, organization of the school year, technology utilization
and the delivery of educational services to improve student
learning; and
(4) Providing greater flexibility at innovation zone schools
will enable school-level, professional educators to exercise more
fully their professional judgment to improve student learning for
the twenty-first century by instituting creative and innovative
practices.
(b) Intent and purpose. -- The intent and purpose of this
article is to:
(1) Provide for the establishment of school innovation zones
to improve educational performance;
(2) Provide principals and teachers at schools approved as
innovation zones with greater flexibility and control to meet the
needs of a diverse population of students by removing certain
policy, rule, interpretive and statutory constraints;
(3) Provide a testing ground for innovative educational reform
programs and initiatives to be applied on an individual school
level;
(4) Provide information regarding the effects of specific
innovations and policies on student achievement;
(5) Document educational strategies that enhance student
success; and
(6) Increase the accountability of the state's public schools
for student achievement as measured by the state assessment
programs and local assessment processes identified by the schools.
§18-5B-3. School innovation zones; application for designation;
state board rule.
(a) A school, a group of schools, a subdivision or department
of a group of schools, or a subdivision or department of a school
may be designated as an innovation zone in accordance with this
article.
(b) The state board shall promulgate a rule, including an
emergency rule if necessary, in accordance with article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the provisions of
this article. The rule shall include provisions for at least the
following:
(1) A process for a school, a group of schools, a subdivision
or department of a group of schools or a subdivision or department
of a school to apply for designation as an innovation zone that
encompasses at least the following:
(A) The manner, time and process for the submission of an
innovation zone application;
(B) The contents of the application, which must include a
general description of the innovations the school or schools seek
to institute and an estimation of the employees who may be affected
by the implementation of the innovations; and
(C) Factors to be considered by the state board when
evaluating an application, which shall include, but are not limited
to, the following factors:
(i) The level of staff commitment to apply for designation as
an innovation zone as determined by a vote by secret ballot at a
special meeting of employees eligible to vote on the plan, as
provided in section six of this article;
(ii) Support from parents, students, the county board of
education, the local school improvement council and school business partners; and
(iii) The potential for an applicant to be successful as an
innovation zone; and
(2) Standards for the state board to review applications for
designation as innovation zones and to make determinations on the
designation of innovation zones.
(c) The state board shall review innovation zone applications
in accordance with the standards adopted by the board and shall
determine whether to designate the applicant as an innovation zone.
The state board shall notify an applicant of the board's
determination within sixty days of receipt of an innovation zone
application.
When initially designating innovation zones after the
enactment of this article by the first extraordinary session of the
2009 Legislature, the state board shall consider applicants for
designation in the following order: (1) A school and groups of
schools; (2) a group of schools seeking designation across the same
subdivision or department of the schools; and (3) a school seeking
designation of a subdivision or a department.
§18-5B-4. Innovation zones; required plans; plan approval; state
board rule.
(a) The rule promulgated by the state board pursuant to
section three of this article also shall include at least the
following:
(1) Each school, group of schools, subdivision or department
of a group of schools or subdivision or department of a school
designated as an innovation zone or seeking designation as an
innovation zone in accordance with this article shall develop an
innovation zone plan;
(2) The innovation zone plan shall contain:
(A) A description of the programs, policies or initiatives the
school, group of schools, subdivision or department of a group of
schools or subdivision or department of a school intends to
implement as an innovative strategy to improve student learning if
the plan is approved in accordance with section five of this
article;
(B) A list of all county and state board rules, policies and
interpretations, and all statutes, if any, identified as
prohibiting or constraining the implementation of the plan,
including an explanation of the specific exceptions to the rules,
policies and interpretations and statutes required for plan
implementation. A school, a group of schools, a subdivision or
department of a group of schools or a subdivision or department of
a school may not request an exception nor may an exception be
granted from any of the following:
(i) An assessment program administered by the West Virginia
Department of Education;
(ii) Any provision of law or policy required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law No. 107-110 or other federal
law; and
(iii) Section seven, article two and sections seven-a, seven-
b, eight and eight-b, article four, chapter eighteen-a of this
code, except as provided in section eight of this article; and
(C) Any other information the state board requires.
(3) The innovation zone plan may include:
(A) An emphasis in the early childhood through intermediate
grade levels on ensuring that each student is prepared fully at
each grade level, including additional intervention strategies at
grade levels three and eight to reinforce the preparation of
students who are not prepared fully for promotion, or an emphasis
in the secondary grade levels on ensuring that each student is
prepared fully for college or other post-secondary education, as
applicable for the school; and
(B) An emphasis on innovative strategies that allows
academically advanced students to pursue academic learning above
grade level or not available through the normal curriculum at the
school.
(b) Each school, group of schools, subdivision or department
of a group of schools or subdivision or department of a school
designated or seeking designation as an innovation zone shall
submit its innovation zone plan to the school's employees, the
county superintendent and county board having jurisdiction over the school, the state board, and the state superintendent in accordance
with section five of this article.
§18-5B-5. Approval of innovation zone plans; waiver of statutes,
policies, rules or interpretations.
(a) Each school, group of schools, subdivision or department
of a group of schools or subdivision or department of a school
designated or seeking designation as an innovation zone shall:
(1) Submit its innovation zone plan to each employee regularly
employed at the school if the employee's primary job duties would
be affected by the implementation of the plan. An innovation zone
plan is approved by school employees when approved by a vote by
secret ballot as provided in section six of this article;
(2) Submit its innovation zone plan as approved by vote of
school employees to the county superintendent and board for review.
The county board shall within sixty days of receipt of the plan
review the plan and with recommendations from the county
superintendent report its support or concerns, or both, and return
the plan and report to the school principal, faculty senate and
local school improvement council; and
(3) Submit its innovation zone plan as approved by vote of the
school employees eligible to vote on the plan along with the report
of the county board to the state board and state superintendent for
review. The county board shall be given an opportunity to present
its concerns with the plan, if any, to the state board during its review. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the
state board and state superintendent shall approve or disapprove
the plan within sixty days of receipt, subject to the following:
(A) No exceptions to county or state board rules, policies or
interpretations are granted unless both the state superintendent
and the state board approve the plan at least conditionally
pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this section; and
(B) If the plan is disapproved, the state superintendent, the
state board or both, as applicable, shall communicate the reasons
for the disapproval to the school, the group of schools, the
subdivision or department of a group of schools or the subdivision
or department of a school and shall make recommendations for
improving the plan. The school, the group of schools, the
subdivision or department of a group of schools or the subdivision
or department of a school may amend the plan pursuant to subsection
(d) of this section.
(b) Upon the approval of an innovation zone plan by the state
board and state superintendent, all exceptions to county and state
board rules, policies and interpretations listed within the plan
are granted, subject to the limitations contained in subdivision
(B), subparagraph (2), subsection (a) of section four of this
article.
(c) If an innovation zone plan, or a part thereof, may not be
implemented unless an exception to a statute is granted by Act of the Legislature, the state board and state superintendent may
approve the plan, or the part thereof, only upon the condition that
the Legislature acts to grant the exception. If the state board
and state superintendent approve a plan on that condition, the
state board and state superintendent shall submit the plan with the
request for an exception to a statute, along with supporting
reasons, to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability. The commission shall review the plan and exemption
request and make a recommendation to the Legislature regarding the
exception requested.
(d) The rule promulgated by the state board pursuant to
section three of this article shall include a process for amending
or revising an innovation zone plan. The process shall require
that any amendments or revisions to an innovation zone plan are
subject to the approval requirements of subsection (a) of this
section.
§18-5B-6. Employee approval of innovation plan application and
plan; transfer of employees.
(a) An employee shall be eligible to vote in accordance with
the provisions of this section if: (1) The employee is regularly
employed at the school; and (2) the employee's primary job duties
will be affected by the implementation of the innovation zone plan.
The panel created in subsection (c) of this section and the
principal shall determine which employees are eligible to vote in accordance with this subsection. No employee may be eligible to
vote unless both the panel and the principal determine that the
employee is eligible to vote.
(b) A secret ballot vote at a special meeting of all employees
regularly employed at the school who are eligible to vote in
accordance with this section shall be conducted to determine the
following:
(1) The level of employee commitment to apply for designation
as an innovation zone in accordance with section three of this
article; and
(2) The approval of an innovation zone plan as required by
section five of this article.
(c) A panel consisting of the elected officers of the faculty
senate of the school or schools, one representative of the service
personnel employed at the school and three parent members appointed
by the local school improvement council shall call the meeting
required in subsection (b) of this section, conduct the votes and
certify the results to the principal, the county superintendent and
the president of the county board. The panel shall provide notice
of the special meeting to all employees eligible to vote at least
two weeks prior to the meeting and shall provide an absentee ballot
to each employee eligible to vote who cannot attend the meeting to
vote.
(d) At least eighty percent of the employees who are eligible to vote in accordance with this section must vote to apply for
designation as an innovation zone and to approve the school's
innovation zone plan before the level of staff commitment at the
school is sufficient for the school to apply for designation and
before the plan is approved by the school.
(e) An employee regularly employed at a school applying for or
designated as an innovation zone whose job duties may be affected
by implementation of the innovation zone plan or proposed plan may
request a transfer to another school in the school district. The
county board shall make every reasonable effort to accommodate the
transfer.
§18-5B-7. Progress reviews and annual reports.
(a) At least annually, the state board or its designated
committee shall review the progress of the development or
implementation of an innovation zone plan. If, following such a
review, the state board determines that a designated school, group
of schools, subdivision or department of a group of schools,
subdivision or department of a school or a school created by a
state institution of higher education in accordance with section
nine of this article
has not made adequate progress toward
developing or implementing its plan, the board shall submit a
report to the
designated school, group of schools, subdivision or
department of a group of schools, subdivision or department of a
school or a school created by a state institution of higher education in accordance with section nine of this article
identifying its areas of concern. The state board or its
designated committee may conduct an additional review within six
months of submitting a report in accordance with this section. If,
following such additional review, the state board or its designated
committee determines that the designated school, group of schools,
subdivision or department of a group of schools, subdivision or
department of a school or a school created by a state institution
of higher education in accordance with section nine of this article
has not made adequate progress toward developing or implementing
its innovation zone plan, the state board may revoke the
designation as an innovation zone or, if the innovation zone plan
has been approved in accordance with section five of this article,
rescind its approval of the plan.
(b) The state board shall provide an annual report on
innovation zones and the progress of innovation zone plans to the
Legislative Oversight Committee for Educational Accountability.
§18-5B-8. Teacher vacancies in an innovation zone; job postings
exceeding certain qualifications and requirements;
approval of postings.
A school, group of schools, subdivision or department of a
group of schools, or a subdivision or department of a school whose
school innovation zone plan has been approved in accordance with
section five of this article may make a job posting for a teacher vacancy at the school, the group of schools, the subdivision or
department of a group of schools, or the subdivision or department
of a school designated as an innovation zone that sets forth
standards or qualifications that exceed the standards and
qualifications provided in section seven-a, article four, chapter
eighteen-a of this code: Provided, That teachers in the county
approve the job posting by majority vote: Provided, however, That
the county superintendent administers the vote and the record of
the vote remains on file in the personnel office of the county
board until the school group of schools, subdivision or department
of a group of schools, or a subdivision or department of a school
is no longer designated as an innovation zone.
§18-5B-9. Establishment of new innovation zone schools by state
institutions of higher education.
(a) A state institution of higher education may establish a
new innovation zone school subject to the following:
(1) The school will be under the jurisdiction of the state
institution of higher education;
(2) The county board with jurisdiction over the school
district in which the new school is planned to be located must
approve the establishment of the new innovation zone school;
(3) The state institution of higher education must enter into
cooperative agreements with the county board or county boards whose
students attend the new innovation zone school. The agreements shall include at least required reporting on student attendance,
academic progress and any other matters relating to the
administration, operation and support of the school agreed to by
institution and the board or boards;
(4) Students attending the school shall be enrolled in a
school in their county of residence subject to the policies of the
county. The students may participate in extracurricular and
cocurricular activities at the county school in which they are
enrolled and, subject to the cooperative agreement with the state
institution of higher education, participate in curricular
activities at the county school in which they are enrolled;
(5) No funds provided to support the planning and
implementation of school innovation zones pursuant to this article
may be used for a state institution of higher education to
establish a new innovation zone school
; and
(6)
A school established in accordance with this section may
not be funded with: (1) Moneys appropriated by the Legislature to
fund the innovation zone program; or (2) state or county moneys
that result from the school aid formula.
(b)
The state board shall promulgate a rule, including an
emergency rule if necessary, in accordance with article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for a
state institution of
higher education to establish a new innovation zone school
. The
rule shall include provisions for at least the following:
(1) A process for a state institution of higher education in
accordance with this section to apply for designation as innovation
zone and for approval of its innovation zone plan that encompasses
at least the following:
(A) The manner, time and process for the submission of an
application for innovation zone designation and for approval of its
innovation zone plan;
(B) The contents of the application; and
(C) Factors to be considered by the state board when
evaluating an application and plan, which shall include, but are
not limited to, support from parents, students, county board or
boards of education, the local school improvement council or
councils and school business partners and the potential for a
school to be successful as an innovation zone.
(2) A school created by state institution of higher education
designated as an innovation zone or seeking designation as an
innovation zone in accordance with this section shall develop an
innovation zone plan that includes at least the following:
(A) A description of the programs, policies or initiatives the
state institution of higher education intends to implement as an
innovative strategy to improve student learning if the plan is
approved;
(B) The approval of the county board of education with
jurisdiction over the school district in which the new school is planned to be or is located and the cooperative agreements with the
county board or county boards whose students attend the new
innovation zone school;
(C) A list of all county and state board rules, policies and
interpretations, and all statutes, if any, identified as
prohibiting or constraining the implementation of the plan,
including an explanation of the specific exceptions to the rules,
policies and interpretations and statutes required for plan
implementation;
(D) A policy under which the state institution of higher
education and participating county board or boards of education
agree to meet the accountability requirements for student
assessment under all applicable assessment programs administered by
the West Virginia Department of Education and provisions of law or
policy required by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Public Law
No. 107-110 or other federal law; and
(E) Any other information the state board requires.
(3) Standards for the state board to review applications for
designation as innovation zones and to make determinations on the
approval of innovation zone plans.
(c) The state board and state superintendent
shall review
innovation zone applications and plans of a school created by a
state institution of higher education
in accordance with the
standards adopted by the board and shall determine whether to designate it as an innovation zone or approve it plan, as
applicable. The state board and state superintendent
shall notify
an applicant of the board's determination within sixty days of
receipt of an innovation zone application and receipt of an
innovation zone
plan. If the plan is disapproved, the state board
and state superintendent shall communicate the reasons for the
disapproval to the school and make recommendations for improving
the plan. The school may amend and resubmit the plan to the state
board.
(d) Upon the approval of an innovation zone plan by the state
board and state superintendent, all exceptions to county and state
board rules, policies and interpretations listed within the plan
are granted. If an innovation zone plan, or a part thereof, may
not be implemented unless an exception to a statute is granted by
Act of the Legislature, the state board and state superintendent
may approve the plan, or the part thereof, only upon the condition
that the Legislature acts to grant the exception. If the state
board and state superintendent approve a plan on that condition,
the state board and state superintendent shall submit the plan with
the request for an exception to a statute, along with supporting
reasons, to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education
Accountability. The commission shall review the plan and request
and make a recommendation to the Legislature on the exception
requested.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish zones of
educational innovation that allow school employees to
collaboratively devise and implement twenty-first century school
improvement strategies that are currently restrained and/or
restricted by policies issued by the state board or the West
Virginia Code. The bill also allows a state institution of higher
education to establish an innovation zone school.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.