Senate Bill No. 557
(By Senator Plymale)
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[Introduced March 12, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Education; and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-1a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating generally to the eligibility
requirements of candidates for, members-elect to and members
of county school boards; prohibiting certain political
activities; clarifying which political activities are
permissible; making technical changes for purposes of
codifying current law in more succinct manner; and clarifying
that candidates for school board may hold public office until
such time that they take the oath of office for county school
board.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-1a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows
:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-1a. Eligibility of members; training requirements.
(a) No person shall be eligible for membership on any county board who is not a citizen, resident in such county, or who accepts
a position as teacher or service personnel in the school district
in which he or she is a resident or who is an elected or an
appointed member of any political party executive committee, or who
becomes a candidate for any other office than to succeed oneself.
(b) No member or member-elect of any board shall be eligible
for nomination, election or appointment to any public office, other
than to succeed oneself, or for election or appointment as a member
of any political party executive committee, unless and until after
that membership on the board, or his status as member-elect to the
board, has been terminated at or before the time of his filing for
such nomination for, or appointment to, such public office or
committee: Provided, That "office" or "committee", as used in this
subsection and subsection (a) of this section, does not include
service on any board, elected or appointed, profit or nonprofit,
for which the person does not receive compensation and whose
primary scope is not related to the public schools.
Any person who is a candidate for, member or member-elect of
a county school board:
(1) Must be a citizen and resident in the county in which he
or she serves or seeks to serve on the county school board;
(2) May not be employed, including as a teacher or service
personnel, by the county school board on which he or she serves or
is seeking to serve;
(3) May not engage in the following political activities:
(A) Become a candidate for or hold any other public office,
other than to succeed him or herself on a county school board:
Provided, That, a candidate for county school board, who is not
currently serving on a school board, may hold another public office
while a candidate if he or she resigns from the other public office
prior to taking the oath of office as a school board member. The
term "public office" as used in this section does not include
service on any board, elected or appointed, profit or nonprofit,
for which:
(i) The person does not receive any compensation; and,
(ii) The primary scope is not related to public schools.
(B) Be a candidate for, or serve as, an elected or appointed
member of any political party executive committee;
(C) Be a candidate for, or serve as, a delegate, alternate or
proxy to a county, state or national political party convention;
(D) Solicit or receive political contributions to support the
election or retire the campaign debt of any candidate for partisan
office;
(4) May engage in the following political activities:
(A) Make campaign contributions to partisan or bipartisan
candidates;
(B) Attend political fund raisers for partisan or bipartisan
candidates;
(C) Serve as an unpaid volunteer on a partisan campaign;
(D) Politically endorse any candidate in a partisan or
bipartisan election; or,
(E) Attend county, state or national political party
conventions.
(c) (b) A member or member-elect of a county board, or a
person desiring to become a member of a county board, may make a
written request to the West Virginia Ethics Commission for an
advisory opinion on whether another elected or appointed position
held or sought by the person is an office or public office which
would bar serving on the board pursuant to subsections subsection
(a) and (b) of this section. Within thirty days of receipt of the
request, the Ethics Commission shall issue a written advisory
opinion in response to the request and shall also publish such
opinion in a manner which to the fullest extent possible does not
reveal the identity of the person making the request. Any county
board member who relied in good faith upon an advisory opinion
issued by the West Virginia Ethics Commission that holding a
particular office or public office is not a bar from membership on
a county board of education and against whom proceedings are
subsequently brought for removal from the county board on the basis
of holding such office or offices shall be entitled to
reimbursement by the county board for reasonable attorney's fees
and court costs incurred by the member in defending against such proceedings, regardless of the outcome the proceedings. Further,
no a vote cast by the member at a meeting of the board shall may
not be invalidated due to a subsequent finding that holding the
particular office or public is a bar to membership on the county
board. Good faith reliance on a written advisory opinion of the
West Virginia Ethics Commission that a particular office or public
office is not a bar to membership on a county board of education is
an absolute defense to any civil suit or criminal prosecution
arising from any proper action taken within the scope of membership
on the board, becoming a member-elect of the board or seeking
election to the board.
(d) (c) Any person who is elected or appointed to a county
board on or after May 5, 1992, shall must possess at least a high
school diploma or a general educational development (GED) diploma:
Provided, That this provision shall does not apply to members or
members-elect who have taken office prior to May 5, 1992, and who
serve continuously therefrom.
(e) (d) No A person elected to a county board after July 1,
1990, shall may not assume the duties of board member unless he or
she has first attended and completed a course of orientation
relating to boardsmanship and governance effectiveness which shall
be given between the date of election and the beginning of the
member's term of office: Provided, That a portion or portions of
subsequent training such as that offered in orientation may be provided to members after they have commenced their term of office:
Provided, however, That attendance at the session of orientation
given between the date of election and the beginning of the
member's term of office shall permit such member or members to
assume the duties of board member, as specified in this section.
Members appointed to the board shall attend and complete the next
such course offered following their appointment: Provided further,
That the provisions of this section relating to orientation shall
do not apply to members who have taken office prior to July 1,
1988, and who serve continuously therefrom.
(f) (e) Commencing on the effective date of this section,
members shall annually receive seven clock hours of training in
areas relating to boardsmanship, governance effectiveness, and
school performance issues including, but not limited to, pertinent
state and federal statutes such as the "Process for Improving
Education" set forth in section five, article two-e of this chapter
and the "No Child Left Behind Act" and their respective
administrative rules. Such The orientation and training shall be
approved by the state board and conducted by the West Virginia
school board association or other organization or organizations
approved by the state board: Provided, That the state board may
exclude time spent in training on school performance issues from
the requisite seven hours herein required: Provided, however, That
if the state board elects to exclude time spent in training on school performance issues from the requisite seven hours, such the
training shall be limited by the state board to a feasible and
practicable amount of time. Failure to attend and complete such an
approved course of orientation and training relating to
boardsmanship and governance effectiveness without good cause as
determined by legislative rules of the state board shall constitute
constitutes neglect of duty.
(g) (f) In the final year of any four-year term of office, a
member shall satisfy the annual training requirement before January
1. The state board shall petition the circuit court of Kanawha
County to remove any county board member who has failed to or who
refuses to attend and complete the approved course of orientation
and training. If the county board member fails to show good cause
for not attending the approved course of orientation and training,
the court shall remove the member from office.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to impose additional
restrictions on the political activities of school board members,
members-elect and candidates and to clarify which political
activities are permissible. The bill also includes technical
clean-up.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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