RCEA
- Mar 5, 2020
- 95 min read

WVEA Lobby Line

March 6, 2020

There is only one more day left in the regular legislative session and several bills were on third reading/passage stage. In the Senate HB 4804 passed by a vote of 34-0 and will now be sent to the governor. This bill would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program.

After being laid over on third reading yesterday, HB 4398 was laid over again today. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into Celebrate Freedom Week the original texts of the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia. It

will continue to be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4737 was also laid over for one day and will continue to be on third reading tomorrow. This bill says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, it will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. It will now go to the governor.

Several bills were moved off the inactive calendar and put back on second reading today. HB 4069 is known as The West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act. It would do a number of things including: protect students and parents from being discriminated against on the basis of religion, allow students to express their religious beliefs in assignments, allow students to engage in religious activities before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression. During the Senate Education Committee most of section 5 of the bill was removed which requires school districts to create a limited public forum for student speakers for school events. The bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

Also on second reading was HB 4497. This bill would require an automated defibrillator device be present at all secondary school athletic events and practices. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. All appropriate school sports personnel must be trained on how to use the device. The WVSSAC will be required to include language concerning proximity in their rules for this bill. These devices must be present beginning with the 2021-22 school year. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year.

HB 4535 was also put back on the active calendar on second reading. This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school service personnel. Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary AuthorizationAIDE V: Special Education Assistant TeacherAIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary AuthorizationAIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

Over in the House, SB 291 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 84-14. This bill would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. It must now go back to the Senate to ask them to concur with changes made in the House.

March 5, 2020

With just two days left in the session, several bills passed in both the House and the Senate today. In the House SB 42 passed by a vote 83-15. This bill would permit county boards of education to include faith-based and nonfaith-based electives in classroom drug prevention programs. The State Board would have to develop a rule on how that would work. The bill will now be sent to the Senate to ask them to concur with changes made in the House.

SB 230 passed by a vote of 98-0. This bill requires a school administrator to provide information and opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness to all middle and high school students. It also requires that the State Board provide routine education to all professional educators and service personnel in direct contact with students on the warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention. This bill will also go back to the Senate to ask them to concur with changes made in the House.

SB 303 passed by a vote of 96-0. This bill would require the State Board to compile information about the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools, each branch of military’s starting salary and contact information and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school. The bill will go back to the Senate to ask them to concur. This bill will also go back to the Senate to ask them to concur with changes made in the House.

SB 691 passed by a vote of 98-0. This bill allows the State Board of Education to create their own alternative preparation programs. They do not have to work with any other partner. This bill will now go to the governor.

SB 291 was on second reading in the House today. This bill would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment.

Over in the Senate HB 4165 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 32-0. This bill would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement. The bill now goes to the governor.

HB 4378 passed by a vote of 33-0 and will now go back to the House to ask them to concur with changes made in the Senate. This bill authorizes the State Superintendent to limit teaching certificates, issue letters of admonishment or enter into consent agreements requiring specific training in order for a teacher to maintain a certificate. It also allows for the revocation of a license in the case of the following: committed any act of sexual abuse of a student or minor or to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a student or minor; committed an act of cruelty to children or an act of child endangerment; or solicited, encouraged, engaged in or consummated an inappropriate relationship with any student, minor, or individual; having a relationship with a student within 12 months of that student’s graduation.

Two bills were brought back onto the active calendar and were on second reading today.

HB 4737 says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, it will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid.

HB 4804 would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program.

March 4, 2020

It was another long day at the capitol. Over in the house, the budget bill (SB 150) dominated most of the day with amendments and discussion. Only one education-related bill was on third reading today. SB 614 passed by a vote of 96-0. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. The bill will be sent back to Senate to ask them to concur with amendments made in the House.

There were several bills on second reading today. SB 42 would permit county boards of education to include faith-based and nonfaith-based electives in classroom drug prevention programs. The State Board would have to develop a rule on how that would work. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 723 would require the Department of Education to analyze data collected statewide on school disciplinary actions. Based on this data, they are then required to develop a program to address the number of disciplinary actions taken against students. The Department must also report their findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years beginning in 2022. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

Also on third reading tomorrow is SB 750. It would require the county boards of education to develop and adopt an Extended Learning Opportunities policy that includes alternative educational opportunities for elective course credit that recognizes learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Non-profits, businesses, parents and teachers may apply and submit proposals for these opportunities.

SB 842 would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for three years in at least two counties but no more than ten. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist. A committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to assist the county boards on the requirements for the position. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 691 will also be on third reading tomorrow. This bill allows the State Board of Education to create their own alternative preparation programs. They do not have to work with any other partner.

SB 230 was moved from the inactive calendar back to the active calendar today and was on second reading. SB 230 requires a school administrator to provide information and opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness to all middle and high school students. It also requires that the State Board provide routine education to all professional educators and service personnel in direct contact with students on the warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention.

SB 303 was also moved back onto the active calendar today and was on second reading. This bill would require the State Board to compile information about the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school. An amendment was proposed today by Delegate Jefferies that would include in the bill each branch of the military’s starting salary and their contact information. The amendment passed and the amended bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 291 was on first reading today. This bill would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

The Senate had a very long floor session today with a multitude of bills to get through.

HB 4780 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 30-3. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible;

An elective social studies course on the New Testament of the Bible; or

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible.

HB 4519 creates a summer youth intern pilot program with the Department of Commerce. The Department will work with employers, non-profits and institutions especially in areas of high-demand career fields to place high school students in internships. It passed by a vote of 34-0 and will now go to the governor.

HB 4546 passed by a vote of 34-0. The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.) The bill will now be sent to the governor.

HB 4691 passed by a vote of 34-0. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and provide greater visibility to provisions that enable school systems to recruit and employ newly graduating teachers and other professional personnel who will begin employment in the next school year in areas of critical need. Also, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025. It will now go to the governor.

HB 4165 was on second reading today. This bill would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement. The bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

After being removed from the active calendar yesterday, HB 4378 was put back on the active calendar today and was on second reading. This bill authorizes the State Superintendent to limit teaching certificates, issue letters of admonishment or enter into consent agreements requiring specific training in order for a teacher to maintain a certificate. It also allows for the revocation of a license in the case of the following: committed any act of sexual abuse of a student or minor or to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a student or minor; committed an act of cruelty to children or an act of child endangerment; or solicited, encouraged, engaged in or consummated an inappropriate relationship with any student, minor, or individual who was a student in the preceding 24 months.

An amendment was proposed by Senator Weld that would clarify that a teacher has the right to a hearing. The amendment also changes the number of months after graduation a teacher may engage in a relationship with a student from 24 to 12. The amendment passed and the amended bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

Several bills that were supposed to be on second reading in the Senate today were moved to the inactive calendar. Those include HB 4069 (Student Religious Liberties), HB 4497 Alex Miller Law), HB 4804 (Teacher Leaders), HB 4737 (State Financial Aid), HB 2775 (Finance Course) and HB 4535 (Student Aid Titles). We are unsure of when or if these bills will return to the active calendar.

March 3, 2020

It was an extremely busy day at the capitol. The day began with the House Floor session. SB 614 was on second reading. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading/passage stage tomorrow.

Several bills were on first reading. SB 42 would permit county boards of education to include faith-based and nonfaith-based electives in classroom drug prevention programs. The State Board would have to develop a rule on how that would work. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 750 will also be on second reading tomorrow. It would require the county boards of education to develop and adopt an Extended Learning Opportunities policy that includes alternative educational opportunities for elective course credit that recognizes learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Non-profits, businesses, parents and teachers may apply and submit proposals for these opportunities.

Multiple bills were also on the Senate Floor today. After being laid over for one day, HB 4790 was on third reading. This bill will move some Vo-Tech options and a family and consumer science option to middle school. The county boards would be in charge of coming up with a plan. The bill passed by a vote of 34-0 and must now go back to the House to ask them to concur with changes the House made.

HB 4398 was also on third reading but was taken off the Senate calendar and moved to the inactive calendar. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into Celebrate Freedom Week the original texts of the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia.

HB 4925 passed by a vote of 34-0. This bill would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but the recognition is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. After an amendment, the bill also now includes the language of HB 3127 (Tim Tebow bill). The bill must now go back to the House to ask them to concur with changes the House made.

HB 4780 was on second reading today. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible;

An elective social studies course on the New Testament of the Bible; or

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible.

The bill requires the State Board of Education to include course standards in the program of studies for West Virginia schools, including the teacher qualifications and required professional development. Senator Baldwin offered an amendment to change the bill to the Senate version (SB 38) which would only allow county boards to offer students in grades 9 and up a social studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 15-19.

HB 4378 was also on second reading but was moved from the Senate Calendar to the inactive calendar. This bill authorizes the State Superintendent to limit teaching certificates, issue letters of admonishment or enter into consent agreements requiring specific training in order for a teacher to maintain a certificate. It also allows for the revocation of a license in the case of the following: committed any act of sexual abuse of a student or minor or to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a student or minor; committed an act of cruelty to children or an act of child endangerment; or solicited, encouraged, engaged in or consummated an inappropriate relationship with any student, minor, or individual who was a student in the preceding 24 months.

HB 4519 creates a summer youth intern pilot program with the Department of Commerce. The Department will work with employers, non-profits and institutions especially in areas of high-demand career fields to place high school students in internships. It was on second reading and will be on third reading tomorrow.

Also on second reading was HB 4546. The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.)

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon with a laundry list of bills to get through. First up was HB 4165. This bill would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement.

HB 4069 is known as The West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act. It would do a number of things including: protect students and parents from being discriminated against on the basis of religion, allow students to express their religious beliefs in assignments, allow students to engage in religious activities before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression. A strike and insert version of the bill was introduced that removed most of section 5 of the bill which requires school districts to create a limited public forum for student speakers for school events. The amended bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Judiciary Committee.

The committee also took up HB 4497. This bill would require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events and practices. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. The devices must be as close to the events and practices as practical. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year.

A strike and insert version of the bill was introduced which made all devices required in schools by the 2021-22 school year, removed the language that said the device must be as close as possible and says all appropriate athletic personnel must be trained on how to use the devices. Senator Baldwin then moved to amend the strike and insert to say that when the WVSSAC develops the rules for this bill, they include something about the device’s proximity to the event. This amendment passed. The amended bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

On the committee’s agenda was HB 4737. The bill says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, it will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

HB 2775 requires each student to complete a full credit of personal finance separate from any other courses. This would increase the graduation requirements from 22 credits to 23. An amendment was proposed that would no longer make the course a requirement, leaving the graduation requirement at 22 credits. The amendment passed and the amended bill will now go to the Senate Floor.

Finally, the committee discussed HB 4535. This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school service personnel. Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

SCR 53 was in the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee this afternoon. SCR 53 requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance conduct a study regarding providing free feminine hygiene products to all female students in grades six through 12 in West Virginia public schools. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Rules Committee.

March 2, 2020

The last week of this year’s Legislative Session began today with a House Education Committee meeting. They took up SB 42 which would permit county boards of education to include faith-based electives in classroom drug prevention programs. The State Board would have to develop a rule on how that would work. An amendment was proposed to add nonfaith-based electives to the bill. The amendment passed and the amended bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

They also discussed SB 842. This bill would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for five years in two counties. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist. A committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to advise the county boards on the requirements for the position.

Several amendments were made to this bill in the committee. Originally the bill said that if the job was deemed a service personnel position, they would be assigned a pay grade D. An amendment changed that to a pay grade F. Another amendment changed to bill to allow at least two and up to ten school districts to be chosen and changed how long the program would run in those counties from five to three years. Finally, language that says “teacher organizations will advise county boards” was changed to “teacher organizations will assist county boards”. The amended bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

The committee also took up SB 702. This bill allows a school district to develop or adopt a program that focuses on nutrition and exercise education. The program should focus on increasing awareness as to how nutrition and exercise can prevent childhood obesity and its secondary diseases such as asthma, diabetes and others. The bill also creates the Nutrition and Exercise Education Fund in the State Treasury as a special revenue account. The fund will consist of money appropriated by the Legislature and any grants, gifts or contributions. The money will be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis. The bill was rejected and died in committee.

During the House Floor session, two bills were on second reading. SB 230 requires a school administrator to provide information and opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness to all middle and high school students. It also requires that the State Board provide routine education to all professional educators and service personnel in direct contact with students on the warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention. This bill was moved from the House Calendar to the inactive calendar. It is unclear if it will be taken up in the future.

SB 303 would require the State Board to compile information about the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school. This bill was also placed on the inactive calendar and we are unsure of if it will be taken up later in the week.

SB 614 was on first reading today. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

In the Senate there were two bills on third reading. HB 3127 passed by a vote of 32-1. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements of the Tebow student written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all rules of the SSAC parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations. It will now be sent to the governor for signature.

HB 4790 was laid over for one day and will be on third reading tomorrow. This bill will move some Vo-Tech options and a family and consumer science option to middle school. The county boards would be in charge of coming up with a plan.

HB 4398 was on second reading. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required coursework the original texts of the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia. It will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

HB 4925 was also on second reading today. This bill would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but the recognition is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. Senator Rucker moved to amend the bill by adding the language of HB 3127 (Tim Tebow). The amendment passed and the amended bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4780 was read for a first time today. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible;

An elective social studies course on the New Testament of the Bible; or

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the

Bible.

February 29, 2020

It was a rare Saturday workday in both the Senate and the House. Here is a quick recap of education-related bills moving today in both houses.

In House Education, SB 691- Alternative Certification; SB 707 – Nursing Pathways; SB 750 – Extended Learning Opportunities; SB 839- Higher Ed Career Group; and SB 723- Discipline were all passed out of committee and will head to the House floor.

House Education will meet again on Monday morning at 9 am.

In Senate Education, HB 4546 –TB testing for Superintendents; HB 4414– Deaf Children Milestones; HB 4691- Critical Needs; and HB 4378 -Discipline of Teachers all passed by voice vote.

The Senate met in a floor session and spent most of the time discussing the budget. A few education bills were taken up.

HB 3127 - Tebow bill was advanced to third reading.

HB 4790 - Career and Technical schools was also on second reading. A home economics amendment was amended to the bill before advancing it to third reading. Those bills will be up for passage when the Senate convenes on Monday.

February 28, 2020

Today began with a House Education Committee meeting. They discussed SB 230. A similar bill to this was passed several years ago; however, after the elimination of the Center for Professional Development the training was no longer required. SB 230 requires a school administrator to provide information and opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness to all middle and high school students. It also requires that the State Board provide routine education to all professional educators and service personnel in direct contact with students on the warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention. One amendment was made today to reinstate calling the bill “Jamie’s Law”. The amended bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

The committee also took up SB 303. This bill would require the State Board to compile information about the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school. It passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

There were two bills on third reading in the House today. SB 241 requires the State Board of Education to propose revisions to the calculation of the allowance for service personnel in step 2 of the funding formula. This would provide additional funded bus driver positions for counties with lower population-density covering large geographic areas. The Board must report the proposal to the Legislature before September 1, 2020. It passed the House by a vote of 92-0. This was a committee substitute and must now go back to the Senate to ask them to concur on the changes.

SB 652 would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. It passed the House by a vote of 94-5 and will now go to the Governor.

On the Senate Floor HB 3127 was taken up for immediate consideration and read a first time. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all SSAC rules regarding parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations. It will be on second reading next week.

There were also two concurrent resolutions in the Senate today. SCR 53 requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance conduct a study regarding providing free feminine hygiene products to all female students in grades six through 12 in West Virginia public schools. The resolution was sent to the Health and Human Resources Committee and then the Rules Committee.

SCR 54 requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to review West Virginia’s academic standards, in particular English Language Arts and Mathematics standards, to compare how West Virginia’s standards compare with the standards of other states. A Joint Standing Committee on Education is asked to formed to complete the review and to make recommendations to the State Board of Education for ensuring that Common Core Standards in West Virginia are eliminated and that the state returns to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The resolution was sent to the Education Committee and then the Rules Committee.

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon and took up several bills. HB 4790 will move some Vo-Tech options to middle school. The county boards would be in charge of coming up with a plan. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

HB 4925 would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

HB 4519 creates a summer youth intern pilot program with the Department of Commerce. The Department will work with employers, non-profits and institutions especially in areas of high-demand career fields to place high school students in internships. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Finance Committee.

February 27, 2020

Now that crossover day is over, things slowed down at the capitol today. There were no education-related bills on the Senate Floor. Two bills were on second reading in the House.

SB 241 requires the State Board of Education to propose revisions to the calculation of the allowance for service personnel in step 2 of the funding formula. This would provide additional funded bus driver positions for counties with lower population-density covering large geographic areas. The Board must report the proposal to the Legislature before September 1, 2020. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

There were also no amendments made to SB 652. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon. They discussed HB 4398. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required coursework the original texts of the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

February 26, 2020

It was crossover day for the Legislature which means there were many bills on third reading in both the Senate and the House.

We will start with bills in the Senate. SB 38 passed by a vote of 34-0 and will now be sent to the House. This bill says that county boards may offer students in grades 9 and up a social studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions.

SB 616 passed by a vote of 27-7 and will now be sent to the House. Senators Stollings, Facemire, Prezioso, Baldwin, Hardesty, Lindsay and Romano were the no votes. This is the grievance process bill and contains a number of provisions that are of concern to WVEA.

They include:

Language allowing the prevailing party in an appeal to the Circuit or Supreme Court to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees from the opposing party for the appeal to the court.Proposed language stating that “When the grievant has been discharged, suspended without pay, or demoted or reclassified resulting in a loss of compensation or benefits, he or she may proceed directly to level two.” Currently the grievant can go directly to level three and waive levels one and two in those situations. This delays the decision for the grievant and extends the process unnecessarily.

SB 661 passed by a vote of 34-0 and will now be sent to the House. This bill would replace the minimum minutes of instructional time required per day with a requirement for an average of five hours per day throughout the instructional term. It would also require that public notice for hearings about a county’s school calendar be posted in the newspaper and on the county board’s website.

SB 750 passed by a vote of 34-0 and will now head to the House. This bill would require the county boards of education to develop and adopt an Extended Learning Opportunities policy that includes alternative educational opportunities for elective course credit that recognizes learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Non-profits, businesses, parents and teachers may apply and submit proposals for these opportunities.

SB 842 passed by a vote of 34-0. This bill would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for five years in two counties. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties then may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist. A committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to decide on the requirements for the position.

There were also several bills on third reading in the House. SB 725 was on third reading today but was taken off the House calendar and placed on the inactive calendar. This bill requires money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 will be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for Exceptional Children.

HB 2897 passed by a vote of 97-0 and will now be sent to the Senate. It would make it optional for school zone flashing beacons to be active when students are present at a school for student activities occurring outside of a school’s regular hours.

HB 4497 passed by a vote of 100-0 and will now be sent to the Senate. This bill would require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events and practices. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. The devices must be as close to the events and practices as practical. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year.

HB 4535 passed by a vote of 94-0. This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school service personnel. Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

HB 4804 passed by a vote of 96-0. This bill would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program.

HB 4925 passed by a vote of 97-0. This bill would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events.

February 25, 2020

It was another busy day at the capitol. All eyes were on SJR 9 again today as it was still on third reading after being laid over yesterday. SJR 9 is the proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the ability to lower personal property taxes.

Personal property taxes account for over $380 million for county schools through the counties’ regular and excess levies. An amendment to the constitution requires a 2/3 majority vote which means 23 votes would have been needed to pass. The resolution failed with a vote of 18-16. You can find WVEA's statement on the resolution's failure on our Dedicated Teachers Facebook page.

There were several other bills in the Senate today.

SB 38: This bill would allow county boards to offer students in grades 9 and up a social

studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions. It was on third reading and laid over one day. It will continue to be on third reading tomorrow

SB 614: This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras.

SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. It was also on third reading and passed by a vote of 33-0 and will now be sent to the House.

SB 775: This bill would require at least two water bottle filling stations be included in newly built and renovated schools. It was on second reading with no amendments. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 842: This bill would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for five years in two counties. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties then may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist. A committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to decide on the requirements for the position. It was on second reading and will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 616: This is the grievance process bill and contains a number of provisions that are of concern to WVEA. They include:

Language allowing the prevailing party in an appeal to the Circuit or Supreme Court to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees from the opposing party for the appeal to the court.

Proposed language stating that “When the grievant has been discharged, suspended without pay, or demoted or reclassified resulting in a loss of compensation or benefits, he or she may proceed directly to level two.”

Currently the grievant can go directly to level three and waive levels one and two in those situations. This delays the decision for the grievant and extends the process unnecessarily.

It was on second reading today with no amendments made. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

There were also several bills in the House today.

HB 4780: This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible;An elective social studies course on the New Testament of the Bible; orAn elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible.

SB 725: This bill would require money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for Exceptional Children. It was on second reading with no amendments offered and will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 2897: It would make it optional for school zone flashing beacons to be active when students are present at a school for student activities occurring outside of a school’s regular hours. This bill was also on second reading today.

HB 4497: This bill would require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events and practices. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. The devices must be as close to the events and practices as practical. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4535: This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school service personnel. Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

This bill was on second reading and will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4804: This bill would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program. It will also be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4925: This bill would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. It was on second reading and will be on third reading tomorrow.

February 24, 2020

There are just two weeks left in the Legislative Session and crossover day is on Wednesday.

This means you can expect the next several days to be very busy. Today began in the House with a public hearing on HB 4780. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible;

An elective social studies course on the New Testament of the Bible; or

An elective social studies course on the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament of the Bible.

The bill requires the State Board of Education to include course standards in the program of studies for West Virginia schools, including the teacher qualifications and required professional development. This bill was also on second reading today. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

HB 3127 was on third reading in the House today and passed by a vote of 61-38. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements of the Tebow student written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all rules of the SSAC parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations. The bill will now be sent to the Senate.

There were several bills on first reading in the House. SB 725 would require money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for Exceptional Children. The bill will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

HB 2897 was also on first reading and will be on second reading tomorrow. It would make it optional for school zone flashing beacons to be active when students are present at a school for student activities occurring outside of a school’s regular hours.

HB 4497 would require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events and practices. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. The devices must be as close to the events and practices as practical. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

Also on first reading was HB 4535. This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school service personnel.

Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary Authorization

AIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

This bill will be on second reading tomorrow.

HB 4804 will also be on second reading tomorrow. This bill would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program.

Finally HB 4925 would require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does not allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

There were also a multitude of education-related bills on the Senate Floor today. The biggest of those were SJR 9 and SB 837 which were both on third reading. SJR 9 is the proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the ability to lower personal property taxes. Personal property taxes account for over $380 million for county schools through the counties’ regular and excess levies.

SB 837 would be dependent on the passage of SJR 9 as it will eliminate the manufacturing and inventory taxes and automobile personal property tax over six years. This bill also establishes the replacement fund to replace the money lost in SJR 9. This would include a .5% sales tax increase, raising the tax on cigarettes from $1.20 per 20 cigarettes to $2.00, raising the tax on other tobacco products from 12% of the wholesale price to 50%, and raising the tax on vaping products from 7.5 cents per milliliter to 50% of the wholesale price.

After hours of debate, SB 837 passed by a vote of 17-16 with Republican Senators Hamilton and Pitsenbarger joining Democrats in a “no” vote and Senator Mann absent. However, without the passage the of SJR 9 this bill is irrelevant. SJR requires a 2/3 majority vote to pass. Republican senators obviously believe they do not have the votes as SJR 9 was laid over one day and will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 723 passed by a vote of 33-0 and will now be sent to the House. This bill would require the Department of Education to analyze data collected statewide on school disciplinary actions. Based on this data, they are then required to develop a program to address the number of disciplinary actions taken against students. The Department must also report their findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years beginning in 2022.

SB 691 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 33-0. This bill says alternative programs to prepare teachers adopted or established by the State Board of Education are separate from programs already established in code. It will now be sent to the House.

SB 38 was on second reading. This bill would allow county boards to offer students in grades 9 and up a social studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 614 was also on second reading today. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. Once all districts have cameras in every special education classroom, then the distribution of funds will go back to normal (dividing total amount of appropriation by total number of public schools). No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 775 was on first reading and will be on second reading tomorrow. This bill would require at least two water bottle filling stations be included in newly built and renovated schools.

SB 842 was also on first reading. This was an originating bill in the Senate Education Committee last week. It would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for five years in two counties. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties then may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist. A committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to decide on the requirements for the position. The county board would designate this position as either professional or service personnel.

SB 616, the grievance process bill, was reported to the floor from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Since crossover day is Wednesday, unanimous consent was given for the bill to be read a first time today as well. This bill contains a number of provisions that are of concern to WVEA. They include:

suspended without pay, or demoted or reclassified resulting in a loss of compensation or benefits, he or she may proceed directly to level two.” Currently the grievant can go directly to level three and waive levels one and two in those situations. This delays the decision for the grievant and extends the process unnecessarily.

This bill will now be on second reading/ amendment stage tomorrow.

The House Education Committee met this afternoon to discuss several bills. First up was SB 241. The committee discussed a committee substitute version of this bill that is very different from the version that passed the Senate. This version of the bill requires the State Board of Education to propose revisions to the calculation of the allowance for service personnel in step 2 of the funding formula. This would provide additional funded service personnel positions for counties with lower population-density covering large geographic areas. The Board must report the proposal to the Legislature before September 1, 2020. This committee substitute passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the House Floor.

They also discussed SB 652. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the floor.

February 21, 2020

It was an unusually busy Friday at the Capitol. The morning began with a House Finance Committee meeting to discuss HB 4497. The purpose of this bill is to require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events. The bill also requires action plans to be posted and defibrillators to be present on school or event grounds. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year.

An amendment was proposed that would require the device also be present at practices and make the device as close to the event or practice as practical. The amendment passed and the amended bill passed out of the committee. It will now be sent to the House Floor.

The House Education Committee also met this morning. First on their agenda was HB 4925. The purpose of this bill is to require the West Virginia Secondary Schools Athletic Commission to recognize private, parochial or church schools or schools of a religious order or other nonpublic schools that meet the requirements of the WVSSAC for nonparticipating school or team members. This bill does allow non-member schools to compete in WV, but is needed to allow them to compete in certain national events. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the House Floor.

The committee also discussed HB 4535. This bill would add four student aide titles to the class titles for school personnel. Those new titles are:

AIDE V: Special Education Assistant Teacher- Temporary AuthorizationAIDE V: Special Education Assistant TeacherAIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher- Temporary AuthorizationAIDE VI: Behavioral Support Assistant Teacher

The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the House Floor.

The Senate Education Committee also met today to discuss SB 661. This bill would replace the minimum minutes of instructional time required per day with a requirement for an average of five hours per day throughout the instructional term. It would also require that public notice for hearings about a county’s school calendar be posted in the newspaper and on the county board’s website. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the floor.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met today and took up SB 616. This bill contains a number of provisions that are of concern to WVEA. They include:

New language allows the prevailing party in an appeal to the Circuit or Supreme Court to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees from the opposing party for the appeal to the court. Previously this was limited to the grievant recovering charges.The proposed language states that “When the grievant has been discharged, suspended without pay, or demoted or reclassified resulting in a loss of compensation or benefits, he or she may proceed directly to level two.” Currently the grievant can go directly to level three and waive levels one and two in those situations. This delays the decision for the grievant and extends the process unnecessarily.

The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

There were several education-related bills on the Senate Floor today. SB 723 was on second reading/amendment stage. This bill would require the Department of Education to analyze data collected statewide on school disciplinary actions. Based on this data, they are then required to develop a program to address the number of disciplinary actions taken against students. The Department must also report their findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years beginning in 2022. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading next week.

SB 691 was also on second reading today. This bill says alternative programs to prepare teachers adopted or established by the State Board of Education are separate from programs already established in code. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading next week.

SJR 9 was on second reading. This is the proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the ability to lower personal property taxes. Personal property taxes account for over $380 million for county schools through the counties’ regular and excess levies. The Democrats tried to amend the bill so that only the Motor Vehicle tax could be changed but the amendment failed. It will be on third reading next week.

One amendment was proposed for this bill. Senator Takubo amended the bill to change the vaping tax increase from $1.00 per milliliter to 50% of the wholesale price. The amendment was adopted and the bill will be on third reading/passage next week.

On first reading today was SB 38. This bill says that county boards may offer students in grades 9 and up a social studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions. It will be on second reading next week.

SB 614 was also on first reading. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. Once all districts have cameras in every special education classroom, then the distribution of funds will go back to normal (dividing total amount of appropriation by total number of public schools). It will be on second reading next week.

The House also had several bills on the floor today. SB 623 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 98-0. This bill allows noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. The bill will is effective from passage.

HB 4408 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 98-0. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to develop and implement an online database for the employment of school principals, administrators and central office staff. It will now be sent to the Senate.

HB 4737 was also on third reading and passed by a vote of 96-0. The bill says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. It will now be sent to the Senate.

HB 3127 was on second reading. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements of the Tebow student written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all rules of the SSAC parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading next week.

On first reading today was HB 4780. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

The bill requires the State Board of Education to include course standards in the program of studies for West Virginia schools, including the teacher qualifications and required professional development. The bill will be on second reading next week. A public hearing has been scheduled for this bill on Monday February 24 at 9 AM.

February 20, 2020

As the end of the session gets closer, more and more bills are moving each day. Several bills were on the floor of the Senate today. SB 291 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 34-0. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. The bill will now be sent to the House.

SB 691 was on first reading. This bill says alternative programs to prepare teachers adopted or established by the State Board of Education are separate from programs already established in code. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 723 was also on first reading. This bill would require the Department of Education to analyze data collected statewide on school disciplinary actions. Based on this data, they are then required to develop a program to address the number of disciplinary actions taken against students. The Department must also report their findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years beginning in 2022. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

SJR 9 was on first reading today. This is the proposed constitutional amendment that would give the Legislature the ability to lower personal property taxes. Personal property taxes account for over $380 million for county schools through the counties’ regular and excess levies. An amendment to the state constitution requires a 2/3 vote in both the Senate and House and a majority vote by the public. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

SB 837 was also on first reading. This is the bill that originated in the Senate Finance Committee on Monday. This bill would be dependent on the passage of SJR 9 as it will eliminate the manufacturing and inventory taxes and automobile personal property tax over six years. This bill also establishes the replacement fund to replace the money lost in SJR 9. This would include a .5% sales tax increase, raising the tax on cigarettes from $1.20 per 20 cigarettes to $2.00, raising the tax on other tobacco products from 12% of the wholesale price to 50%, and raising the tax on vaping products from 7.5 cents per milliliter to $1.00 per milliliter. The bill will be on second reading tomorrow.

Over in the House, SB 623 was on second reading/amendment stage. This bill allows noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4408 was on second reading and also had no amendments. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to develop and implement an online database for the employment of school principals, administrators and central office staff. It will be on third reading tomorrow.

Also on second reading today was HB 4737. The bill says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 3127 was on first reading today. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements of the Tebow student written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all rules of the SSAC parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon with a full agenda. First up was SB 750. This bill would require the county boards of education to develop and adopt an Extended Learning Opportunities policy that includes alternative educational opportunities for elective course credit that recognizes learning opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Non-profits, businesses, parents and teachers may apply and submit proposals for these opportunities. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

SB 775 would require at least two water bottle filling stations be included in newly built and renovated schools. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the floor.

There were also two originating bills discussed in the Senate Education Committee today. The first originating bill would allow county boards of education to use alternative assessments such as the ACT. This bill was laid over to a future date.

The second originating bill would require the State Superintendent to create the Behavior Interventionalist Program. The program would run for five years in two counties. The state superintendent would use the following criteria when choosing the two counties: counties with a high number of students with an IEP, high number of students with behavior issues and the resources available to hire and train someone for this position. The chosen counties then may create a new position titled Behavior Interventionalist that would be an at-will employee. The county board would designate this position as either professional or service personnel.

An amendment was made to the bill that struck the language that made the position at-will. It also said that a committee consisting of principals, teachers, classroom aids and teacher organizations will convene to decide on the requirements for the position. The amended bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the floor.

The House Education Committee also met today to discuss an originating bill there. Their originating bill deals with calculating the net enrollment for homeschool students who participate in public school extracurricular events (per the Tim Tebow bill). The bill says those students who are enrolled in at least one virtual class will count at .30% in the funding formula which equals about $700 per student. It passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

February 19, 2020

Today started in the Senate Floor session where SB 291 was still on second reading today after being laid over yesterday. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

SB 652 was on third reading today and passed by a vote of 34-0. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. It will now be sent to the House.

In the House SB 623 was on first reading. This bill allows noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

HB 4408 was on first reading today. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to develop and implement an online database for the employment of school principals, administrators and central office staff. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

HB 4737 was also on first reading today. The bill says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. It will be on second reading tomorrow.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met this afternoon to discuss SB 38. This bill is a companion bill to HB 4780 which began moving on the House today. The original bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

However, Senator Baldwin made an amendment that changed the bill entirely. Instead of the language stated above, the bill now says that county boards may offer students in grades 9 and up a social studies elective in sacred texts or comparative religions. This amended version of the bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

The Senate Finance Committee took up SB 614. This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. Once all districts have cameras in every special education classroom, then the distribution of funds will go back to normal (dividing total amount of appropriation by total number of public schools). The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

The House Education Committee also met this afternoon to discuss several bills. HB 2897 deals with speeding restrictions in school zones. It would make it optional for school zone flashing beacons to be active when students are present at a school for student activities occurring outside of a school’s regular hours. The bill passed out of the committee and will

now be sent to the House Floor.

HB 4780 was also discussed in the committee. This bill would allow the county boards of education to offer students in grades 9 and up the following classes:

The bill requires the State Board of Education to include course standards in the program of studies for West Virginia schools, including the teacher qualifications and required professional development. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the House Floor. A public hearing has been scheduled for this bill on Monday February 24 at 9 AM.

February 18, 2020

After a marathon day at the capitol yesterday, today was a bit slower. The day began with a House Education Committee meeting to discuss HB 3127. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill. The bill would allow home-schooled students to participate in secondary extracurricular and interscholastic activities. There are some requirements of the Tebow student written in the bill including: demonstrating satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year; be enrolled in at least one virtual course; comply with the disciplinary rules of the SSAC and the county board; and agrees to obey all rules of the SSAC parental consents, physical exams and vaccinations.

The bill passed out of the committee by a voice vote. It will now be sent to the House Floor. We are asking you to start contacting your delegates now and asking them to vote NO on this bill. You can find their contact information here.

The House Education Committee met again this evening to discuss a slew of other bills. First up was HB 4497. The purpose of this bill is to require an automated defibrillator device and a trained device operator be present at all secondary school athletic events. Once enacted, it will be called the Alex Miller Law in memory of the Roane High School football player who died during a game last year. The bill was amended to also require action plans to be posted and to say that defibrillators must be present on school or event grounds. It passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

They also discussed HB 4367 which would add speech pathologists to the step increase for special education teachers. The bill was amended to say speech and language pathologists per their certification. It passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

HB 2794 would establish the Summer Feeding for All initiative. Each county school board would be required to conduct an assessment of the availability of food to students to determine what food insecurities exist among students. County boards will also be required to compile and distribute a list of existing food providers in the community that will provide nutritious food to children with food insecurities on non-school days. The bill passed out of

the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

The Senate Education Committee also met today. First on their agenda was SB 691. This bill says alternative programs to prepare teachers adopted or established by the State Board of Education are separate from programs already established in code. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

The committee also discussed SB 723. This bill would require the Department of Education to analyze data collected statewide on school disciplinary actions. Based on this data, they are then required to develop a program to address the number of disciplinary actions taken against students. The Department must also report their findings to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability every two years beginning in 2022. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

During the Senate Floor session, SB 291 was on second reading. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. The bill was laid over for one day and will continue to be on second reading tomorrow.

SB 652 was also on second reading today. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. No amendments were made and it will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

SB 725 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 34-0. This is a supplemental appropriations bill. Money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 will be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for

Exceptional Children. It will now be sent to the House.

In the House HB 2775 was on third reading today and passed by a vote of 89-8. The bill requires each student to complete a full credit of personal finance separate from any other courses. This would increase the graduation requirements from 22 credits to 23. It will now be sent to the Senate.

HB 4165 was also on third reading and passed by a vote of 94-3. This bill would create the “West Virginia Remembers Program”. It would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement. It will now be sent to the Senate.

February 17, 2020

With just three weeks left in the Legislative Session, things are starting to get very busy. In the House HB 2775 was on second reading. The bill requires each student to complete a full credit of personal finance separate from any other courses. This would increase the graduation requirements from 22 credits to 23. No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading/passage stage tomorrow.

Also on second reading was HB 4165 which would create the “West Virginia Remembers Program”. It would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement. There were no amendments and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4546 was on third reading today and passed by a vote of 97-1. The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.) It will now be sent to the Senate.

In the Senate Floor session, SB 291 was on first reading. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 652 was also on first reading. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements.

On second reading was SB 725. This is a supplemental appropriations bill. Money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 will be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for Exceptional Children. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading tomorrow.

SB 702 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 32-0. This bill allows a school district to develop or adopt a program that focuses on nutrition and exercise education. The program should focus on increasing awareness as to how nutrition and exercise can prevent childhood obesity and its secondary diseases such as asthma, diabetes and others. The bill also creates the Nutrition and Exercise Education Fund in the State Treasury as a special revenue account. The fund will consist of money appropriated by the Legislature and any grants, gifts or contributions. The money will be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis. It will now be sent to the House.

The Senate Finance Committee met this afternoon to discuss SJR 9. This is a proposed amendment to the state constitution and would give the Legislature the ability to lower personal property taxes. Personal property taxes account for over $380 million for county schools through the counties’ regular and excess levies. Clearly, this amendment will also greatly impact local county governments, police departments, ambulance services, library services, etc., by taking away revenue. An amendment to the state constitution requires a 2/3 vote in both the Senate and House and a majority vote by the public. The resolution passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

The Finance Committee also discussed an originating bill today. This bill would be dependent on the passage of SJR 9 as it will eliminate the automobile tax and phase out the manufacturing tax over six years. This bill also establishes the replacement fund to replace the money lost in SJR 9. This would include a .5% sales tax increase, raising the tax on cigarettes from $1.20 per 20 cigarettes to $2.00, raising the tax on other tobacco products from 12% of the wholesale price to 50%, and modify the tax on vaping products from 7.5 cents per milliliter to 50% of the wholesale price. The sales tax increase is expected to increase collections by $116.5 million annually while the tobacco tax increase is expected to increase revenue collection by $88 million annually. There is an estimated 4% reduction in the tobacco tax annually due to lower consumption of these products.

Several amendments were made to this bill in the committee. One amendment says that $2 million from the tobacco tax increases will go towards smoking education and prevention each year. Another amendment changed the tax on vaping products to $1 per milliliter to make it more comparable to the cigarette tax. Lastly, an effective date for the tax increases was set for April 1, 2021. All of these amendments passed and the amended bill passed out of the committee. It will now be sent to the Senate Floor.

The House Education Committee also met this afternoon to discuss several bills. HB 4737 says that if a student is unable to complete the FAFSA due to extenuating family circumstances, as determined by the vice chancellor for administration in consultation with the student’s high school, will not affect the student’s eligibility for state financial aid. The bill passed out of the commission and will now be sent to the House Floor.

The committee also discussed HB 4408. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to develop and implement an online database for the employment of school principals. An amendment during the committee also added all administrators and central office employees. The amended bill passed out of committee and will be sent to the House Floor.

HB 4843 specifies the State Board of Education and county boards’ responsibilities relating to students with dyslexia or dyscalculia. This includes developing and providing informational materials, screening every kindergarten student enrolled, training employees and more. An amendment was made to enact these changes in grades 1-5 and create a start date of school year 2022/23. The amended bill passed out of committee and will now be sent to the House Finance Committee.

Next up on the agenda was HB 4659. The purpose of this bill is to require the Legislative Auditor to conduct a performance audit of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission. The bill also gives the Legislative Auditor the authority to examine the revenues, expenditures, and performance of the commission, and to inspect all records and accounts of the commission and to examine the personnel. This bill was rejected.

The committee also discussed SB 623 today. This bill would allow noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. The person must hold a valid Employment Authorization Document (EAD), or work permit, issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the floor.

HB 4568 would require the State Board of Education to routinely train educators, principals and service personnel that have direct contact with students on warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention. Also a public middle or high school administrator must disseminate and provide opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness information to all middle and high school students. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

Finally, the House Education Committee discussed SCR 10. This resolution requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance study the effectiveness of current West Virginia State laws relating to anti-bullying measures in public schools. The Joint Committee on Government and Finance would be required to report their findings and recommendations to the Legislature next year. The bill passed out of the committee and will now be sent to the House Rules Committee.

The House Education Committee will take up HB 3127 tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM. This is the House version of the Tim Tebow bill and would allow home-schooled children to participate in secondary extracurricular activities. Please contact members of the House Ed Committee and ask them to vote NO. You can find their contact information here.

February 14, 2020

Another week of the Legislative Session has come to a close. The day began with SB 702 being on second reading in the Senate. This bill allows a school district to develop or adopt a program that focuses on nutrition and exercise education. The program should focus on increasing awareness as to how nutrition and exercise can prevent childhood obesity and its secondary diseases such as asthma, diabetes and others. The bill also creates the Nutrition and Exercise Education Fund in the State Treasury as a special revenue account. The fund will consist of money appropriated by the Legislature and any grants, gifts or contributions.

The money will be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis. No amendments were offered and it will be on third reading next week.

SB 725 was on first reading today. This is a supplemental appropriations bill. Money remaining unappropriated from fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 will be given to the State Board of Education, the Vocational Division and the Aid for Exceptional Children. The bill will be on second reading next week.

Over in the House, HB 4546 was on second reading. The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.) No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading next week.

HB 2775 was on first reading. The bill requires each student to complete a full credit of personal finance separate from any other courses. This would increase the graduation requirements from 22 credits to 23. It will be on second reading/amendment stage next week.

February 13, 2020

Things picked back up today after a slow day yesterday. In the House Floor session HB 4546 was on first reading. The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.) The bill will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

HB 4398 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 92-3 with five people absent. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required classes the original texts of the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia. The bill will now go to the Senate.

SB 16 was also on third reading in the House. It passed by a vote of 75-22 with three people absent and will now be sent to the governor. This is the “Protect Our Right to Unite Act”. This bill would prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3.

The House Education Committee met today to discuss HB 4804. This bill would allow county boards to develop teacher leader programs to help with teacher induction and professional growth. The county board may adopt a salary supplement to provide additional compensation to teachers who are teacher leaders. The bill would require the Department of Education to allocate $100,000 over five years to assist county boards with the design and implementation of a teacher leader program. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

They also discussed HB 4649. This bill requires the state board to implement trauma-informed practices in all schools by July 1, 2020. The state board is required to provide training to all teachers, school leaders, paraprofessionals and specialized instructional support personnel on trauma-informed practices as defined in the bill. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

Over in the Senate, SB 702 was on first reading today. This bill allows a school district to develop or adopt a program that focuses on nutrition and exercise education. The program should focus on increasing awareness as to how nutrition and exercise can prevent childhood obesity and its secondary diseases such as asthma, diabetes and others. The bill also creates the Nutrition and Exercise Education Fund in the State Treasury as a special revenue account. The fund will consist of money appropriated by the Legislature and any grants, gifts or contributions. The money will be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis. It will be on second reading/ amendment stage tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee took up SB 652 this afternoon. This bill would allow the School Building Authority to look at a contractor’s experience, past performance, violations and other things before granting a contract. It would also allow them to suspend a contract if they feel a contractor is not meeting their requirements. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

SB 291 was in the Senate Finance Committee today. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

February 11, 2020

It was another busy day at the capitol. On the House Floor, HB 4069 was on third reading.

Before the floor session began, the House Rules Committee discussed the bill and a motion was made on whether to put it on the inactive calendar. The motion failed and the bill continued on third reading. There was an amendment pending from yesterday. The amendment says that a student can disagree with any issue based on religious beliefs but they cannot answer a test question or assignment incorrectly because the answer goes against their religious beliefs. The amendment was adopted and the amended bill passed the House by a vote of 76-22 with two people absent. The bill will now go to the Senate.

HB 4398 was on first reading. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required courses of instruction the original texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia, and their original context. The State Board of Education would be required would be required to revise the model curricula and achievement assessments to reflect the changes. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 16 was also on first reading in the House today. This is the “Protect Our Right to Unite Act”. This bill would prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. It will also be on second reading tomorrow.

Over in the Senate, SB 131 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 24-9 with one person absent. This is the “Tim Tebow Bill” that would allow homeschooled students, students who attend private school or students who attend a non-WVSSAC school to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities at a commission school. The bill will now be sent to the House.

SB 230 was on second reading. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to provide for the routine education of all professional educators, including principals and administrators, and those service personnel having direct contact with students on warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention under guidelines established by the state board. No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

The House Education Committee had a full agenda today. They began with HB 4165 which would create the “West Virginia Remembers Program”. It would allow veterans to volunteer to come into schools to teach children about military service and patriotism. This program would be voluntary and not considered a course requirement. The bill pass out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

The committee also discussed HB 4112. This bill requires county boards to provide adequate mental health evaluations to students and take any other action necessary to protect students from harm to themselves or others. It also requires that beginning with the 2022-2023 school year each county board employ one school psychologist for every 1,000 kindergarten through 7th grade students. A county board may contract with school psychologists or psychiatrists in order to meet this ratio if needed. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

Finally, the House Education Committee discussed HB 4519. The bill creates a summer youth intern pilot program with the Department of Commerce. The Department will work with employers, non-profits and institutions especially in areas of high-demand career fields to place high school students in internships. The bill passed and will now go to the House Floor.

The Senate Education Committee also met today to discuss SB 702. This bill allows a school district to develop or adopt a program that focuses on nutrition and exercise education. The program should focus on increasing awareness as to how nutrition and exercise can prevent childhood obesity and its secondary diseases such as asthma, diabetes and others. The bill also creates the Nutrition and Exercise Education Fund in the STATE Treasury as a special revenue account. The fund will consist of money appropriated by the Legislature and any grants, gifts or contributions. The money will be awarded to school districts on a competitive basis. The bill passed out of committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

February 12, 2020

After two busy days in the Legislature, today was fairly slow in comparison. On the Senate Floor SB 230 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 33-0 with one person absent. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to provide for the routine education of all professional educators, including principals and administrators, and those service personnel having direct contact with students on warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention under guidelines established by the state board. The bill will now go to the House.

In the House Floor session SB 16 was on second reading. This is the “Protect Our Right to Unite Act”. This bill would prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

HB 4398 was also on second reading. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required classes the original texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia. The State Board of Education would be required to revise the model curricula and achievement assessments to reflect the changes. Delegate Fast proposed an amendment that would add the Mayflower Compact to the list of texts to be studied. The amendment was adopted and the bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

February 11, 2020

It was another busy day at the capitol. On the House Floor, HB 4069 was on third reading.

psychologists or psychiatrists in order to meet this ratio if needed. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

Finally, the House Education Committee discussed HB 4519. The bill creates a summer

youth intern pilot program with the Department of Commerce. The Department will work with employers, non-profits and institutions especially in areas of high-demand career fields to place high school students in internships. The bill passed and will now go to the House Floor.

February 10, 2020

As week five begins in the Legislature, we pick up where we left off last week. In the House, HB 4691 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 97-0 with 3 people absent. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and provide greater visibility to provisions that enable school systems to recruit and employ newly graduating teachers and other professional personnel who will begin employment in the next school year in areas of critical need. Also, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025. The bill will now head to the Senate.

HB 4069 was on second reading/amendment stage. This is The West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act and would do a number of things including: protect students and parents from being discriminated against on the basis of religion, allow students to express their religious beliefs in assignments, allow students to engage in religious activities before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.

One amendment was offered by Delegate Pushkin that allowed students to express disagreements and offer opposing views regarding any issue based on religious beliefs. However, the amendment was not taken up today. The bill will be on third reading tomorrow and the amendment will be taken up then.

Over in the Senate, SB 275 was on third reading today. This is the bill that would create the Intermediate Court of Appeals. The bill passed on a party-line vote by 18-14 with Senators Beach and Facemire absent. It will now go to the House. This bill will require grievances to bypass Kanawha Circuit and instead go to this new Intermediate Court of Appeals.

SB 131 was on second reading today. This is the Tim Tebow bill that would allow homeschooled students, students who attend private school or students who attend a non-WVSSAC school to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities at a commission school.

Several amendments were offered on this bill by Senator Baldwin. The first amendment states: For the purposes of determining the county’s basic foundation program only, the county’s net enrollment shall be increased by the equivalent of 0.25 full-time equivalent students for each non-public school student that is permitted to participate in public school extracurricular activities. Another amendment would require the county board of education to approve a Tebow student’s participation in extracurriculars at a school. The last amendment would require a Tebow student to provide at least two (the bill previously stated one) documentations of academic standards. All three amendments were rejected and the bill will be on third reading/passage stage tomorrow.

Finally SB 230 was on first reading on the Senate Floor today. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to provide for the routine education of all professional educators, including principals and administrators, and those service personnel having direct contact with students on warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention under guidelines established by the state board. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

The House Education Committee met to discuss HB 2775. Originally, this bill would require each high school student to complete a one-half credit course of study in personal finance in place of existing economics course work as a requirement for high school graduation. An amendment changed this bill it now requires each student to complete a full credit of personal finance separate from any other courses. This would increase the graduation requirements from 22 credits to 23. The amended version of the bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the House Floor.

The House Banking and Insurance Committee also met this afternoon. On their agenda was

HB 4043. The purpose of this bill is to prevent state, county or municipal agencies from covering any portion of PEIA premiums for a non-employee spouse. WVEA President Dale Lee and our lobbyists worked to make sure delegates knew how harmful this bill could be and encouraged delegates to vote against it.

According to the com sub version of the bill, the spouse may remain on PEIA as long as the employee pays the full amount of the premium. An amendment to the bill allowed the spouse’s premium to continue to be paid if they are not offered insurance through their employer. After hours of debate the bill was rejected by a vote of 11-11 with members absent.

There were 11 delegates that stood with us today. Please thank the 11 delegates that voted ‘no’ on HB 4043 and ask them to continue to stand strong for public employees and our rights. (You can find their contact information here.)

Those delegates are:

Delegate Barnhart (R) Pleasant

Delegate Barrett (D) Berkeley

Delegate Bates (D) Raleigh

Delegate N. Brown (D) Mingo

Delegate Estep-Burton (D) Kanawha

Delegate Hartman (D) Randolph

Delegate Lovejoy (D) Cabell

Delegate Robinson (D) Kanawha

Delegate Rowe (D) Kanawha

Delegate Sponaugle (D) Pendleton

Delegate Williams (D) Monongalia

February 7, 2020

It was a fairly busy Friday in the Legislature today.

The House Judiciary Committee met this morning to discuss HB 4543. The bill puts a cap on costs for insulin for those with insurance, including PEIA. It states: Cost sharing for a 30-day supply of prescription insulin drugs shall not exceed $25 for a 30-day supply of a prescription insulin drug, regardless of the quantity or type of prescription insulin drug used to fill the covered person’s prescription needs.

Several amendments were made to the bill to clean-up language in the bill. Another amendment required approval of one product in each of the following categories: rapid acting, short acting, intermediate acting, long acting, premixed and concentrated regular human insulin. An appeals process was also added to the bill. Finally an amendment was passed that says if insurance companies can get the price of insulin products to a cost that is at or below the price that it was on July 1, 2006 then they cannot charge a rebate. In the end, the bill passed out of the committee and will be sent to the House Floor.

On the House Floor HB 4069 was on first reading today. This is The West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act and would do a number of things including: protect students and parents from being discriminated against on the basis of religion, allow students to express their religious beliefs in assignments, allow students to engage in religious activities before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.

The bill would also require school districts to establish a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak. It will be on second reading/amendment stage next week.

HB 4691 was on second reading/amendment stage today. No amendments were offered, and it will be on third reading/passage next week. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and provide greater visibility to provisions that enable school systems to recruit and employ newly graduating teachers and other professional personnel who will begin employment in the next school year in areas of critical need. Also, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025.

Over in the Senate SB 131, The Time Tebow Act, was on second reading/amendment stage today. The bill was laid over one day and will continue to be on second reading next week. This bill would allow homeschooled students, students who attend private school or students who attend a non-WVSSAC school to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities at a commission school.

A number of bills were on the move this week so be sure to check out this week’s Legislative Update.

February 6, 2020

Today was day 30 of the 2020 Legislative Session which means we are half-way done! Today was a typical Thursday: very busy with many bills on the move.

On the Senate Floor today SB 131 was on first reading. This is the “Tim Tebow Bill” that would allow homeschooled students, students who attend private school or students who attend a non-WVSSAC school to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities at a commission school. It will be on second reading/ amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 482 was on third reading. The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the permit requirement for storing of a concealed handgun in a vehicle on school property for people over 21. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 33-1 and will now go to the House.

SB 623 was on second reading today. This is the bill that would allow noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading/ passage tomorrow.

Over in the House, HB 4691 was on second reading/amendment stage on the floor. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and provide greater visibility to provisions that enable school systems to recruit and employ newly graduating teachers and other professional personnel who will begin employment in the next school year in areas of critical need. Also, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025. No amendments were made and the bill will be on third reading/ passage tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon with a full agenda. First up was SB 38 which requires all schools provide an elective course on Hebrew Scriptures, Old Testament of the Bible or New Testament of the Bible. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 230 was also on the agenda. The purpose of this bill is to require the State Board of Education to provide for the routine education of all professional educators, including principals and administrators, and those service personnel having direct contact with students on warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention under guidelines established by the state board. The bill passed out of the committee and was sent to the Senate Floor.

HB 4189 was brought up in the House Judiciary Committee today. The original version of this bill gives an employee a total of 12 weeks of paid family leave following the exhaustion of all his or her annual and personal leave, during any 12-month period. In the bill, the definition of employee includes any person hired for permanent employment, who has worked for at least 12 consecutive weeks and is employed by an county board of education in the state.

A strike and insert was presented during the committee which would require an employee to have worked for 12 consecutive months to receive the paid leave. If they have worked less than that then they are entitled to 12 weeks unpaid leave. It also says that if both parents work for the same agency they are required to share the 12 weeks paid leave. It was given a fiscal note of $5 million assuming that everyone would use only half of the leave.

Delegate Foster tried to amend the bill to remove county board of education employees from the definition of employee. That amendment was defeated. The strike and insert bill passed the committee and will now go to House Finance Committee.

The Judiciary Committee also discussed SB 16. This bill would prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. It passed out of the committee and was sent to the House Floor.

The House Education Committee also met this evening. They discussed HB 4398. The purpose of this bill is to incorporate into currently required courses of instruction the original texts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and the Constitution of West Virginia, and their original context. The State Board of Education would be required would be required to revise the model curricula and achievement assessments to reflect the changes. The bill passed committee and will now go to the floor.

They also discussed HB 2719 which would allow school districts to create a Bus Operator in Residence Program. These programs would not guarantee someone a job as a bus operator. They would still need to apply for an open bus operator position in the county where they completed the program.

Candidates for the Bus Operator in Residence program would be paid 60 percent of the base salary of a regularly employed bus operator with zero years of experience with the school district. Anyone who completes the program must work as a substitute bus driver in that county for 6 months or pay back the money they earned during the program. If the person is hired as a full-time bus driver they must work in the county they completed their program in for at least six months or pay back the money they earned during the program.

The bill passed out of committee and will now go to the House Finance Committee.

The committee also originated a bill that will move some VO-Tech options to middle school. The county boards would be in charge of coming up with a plan.

February 5, 2020

Compared to yesterday, today was fairly slow at the capitol. SB 623 was on first reading in the Senate. This is the bill that would allow noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. It will be on second reading/ amendment stage tomorrow.

SB 482 was on second reading/amendment stage. No amendments were made and the bill will be on third reading/ passage tomorrow. The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the permit requirement for storing of a concealed handgun in a vehicle on school property for people over 21.

Over in the House, HB 4691 was on first reading. This is the bill that originated in the House

Education Committee on Monday. The purpose of this bill is to clarify and provide greater visibility to provisions that enable school systems to recruit and employ newly graduating teachers and other professional personnel who will begin employment in the next school year in areas of critical need. Also, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025. The bill will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

Also in the House, HB 4378 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 98-0 with two people absent. This bill authorizes the State Superintendent to limit teaching certificates, issue letters of admonishment or enter into consent agreements requiring specific training in order for a teacher to maintain a certificate. It also allows for the revocation of a license in the case of the following: committed any act of sexual abuse of a student or minor or to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a student or minor; committed an act of cruelty to children or an act of child endangerment; or solicited, encouraged, engaged in or consummated an inappropriate relationship with any student, minor, or individual who was a student in the preceding 24 months. It will now be sent to the Senate.

The House Education Committee met this evening with one bill on their agenda. They discussed another originating bill, this time dealing with school nurses.

February 4, 2020

After a slow day yesterday, things were back in full swing at the capitol today. On the Senate Floor, SB 482 was on first reading. The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the permit requirement for storing of a concealed handgun in a vehicle on school property for people over 21. It will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee met to discuss two bills. SB 131 is the Tim Tebow Act. This bill would allow homeschooled students, students who attend private school or students who attend a non-WVSSAC school to participate in athletics or other extracurricular activities at a commission school. Bernie Dolan from the WVSSAC spoke against the bill. He said he feels that private school students should not be allowed to play sports for another school. However, he felt as though homeschool students are entirely different.

After over an hour of debate, nothing was resolved and the meeting was in recess. When they reconvened this evening, WVEA President Dale Lee spike against the bill in its entirety and answered questions from senators for over 30 minutes. After another hour and a half of discussion and debate, the bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

The House Education Committee also met today to discuss HB 4069 or The West Virginia Student Religious Liberties Act. This bill would do a number of things including: protect students and parents from being discriminated against on the basis of religion, allow students to express their religious beliefs in assignments, allow students to engage in religious activities before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.

The bill would also require school districts to establish a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak. After two hours of discussion and debate, the bill passed out of the House Education Committee and will now be sent to the House Floor.

In the Senate Government Organization Committee they discussed SB 616. This bill limits the number of times a fellow employee may represent someone during grievances. A couple of sections of the bill that are of concern to WVEA include:

• Currently an employee has the right to have a representative present at meetings held for the purpose of discussing or considering disciplinary action. The bill strikes that language from statute. WVEA believes employees should be allowed representation at meetings that may result in disciplinary action.

• New language allows the prevailing party in an appeal to the circuit or Supreme Court to recover court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees from the opposing party for the appeal to the court. Previously this was limited to the grievant recovering charges.

• The proposed language states that “When the grievant has been discharged, suspended without pay, or demoted or reclassified resulting in a loss of compensation or benefits, he or she may proceed directly to level two.” Previously the grievant could go directly to level three and waive levels one and two in those situations.

The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

February 3, 2020

This week in the Legislature is starting out slow. There were no education-related bills in the House or Senate during the floor sessions today.

The House Education Committee met this afternoon to discuss an originating bill dealing with employment in areas of critical need. Since this is an originating bill, it has not yet been assigned a number and we have not seen a final draft. As it was explained by the House Education Committee’s lawyer, the provision already in code that allows retired teachers to be hired in areas of critical need was set to expire on June 30, 2020. This bill would extend that date to June 30, 2025.

The bill also added counselor to the definition of teacher so that retired counselors may also be hired in areas of critical need. Finally, this section of the code was moved to create visibility and streamline the process. The bill passed unanimously out of the committee and will now go to the floor where it will receive a number.

January 31, 2020

After a marathon day yesterday, it was another quiet Friday in both the House and the Senate today. No education bills were on the floor in either house.

In the Senate Judiciary Committee they discussed SB 482. The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the permit requirement for storing of a concealed handgun in a vehicle on school property for people over 21. The bill passed out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

If you haven’t already, be sure to catch WVEA President Dale Lee’s video update on everything that has been happening in the Legislature. Don’t forget to look out for Legislative Update today as well. It will be posted online and sent to your email.

January 30, 2020

There were no education bills on the Senate or House Floor today. However, several committees in both the House and the Senate met this afternoon.

SB 291 was brought back up for discussion in the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee today. It would require PEIA to treat behavioral/mental health and substance abuse treatment equally to medical and surgical treatment. The bill had been discussed in this committee a couple of weeks ago and been laid over. Today the bill passed out of the committee and was sent to the Senate Finance Committee.

In the Senate Education Committee, SB 623 was discussed. This bill would allow noncitizens of the U.S. to be eligible for a certificate to teach or an alternative program teacher certificate. The person must hold a valid Employment Authorization Document (EAD), or work permit, issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). An amendment was made to the bill to say that a person must have permanent residence and/or Employment Authorization Documents to be eligible. The amended bill passed out of the committee.

The House Education Committee met later this evening and had two bills on their agenda. First up was HB 4546. The purpose of this bill is to remove requirement for biennial tuberculosis screenings for county superintendents. Testing may still be required when there is suspicion that the superintendent has been exposed to TB or they demonstrate symptoms. (A similar bill that eliminated the test for teachers was passed several years ago.) The bill passed out of Committee late Thursday evening.

Also up for discussion was HB 4378. This bill authorizes the State Superintendent to limit teaching certificates, issue letters of admonishment or enter into consent agreements requiring specific training in order for a teacher to maintain a certificate. It also allows for the revocation of a license in the case of the following: committed any act of sexual abuse of a student or minor or to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a student or minor; committed an act of cruelty to children or an act of child endangerment; or solicited, encouraged, engaged in or consummated an inappropriate relationship with any student, minor, or individual who was a student in the preceding 24 months. An amendment was made to change the definition of grooming. The amended bill also passed out of the committee late Thursday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee also met this afternoon and talked about SJR 9, the ‘Amendment Authorizing Legislature to Eliminate or Lower Ad Valorem Tax on Motor Vehicles and Any Other Tangible Personal Property’. Currently the rates for motor vehicles and other personal property are spelled out in code. This amendment would give the legislature the authority to eliminate or lower those rates without voter approval each time.

Deputy Secretary of the Department of Revenue Mark Muchow tried to answer questions surrounding SJR 9. He said classes 2,3 and 4 properties could be affected by this change. Muchow was unable to give a definitive amount of money that would be lost if the personal property tax was eliminated on all of these classes. After three hours of debate, the bill passed out of the committee and was sent to the Finance Committee.

While no education bills were on the agenda today in the House, there was still discussion around HB 2433. This is the calendar bill that failed in the House yesterday by a vote of 47-50 with three people absent. Today, Delegate Miller made a motion for the bill to be reconsidered. The motion failed by a vote of 46-52 with two people absent. The bill is now dead.

January 29, 2020

Today was a very slow day in both the House and the Senate. No committees in either house had any education-related bills on their agenda.

On the Senate floor SB 241 was on third reading and passed by a vote of 33-0. It will now go to the House. This is the bill that requires the State Board to propose a plan which makes student transportation costs a stand-alone item. The bill allows the board to look at Step 2 funding to provide funding for rural counties to hire more bus drivers. It is expected that this bill will help at least 8 counties hire more bus drivers.

On the House floor HB 2433 was also on third reading. This would change the school calendar to begin no earlier than September 1 and end before June 7. After much discussion and debate, the bill was eventually rejected by a vote of 47-50 with three people absent.

For an update on everything that has been happening over the past couple of weeks in the

Legislature, be sure to catch WVEA President Dale Lee’s latest video update on our Facebook page and website later this evening.

January 28, 2020

It was a relatively quiet day at the capitol. During the House floor session, HB 2433 (school calendar) was on second reading/amendment stage. This is the school calendar bill. One amendment was offered that would change the proposed end date. The amendment was adopted and the bill now says that beginning with the 2021 school year, the instructional term for students shall begin no earlier than September 1st and end no later than June 7th (the prior end date was May 31st). The amended bill will now be on third reading/passage stage tomorrow.

HB 4089 (cursive writing) was on third reading today. This is the bill that would require that cursive writing be taught in grades 3-5. The bill passed the House by a vote of 87-8 with five people absent. The bill will now go to the Senate.

On the Senate floor SB 241 was on second reading. This bill requires the State Board to propose a plan which makes student transportation costs a stand-alone item. The intent is to help rural counties be able to hire more bus drivers. No amendments were offered on the floor and the bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee met this afternoon to discuss two items. First up was SB 614 (funding for special ed cameras). This is a follow-up to a bill passed last year. During the 2019 session, legislators passed a bill that created the Safe School Fund and required that all special education classrooms have cameras. Although that bill was signed into law last year, there was not enough funding for every school in the state to install the cameras. SB 614 would require the WV Department of Education to allocate funding for the Safe Schools Fund based on the remaining need for video cameras in each district until all districts are in compliance. Once all districts have cameras in every special education classroom, then the distribution of funds will go back to normal (dividing total amount of appropriation by total number of public schools).

There was quite a bit of discussion during today’s meeting about expanding this initiative into private schools as well. However, senators were told that there are no self-contained classrooms in private schools. In the end, the bill passed via voice vote out of the committee and will now go to the Senate Finance Committee.

Next up on Senate Education’s agenda was SCR 10. This resolution requests the Joint Committee on Government and Finance study the effectiveness of current West Virginia State laws relating to anti-bullying measures in public schools. According to the resolution the National Education Association has estimated that more than 160,000 k-12 students nationally miss school every day because of the threat or fear of bullying. The Joint Committee on Government and Finance would be required to report their findings and recommendations to the Legislature next year. The resolution was passed out of the committee and sent to the Senate floor.

January 27, 2020

Another week at the Capitol picks up where we left off on Friday. SB 303 passed the Senate on a 32-0 vote with Senators Blair and Roberts absent. This is the “Students’ Right-to-Know Act” and is intended to help high school students make more informed decisions about their futures. It would require the State Board to compile information about the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school. The bill will now be sent to the House.

On first reading was SB 241 (Stand Alone Transportation Costs). This bill requires the State Board to propose a plan which makes student transportation costs a stand-alone item. The bill allows the board to look at Step 2 funding to provide funding for rural counties to hire more bus drivers. It is expected that this bill will help at least 8 counties hire more bus drivers. It moves to second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

The Children and Families Committee recommended that SB 230 (Suicide Prevention Training) pass with the double reference of Education. The Senate received the message and referred the bill to the Education Committee.

In addition, the Senate assigned SCR 10 - Study of current WV laws relating to anti-bullying measures in schools to the Education Committee.

In the House, HB 4089 (cursive writing) was on second reading today. This is the bill that would require cursive writing be taught in grades 3-5. No amendments were offered. The bill advances to third reading.

Also advancing to third reading without amendments was HB 4365 (college credit hours for learning English as a second language). This bill will authorize state institutions of higher education to offer college credit hours for English learned as a second language and may accept English learned as a second language to satisfy an institution’s foreign language requirement. The Higher Education Policy Commission and the Council for Community and Technical College Education shall jointly propose rules to set and identify scores required on the test of English as a foreign language for course credit being offered.

Com. Sub. for HB 2433 (school calendar) was on first reading today in the House. This would change the school calendar to begin no earlier than September 1 and end before May 31. The bill will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

Don’t forget to contact your legislators and let them know how you feel on specific pieces of legislation and urge them to vote against reducing the Manufacturing Inventory and Equipment tax.

January 24, 2020

Fridays are typically slow days at the capitol. With no education-related bills in committees in

either house, today was no different.

On the Senate Floor, SB 303 was on second reading. This is the “Students’ Right-to-Know Act” and is intended to help high school students make more informed decisions about their futures. It would require the State Board of Education to compile information on things like the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools in the state and more. That information would then be distributed to every public high school in the state. No amendments were offered and the bill will be on third reading/passage next week.

Over in the House, HB 4089 was on first reading today. This is the bill that would require that cursive writing be taught in grades 3-5. The bill should continue its path toward passage next week.

While not much happened today, many bills have been moving through both houses this

week. To keep up to date on everything that happened in the Legislature this week, be sure to check your e-mail and the WVEA website for this week’s Legislative Update. It will be sent out/posted later this afternoon.

January 23, 2020

Today was a busy day for education-related bills in both houses of the legislature. The House Education Committee began early this morning with two bills on their agenda. First up was HB 2464 which would require the State Board of Education or any county board of education to provide feminine hygiene products to students in all grades. It would allow businesses and members of the public to donate these items including things like deodorant, toothpaste, soap and more. It would also allow the school boards to solicit for these donations, as these items would be provided by donation only. The bill passed out of committee and will now go to the Finance committee.

The committee also discussed HB 2425. This bill defines the work day for service personnel as eight hours with a 30 minute duty free lunch. The bill also strikes the language prohibiting anyone employed in an aide position from being transferred or subject to a reduction in force in order to create a vacancy for the employment of a licensed practical nurse. Delegate Toney, a bus driver and member of this committee, answered a multitude of questions.

After much discussion in the morning, the House Education Committee was forced to reconvene at 5 PM to continue work on HB 2425. They continued to discuss the bill for almost an hour before finally deciding to lay it over to a future committee meeting.

On the Senate Floor today SB 303, the “Students’ Right-to-Know Act”, was on first reading. It would require the State Board of Education to compile information on things like the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools in the state and more. It would be required that this information be distributed to every public high school in the state for public distribution to students by school guidance counselors no later than October 15 of each year. It will be on second reading/ amendment stage on Friday.

SB 192 was on third reading/passage stage today on the Senate Floor. This is the WVSSAC bill. After some short debate, the bill was rejected by a vote of 16-17 with one person absent. Senate Democrats were joined by Senators Clements, Hamilton, Mann and Sypolt in defeating the bill.

SB 297 was also on third reading in the senate today. This is the bill that would create the family and consumer sciences course. This bill passed 33-0 with one person absent. The bill will now be sent to the house.

SB 230 was in the Senate Children and Families Committee and relates to suicide

prevention of students. A similar bill to this was passed several years ago, however the Center for Professional Development was eliminated and the training was no longer required. SB 230 requires a school administrator to provide information and opportunities to discuss suicide prevention awareness to all middle and high school students. It also requires that the state board provide routine education to all professional educators and service personnel in direct contact with students on the warning signs and resources to assist in suicide prevention. The bill passed out of committee and will now go to the Senate Education Committee.

Finally, the Senate Education Committee met this afternoon to discuss SB 241. This bill requires the state board of education to propose a plan which makes student transportation costs a stand-alone item. The bill allows the board to look at Step 2 funding to provide funding for rural counties to hire more bus drivers. It was explained that the change be made to Step 2 funding because the number of students enrolled is declining but the counties are unable to reduce the number of routes because of the rural geography. It is expected that this bill will help at least 8 counties hire more bus drivers. The bill passed out of committee and will now go to the Senate Floor.

January 22, 2020

It was a slow day in the Senate. No education-related bills were in senate committees today. During the floor session, SB 192 was on second reading/amendment stage. This is the WVSSAC bill. One amendment was offered that simply cleaned up language in the bill. That amendment passed and the bill will be third reading/passage tomorrow.

SB 297, the home economics bill, was also on second reading today. One amendment was offered on this bill. The goal of this amendment was simple: to change the bill from requiring a course be offered in home economics to requiring a course be offered in family and consumer sciences. The amendment was adopted and the bill will be on third reading/passage tomorrow.

During the House floor session, HJR 102 was on second reading today. This is the resolution that would require any rules made by the Board of Education be approved by the Legislature. The resolution would have been set for a House floor vote tomorrow. Instead, however, it was taken off the House active calendar today and we are unclear as to when it may start moving again. We will continue to monitor this and keep you up to date.

The House Education Committee met this evening with a full agenda. First up was HB 2433 which would change the school calendar to begin no earlier than Labor Day and end before Memorial Day. After over an hour of debate, the bill passed out of committee and will be sent to the house floor.

HB 2775 would require each high school student to complete a half credit course in personal finance in place of existing economics requirements. The County Board of Education would be in charge of developing the curriculum for this course. This bill was laid over so that they could get more information

HB 4089 says that the State Board of Education shall require that cursive writing be taught in grades 3-5. This bill pass and will be sent to the house floor

The Business Promise+ Scholarship is created with HB 4143. Businesses in the state can fund scholarship awards to Promise-eligible students in lieu of the Promise Scholarship. Students can received an amount of up to $15,000 annually. This new scholarship will be managed by the Higher Education Policy Commission and they are in charge of establishing any criteria for the award. This bill passed and will now be sent to the finance committee.

January 21, 2020

The House Education Committee began early this morning at 9:00. They discussed a Higher Education Policy Commission and CTC Council Rules Bill. Since it is a rules bill it is not designated a number. Among the rules changes included would be changes to the Underwood-Smith Teaching Scholars Program in accordance with HB 206 which was passed last year.

During the House floor session, HJR 102 was on first reading. This Joint Resolution is an attempt to make an amendment to the state constitution to require that any rules promulgated by the WV Board of Education be submitted to the Legislature for review and approval prior to implementation. Passage of this resolution would require a 2/3 vote in both the house and the senate. The measure would then have to be voted on by the public during an election.

In the Senate, SB 192 and SB 297 were both on second reading/amendment stage today. SB 192, which would require the Legislator Auditor to perform financial and performance audits of the WV Secondary School Activities Commission, had one amendment posted before the session began. SB 297, which would require the Board of Education to create a home economics course that may be integrated into the curriculum of secondary schools, had two amendments posted. However, when each bill came up they were laid over one day.

This means no changes were made today and they will continue to be on amendment stage tomorrow. This also means there will likely be more amendments to consider for these bills.

The big news on the Senate floor today was the introduction of two Senate Joint Resolutions: SJR 8 and SJR 9. SJR 8 is the Senate's attempt at removal of the Manufacturing and Machinery Tax. (For more info on this see our talking points.) SJR 9 is the attempt to lower or get rid of the real property taxes you pay on your vehicles. Both of these would require a 2/3 vote in both houses and a vote by the public during an election prior to implementation. Both measures were sent to the Judiciary Committee and then to the Finance Committee.

The Senate Education Committee also met this afternoon. The only bill on their agenda was SB 303. This bill is also known as the “Students’ Right-to-Know Act” and is intended to help high school students make more informed decisions about their futures. It would require the State Board of Education to compile information on things like the most in-demand jobs in the state, the average cost of all major colleges and vocational schools in the state, the average monthly student loan rate for those who have attended colleges and vocational schools in the state and more.

It would be required that this information be distributed to every public high school in the state for public distribution to students by school guidance counselors no later than October 15 of each year. An amendment was made that added language to the purpose section of the bill that says the board of education must provide information on all different levels available to students (i.e. certifications, 2 year programs, 4 year programs etc.). The amended bill passed out of committee and will now be sent to the Senate floor.

January 20, 2020

A number of Martin Luther King, Jr. activities were held at the capitol today including the annual bell ringing on the north side of the building, but committee work inside the capitol was slow.

Both the House and Senate went into session at 11 am.

In the Senate, a couple of education-related bills were on third reading/passage stage. SB 16 – the Right to Unite Act was passed on a 34-0 vote. This bill would prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. This is similar to a bill passed last year by the Senate.

The Senate also passed SB 42 – Faith-based Programs on a 34-0 vote. This bill would permit county boards of education to include faith-based electives in classroom drug prevention programs. The state school board would have to develop a rule on how that would work. This bill also passed the Senate last year. Both of those bills will now be sent to the House.

On first reading in the Senate today was SB 192 – WVSSAC Audit. This bill would require the Legislative Auditor’s Office to conduct a performance audit of the WVSSAC to be completed by December 1, 2021. Also, on first reading was SB 297 – Home EC courses. This bill would require the WVBE to create a home economics course for students in secondary schools. However, as the bill is currently written, no school would be required to offer the course.

Both bills were advanced to second reading/amendment stage for Tuesday.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to meet today at 3:00 pm to hear the budget presentation from the State Department of Education. This is the same presentation the State Department did last week for the House Finance Committee. The WVDE is asking for less money this year and no new programs. Supt. Paine indicates he wants ‘stability in the system’.

The House had no significant education-related bills on their agenda today. They took HB 4062 – insurance co-pays off the agenda and laid it over until tomorrow. The bill would place caps on copays related to insulin costs. A press conference was held on the bill today. The bill will be on third reading tomorrow.

House Education will meet on Tuesday at 9 am. The agenda for the meeting is not yet posed.

Thanks to the education employees who came to the capitol to lobby today. It is important that you keep in contact with your legislators and let them know your position on pending legislation.

You can find legislative contact information and talking points on certain issues on our website.

January 17, 2020

Today was a slow day in the legislature. Neither education committee met and there were no education-related bills on the floor in the House. In the Senate, SB 42 and SB 16 were on second reading/amendment stage. SB 42 deals with allowing drug awareness and prevention programs to include faith-based electives for drug awareness in classrooms. SB 16 is the bill that will prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. There were no amendments made to either bill and they will both be on third reading/ passage next week.

SB 297 was also reported on the floor today after it passed out of the Education Committee yesterday. This bill would require the Board of Education to create a home economics course that may be integrated into the curriculum of secondary schools. The bill was supposed to be sent to the Finance Committee next, but Senator Tarr made a motion that the bill bypass that committee and go straight to the floor. That motion passed and the bill should be on the Senate floor next week.

Remember: Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and many of you are making plans to come to the capitol and talk to legislators. It is important that they know that we are still watching what they do and that they know how you feel about the issues.

WVEA will have a table setup in the upper rotunda on the House side on Monday beginning around 9 AM. We will have talking points, maps and lists of House and Senate members/offices. We hope to see you there!

January 16, 2020

The House Education Committee started early this morning with a budget presentation from the WV Higher Education Policy Commission and Community & Technical College System. They did not discuss any specific bills.

During the Senate floor session, SB 16 and SB 42 were on first reading. SB 16 is the bill that will prevent anyone from being able to obtain membership lists or donor information from a 501c3. SB 42 would allow drug awareness and prevention programs to include faith-based electives for drug awareness in classrooms. (You can read more on both of these bills in Tuesday’s Lobbyline.) These will be on second reading/amendment stage tomorrow.

The Senate Education Committee started their meeting this afternoon at 2 PM. They started by continuing their discussion of SB 192 from Tuesday. This bill would require the Legislator Auditor to perform financial and performance audits of the WV Secondary School Activities Commission. Several people from WVSSAC spoke about the bill including the executive director, their attorney and a board member.

The version of this bill presented today was a committee substitute that would have made any moneys collected by the SSAC public funds instead of quasi-public funds as they currently are. This was changed during an amendment and the bill was passed out of committee in its original form.

Senate Ed used all of their time discussing SB 192 so they had to recess until 5 PM to continue their agenda. This evening they began by discussing SB 297 which would require the Board of Education to create a home economics course that may be integrated into the curriculum of secondary schools. A committee substitute was introduced that added language that also includes any subject included in home economics. This change would allow classes such as Pro-Start, Finance, and Family Management to be included. The committee substitute passed out of committee and will now go to the Finance Committee.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day so we are asking you to come to the capitol and talk to legislators. It is important that they know that we are still watching and know how you feel about the issues. We will have a table setup in the upper rotunda on the House side that day.

We will have some talking points and lists of House and Senate members/offices. We hope

to see you there!

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