Chapter 18, Chapter 18

This article shall be known and may be cited as the Accessibility and Equity in Public Education Enhancement Act.

The purpose of this act is to encourage and incentivize public schools to improve overall student outcomes through the implementation of key innovational priorities for improving education in the following areas: (1) Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); (2) Community…

The purposes of this article are as follows: (1) To facilitate and encourage teacher collaboration by empowering schools to create alternative decision-making processes that address school and classroom improvement. The intent is to authorize reorganization or consolidation of ce…

The intent of this article is to facilitate and encourage the involvement of the school community in the operation of the local schools to improve educational quality. This article is intended to establish processes at each school which provide opportunities for involvement of th…

The state board may require all plans and specifications for the erection of school buildings to comply with the requirements of law. They may require all county boards to submit all plans and specifications for their approval.

(a) No later than June 30 of a public charter school’s fourth year of operation under each five-year term of a charter contract, the authorizer shall issue a performance report on the public charter school. The performance report shall summarize the public charter school’s perfor…

(a) The boards of two or more adjoining counties may jointly establish and maintain schools. The title to the school shall be vested in the board of the county in which the school is located. The agreement by which the school is established shall be reduced to writing and entered…

(a) Public charter schools are open for enrollment to all students of appropriate grade level age and all students shall be enrolled in accordance with the following: (1) A public charter school shall provide or publicize to parents and the general public information about the pu…

(a) The Legislature finds that many examples exist across the state of students who reside in one county, but who attend the public schools in an adjoining county. (1) These arrangements have been accommodated by the boards of the adjoining counties and applicable statutes to ser…

(a) A public charter school may request usage of public facilities from the county board or other public entity in the county where the charter school is located or proposes to locate. A county board or other public entity shall make facilities available to the charter school tha…

Boards shall require all persons contracting for the building or repairing of school property, where the contract exceeds $25,000 to execute a bond, with approved security, in the amount of the contract price.

(a) A charter applicant or governing board of an existing public charter school may appeal a decision of an authorizer concerning the denial of a charter application or the nonrenewal of a charter contract to the state board within 30 days of the authorizer’s decision: Provided, …

Subject to the provisions of this chapter and the rules of the state board, each county board may: (a) Control and manage all of the schools and school interests for all school activities and upon all school property owned or leased by the county, including: (1) Requiring schools…

(a) In addition to the provisions of §18-5-13 of this code, prior to any final decision of a county board on any proposal to close or consolidate any school, except in cases in which a construction bond issue was passed by the voters and which bond issue included the schools to b…

(a) The County Superintendents’ Advisory Council, (“the Council”) is hereby established. The purpose of the council is to promote collaboration among county districts and to provide input to the State Board of Education and state superintendent on issues facing school systems. (b…

(a) Pursuant to subsection (q), section thirteen of this article, a county board is authorized to enter into a cooperative agreement with one or more other county boards to establish educational services cooperatives which shall serve as regional units to provide for high quality…

(a) Public schools in this state serve as an integral part of the community and the death of a community member of distinction who was a military service member or veteran who served under honorable conditions, or who served as a first responder, can have a significant impact on …

(a) Virtual public charter schools may be authorized pursuant to this article. To the extent they do not conflict with the following provisions, virtual public charter schools are subject to the same requirements as non-virtual public charter schools: (1) The Professional Charter…

(a) No later than January, 2020, each county board shall adopt policies that promote school board effectiveness and may modify the policies as necessary. The policies shall address the following objectives: (1) Establishing direct links between the county board and its local scho…

(a) Alternative high-risk population public charter schools may be authorized and funded pursuant to this article. To be eligible for an alternative high-risk population public charter school, the school must have an unduplicated count of at least 70 percent of their total enroll…

(a) There is hereby created the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board which shall report directly to and be responsible to the state board, separate from the Department of Education, for carrying out its duties in accordance with this article. The mission of the board i…

(a) The public schools shall be open for the full instructional term to all persons who have attained the entrance age as stated in section five, article two and section eighteen, article five, chapter eighteen of this code: Provided, That any student suspended or expelled from p…

County boards of education shall upon employment and every three years thereafter, provide a program, during at least one noninstructional day of the school term, for the study of multicultural education for all school personnel as defined in subsection (a), section one, article …

Every instructional day in the public schools of this state shall be commenced with a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States. Pupils who do not wish to participate in this exercise shall be excused from making such pledge.

(a) In recognition of the findings of the Legislature as set forth in §49-2-401 of this code, the Legislature further finds that public schools are able to provide a special environment for the training of children, parents, and school personnel in the prevention of child abuse a…

Under guidelines established by the Department of Education in consultation with the department of health, training programs on the prevention, transmission, spread and treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome shall be provided by the county boards as in-service training …

(a) Prior to the admission of a pupil to any public school in West Virginia, the county superintendent shall require the pupil's parent(s), guardian(s) or custodian(s) to provide, upon registration, a sworn statement or affirmation indicating whether the student is, at the time, …

County boards of education shall permit students who are homeschooled or attend private schools to enroll and take classes at the county’s vocational schools, if any are provided and as capacity allows, at no expense or cost greater than expenses or costs normally charged to publ…

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, for public charter schools intending to open in the school year beginning July 1, 2022, only, the last day for the school’s governing board and its authorizer to enter into a charter contract is May 15, 2022. If the charter co…

(a) Establishment of attendance zones within counties. — The county board may establish attendance zones within the county to designate the schools within its district that resident students typically attend: Provided, That a county board may permit any eligible elementary, middl…

(a) The provisions of this section expire effective July 1, 2020: Provided, That any agreement made pursuant to this section prior to July 1, 2020, shall remain in effect. (b) Whenever, in the opinion of the board of education of any county, the education and welfare of a pupil w…

(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special revenue fund designated and known as the Charter Schools Stimulus Fund. The fund is established for the purpose of providing financial support to charter school applicants and charter schools that may not otherwise have …

(a) All children entering public school for the first time in this state shall be given prior to their enrollments screening tests to determine if they might have vision or hearing impairments or speech and language disabilities. County boards of education may provide, upon reque…

(a) This section may be cited as the Sustaining Opportunities for Academics in Rural Schools Act or the SOAR Act. (b) The purpose of this act is to provide rural communities with an additional option to maintain continued access to local schools, prevent consolidation where there…

(a) County boards shall provide kindergarten programs for all children who have attained the age of five prior to September 1 of the school year in which the pupil enters the kindergarten program and may, pursuant to the provisions of section forty-four of this article, establish…

(a) County boards of education shall provide sufficient personnel, equipment, and facilities as will ensure that each classroom, or classrooms having two or more grades that include one or more of the kindergarten through sixth grades shall not have more pupils for each teacher a…

(a) A school counselor means a professional educator who holds a valid school counselor's certificate in accordance with §18A-1-1 of this code. (b) Each county board shall provide counseling services for each pupil enrolled in the public schools of the county. (c) The school coun…

County boards shall provide by the school year one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine--ninety, and continuing thereafter, programs and instructional procedures that recognize the variability in achievement, development, and background experience of the early childhood years. Such …

(a) An institution of higher education may apply to an authorizer pursuant to this article to establish an on-campus public charter microschool or a blended program, which includes in-person or virtual instruction, but may not be a full-time virtual charter school, which are requ…

County boards may establish and maintain evening classes or night schools, continuation or part-time day schools, alternative schools and vocational schools, wherever practicable to do so, and shall admit adult persons and all other persons, including persons of foreign birth. Co…

The Board of Education of any county shall have authority to enter into contracts of agreement with authorized officials of the "war Veterans' Administration" for the education of veterans in special classes of the elementary and high schools of the county. By reason of such cont…

(a) The Board of Education of any county shall have authority to provide classes and programs for adult education and to charge tuition for members of such classes and/or programs, such tuitions not to exceed in any case the actual cost of operation of such classes and/or program…

(a) The State Superintendent of Schools has authority to establish in the state Department of Education a Division of Technical and Adult Education Services, and to provide for suitable coordination and supervision of the educational programs established in sections nineteen-a an…

(a)(1) If the requirements of this subsection are met, the board of education is not liable under any theory of vicarious or imputed liability for the acts or omissions of: (A) Any person, organization or association using school property for a community activity described in sec…

(a) The Legislature finds that: (1) While adult learning centers are part of the West Virginia Department of Education, that department is not obligated to fund these adult learning centers; (2) Funding for adult learning centers derives its income from many areas without any reg…

(a) The Legislature finds that: (1) While adult learning centers are part of the West Virginia Department of Education, that department is not obligated to fund these adult learning centers; (2) Funding for adult learning centers derives its income from many areas without any reg…

(a) A person who is a member of a county board: (1) Shall be a citizen and resident in the county in which he or she serves on the county board. A person who is a candidate for membership on a county board or who is a member-elect of a county board shall be a citizen and resident…

As the terms of county school board members who presently hold office expire, members shall be elected for four-year terms at the time of each regular primary election commencing with the year one thousand nine hundred ninety. The terms of such members shall begin on July 1, next…

(a) On the first Monday of July, following each biennial primary election, each respective county board shall organize and shall elect a president from its own membership for a two-year term. The county board shall report promptly to the state superintendent the name of the membe…

(a) The board shall, by appointment, fill within forty-five days any vacancy that occurs in its membership. In the event that the board does not fill the vacancy within forty-five days, the state Superintendent of Schools shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy. (b) (1) When t…