Bill Text: WV SB537 | 2015 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Changing mandatory school instructional time from days to minutes
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-03-14 - Communicated to House [SB537 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2015-SB537-Comm_Sub.html
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 537
(By Senators D. Hall and Boso)
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 24, 2015.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §18-5-45 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to school calendar; and changing mandatory instructional days from one hundred eighty days to minutes based upon minimum amount of hours of instruction offered to students provided by state board rules.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18-5-45 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-5-45. School calendar.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Instructional day" means a day within the instructional term which meets the following criteria:
(A) Instruction is offered to students for at least the minimum amount of hours provided by state board rule;
(B) Instructional time is used for instruction and cocurricular activities; and
(C) Other criteria as the state board determines appropriate.
(2) "Cocurricular activities" are activities that are closely related to identifiable academic programs or areas of study that serve to complement academic curricula as further defined by the state board.
(b) Findings. –
(1) The primary purpose of the school system is to provide instruction for students.
(2) The school calendar, as defined in this section, is designed to define the school term both for employees and for instruction.
(3) The school calendar shall provide for the equivalent of one hundred eighty separate instructional days.
(c) The county board shall provide a school term for its schools that contains the following:
(1) An employment term that excludes Saturdays and Sundays and consists of at least two hundred days, which need not be successive. The beginning and closing dates of the employment term may not exceed forty-eight weeks;
(2) Within the employment term, an instructional term for students of no less than the equivalent of one hundred eighty separate instructional days, which includes an inclement weather and emergencies plan designed to guarantee an instructional term for students of no less than the equivalent of one hundred eighty separate instructional days based upon the minimum amount of hours of instruction offered to students provided by state board rules and converted to minutes as follows:
(A) For kindergarten to grade 5, fifty-six thousand seven hundred minutes shall be the equivalent of one hundred eighty days;
(B) For grades 6 to 8, fifty-nine thousand four hundred minutes shall be the equivalent of one hundred eighty days; and
(C) For grades 9 to 12, sixty-two thousand one hundred minutes shall be the equivalent of one hundred eighty days;
(3) Within the employment term, noninstructional days shall total twenty and shall be comprised of the following:
(A) Seven paid holidays;
(B) Election day as specified in section two, article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code;
(C) Six days to be designated by the county board to be used by the employees outside the school environment, with at least four outside the school environment days scheduled to occur after the one hundred thirtieth instructional day of the school calendar; and
(D) The remaining days to be designated by the county board for purposes to include, but not be limited to:
(i) Curriculum development;
(ii) Preparation for opening and closing school;
(iii) Professional development;
(iv) Teacher-pupil-parent conferences;
(v) Professional meetings;
(vi) Making up days when instruction was scheduled but not conducted; and
(vii) At least four two-hour blocks of time for faculty senate meetings with each two-hour block of time scheduled once at least every forty-five instructional days; and
(4) Scheduled out-of-calendar days that are to be used for instructional days in the event school is canceled for any reason.
(d) A county board of education shall develop a policy that requires additional minutes of instruction in the school day or additional days of instruction to recover time lost due to late arrivals and early dismissals.
(e) If it is not possible to complete one hundred eighty separate instructional days with the current school calendar, the county board shall schedule instruction on any available noninstructional day, regardless of the purpose for which the day originally was scheduled, or an out-of-calendar day and the day will be used for instruction of students: Provided, That the provisions of this subsection do not apply to:
(A) Holidays;
(B) Election day;
(C) Saturdays and Sundays.
(f) The instructional term shall commence and terminate on a date selected by the county board.
(g) The state board may not schedule the primary statewide assessment program more than thirty days prior to the end of the instructional year unless the state board determines that the nature of the test mandates an earlier testing date.
(h) The following applies to cocurricular activities:
(1) The state board shall determine what activities may be considered cocurricular;
(2) The state board shall determine the amount of instructional time that may be consumed by cocurricular activities; and
(3) Other requirements or restrictions the state board may provide in the rule required to be promulgated by this section.
(i) Extracurricular activities may not be used for instructional time.
(j) Noninstructional interruptions to the instructional day shall be minimized to allow the classroom teacher to teach.
(k) Prior to implementing the school calendar, the county board shall secure approval of its proposed calendar from the state board or, if so designated by the state board, from the state superintendent.
(l) In formulation of a school's calendar, a county school board shall hold at least two public meetings that allow parents, teachers, teacher organizations, businesses and other interested parties within the county to discuss the school calendar. The public notice of the date, time and place of the public hearing must be published in a local newspaper of general circulation in the area as a Class II legal advertisement, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code.
(m) The county board may contract with all or part of the personnel for a longer term of employment.
(n) The minimum instructional term may be decreased by order of the state superintendent in any county declared a federal disaster area and where the event causing the declaration is substantially related to a reduction of instructional days.
(o) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the state board may grant a waiver to a county board for its noncompliance with provisions of this chapter eighteen and chapters eighteen-a, eighteen-b and eighteen-c of this code to maintain compliance in reaching the mandatory one hundred eighty separate instructional days established in this section.
(p) The state board shall promulgate a rule in accordance with the provisions of article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code for the purpose of implementing the provisions of this section.
(q) The amendments to this section during the 2013 regular session of the Legislature shall be effective for school years beginning on or after July 1, 2014, and the provisions of this section existing immediately prior to the 2013 regular session of the Legislature remain in effect for school years beginning prior to July 1, 2014.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to change the mandatory school instructional days from one hundred eighty days to the equivalent minutes in order to provide flexibility to counties in meeting school board instructional day rules.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)
