Week 6 (February 10-16)

This was a busy week, with 73 new bills introduced today. Tuesday marked the last day to introduce bills in the House and Monday (19th) is the last day to introduce bills in the Senate. For a full list of education-related bills, please see our Bill Tracking sheet.

House Education Bills

• HB 5540 - Requires fentanyl prevention and awareness education in middle schools and high schools (Lakens Law). Among its provisions, the bill would require students to be trained in the use of Narcan to save lives and in the danger of fentanyl, heroin and opioids. State School Superintendent Michele Blatt addressed concerns about teaching middle school students how to administer Narcan. She noted that drug prevention has been a focus for many years, and while the instruction would be more at the high school level, even middle school students may need to understand life-saving measures and the potential harms. The bill passed House Education and is on 1st reading in the House Special Calendar. Read more news here.
• HB 4299 - Authorizes teachers in elementary or secondary schools to carry concealed firearms and be designated as school protection officers (SPO). Under the bill, those who could seek authorization as school protection officers would include teachers, administrators and support personnel in elementary or secondary schools. They could carry concealed firearms, stun guns or Tasers. To get the designation as an SPO, a person would have to show proof of having a valid concealed carry permit and a certificate of completion of a training program for SPOs. That training would include mitigation techniques, neutralization of potential threats and active shooters, de-escalation techniques, and crisis intervention among other things. The bill passed House Judiciary and is on 1st reading in the House Special Calendar. Read more news here.
• HB. 4709, Relating to vocational and technical education programs. The purpose of this bill is to provide information to high school students regarding career and technical educational opportunities during and after high school, to create a career and technical education for middle school students, and to codify the Governor's Workforce Credential. This bill passed with amendment and was sent to House Finance.
• HB. 5514, Enhancing training requirements for county boards of education members. The purpose of this bill is enhance training requirements for county boards of education members by increasing the number of hours required for training, authorizing the State Board to require members to attend additional training when beneficial, modifying training topics, increasing the compensation rate for meeting attendance and decreasing the number of meetings members may be compensated to attend, prohibiting compensation to county board members who have not complied with all training requirements and including the chairs of the House and Senate Education Committees as ex officio members of the county board member standards training review committee. This bill passed with amendment and was sent to House Finance.

House Education also discussed:

• HB 5405- Providing additional professional development and support to West Virginia educators through teacher and leader induction and professional growth.
• HB 5553 To provide and change graduation requirements and change duties relating to academic content standards.
• HB 5607 - Relating to public charter school’s application for funding

Senate Education

• HB4860 - Providing that a general education teacher may not be responsible for accommodation logs. The purpose of this bill is to provide that the general education teacher in an integrated classroom for education of exceptional children not responsible for accommodation logs. The bill was previously hotly debated in the House and Thursday Senate Education changed the bill to re-introduce some documentation requirements for all teachers. The bill passed Senate Education and now heads to the full Senate. Read more here
• SB727 - Revising process for county boards of education to hire support staff The purpose of this bill is to revise the process for county boards of education to hire aides, early childhood classroom assistant teachers, and secretaries.
• SB515 - Prohibiting public schools from requiring students to participate in sexual orientation instruction. The purpose of this bill is to prohibit a public school student from being required to participate in instruction related to sexual orientation and gender identity if a parent, custodian, or guardian of the student objects in writing; require each public school to afford the parent, custodian, or guardian of a child subject to instruction with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity advance written notification of such instruction and of their right to exempt the child from participation; prohibit a public school and the county board employees assigned to the school from knowingly giving false or misleading information to the parent, custodian, or guardian of a student regarding the student’s gender identity or intention to transition to a gender that is different than the sex listed on a student’s official birth certificate or certificate issued upon adoption if the certificate was issued at or near the time of the student’s birth; require a public school employee to report a student’s request for an accommodation that is intended to affirm the student’s gender identity from a person employed by the public school to an administrator employed by the county board and assigned to the school; and require the administrator to report the student’s request to the student’s parent, custodian, or guardian. This bill passed out of the Education Committee and was reported do pass but first to Judiciary.