WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2024 REGULAR SESSION
ENROLLED
Committee Substitute for House Bill 5158
BY DELEGATES TONEY, ELLINGTON, STATLER, AND VANCE
[Passed March 8, 2024; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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1 AN ACT to amend and reenact §18-1-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend
2 and reenact §18-10N-2 of said code; to amend and reenact §18-20-1 and §18-20-1a of
3 said code; to repeal §18-20-1b of said code; and to amend and reenact §18-20-1c,
4 §18-20-1d, §18-20-2, §18-20-3, §18-20-4, §18-20-5, §18-20-6, §18-20-7, §18-20-8,
5 §18-20-9, §18-20-10, and §18-20-11, all relating to updating statutory provisions regarding
6 the special education code; defining local educational agency; clarifying that districts and
7 county boards subsumed under the local educational agency; updating definitions;
8 updating terminology used in education of exceptional children; clarifying local
9 educational agencies special educational programs include services outside the school
10 environment; requiring state board’s rules assuring exceptional students receive an
11 education in accordance with state and federal laws include students in foster care and
12 correctional facilities; clarifying services required by local educational agency that must be
13 provided until age of majority; requiring preschool programs, special education and related
14 services for students with disabilities or developmental delays begin services by student’s
15 3rd birthday; clarifying preschool programs for students with disabilities or developmental
16 delays are available to such students in mental health facilities, residential institutions, and
17 private entities who have entered into an agreement with a local educational agency;
18 repealing outdated code section; clarifying provisions regarding assistance, training and
19 information to be provided to integrated classroom teachers; allowing any teacher to
20 request an IEP meeting in certain instance; prohibiting a teacher from being penalized for
21 advocating for his or her student; allowing the teacher to work with the family or guardian;
22 providing that the general education teacher is not responsible for daily accommodation
23 logs; requiring that data to support the decision to place a student into an integrated
24 classroom be included in the Individualized Education Plan; updating terminology for
25 individualized education programs; clarifying minimum training for autism mentor and
26 allowing for partial or full reimbursement of tuition for training as autism mentor; updating
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27 terminology regarding reports; requiring local educational agencies to maintain a
28 continuum of services, including integrated classrooms and out of school environments;
29 requiring training to integrated education and submission of annual reports; updating
30 terminology regarding examination and reports by medical or other specialists; updating
31 language regarding powers and duties of superintendent; updating language regarding
32 advisory council for the education of exceptional children; updating requirements of
33 exceptional children monitoring and accountability review teams; updating terminology
34 regarding interagency plan for exceptional children and advisory council; updating
35 terminology regarding gifted education caseload review; and updating language regarding
36 video cameras in self-contained classrooms.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
CHAPTER 18. EDUCATION.
ARTICLE 1. DEFINITIONS; LIMITATIONS OF CHAPTER; GOALS FOR EDUCATION.
§18-1-1. Definitions.
1 The following words used in this chapter and in any proceedings pursuant thereto have
2 the meanings ascribed to them unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
3 (a) "School" means the students and teachers assembled in one or more buildings,
4 organized as a unit;
5 (b) "Local educational agency" means a public board of education or other public authority
6 legally constituted within the State of West Virginia for either administrative control or direction of,
7 or to perform a service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county,
8 township, school district, or other political subdivision of the State, as authorized by West Virginia
9 Code, including county school districts, schools and facilities under the supervision of the West
10 Virginia Board of Education (WVBE), and public charter schools;
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11 (c) "District" means county school district and is subsumed under the category of local
12 educational agency;
13 (d) "State board" means the West Virginia Board of Education;
14 (e) "County board" or "board" means a county board of education and is subsumed under
15 the category of local educational agency;
16 (f) "State superintendent" means the state superintendent of Schools;
17 (g) "County superintendent" or "superintendent" means a local educational agency
18 superintendent of schools;
19 (h) "Teacher" means a teacher, supervisor, principal, superintendent, public school
20 librarian or any other person regularly employed for instructional purposes in a public school in
21 this state;
22 (i) "Service person" or "service personnel", whether singular or plural, means any
23 nonteaching school employee who is not included in the meaning of "teacher" as defined in this
24 section, and who serves the school or schools as a whole, in a nonprofessional capacity, including
25 such areas as secretarial, custodial, maintenance, transportation, school lunch and aides. Any
26 reference to "service employee" or "service employees" in this chapter or chapter eighteen-a of
27 this code means service person or service personnel as defined in this section;
28 (j) "Social worker" means a nonteaching school employee who, at a minimum, possesses
29 an undergraduate degree in social work from an accredited institution of higher learning and who
30 provides various professional social work services, activities or methods as defined by the state
31 board for the benefit of students;
32 (k) "Regular full-time employee" means any person employed by a local educational
33 agency who has a regular position or job throughout his or her employment term, without regard
34 to hours or method of pay;
35 (l) "Career clusters" means broad groupings of related occupations;
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36 (m) "Work-based learning" means a structured activity that correlates with and is mutually
37 supportive of the school-based learning of the student and includes specific objectives to be
38 learned by the student as a result of the activity;
39 (n) "School-age juvenile" means any individual who is entitled to attend or who, if not
40 placed in a residential facility, would be entitled to attend public schools in accordance with: (1)
41 Section five, article two of this chapter; (2) sections fifteen and eighteen, article five of this chapter;
42 or (3) section one, article twenty of this chapter;
43 (o) "Student with a disability" means an exceptional child, other than gifted and exceptional
44 gifted, pursuant to section one, article twenty of this chapter;
45 (p) "Casual deficit" means a deficit of not more than three percent of the approved levy
46 estimate or a deficit that is nonrecurring from year to year; and
47 (q) "Athletic director" means a person employed by a local educational agency to work in
48 a school's athletic program pursuant to section one-a, article two, chapter eighteen-a of this code.
ARTICLE 10N. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOR THE BLIND AND
VISUALLY IMPAIRED.
§18-10N-2. Definitions.
1 The following words have the meanings indicated:
2 (a) "Access" means the ability to receive, use and manipulate data and operate controls
3 included in information technology.
4 (b) "Blind or visually impaired individual" means an individual who:
5 Has a visual impairment that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational
6 performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
7 (c) "Information technology" means all electronic information processing hardware and
8 software, including telecommunications.
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9 (d) "Nonvisual" means synthesized speech, Braille and other output methods not requiring
10 sight.
11 (e) "State agency" means the state or any of its departments, agencies or boards or
12 commissions.
13 (f) "Telecommunications" means the transmission of information, voice, or data by radio,
14 video or other electronic or impulse means.
ARTICLE 20. EDUCATION OF EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN.
§18-20-1. Establishment of special programs and teaching services for students with exceptionalities.
1 (a) In accordance with the following provisions, local educational agencies (LEAs),
2 including all county boards of education, schools and facilities under the supervision of the State
3 board, and public charter schools acting as their own local educational agency (LEA) throughout
4 the state shall establish and maintain special education services for all exceptional school-age
5 students between five and twenty-one years of age, including, but not limited to, services provided
6 in general education classrooms, co-teaching classrooms, special education resource classes,
7 self-contained classes, homebound services, and other placements determined appropriate to
8 meet the unique needs of students with disabilities as determined by Individualized Education
9 Program (IEP) teams. Special education programs must be provided to students until the end of
10 the school year in which they reach the age of 21 years or until the student earns a regular high
11 school diploma, whichever occurs first. Provisions shall be made for educating exceptional
12 students (including students with disabilities and students identified as gifted or exceptionally
13 gifted who differ from their non-disabled peers to the extent that they need specially designed
14 instruction in order to access the curriculum and receive a free appropriate public education. The
15 term "gifted" means exceptional intellectual abilities and potential for achievement that requires
16 specially designed instruction and/or services beyond those normally provided in the general
17 classroom instruction. The term "exceptional gifted" means those students in grades nine through
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18 twelve meeting the criteria for gifted with at least one of the additional criteria as identified in State
19 Board Policy 2419. Exceptional gifted students shall be referred for identification pursuant to state
20 board policy. Each local education agency (LEA) is mandated to provide gifted education to its
21 students according to guidelines promulgated by the state board and consistent with the
22 provisions of this chapter. In addition, county boards of education may establish and maintain
23 other educational services for exceptional students as the State Superintendent of Schools may
24 approve.
25 (b) Each local educational agency (LEA) shall establish and maintain special educational
26 programs which include services outside the school environment for students who are
27 homebound due to injury or who for any other reason as certified by a licensed physician are
28 homebound for a period that has lasted or will last more than three weeks. The state board shall
29 adopt rules to advance and accomplish this program and to assure that all exceptional students
30 in the state, including students in mental health facilities, residential institutions, foster care,
31 correctional facilities, and private schools, will receive an education in accordance with the
32 mandates of state and federal laws.
33 (c) Each local educational agency (LEA) shall adopt a policy that allows a student with
34 disabilities, whose individualized education program provides for an alternate diploma to
35 participate in the graduation ceremony with their same-grade classmates if requested in writing
36 by their parent or legal guardian, or the student who is subject to this request if the student is of
37 the age of majority. The local educational agency (LEA) shall also permit the student to continue
38 receiving special education services after the graduation ceremony until the end of the school
39 year in which the student reaches the age of 21 years. The local educational agency (LEA) may
40 not terminate, deny, or declare the student ineligible for post-graduation ceremony special
41 education services due to their participation in the graduation ceremony.
§18-20-1a. Preschool programs for students with disabilities or developmental delays;
rules and regulations.
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1 (a) Each local educational agency (LEA) shall develop a coordinated service delivery plan
2 in accordance with standards for preschool programs for students with disabilities or
3 developmental delays and begin services where plans are already developed with IEPs in place
4 by the student’s 3rd birthday. (b) Each local educational agency (LEA) shall establish and maintain
5 a special educational program, including, but not limited to, universal Pre-K classes which
6 integrate students with disabilities, special classes and services provided in out-of-school
7 environments for all students with disabilities three through five years of age.
8 (c) As used in this section, the term “students with disabilities” means those eligible
9 individuals who fall in any one of the disability categories as defined in federal or state special
10 education regulations. Special education and related services for eligible students with a
11 developmental delay will be provided as of the student's third birthday when eligibility is
12 determined prior to the third birthday.
13 (d) This programming is available to all such students in the state, including in mental
14 health facilities, residential institutions, and private entities who have entered into an agreement
15 for collaborative programming with a local educational agency (LEA).
§18-20-1b. Preschool programs for handicapped children; rules and regulations.
1 [Repealed.]
§18-20-1c. Integrated classrooms serving students with exceptional needs; and requirements as to the assistance, training and information to be provided to
integrated classroom teachers.
1 (a) The general education classroom teacher is entitled to the following when a student
2 with exceptional needs is placed into an integrated classroom and the student's individualized
3 education program (IEP) requires curriculum modifications, including delivery of, instruction or
4 services and accommodations to be provided by the regular classroom teacher:
5 (1) Training provided pursuant to the rules developed by the State Board of Education, if
6 requested by the regular classroom teacher to prepare the teacher to meet the exceptional needs
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7 of individual students. Whenever possible, the training shall be provided prior to the placement.
8 Where prior training is not possible, the training shall be commenced no later than ten days
9 following the placement of the student into the integrated classroom. Unavoidable delays in the
10 provision of training may not result in the exclusion of a student with exceptional needs from any
11 class if the training cannot be provided in ten days;
12 (2) A signed copy of the individualized education program for the special education student
13 prior to the placement of the student into the regular classroom. When possible, the receiving and
14 referring teachers shall participate in the development of that student's individualized education
15 program and shall also sign the individualized education program as developed. In all cases the
16 teacher shall receive a copy of the individualized education program for the student with
17 exceptional needs prior to or at the time of the placement of the student into the regular classroom.
18 Any teacher or other member of the IEP team disagreeing with the individualized education
19 program team's recommendation shall file a written explanation outlining his or her disagreement
20 or recommendation;
21 (3) Participation by referring teachers in all eligibility committees and participation by
22 referring and receiving teachers in all individualized education program committees which involve
23 possible placement of a student with exceptional needs in an integrated classroom;
24 (4) Opportunity to reconvene the committee responsible for the individualized education
25 program of the student with exceptional needs assigned to the regular classroom teacher. Any
26 teacher may request an IEP meeting if the data after 45 days shows that a student is not in the
27 least restrictive environment for academic growth. The meeting shall include all persons involved
28 in a student's individualized education program and shall be held within twenty-one days of the
29 time the request is made. If changes are made to a student’s IEP, affecting services and/or
30 placement, the services shall be available immediately upon the change in placement; and
31 (