Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
       2024 REGULAR SESSION
          Committee Substitute for House Bill 5425
               By Delegate Mazzocchi [Originating in the Committee on Education; Reported on February 19, 2024]
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  A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-4-7a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating
         to clarifying the amount of experience required in the hiring of professional education
         personnel; and providing that those years of experience gained outside of the county or
         state shall count towards the required threshold.
     Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
     ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
     §18A-4-7a. Employment, promotion, and transfer of professional personnel; qualifications.
         (a) A county board of education shall make decisions affecting the filling of vacancies in
  professional positions of employment on the basis of the applicant with the highest qualifications:
  Provided, That the county superintendent shall be hired under separate criteria pursuant to
  §18-4-2 of this code.
         (b) In judging qualifications for the filling of vacancies of professional positions of
  employment, consideration shall be given to each of the following:
         (1) Appropriate certification, licensure or both;
         (2) Amount of experience relevant to the position or, in the case of a classroom teaching
  position, the amount of teaching experience in the required certification area: Provided, That a
 classroom teacher who has completed his or her initial three years of experience may be
 considered for a professional position: Provided further, That any classroom teacher who has
 completed three years of experience in another county or out of state satisfies the provisions of
 this subsection.
        (3) The amount of course work, degree level or both in the relevant field and degree level
 generally;
        (4) Academic achievement;
        (5) In the case of a principal or classroom teaching position, certification by the National
 Board for Professional Teaching Standards;
        (6) Specialized training relevant to performing the duties of the job;
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        (7) Past performance evaluations conducted pursuant to §18A-2-12 and §18A-3C-2 of this
 code or, in the case of a classroom teacher, past evaluations of the applicant’s performance in the
 teaching profession;
        (8) Seniority;
        (9) Other measures or indicators upon which the relative qualifications of the applicant may
 fairly be judged;
        (10) In the case of a classroom teaching position, the recommendation of the principal of
 the school at which the applicant will be performing a majority of his or her duties; and
        (11) In the case of a classroom teaching position, the recommendation, if any, resulting
 from the process established pursuant to the provisions of §18-5A-5 of this code by the faculty
 senate of the school at which the employee will be performing a majority of his or her duties.
        (c) In the case of a principal, assistant principal, or classroom teaching position, When
 when filling of a vacancy pursuant to this section, a county board is entitled to determine the
 appropriate weight to apply to each of the criterion when assessing an applicant’s qualifications:
 Provided, That if one or more permanently employed instructional personnel apply for a principal,
 assistant principal, or classroom teaching position and meet the standards set forth in the job
 posting, each criterion under subsection (b) of this section shall be given equal weight except that
 the criterion in subdivisions (10) and (11) of this section shall each be double weighted: Provided,
 That a classroom teacher who has completed his or her initial three years of experience may be
 considered for a professional position: Provided further, That any classroom teacher who has
 completed three years of experience in another county or out of state satisfies the provisions of
 this subsection.
        (d) For a classroom teaching position, if the principal and faculty senate recommend the
 same applicant pursuant to subdivisions (10) and (11), subsection (b) of this section, and the
 superintendent concurs with those recommendations, then the other provisions of subsections (b)
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 and (c) of this section do not apply and the county board shall appoint that applicant
 notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary.
         (e) The state board shall promulgate a rule, including an emergency rule if necessary, in
 accordance with the provisions of §29A-3B-1 et seq. of this code to implement and interpret the
 provisions of this section. The rule may provide for a classroom teacher who directly participates in
 making recommendations pursuant to this section to be compensated at the appropriate daily rate
 during periods of participation beyond his or her individual contract.
         (f) The recommendations of the principal and faculty senate made pursuant to subdivisions
 (10) and (11), subsection (b) of this section shall be based on a determination as to which applicant
 is the most highly qualified for the position: Provided, That nothing in this subsection may require
 principals or faculty senates to assign any amount of weight to any factor in making a
 recommendation.
         (g) With the exception of guidance counselors, the seniority of classroom teachers, as
 defined in section one, article one of this chapter, shall be determined on the basis of the length of
 time the employee has been employed as a regular full-time certified and/or licensed professional
 educator by the county board of education and shall be granted in all areas that the employee is
 certified, licensed or both.
         (h) If two or more employees with the same certification establish an identical seniority date
 as a result of initial employment as a regular teacher on or after July 1, 2019, the priority between
 these employees shall be determined by a random selection system established by the
 employees and approved by the county board. A board shall conduct the random selection within
 30 days of the time the employees with the same certification establish an identical seniority date.
 All employees with an identical seniority date and the same certification shall participate in the
 random selection. As long as the affected employees hold the identical seniority date within a
 certification, the initial random selection conducted by the board shall be permanent for the
 duration of the employment of the employees by the board.
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         (i) Upon completion of 133 days of employment in any one school year, substitute
 teachers, except retired teachers and other retired professional educators employed as
 substitutes, shall accrue seniority exclusively for the purpose of applying for employment as a
 permanent, full-time professional employee. One hundred thirty-three days or more of said
 employment shall be prorated and shall vest as a fraction of the school year worked by the
 permanent, full-time teacher.
         (j) Guidance counselors and all other professional employees, as defined in §18A-1-1 of
 this code, except classroom teachers, shall gain seniority in their nonteaching area of professional
 employment on the basis of the length of time the employee has been employed by the county
 board of education in that area: Provided, That if an employee is certified as a classroom teacher,
 the employee accrues classroom teaching seniority for the time that employee is employed in
 another professional area. For the purposes of accruing seniority under this subsection,
 employment as principal, supervisor or central office administrator, as defined in §18A-1-1 of this
 code, shall be considered one area of employment.
         (k) Employment for a full employment term equals one year of seniority, but an employee
 may not accrue more than one year of seniority during any given fiscal year. Employment for less
 than the full employment term shall be prorated.
         (l) All decisions on reductions in force shall be based on qualifications as set forth in a
 county board policy. Furthermore, for the purposes of this subsection and subsections (m) through
 (t), inclusive, of this section, the word "qualifications" means the qualifications set forth in county
 board policy and only means qualifications set forth in subsection (b) of this section to the extent
 those qualifications are set forth in county board policy: Provided, That in defining the word
 "qualifications" in its policy, the county board:
         (1) Shall consider including the following criteria:
         (A) Seniority;
         (B) Appropriate certification, licensure, or both;
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            (C) Amount of experience relevant to the position or, in the case of a classroom teaching
  position, the amount of teaching experience in the required certification area;
            (D) The amount of course work, degree level, or both in the relevant field and degree level
 generally;
           (E) Academic achievement;
           (F) In the case of a principal or classroom teaching position, certification by the National
 Board for Professional Teaching Standards;
           (G) Specialized training relevant to performing the duties of the job;
           (H) Past performance evaluations conducted pursuant to §18A-2-12 and §18A-3C-2 of this
 code or, in the case of a classroom teacher, past evaluations of the applicant’s performance in the
 teaching profession;
           (I) Other measures or indicators upon which the relative qualifications of the applicant may
 fairly be judged;
           (J) In the case of transfer or recall to a classroom teaching position, the recommendation of
 the principal of the school at which the applicant will be performing a majority of his or her duties;
 and
           (K) In the case of transfer or recall to a classroom teaching position, the recommendation,
 if any, resulting from the process established pursuant to the provisions of §18-5A-5 of this code by
 the faculty senate of the school at which the employee will be performing a majority of his or her
 duties;
           (2) Shall consider other criteria set forth in subdivision (1) of this subsection to the extent
 they are included in the county board policy only after considering personnel whose last
 performance evaluation conducted pursuant to §18A-2-12 or §18A-3C-2 of this code, as
 applicable, is less than satisfactory; and
           (3) May not include salary as one of the criteria in the definition.
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        (m) Whenever a county board is required to reduce the number of professional personnel
 in its employment, the selection of the employee to be properly notified and released from
 employment pursuant to the provisions of section two, article two of this chapter shall be based
 upon seniority, certification, licensure and performance evaluations. The provisions of this
 subsection are subject to the following:
        (1) In the event of a reduction in force, a county board of education may properly notify and
 release from employment pursuant to the provisions of section two, article two of this chapter any
 classroom teacher with unsatisfactory evaluations for the previous two consecutive years
 regardless of years of service instead of release from employment of less senior classroom
 teachers with satisfactory performance evaluations;
        (2) All persons employed in a certification area to be reduced who are employed under a
 temporary permit shall be properly notified and released before a fully certified employee in such a
 position is subject to release;
        (3) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, for any vacancy in an
 established, existing or newly created position that, on or before March 1, is known to exist for the
 ensuing school year, upon recommendation of the superintendent, the board shall appoint the
 successful applicant from among all qualified applicants. All employees subject to release shall be
 considered applicants for the positions for which they are qualified and shall be considered before
 posting such vacancies for application by nonemployees;
        (4) An employee subject to release shall be employed in any other professional position
 where the employee is certified and was previously employed or to any lateral area for which the
 employee is certified, licensed or both, if the employees seniority is greater than the seniority of
 any other employee in that area of certification, licensure or both;
        (5) If an employee subject to release holds certification, licensure or both in more than one
 lateral area and if the employees seniority is greater than the seniority of any other employee in
 one or more of those areas of certification, licensure or both, the employee subject to release shall
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 be employed in the professional position held by the employee with the least seniority in any of
 those areas of certification, licensure or both; and
        (6) If, prior to August 1 of the year, a reduction in force is approved, the reason for any
 particular reduction in force no longer exists as determined by the county board in its sole and
 exclusive judgment, the board shall rescind the reduction in force or transfer and shall notify the
 released employee in writing of his or her right to be restored to his or her position of employment.
 Within five days of being so notified, the released employee shall notify the board, in writing, of his
 or her intent to resume his or her position of employment or the right to be restored shall terminate.
 Notwithstanding any other provision of this subdivision, if there is another employee on the
 preferred recall list with proper certification and higher seniority, that person shall be placed in the
 position restored as a result of the reduction in force being rescinded.
        (n) For the purpose of this article, all positions which meet the definition of "classroom
 teacher" as defined in §18A-1-1 of this code shall be lateral positions. For all other professional
 positions, the county board of education shall adopt a policy by October 31, 1993, and may modify
 the policy thereafter as necessary, which defines which positions shall be lateral positions. In
 adopting the policy, the board may give consideration to the rank of each position in terms of title;
 nature of responsibilities; salary level; and certification, licensure or both; along with the days in
 the period of employment.
        (o) All professional personnel whose lesser qualifications, as determined by county board
 policy, with the county board is insufficient to allow their retention by the county board during a
 reduction in workforce shall be placed upon a preferred recall list. As to any professional position
 opening within the area where they had previously been employed or to any lateral area for which
 they have certification, licensure or both, the employee shall be recalled on the basis of
 qualifications if no regular, full-time professional personnel, or those returning from leaves of
 absence with greater qualifications apply for and accept the position.
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        (p) The board shall annually notify professional personnel on the preferred list of the job
 application procedures and any websites used to advertise vacancies. The notice shall be sent by
 certified mail via the U.S. Postal Service to the last known address of the employee, and it shall be
 the duty of each professional person to notify the board of continued availability annually of any
 change in address, or of any change in certification, licensure or both.
        (q) Openings in established, existing or newly created positions shall be processed as
 follows:
        (1) Boards shall be required to post and date notices of each opening at least once. At their
 discretion, boards may post an opening for a position other than classroom teacher more than
 once in order to attract more qualified applicants. At their discretion, boards may repost an
 opening for a classroom teacher after the first posting in order to attract more qualified applicants
 subject to the following:
        (A) Each notice shall be posted in conspicuous working places for all professional
 personnel to observe for at least five working days which may include any website maintained by
 the county board;
        (B) At least one notice shall be posted within 20 working days of the position openings and
 shall include the job description;
        (C) Any special criteria or skills that are required by the position shall be specifically stated
 in the job description and directly related to the performance of the job;
        (D) Postings for vacancies made pursuant to this section shall be written so as to ensure
 that the largest possible pool of qualified applicants may apply; and
        (E) Job postings may not require criteria which are not necessary for the successful
 performance of the job and may not be written with the intent to favor a specific applicant;
        (2) No vacancy may be filled until after the five-day minimum