Bill Text: WV SB36 | 2021 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to WV Secondary School Activities Commission audits
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-03-23 - To House Education [SB36 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2021-SB36-Comm_Sub.html
WEST virginia legislature
2021 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 36
By Senator Tarr
[Originating in the Committee on Education; reported on March 17, 2021]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18-2-25 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission; prohibiting any rule of the commission from being enforced without the approval of the rule by the State Board of Education; requiring the commission to make the results of the annual audit of its funds available to the public; authorizing the Legislative Auditor, at reasonable and prudent intervals, to conduct performance audits of the commission to determine how well it is accomplishing its mission; and requiring an initial performance audit of the commission by December 1, 2022.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 2. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
§18-2-25. Authority of county boards to regulate athletic and other extracurricular activities of secondary schools; delegation of authority to West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission; authority of commission; approval of rules by state board; incorporation; funds; audit of funds; performance audit; participation by private and parochial schools and by home-schooled students.
(a) The county boards of education shall exercise the control, supervision, and regulation of all interscholastic athletic events, and other extracurricular activities of the students in public secondary schools, and of those schools of their respective counties. The county board of education may delegate control, supervision, and regulation of interscholastic athletic events and band activities to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission.
(b) The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission is composed of the principals, or their representatives, of those secondary schools whose county boards of education have certified in writing to the State Superintendent of Schools that they have elected to delegate the control, supervision, and regulation of their interscholastic athletic events and band activities of the students in the public secondary schools in their respective counties to the commission. The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission may exercise the control, supervision, and regulation of interscholastic athletic events and band activities of secondary schools, delegated to it pursuant to this section. The rules of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission shall contain a provision for a proper review procedure and review board and be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of chapter 29A of this code but shall, in all instances, be subject to the prior approval of the state board. No rule of the commission may be enforced without the approval of the rule by the state board. The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission may, with the consent of the State Board of Education, incorporate under the name of West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, Inc., as a nonprofit, nonstock corporation under the provisions of chapter 31 of this code.
(c) County boards of education may expend moneys for and pay dues to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, and all moneys paid to the commission, as well as moneys derived from any contest or other event sponsored by the commission, are quasi-public funds as defined in §18-5-1 et seq. of this code, and the funds of the commission are subject to an annual audit by the State Tax Commissioner. The commission shall make the results of the audit available to the public by posting the results on its website where it shall remain posted at least until it posts the results of its next annual audit.
(d) The Legislative Auditor may, at reasonable and prudent intervals, conduct performance audits of the commission to determine how well it is accomplishing its mission. The Legislative Auditor may examine whichever records of the commission he or she considers necessary to complete the performance audit. For any legally protected information provided or disclosed to the Legislative Auditor pursuant to this subsection, the Legislative Auditor shall protect the confidentiality, privacy, or security of the protected information in like manner and with the same duty as is required of the commission. The Legislative Auditor shall complete an initial performance audit of the commission by December 1, 2022, and, by that date, deliver a report thereof to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance and to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.
(c) (e) The West Virginia Secondary School
Activities Commission shall promulgate reasonable rules providing for the
control, supervision, and regulation of the interscholastic athletic events and
other extracurricular activities of private and parochial secondary schools as
that elect to delegate to the commission control, supervision, and
regulation, upon the same terms and conditions, subject to the same rules and
requirements and upon the payment of the same fees and charges as those
provided for public secondary schools. Any such private or parochial secondary school
shall receive any monetary or other benefits in the same manner and in the same
proportion as any public secondary school.
(d) (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of
this section or the commission’s rules, the commission shall consider eligible
for participation in interscholastic athletic events and other extracurricular
activities of secondary schools a student who is receiving home instruction
pursuant to §18-8-1(c) of this code and who:
(1) Has demonstrated satisfactory evidence of academic progress for one year in compliance with the provisions of that subsection: Provided, That the student’s average test results are within or above the fourth stanine in all subject areas;
(2) Is enrolled in at least one virtual instructional course per semester, consistent with the
applicable virtual instruction policy of the county board in which the home-schooled student lives and the state board;
(3) Has not reached the age of 19 by August 1 of the current school year;
Eligibility is limited to participation in interscholastic athletic events and other extracurricular activities at the public secondary school serving the attendance zone in which the student lives: Provided, That home-schooled students who leave a member school during the school year are subject to the same transfer protocols that apply to member-to-member transfers. Reasonable fees may be charged to the student to cover the costs of participation in interscholastic athletic events and other extracurricular activities.
(e) (g) The West Virginia Secondary School
Activities Commission shall recognize preparatory athletic programs, whose
participants attend a secondary school in West Virginia for academic
instruction, as nonparticipating members of the commission solely for the
purpose of competing on the national level: Provided, That the
preparatory athletic program shall pay the same fees as member schools. Such
recognition does not entitle the preparatory athletic program to compete
against a member school during the regular season or in any commission state
championship events. The commission may promulgate an emergency rule pursuant
to subsection (b) of this section, if necessary, to carry out the intent of
this subsection.