Bill > HB2939

This bill introduces the Remote Schools Support Act, which aims to provide additional support for extremely remote schools in West Virginia. The bill defines an "extremely remote school" as a school located at least 20 travel miles from other schools, within the same county, serving a minimum of 20 students, with specific examples like Pickens School and Hacker Valley Elementary School. For funding purposes, students in these schools will be counted as 2.5 students instead of 1, which will provide more financial resources. The bill requires county boards to keep these remote schools open and provides additional state aid to address challenges such as building operations, utility costs, maintenance, extreme weather preparation, and professional development for rural teaching environments. County boards receiving this funding must submit annual reports to the State Superintendent detailing how the funds were used and their impact on student safety, education quality, and operational sustainability. The State Superintendent will then compile these reports and present them to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability, potentially including recommendations for future funding adjustments. The bill also allows extremely remote schools to request waivers from certain requirements, though the specific waiver process is not fully detailed in the provided text.

Budget and Finance, Education

http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=2939&year=2025&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill