Committee backs bill aligning state Board of Education eligibility with county rules

The committee voted to report Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 158 to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass.

Senate Bill 158 would require members of the West Virginia Board of Education to meet the same eligibility requirements that current law imposes on county board of education members by adding subsections that bar certain appointees and employees from membership and that prohibit members from seeking or holding other public offices or party executive positions while serving.

Counsel told the committee that the bill adds two subsections to an existing section of law and that it "provides persons who are ineligible for membership on the state board if they are appointees or employees of the board, if they are a member of any political party executive committee, or if they hold any other public office or public employment under the federal government, state government, or any of the state's political subdivisions." Counsel also said the measure prevents board members from soliciting or receiving political contributions to support or retire campaign debt for candidates.

A junior senator from the seventeenth raised a drafting question about the use of the word "bipartisan" on page 2 and proposed substituting "nonpartisan." Counsel confirmed the change was acceptable as drafted. The amendment replacing "bipartisan" with "nonpartisan" on the identified lines was adopted without recorded division. After no further amendments, the committee agreed to the language of the committee substitute as amended and the vice chair moved that it be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass. The motion carried by voice vote; the chair declared the motion adopted.

The counsel noted there was no fiscal note and no second reference for the bill on file. Counsel also identified the county board eligibility requirements the bill references as Chapter 18, Article 5, Section 1a of West Virginia law.