Senate committee advances bill requiring licensed athletic trainers in West Virginia public secondary schools

Senate Education Committee members on March 20 approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 755 that would require the West Virginia Board of Education to implement a five-year program to place licensed athletic trainers in secondary schools and to appropriate funding annually to support the effort.

The committee substitute, explained by committee counsel, would require the program to commence July 1, 2026, and to be fully implemented by February (implementation year not specified in the committee record). The measure also directs the State Board to expand existing career and technical education (CTE) sports-medicine programs, promulgate implementing rules, and allow use of the Underwood-Smith loan repayment program to help recruit athletic trainers, with the Higher Education Policy Commission developing eligibility criteria.

Why it matters: supporters said trained athletic trainers at practices and games improve student safety and concussion response and create CTE pathways to health-care careers. Opponents and some members pressed for clearer funding language, limits on state mandates for private schools, and guardrails tied to existing rules and local implementation.

Committee counsel (referred to in the record as Hank) summarized the committee substitute before members questioned details of scope and finance. Counsel said the bill "requires that funding for the program be appropriated annually to the state board to support the expansion of career and technical sports medicine programs throughout the state, and the recruitment, hiring, and retention of…