House 2933

2025 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 2933

By Delegates Pritt, Canterbury, Stephens, and Crouse

[Introduced February 24, 2025; referred to the Committee on Education then Finance]

A BILL a bill to amend and reenact §18-3-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to basing the annual salary of the state superintendent of schools on the average of the salaries of similar positions in the five states that border West Virginia.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 3. STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.

§18-3-1.  Appointment; qualifications; compensation; traveling expenses; office and residence; evaluation.

(a) (1) There shall be appointed by the state board a State Superintendent of Schools who serves at the will and pleasure of the state board. He or she shall be a person of good moral character, shall be able to perform the duties listed in this article and possess such other educational, administrative, experiential and other qualifications as determined by the State Board of Education. He or she shall hold at least a master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education or equivalent degree as determined by the state board. He or she shall receive an annual salary set by the state board, to be paid at least twice per month. The state superintendent also shall receive necessary traveling expenses incident to the performance of his or her duties to be paid out of the General School Fund upon warrants of the State Auditor. The state superintendent shall have his or her office at the state Capitol. The state board shall report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability upon request concerning its progress during any hiring process for a state superintendent.

(2) Upon the effective date of the amendment to this section, the annual salary of the state superintendent shall be equal to an average of the annual salary of the equivalent of state superintendent of school positions of each of the five states that border West Virginia (Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia).  This salary shall be reassessed every five years.

The state board annually shall evaluate the performance of the state superintendent and publicly announce the results of the evaluation.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to base the annual salary of the state superintendent of schools on the average of the salaries of similar positions in the five states that border West Virginia; and to reassess the salary every five years.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.