Senate 803

WEST virginia legislature

2026 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 803

By Senator Grady

[Introduced February 6, 2026; referred
to the Select Committee on School Choice]

A BILL to amend and reenact §18-8-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to requiring demonstration of competency of any nonpublic school, home school, microschool, learning pod, or individualized instruction plan student upon enrollment in a public school before the public school can transcribe grades onto a public school transcript.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 8. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

§18-8-12. Issuance of a diploma or other appropriate credential by public, private, home

school, microschool, or learning pod administrator; competency assessment upon return to public school.

(a) A person who administers a program of secondary education at a public school, private school, home school, microschool, learning pod, or individualized instructional program pursuant to the Hope Scholarship Act that meets the requirements of this chapter may issue a diploma or other appropriate credential to a person who has completed the program of secondary education. Such diploma or credential is legally sufficient to demonstrate that the person meets the definition of having a high school diploma or its equivalent. No state agency or institution of higher learning in this state may reject or otherwise treat a person differently solely on the grounds of the source of such a diploma or credential. Nothing in this section prevents an institution, once a student has been fully admitted, from administering placement tests or other assessments to determine the appropriate placement of students into college-level course sequences or to assess the content thereof for the purposes of determining whether a person meets other requirements for a specific program.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, each public school shall administer competency assessments to or otherwise require demonstrations of competency of any nonpublic school, home school, microschool, learning pod, or individualized instruction plan student upon enrollment in the public school before the public school can transcribe grades onto a public school transcript.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require demonstration of competency of any nonpublic school, home school, microschool, learning pod, or individualized instruction plan student upon enrollment in a public school before the public school can transcribe grades onto a public school transcript.

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