By Steven Allen Adams for The Intelligencer
CHARLESTON – Last year, an effort by the West Virginia Legislature to address student discipline problems in elementary school grades died on the last night of the 2024 session. But lawmakers this year worked together to get a bill complete weeks before the end of the 2025 session.
The House of Delegates passed Senate Bill 199, relating to elementary behavior intervention and safety in a 94-3 vote Tuesday morning. The state Senate is expected to concur Wednesday with changes made to the bill.
SB 199 is similar to Senate Bill 614, which died in the final hours of the 2024 legislative session over disagreements between the House and the state Senate. But House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, said both chambers came to agreement on what was needed to pass the bill.
“I think this is something that should have gone through last year. It was a little beneficial that we made the changes this year,” Ellington said on the House floor Tuesday. “It is something that is needed. You’re not only taking care of the student that may be disciplined or potentially disciplined, but maybe their behavior is corrected. It also helps the other students in the classroom and also just helps things run a lot smoother in class, with more satisfaction from our teachers, staff, and the students and parents.”
