Western Virginia Public Education Consortium; funding, duties.

A BILL to amend and reenact §§
22.1-354.1
and
22.1-354.2
of the Code of Virginia, relating to Western Virginia Public Education Consortium; governance; funding; duties.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§
22.1-354.1
and
22.1-354.2
of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§
22.1-354.1
. Western Virginia Public Education Consortium established; region defined; governing board.

A.
The
With such funds as may be appropriated by the Genera
l Assembly in the general appropriation act, the
Western Virginia Public Education Consortium
(the Consortium)
is hereby established and shall be

referred to as the Consortium
maintained
. For the purposes of this chapter and the work of the Consortium, "Western Virginia" shall include the Counties of Alleghany, Bath, Bland, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Henry, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Roanoke, and Wythe, and the Cities of Covington, Martinsville, Radford, Roanoke, and Salem
and may includ
e such other localities as
the
governing board of the Consortium may
periodically
approve
. The governing board of the Consortium shall consist of
33
34
members that include

14
1
6
legislative members and
the 19 school
18 division
superintendents
of the named localities
as follows:
10
11
members of the House of Delegates representing the
Fifth
, Sixth
, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth,
Eleventh, Twelfth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth
Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth,
Fortieth, Forty
-f
irs
t, Forty
-s
econd, Forty
-t
hird, Forty
-s
ixth, Forty
-s
eventh
, and
Nineteenth
Forty
-e
ighth
House Districts;
four
five
members of the Senate representing the
Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first

Second,
Third, Fourth
, Fifth
, and
Twenty-fifth
Seventh
Senatorial Districts, all serving as ex officio nonvoting members; and the
school
division
superintendents of Alleghany
Highlands (
Alleghany-Covington consolidated)
, Bath, Bland, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Henry, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Roanoke County, Wythe
, Covington
, Martinsville, Radford, Roanoke City, and Salem
or their designees
.

B. Legislative members and
school
division
superintendents shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office. The board shall elect a chairman and a vice-chairman from among its members
and, by majority vote, approve a

member school division to serve as fiscal agent for the
C
onsortium
.

C. Members of the board shall serve without compensation. All members shall be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties in the work of the Consortium as provided in §§
2.2-2813
and
2.2-2825
. All such expenses shall be paid from existing appropriations to or received by the Consortium or, if unfunded, shall be approved by the Joint Rules Committee.

D. A majority of the
18 division superintendent
members of the board shall constitute a quorum. The board shall meet at the call of the chairman or whenever a majority of the members so request.

E. The chairman of the board shall submit to the Governor and the General Assembly an annual executive summary of the interim activity and work of the board no later than the first day of each regular session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.

§
22.1-354.2
. Functions and duties.

The Consortium shall perform the following functions and duties:

1. Coordinate with organizations and agencies providing programs and services to Consortium school divisions to reduce duplication of effort and optimize the use of available resources;

2. Conduct ongoing assessments to identify needs of member school divisions and develop plans and programs responding to those needs;

3. Facilitate the coordination of programs in the Consortium region that affect
K
prekindergarten
through
grade
12 public education in career and technical education, workforce development, and other linkages between public schools, institutions of higher education, and business and industry;

4. Coordinate technology-related activities between Consortium members in areas of common concern, such as video conferencing and distance learning, including the acquisition and utilization of hardware and software for administrative and instructional purchases;

5.
Develop and maintain linkages with schools and school divisions in Northern Virginia to promote enhanced usage of educational technology; and

6.
Create the capacity for development within the Consortium of shared services and activities, including purchasing, facility planning, staff development, and special needs programming, and implementation of such shared services and activities as need is determined.

2. That if the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium is not funded by a separate appropriation in the general appropriation act for fiscal year 2027, the provisions of Chapter 20.1 (§
22.1-354.1
et seq.) of Title 22.1 of the Code of Virginia shall expire on January 1, 2027.