Elementary school discipline bill — top request from WV teachers — nears finish line
Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, a public school teacher, speaks in support of an elementary school student discipline bill in the House of Delegates on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Charleston, W.Va. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
A bill that would bolster elementary school teachers' ability to remove disruptive and violent students passed the West Virginia House of Delegates, nearing the finish line at Gov. Patrick Morrisey's desk.
The measure is two years in the making and the top request of teachers across the state, who say worsening student behavior — particularly among the state's youngest learners — has impeded their ability to teach.
'We have to look after and take care of all the other kids that are in the class whose education is being disrupted by the behavior of very few. It's about time we stood up,' said Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, who is a public school teacher.
The Senate unanimously signed off on Senate Bill 199, and the House of Delegates passed the measure with a 94-3 vote.
The bill outlines how and why teachers in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms can remove students who are violent, threatening or intimidating toward staff or peers, or students' whose behavior is impeding on other students' ability to learn. The House amended the bill to include pre-K classrooms that are on public school grounds.
'You're not only taking care of the student who may be disciplined, potentially disciplined … It also helps the other students in the classroom, and also just helps things run a lot smoother in class, more satisfaction from our teachers, staff and the students and parents,' said House Education Chair Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer.
The bill also mandates that school counselors and social workers work to determine any underlying cause of the child's behavior. Many educators have tied children's dangerous behavior or outbursts to the state's ongoing substance abuse crisis and high rate of kids in foster care.
A similar bill died on the final night of the legislative session last year.
Bill sponsor Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said additional work in the last year has resulted in better legislation that will help the state's vulnerable children. Opponents of the bill have worried that children would end up out of school with limited support and forced to attend virtual school.
Grady, who is a public school teacher, said that only 1% of students are violent.
'We want a bill that's going to work and that also helps our more vulnerable children,' she said. 'We want to make sure that we have things in place that will help them, as well, prior to just removing them from the classroom — that it's giving them some opportunities, possibly, to change the behavior. Because we're talking about little kids, you know, and they need second chances.'
Three Democrats in the House voted against the measure, citing concerns about potentially unqualified counselors or social workers conducting an assessment to determine the underlying cause of a child's behavior.
'There are some serious flaws in here, so I would have to vote no on this iteration of it,' said Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell.
Pritt said the bill was the result of a compromise and didn't go far enough to support teachers, but it was time for the Legislature to act.
Grady said that the bill will empower teachers, who regularly are beholden to their school administrator to step in and remove the child.
'We want to allow our teachers to be able to teach, while also trying to provide these students that are causing the disruptions with the help they also need, based on what the school can provide,' she said.
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