West Virginia legislation · 2026 Regular Session
West Virginia SB899: Permitting certain teachers to be certified to work as school principals
Status: Signed into law, March 27, 2026
What the bill says
An act to amend and reenact §18A-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to permitting teachers with a minimum of 15 years of experience teaching at the elementary, middle, or high school level to be certified to work as school principals at the school level in which they have the 15 years of experience teaching if they also successfully complete a year-long program developed and administered by the West Virginia Department of Education to ensure the candidate demonstrates competence in the core elements of school administration, including but not limited to, instructional.
From the enrolled text, March 14, 2026:
AN ACT to amend and reenact §18A-2-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to permitting teachers with a minimum of 15 years of experience teaching at the elementary, middle, or high school level to be certified to work as school principals at the school level in which they have the 15 years of experience teaching if they also successfully complete a year-long program developed and administered by the West Virginia Department of Education to ensure the candidate demonstrates competence in the core elements of school administration, including but not limited to, instructional leadership, school finance, personnel management, student discipline, and school law. article 2. school personnel. §18A-2-9. Duties and responsibilities of school principals; assistant principals. (a) Upon the recommendation of the county superintendent of schools, the county board of education shall employ and assign, through written contract, public school principals who shall be the principal instructional leader of the school and shall supervise the management and the operation of the school or schools to which they are assigned to improve student performance and progress. The principals shall hold valid administrative certificates appropriate for their assignments. (b)(1) Beginning on July 1, 1994, the prerequisites for issuance of an administrative certificate for principals shall include that the person has successfully completed at least six credit hours of approved …