Virginia Law

A. With such funds as may be appropriated by the General Assembly in the general appropriation act, the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium (the Consortium) is hereby established and shall be maintained. For the purposes of this chapter and the work of the Consortium, "Western Virginia" includes 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 include such other localities as the governing board of the Consortium may periodically approve. The governing board of the Consortium (the board) shall consist of (i) the division superintendents of Alleghany Highlands (Alleghany-Covington consolidated), Bath, Bland, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Giles, Henry, Montgomery, Patrick, Pulaski, Roanoke County, Wythe, Martinsville, Radford, Roanoke City, and Salem or their designees; (ii) any other division superintendent, or his designee, in a locality approved for membership in the Consortium by the board pursuant to this subsection; (iii) each member of the House of Delegates who represents a House District that is partially or wholly located in Western Virginia; and (iv) each member of the Senate of Virginia who represents a Senatorial District that is partially or wholly located in Western Virginia. Each such legislative member shall serve as a nonvoting ex officio member of the board.

B. Legislative members and division superintendents shall serve terms coincident with their terms of office. The board shall elect a chair and a vice-chair from among its members and, by majority vote, approve a member school division to serve as fiscal agent for the Consortium.

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

E. In each biennium in which the consortium receives funding from the General Assembly, the chair 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.

2000, cc. 105, 302; 2002, cc. 417, 465; 2003, c. 885; 2006, c. 861; 2016, c. 232; 2026, cc. 404, 405.