SB 755 West Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Establishing WV Secondary School Athletic Trainer and Career Technical Education Program Act

SB 755 establishes a five-year program requiring every West Virginia public secondary school to have a licensed athletic trainer on staff or contracted through the county board by July 1, 2031. It expands career technical education (CTE) sports medicine programs to all high schools through cost-efficient methods like shared resources or mobile instructors, aligning curricula with higher education standards. The bill mandates annual state funding for trainer recruitment and retention, including using the Underwood-Smith Loan Repayment Program to incentivize dual-role teacher-athletic trainers. This directly affects student-athletes (through improved safety access), schools (requiring new staffing), and CTE programs (expanding course offerings statewide).

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 14, 2025 Last action Mar 24, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Committee Substitute · 7 edits

MODERATE

The bill was substantially rewritten from an introduced version to a committee substitute, changing the article number from 30-20B to 18-14, expanding the program to include public schools (not just secondary schools), adding a requirement for athletic trainers to work in dual capacity as teachers, extending the implementation deadline from 2030 to 2031, and adding a new requirement to use the Underwood-Smith Loan Repayment Program with specific eligibility criteria.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded from all secondary schools to specifically public secondary schools, and the program now allows athletic trainers to be either on staff or contracted through county boards rather than requiring direct employment.

SCOPE

Changed from 'secondary schools' to 'public secondary schools' and added option for contracted trainers through county boards

ELIGIBILITY

Added requirement that athletic trainers must work in dual capacity as both teacher and athletic trainer to qualify for loan repayment

TIMELINE

Extended implementation deadline from July 1, 2030 to July 1, 2031

FISCAL

Added specific provision to use West Virginia Underwood-Smith Loan Repayment Program for student loan payments

REQUIREMENT

Added requirement for State Board of Education to promulgate rules pursuant to specific code section

Added requirement for Board of Education to expand existing nine CTE sports medicine programs using cost-efficient methods

TECHNICAL

Changed article designation from §30-20B to §18-14 throughout the document

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 24, 2025

Committee

To Finance

upper

Mar 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee substitute reported, but first to Finance

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Committee

To Education

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in Senate

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Committee

To Education then Finance

upper

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors