HB 4693 West Virginia House of Delegates · 2026 Regular Session

To declassify Community and Technical Education (“CTE”) teaching positions to allow for counties to provide additional funding for certain positions.

HB 4693 declassifies Community and Technical Education (CTE) teaching positions at community colleges and trades-based high school instructors teaching CTE courses, allowing counties to target additional funding to specific roles in critical need. Currently, all CTE positions are grouped together, requiring county funding to be distributed across all positions; this bill removes that classification barrier. The bill maintains existing state funding for these positions while enabling counties to add supplemental funds to high-demand roles like skilled trades or healthcare education. This change aims to help fill staffing shortages in key CTE fields by letting counties offer targeted financial incentives without reducing state support.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 21, 2026 Last action Feb 19, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version Committee Substitute · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to shift its focus from declassifying community and technical college instructors to specifically allowing county boards to declassify career technical education (CTE) instructors. The change clarifies that counties can provide additional compensation for CTE instructors if they find a critical need and shortage in a specific area of expertise, while retaining existing provisions for other teacher categories.
Scope change
The bill's scope was narrowed and clarified to specifically target career technical education instructors rather than broadly declassifying all community and technical college positions.
SCOPE

The primary purpose was changed from a general declassification of CTE and high school instructors to a specific authorization for counties to declassify only career technical education instructors.

ELIGIBILITY

The criteria for additional compensation were refined to require a county board finding of a 'critical need and shortage' specifically for certified CTE instructors in a particular area of expertise.

FISCAL

The mechanism for funding was adjusted to allow counties to increase compensation for CTE instructors through declassification, while the original bill also explicitly mentioned continuing state funding for these positions.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
7
Key actions
0
Committee
4
Feb 19, 2026
Committee
To House Finance
lower
Feb 19, 2026
Committee
By substitute, do pass, but first to Finance
lower
Jan 21, 2026
Committee
To House Education
lower
Jan 21, 2026
Introduced
Introduced in House
lower
Jan 21, 2026
Committee
To Education then Finance
lower
1 primary · 9 co-sponsors

Sponsors