West Virginia

Chapter 18. Education
Article 2. State Board of Education

Section 18-2-9. Required courses of instruction; violation and penalty

(a) In all public, private, parochial and denominational schools located within this state there shall be given prior to the completion of the eighth grade at least one year of instruction in the history of the state of West Virginia. Such schools shall require regular courses of instruction by the completion of the twelfth grade in the history of the United States, in civics, in the constitution of the United States, and in the government of the state of West Virginia for the purpose of teaching, fostering and perpetuating the ideals, principles and spirit of political and economic democracy in America and increasing the knowledge of the organization and machinery of the government of the United States and of the state of West Virginia. The state board of education shall, with the advice of the state superintendent of schools, prescribe the courses of study covering these subjects for the public schools. It shall be the duty of the officials or boards having authority over the respective private, parochial and denominational schools to prescribe courses of study for the schools under their control and supervision similar to those required for the public schools. . . .

[This statute was located on March 25, 2005 and may have been modified or amended since that date.]