The West Virginia Senate Military Committee adopted a committee substitute for Senate Bill 765 and voted to report the measure to the full Senate with a recommendation that it pass, but under the bill's original double reference it will first go to the Senate Education Committee.

The committee substitute for SB 765 would direct the state superintendent of schools to create a Troops to Teachers program designed to attract and recruit honorably discharged veterans to serve as public school teachers. "Senate Bill 765 would direct the state superintendent of schools to create a Troops to Teachers program, which would aim to attract and recruit veterans in the state to serve as public school teachers," the committee counsel told the panel.

Under the substitute, a veteran would be eligible for a professional teaching certificate if the veteran: holds at minimum a bachelor's degree in a field related to the teaching position sought; can show proof of prior military instructor certification; and has passed the basic skills and subject-matter tests required by the state board for teachers to be certified in the area the veteran seeks to teach. The substitute exempts eligible veterans from any additional teacher certification requirements except for a criminal history check, and it says a veteran who is awarded a teaching certificate is to be given veterans preferences in hiring "as provided in chapter 6 of the code," the counsel said. The counsel added that the committee substitute made "purely technical changes to the text and the title of the bill."

Committee action was procedural and brief. The committee chair called for a voice vote to adopt the committee substitute; the chair said "the ayes do have it," and the substitute was adopted. The vice chair, identified in the transcript as the senator from the 5th, moved that the committee substitute for SB 765 "be reported to the full Senate with a recommendation that it do pass, but that it first be referred to the Committee on Education under the original double committee reference." The committee again recorded a voice vote in favor and the motion passed. No roll-call vote totals were provided in the transcript.

No amendments or substantive amendments were recorded during the committee's discussion. The committee adjourned shortly after the action on SB 765.

The next procedural step is consideration by the Senate Education Committee under the bill's double reference and then action by the full Senate; the transcript does not specify any implementation timeline or funding sources for creating the program.