Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin‘s controversial education reform bill escaped the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, but not entirely unscathed. Dave Boucher has the details in his front-page story for today’s Daily Mail.
The revised bill clarifies that teachers would receive seven paid holidays, and it calls for at least four faculty senate meetings throughout the year. It also calls for increased attention to professional development by the state Board of Education.
It also calls on the state Department of Education to reduce its budget for “personal services, related employee benefits and contractual expenditures related to employment” by 5 percent. The department is aware of the change and trying to figure out the dollar amount of the cut, department spokeswoman Liza Cordeiro said late Tuesday.
Teachers unions still aren’t happy with the bill, however. AFT-WV president Judy Hale called it a “teacher-bashing” bill and said it would do nothing to improve student achievement. The unions also are upset the bill still would allow Teach For America into state schools, and does not give teacher seniority equal weight in hiring procedures.
Seniority still would be a factor in hiring, but the bill does not say it must be weighed equally. Unions think that could lead to school administrators hiring friends or family members. The revised bill does say principals couldn’t hire relatives, but unions don’t think the change goes far enough.
It eliminated the requirement that the school year must be completed within a 43-week window. The change would give county school boards more flexibility in setting their calendars and an easier transition to a year-round — or “balanced” — calendar, supporters say.
Opponents, particularly the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, say the change will prevent employees from supporting themselves through additional employment throughout the year.
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The name “Teach For America” is no longer in the bill. Replaced by “national teaching corps,” the section still would allow the organization to enter the state on a broader scale. Teach For America is a private, nonprofit organization that places high-achieving college graduates in under-served schools nationwide.
Participants would be required to take 18 credit hours of training specific to West Virginia schools under the revised bill. They also could be placed only in middle schools or high schools. They already were required to pass an exam for the subject they were expected to teach.
State teachers unions oppose Teach for America, claiming its candidates are unqualified to teach in state schools because they did not receive education degrees. Unions contend the state already has alternative licensing for non-educators to teach in state schools.
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In other statehouse news, a bill making seat belt violations a primary offense in West Virginia narrowly passed the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening. The bill passed 13-11, with both Democrats and Republicans voting for and against the measure. It now will go to the full House for a vote, where it is expected to receive a similarly mixed reaction.
Sen. Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha, has introduced a similar seat belt bill in the Senate for the last five years. The legislation has passed the Senate several times but has always died in House committees. He said Tuesday’s progress gives him hope the measure will finally pass.
“This is the furthest it’s come, and I’m hopeful they’ll pass it,” the Kanawha County Democrat said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.
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The House Roads and Transportation Committee already had approved the bill.
The bill also was referred to two committees in the Senate. The Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved it Feb. 19 and sent it to the Judiciary Committee, which Palumbo chairs.
The full Senate has passed such a bill in , but it has always died in a House committee. That’s why Palumbo has been sitting on the bill in his committee this year, and he will continue to do so as he monitors progress across the hall.
If the full House were to pass it, he said, “We would work the House bill, hopefully without any changes.” If the Senate approved a House bill intact, it would go straight to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to sign into law. Even a tiny change would send the bill back to the House for concurrence, and it could get caught up in late-session wrangling.
Click here to read my full story on the seat belt bill.
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Also in today’s Daily Mail, House Minority Leader Tim Armstead has introduced a bill that would overhaul the state’s Freedom of Information Act law. The law is meant to give members of the public, including the press, access to government documents. But West Virginia’s FOIA law forbids the release of any internal letters or documents.
Armstead wants to change that.
“To me, it’s very important citizens be able to get information about what state government is doing,” he said. “We don’t think something should be exempt from public disclosure just because it’s in the form of a letter or a memorandum.”
Speaking at the West Virginia Press Association’s annual legislative breakfast last week, Armstead said keeping internal letters and memos out of the public eye goes against the core intent of a FOIA law.
As Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward pointed out this morning on Twitter, Armstead has tried in the past to open up letters and memos but failed.
Today is the 29th day of West Virginia’s 81st Legislature. That means tomorrow is the session’s halfway point, and it appears things will only get more interesting as we close in on April 13. Stay tuned to Capitol Notebook for all your statehouse news.
