“Journalism is literature in a hurry.” – Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), British poet and cultural critic.

Proposed constitutional amendment on property taxes clears one committee

By Howard O’Cull

The House Constitutional Revision Committee approved House Joint Resolution 101 this week to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot authorizing counties to exempt tangible property “directly used in commercial and industrial businesses…from ad valorem property tax.”

If voters approve the proposed amendment, it would not apply to utility businesses.

Committee members debated the issue for about an hour before approving it on a voice vote. The resolution now goes to the House Finance Committee.

Both Democratic and Republican delegates raised several questions about the effect of the amendment, especially in terms of potential loss of revenue to local governments, including county school boards. Jim Pitrolo, the governor’s legislative and policy director, said that likely would not be the case because new economic development projects could offset loss of tax revenues, including losses occurring from depreciation.

While several delegates pursued that line of questioning, Patti Hamilton, executive director of the West Virginia Association of Counties, said giving counties authority to exempt certain sources of revenue must be accompanied by authority to raise additional replacement revenue that has the capability for growth that personal property values have. 

“‘If you take the tax off, they will come’ is not enough assurance and raises the possibility that our tax base will become so eroded that the very services businesses want will no longer be available, including quality education,” she said.

In response to those remarks and similar sentiments expressed by Delegate John Frazier, D-Mercer, Pitrolo and Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow argued that other states, including Iowa, Ohio and Virginia, had used the same approach and found that economic growth offset potential revenue losses.

 

Much concerns relates to follow-up legislation.

Prior to the vote to approve the measure, many committee members acknowledged  their questions dealt more with enacting legislation that would accompany implementation of the amendment than with the proposed constitutional amendment language itself.

As introduced, Gov. Manchin’s proposal would have allowed lawmakers to exempt tangible property used in commercial and industrial businesses from ad valorem property tax. After discussions with various parties, the governor’s office turned its support to the county option approach. Responding to delegates’ questioning, both Pitrolo and Muchow said the approach provides counties greater leeway to entice economic development.

However, Delegate Cliff Moore, D-McDowell, questioned whether some counties would siphon jobs from other counties if certain county commissions were not to approve the local option for exempting property from taxation.

Several other delegates questioned whether disparity might arise between counties and regions in the state. Some delegates argued that West Virginia’s tax structure, which was embedded within the Constitution in the midst of the Great Depression, creates uniformity in tax rates.

In terms of a Fiscal Note, the State Tax Department has stated, “Since the resolution does not change existing tax laws but merely permits the Legislature discretion in enacting, or not enacting, laws pertaining to tangible personal property directly used in commercial and industrial businesses in the future, it is our interpretation that passage of this resolution would have no impact on the revenue of the State or local governments “

In answer to a question by Del. Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha, Muchow said the amendment , if passed by voters, could generate over 8,000 jobs.

Howard O’Cull is executive director of the West Virginia School Board Association.

 

WVEA leaders offer their proposals for OPEB

By Jim Wallace

The work group set up in the House of Delegates to figure out how to deal with West Virginia’s OPEB liability gathered ideas from teachers’ unions and representatives of other groups representing public employees and retirees this week.

Although a similar group in the Senate has already developed recommendations for dealing with the liability, which is estimated to be about $7.8 billion, the House group is still gathering information. The liability mostly represents health care benefits promised to current and future retirees from the public sector.

Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, made it clear to the House group that his union stands on the side of school boards.

“The Legislature must act this year to prevent massive layoffs and elimination of many, many valuable, essential education programs.” – WVEA President Dale Lee

“First and foremost, the Legislature must -- this year -- remove the OPEB liability from county boards of education,” he said, as he handed out sheets showing the estimated portion of the liability for the boards increases from $45 million in 2008-2009 to $290 million in 2009-2010 for a total of $335 million over two years. “The Legislature must act this year to prevent massive layoffs and elimination of many, many valuable, essential education programs.”

 

Controlling PEIA’s costs are part of the plan.

Lee said that, among all the discussion about OPEB, not enough of it has focused on reducing the Public Employee Insurance Agency’s medical rate of inflation to reduce both the OPEB liability and increases in health care costs for active employees.

Perry Bryant of the WVEA said the Legislature missed a chance to reduce some of those costs during a past session when lawmakers killed a bill that would have prevented data-mining by pharmaceutical companies, which helps them target their marketing efforts. He said PEIA’s prescription drug costs have been running at rates far exceeding inflation.

“Prescription drug costs were eating us all alive, making it impossible to provide salaries and increasing our OPEB liability,” Bryant said. But he also gave PEIA some credit.

“PEIA does a reasonably good job of trying to control costs,” he said. “Their weight management program is the best in the state. The Face-to-Face for diabetes is an excellent program, and they have a whole series of other programs.”

However, Bryant said the state should focus on payment reform and health delivery system reform. He said a big problem is the use of a fee-for-services system.

“We need to develop payment systems that reduce health care costs and improve quality. Fee-for-service systems ignore quality.” – Perry Bryant of WVEA

“All the encouragement in a fee-for-services arrangement is to do more and more services so you get more and more fees,” Bryant said. “All the incentives are in the wrong locations. We need to develop payment systems that reduce health care costs and improve quality. Fee-for-service systems ignore quality.”

Bryant, who is a former member of the PEIA Finance Board, noted that PEIA has a successful pilot project with Cabin Creek Community Clinic using capitated fees and having 10 percent of payments withheld to make sure quality goals are met.

“Cabin Creek gets paid for meeting these benchmark quality performance initiatives,” he said, adding that the system has been in place for a year, lowering costs and increasing quality. “Why aren’t we expanding this to other places as rapidly as possible across the state? This is only happening in one place.”

But Bryant conceded that it might be difficult to persuade all providers across West Virginia to accept such a system, so he suggested considering something between capitated care and fee-for-service. In addition, he suggested investing more in primary care, especially medical homes.

“We should also be changing co-pays to steer PEIA patients toward high-performing physicians and away from those physicians who do not practice evidence-based medicine,” Bryant said, although he added there will be resistance from the physician community. He had the same recommendation for dealing with imaging centers.

 

Funding sources are considered.

One of the recommendations that came from the Senate work group is for the Legislature to find a funding source for $200 million to jump-start the Retiree Health Benefit Trust Fund. Bryant agreed that such a substantial investment is needed to address OPEB.

“There are some estimates that will have a substantial impact on the OPEB liability, far beyond $200 million,” he said.

Bryant said WVEA also is willing to consider a system of “prefunding” retirement benefits for new public employees. “We’ve talked about this proposal for three years or more but have never been given the financial data by PEIA to be able to make a legitimate decision,” he said. “The idea is to establish a 401(k)-type system.”

The House work group also heard from Josh Sword of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia. The AFT’s proposals to address the OPEB problem, as he explained in the Feb. 5 issue of The Legislature, include restoring the subsidy for future retirees’ benefits (which are scheduled to end for employees hired after June 30), increasing the annual experience increment for school service personnel in years 36 to 40 and extending the increment for teachers from years 36 to 40, and coming up with a dedicated, permanent revenue source for the retiree benefit.

In an interview, Lee and WVEA Executive Director David Haney said restoring the subsidy for future retirees also is important for them.

“Just saying that future retirees have no retiree subsidy we don’t believe is the right action,” Lee said. “It will hurt us in the future years, not only in attracting people into the profession but retaining people. I believe the retention part is going to be a big problem five to 10 years down the road. So we have to come up with a workable solution for new hires to ensure that they have benefits when they retire. I’m not sure at this point what that is, but we’re willing to look at measures to ensure we protect our future hires.”

 

WVEA wants broader pay raises.

On the matter of extending or increasing increment pay in years 36 to 40, Lee and Haney said that wouldn’t be the best way to retain teachers.

“We need to address the salary issue as a whole,” Lee said. “We’re having trouble in some areas, because [teachers’] salaries are so low that kids can make more money with the same degree doing almost any other profession. So why would you want to come into teaching? I believe we have to address the salary issue as a whole, not just the end of a person’s career. I don’t know of any other profession where you would have to go to the 40th year to reach the top of your salary level.”

“All we have to do is raise the tobacco tax to the national average, which I believe would still be lower than the states around us.” – WVEA Executive Director David Haney

For finding a revenue source for paying down the OPEB liability, Haney said WVEA has long supported increasing the tobacco tax.

“It raises $120 million,” he said. “It gets 30,000 kids to stop smoking, which is a positive thing, and it’s a dedicated source of revenue that makes sense when we go to deal with health care costs. All we have to do is raise the tobacco tax to the national average, which I believe would still be lower than the states around us.”

Unions agree on 80/20 rule.

Although it’s not directly related to OPEB, both the WVEA and the AFT also want the Legislature to eliminate the 80/20 rule, which requires the employees’ share of premiums to be no less than 20 percent of the total premium cost. That means every time the state puts extra funding into PEIA, employees’ premiums must go up by a comparable amount. Lee said it has been one of WVEA’s top legislative priorities for years to either repeal the 80/20 rule or to change it to take into account what the union contends is the true portion of employees’ costs.

“When you factor in our co-pays, our out-of-pocket costs, our deductibles, we’re actually paying about 33 percent of the insurance costs,” Lee said. “When the state had surpluses and could have put money into PEIA to relieve premium increases, because of this 80/20 rule, every $1 million the state put in, the employee share had to go up 20 percent [of that]. That just doesn’t make sense to me.”

The AFT also has taken that position. Another position the two unions agree on is that the PEIA Finance Board should have more members representing employees.

“I’m glad to see that other people now see the need to include other groups on the Finance Board.” – Dale Lee

“We thought we had a bill ready to pass last year that would increase the size of the PEIA Finance Board to include more employee groups, and it was defeated,” Lee said. “I’m glad to see that other people now see the need to include other groups on the Finance Board.”

Until last year, WVEA had a representative on the Finance Board, because it was the bigger union representing education employees. But after the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association affiliated with the AFT, the AFT became the bigger union. That’s why Sword is now a member of the board, instead of Bryant, but the bill that was not passed last year would have made room for both of them on the board.

 

Key lawmakers want West Virginia to take advantage of the challenges of tough times

By Jim Wallace

The vice-chairmen of the Senate and House Finance committees see big financial challenges ahead for state government but also good opportunities for West Virginia to distinguish itself from other states.

Sen. Brooks McCabe and Delegate Tom Campbell told a West Virginia Chamber of Commerce breakfast this week that how the state handles OPEB – other post-employment benefits – and other issues will determine how competitive West Virginia will be in the years ahead. Mark Muchow, deputy secretary of the Department of Revenue, explained several factors that West Virginia must overcome to put itself in better condition coming out of the economic downturn.

McCabe, D-Kanawha, said West Virginia is better off than most states right now, because it has a balanced budget, money in the bank and a ranking of fourth per capita in the nation for the strength of its Rainy Day Fund. The state also has federal stimulus money left over that it can spend in the coming fiscal year, he said. In addition, lottery revenue should remain steady, despite competition from other states, largely because the Charles Town Races is about to join other racetracks in West Virginia in offering table games, McCabe said.

“Trying to keep government at the same level cost-wise with inflation at 2 to 3 percent, it just doesn’t work.” – Sen. Brooks McCabe

However, he said, the state is facing annual increases of $50 million to $60 million for Medicaid and about the same amount for OPEB. That’s one reason there is no room in the budget for pay raises, McCabe said, and budgeting for the years ahead will get more difficult.

“Trying to keep government at the same level cost-wise with inflation at 2 to 3 percent, it just doesn’t work,” he said, and the state faces a potential deficit of $500 million by 2015.

“That’s huge,” McCabe said. “We’ve got to figure out how to get some of these things behind us.”

West Virginia must find its own fix for OPEB

West Virginia must rely on Congress to deal with the Medicaid funding problem, he said, but he called OPEB “our issue” and said the state must make some changes to address it. “The rules of engagement have changed, but our policies and spending habits are unchanged,” McCabe said.

The OPEB liability represents mainly health care benefits promised to current and future retirees from the public sector. It has been estimated to be about $7.8 billion and will continue to grow unless something is done to rein it in.

Unfortunately, McCabe said, many members of the Legislature have trouble understanding how compounding of debt works. “It is creaming us,” he said.

State officials are struggling to maintain a balanced budget, McCabe said, but what they need to do is to find a way to pull the budget back to allow for $25 million to $50 million to be invested in economic growth as West Virginia comes out of the recession. He suggested investments in certain types of infrastructure that could foster economic development.

 

Senator wants to restructure public education.

But McCabe also said West Virginia needs “a massive redesign effort in public education and the Department of Health and Human Resources” to pull about $200 million of expenses out of the system. Because the recession has hit other states harder and forced them to cut much of the fat out of their budgets, he fears that they might come out better able to compete economically than West Virginia.

“We have not done that yet,” McCabe said. “We need to cut the fat out.”

Salary and benefit issues in both DHHR and public education should be examined, he said. Although most of the attention goes to the general revenue portion of the state budget, which hovers around $4 billion, McCabe noted that the overall budget is more than $10 billion and half of that is spent in DHHR and public education.

“We need a crisis mentality.” – Sen. McCabe.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he said, but he also expressed optimism it can be done. “We have to have the will to do it. We need a crisis mentality.”

 

Delegate would make tax changes and restructure debt.

Campbell, D-Greenbrier, said West Virginia is in a good position to deal with the economic downturn, even though lottery revenues are flat and the coal industry is struggling. But he said state government must manage itself well and must deal with OPEB. He suggested that lawmakers should consider taking a few actions:

• Increasing the tobacco tax, which would raise revenue, cut tobacco consumption and reduce health care problems;
• Continuing to eliminate the business franchise tax and reducing the corporate net income tax; and
• Restructuring pension debt.

In dealing with the pension debt, Campbell suggested reconsidering whether the target should be for retirement funds to be 100 percent funded. Making the target 80 percent to 90 percent funding could lower payments and free up money for other uses, he said.

West Virginia also is one of the most conservative states in terms of estimating the expected return on investments, Campbell said. While West Virginia uses a rate of 7.5 percent return over the long run for investments, he said, other states use rates of 8.5 percent to 9 percent, which makes payments into their pension systems lower.

“If we manage our debt responsibility…we could have money to do things like reform our court system.” – Delegate Tom Campbell

In addition, although West Virginia has one of the nation’s biggest OPEB liability problems, Campbell believes the state has a chance to be a leader in addressing OPEB.

“If we manage our debt responsibility…we could have money to do things like reform our court system,” he said. “I think we can get it done.”

 

Revenue official sees factors that could hinder economic growth.

In a presentation full of charts and figures, Muchow said it’s no accident that West Virginia has a good Rainy Day Fund. Gov. Manchin and lawmakers have been conservative, he said, and it has helped that government has gotten out of such businesses as workers’ compensation insurance and retail liquor sales.

However, Muchow said several problems threaten West Virginia’s long-term economic performance, including:

• Lack of economic diversification – coal and government services are the dominant sectors of the state’s economy.
• Low per capita economic output – it is only two-thirds of the national average, and West Virginia ranks 49th out of the 50 states.
• Low per capita income – West Virginia generally ranks 49th out of the 50 states.
• Lowest labor force participation rate in the nation.

West Virginia also faces problems with some government services being at high demand because they are underpriced, he said. In other words, the price of government to the individual, represented by taxes, doesn’t match the value of the promised government benefits. In that regard, Muchow said, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and OPEB all are priced below cost.

The state’s tax structure favors residents over economic growth, he said, and indirect taxes create additional demand compared to direct taxes. For example, Muchow contends that the Promise Scholarship would be less popular if it were funded by income taxes. He said relatively low residential property taxes put a heavy burden on businesses, and the state’s older, rural population increases the cost of services.

In the category of state and local government employees, expressed in terms of full-time equivalent employees, West Virginia is the median state with 56.1 FTEs per 1,000 residents, Muchow said. Among the state’s neighbors, Kentucky and Virginia employ more government workers, while Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania employ fewer.

 

West Virginia Government Employment
Versus Overall U.S. Average
West Virginia Exceeds Overall Average by 1.07 FTE or 1.9%

WV Exceeds Average
	FTE	%
Education:	+ 1.92	6.5
K-12 ED:	+ 0.77	3.4
Higher ED:	+ 0.76	11.8
Other ED:	+ 0.39	126.6
Highways:	+ 1.58	88.9
Nat Resource:	+ 0.72	115.9
Fin Admin:	+ 0.59	43.7
Sub Total:	+ 4.81

WV Below Average
	FTE	%
Police:	-1.06	-33.6
Hospitals:	-1.01	-30.5
Fire Protect:	-0.59	-51.1
Corrections:	-0.50	-20.1
Transit:	-0.47	-59.5
Health:	-0.38	-25.8
Libraries:	-0.21	-47.4
Utilities:	-0.10	-11.5
Sub Total:	-4.32

Source: Mark Muchow, Department of Revenue

 

However, he said the average state employs fewer FTEs in education, highways, natural resources and financial administration.

In regard to the OPEB problem, Muchow said West Virginia’s liability is not only large, but the state suffers from having a lower ability to pay taxes. He said the ratio of the OPEB liability to the federal adjusted gross income of residents is close to 25 percent, which is much higher than that of neighboring states. The next closest is Kentucky with a ratio below 10 percent. “We need to become more in line with the other states,” he said. “No pain, no gain.”

“We need to become more in line with the other states...No pain, no gain.” – Mark Muchow Deputy Revenue Secretary

Another problem, Muchow said, is that West Virginia can expect revenue growth of no more than 4 percent a year, but that is less than one-third of the 12.5 percent rate of increase for pay-as-you-go method of addressing annual OPEB costs. And that’s if the state sticks to the current plan of cutting off employees hired after June 30 of this year from being eligible for the same retiree health care benefits as current employees and those already retired. According to a chart Muchow distributed, the pay-as-you-go cost will be more than $600 million a year by 2025.

 

Education Department reveals initiatives in legislative budget hearings

By Jim Wallace

The West Virginia Department of Education is working on raising student achievement, considering a means to base teacher pay on performance and trying to improve the health of students.

Supt. Steve Paine and other department officials touched on those and other issues during budget presentations this week before the House and Senate Education committees.

“Now it’s time to catch up in terms of teachers and principals that can raise student achievement.” – Supt. Steve Paine

Paine began both presentations by noting that West Virginia ranks first in the nation in the category of Standards, Assessments and Accountability in the latest Quality Counts report from Education Week. He told lawmakers they “have done the right thing” in supporting the changes the department has made in the last few years.

“Now it’s time to catch up in terms of teachers and principals that can raise student achievement,” Paine said, because the state received a grade of F for Student Achievement in that same report.

Lawmakers explore how West Virginia spends its education dollars.

During the hearing on the House side, Delegate Sharon Spencer, D-Kanawha, suggested that students in poverty should receive more school supports than more well-to-do students. Paine agreed but said that’s a county-by-county decision. “It’s a local decision to use resources as best they can,” he said.

But Spencer said the School Aid Formula should be adjusted to account for that factor.

Delegate Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, noted that West Virginia spends a large portion of its budget on public education, but he wondered if it spends at a rate commensurate with other states. Joe Panetta, executive director of the Office of School Finance, responded, “We rank favorably in the dollar amount, but a portion of that pays off the liability in the Teachers Retirement System.”

Paine added that West Virginia is one of the most sparsely populated states in the country with a small population spread across 55 counties. That increases transportation and other education costs. Class size limits also add to West Virginia’s costs, he said.

But Paine also said that West Virginia had not done well on federal No Child Left Behind assessments based on student achievement. “We had set standards too low,” he said. “We just fixed that.”

“You will feel political pressure to make standards lower. It’s important that you maintain that commitment despite the political pressure you feel.” – Delegate Mitch Carmichael

The state department is hoping to get $80 million in federal Race to the Top funds if its application is approved, and Paine said that should help the effort to improve student achievement. But Carmichael warned him, “You will feel political pressure to make standards lower. It’s important that you maintain that commitment despite the political pressure you feel. The taxpayers of West Virginia are spending a lot of money. We deserve a return on that investment.”

While saying the department needs to rely on help from parents, students and local school districts, Paine said, “We won’t cave on those standards.”

Carmichael said he has heard doubts that West Virginia would get Race to the Top funding because the state doesn’t have charter schools, but Paine said he has heard from some people in Washington, D.C., that West Virginia has a strong application. The department spent 4,500 hours putting it together, he said. He estimated that lack of charter schools would cost West Virginia no more than 25 out of 500 points in the Race to the Top competition.

 

Performance-based pay is being considered.

One proposal Paine cited as innovative and strengthening West Virginia’s application is the use of a “rich and robust” data system in a test of basing pay for teachers and principals on performance. “So you’re not relying on one test score, which is a real misuse of just one test score to make decisions about teacher employment, teacher pay, principal employment and principal pay,” he said.

Paine complimented the West Virginia Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for supporting that proposal. He said it would use a variety of different student performance outcomes, such as writing assessments, project-based learning and other types of learning outcomes, which could be included in portfolios of progress on which performance pay could be based.

“We assume that performance pay improves performance in education, but I can’t find any evidence that it does.” – Supt. Paine

“We want to do that and then compare a control group of those teachers versus other teachers to see, in fact, is there any strength in doing so in West Virginia,” Paine said. “I have yet to find one conclusive research study that supports that notion. We assume that performance pay improves performance in education, but I can’t find any evidence that it does.”

Evidence for the effectiveness of charter schools likewise is lacking, he said, “because for every successful charter school, there might be another one or two unsuccessful charter schools. So there is not conclusive evidence that says that that is the silver bullet that I think some of those that are advocates for creating them portray them to be. Do they have some merit? Perhaps in West Virginia, yeah, maybe. But I don’t get too excited because I have to be concerned about scaling to practice statewide. And I don’t think that in Pocahontas County, it’s feasible to close the high school, fire the principal and all the staff and find people to teach those kids and reopen it as a charter school.”

Paine said all but 11 states permit charter schools, but those that don’t tend to be rural states like West Virginia.

The department hopes to use Race to the Top funding to boost funding to West Virginia classrooms, he said. As Paine sees it, the state Education Department is at the bottom of an inverted triangle.

“We’re trying to push resources up to the classroom level,” he said. “About 90 percent of the resources would push up to the classroom.”

Paine added that $80 million over four years could do a lot.

 

Department cooks up new approach to student health.

A line of questioning initiated by Delegate Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha, revealed the Education Department is hoping to do more to promote better health among students. Guthrie wanted to know what the department is doing to move away from processed food in school cafeterias.

Paine said the department is watching a pilot project at two schools in Cabell County, where officials are working with school service personnel on “cooking from scratch.” He said the county has requested $50,000 for training the cooks.

“It’s quite an undertaking,” Paine said, and it might take two years to get good data from the project before the department could consider taking that approach to other schools across the state.

“It really has to be a cultural kind of thing that maybe we start working with parents and communities.” – Assistant Supt. Pam Cain

However, Pam Cain, assistant superintendent for student support services, told the delegates that just improving the quality of food students get at school would have limited effect if they don’t eat the same way at home. “It really has to be a cultural kind of thing that maybe we start working with parents and communities,” she said.

But Cain said another change the department is undertaking is to make the tobacco specialists at the Regional Education Service Agencies wellness directors instead.

“We believe the choices that students and parents make in terms of tobacco are the same as those about nutrition, physical exercise and sexual behavior,” she said. “We want to make it a broader wellness. We’re working with regional teams. We have nine counties that we’re working with that are doing it well.”

 

Lawmakers worry about effectiveness of school calendar bill.

The effects of the school calendar bill, which Gov. Manchin signed into law last week, came up in both the House and the Senate budget hearings. On the House side, Delegate Carmichael said he had been hearing from some people in education that it would do little to ensure that school districts get a full 180 days of instruction in each year. But Paine said districts should be able to pick up six to eight days to work with when the mandated starting and ending dates are removed for the next school year.

Panetta said, “The vast majority of the counties – around 40 -- can meet the 180-day requirement.” Judging by records from the past five years, he said, only seven county boards would not have been able to meet the 180-day requirement each year if they hadn’t been limited by mandated starting and ending dates. Some districts have expressed interest in starting the first semester early enough to finish it by Christmas break, Panetta said, and that could improve student performance because students could be tested on the semester’s material when it was fresh on their minds instead of after the break.

Paine said the new school calendar law is not perfect but it’s a good start. “It’s very important to support our teachers…with professional development time to get at that level of rigor we’ve put into our standards,” he added.

“We’re sitting here figuring out how the counties can get 180 days in, but then they’re spending 20 of those days on frivolous field trips.” – Sen. Karen Facemyer

In the Senate budget hearing, Sen. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, expressed concern that even though school districts are having a hard time with this year’s winter weather in getting in enough instructional days, they seemed to be wasting some days on unnecessary field trips.

“This year, in particular, it seems like every class in the county was going on fields, was going to the mall and to the movie theater to watch ‘The Princess and the Pea’ and all this kind of stuff that I really find has little educational value, especially when we have all the snow days,” she said. “We’re sitting here figuring out how the counties can get 180 days in, but then they’re spending 20 of those days on frivolous field trips.”

Paine said he would put out a notice to superintendents to remind them of the importance of maximizing instructional time.

“You make an excellent point,” he told Facemyer. “They need to be in their classrooms right now and not any other place. They need to be in their classrooms engaging in active learning with teachers that’s aligned to the curriculum that we have proscribed in the state.”

“When the WESTEST is over, the field trips start.” – Sen. Larry Edgell

Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel, suggested one good way to cut down on the number of field trips in the spring would be to move the WESTEST, West Virginia’s annual standardized test, closer to the end of the school year. “When the WESTEST is over, the field trips start,” he said.

Paine replied that the WESTEST already is scheduled close to the end of the school year, but it might be possible to move it even later. “If we could figure out a way to get kids access to work stations, we could assess online and have results back in real time,” he said.

Dropout problem is big for senators.

Other senators were more concerned about efforts to reduce the high school dropout rate. Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, was concerned about the costs of raising the mandatory school attendance age from 16 to 17, as one bill moving through the Senate would do.

“There could be additional costs, especially for typically hard-to-serve kids,” Paine responded. “Kids that have behavioral problems, I could see there would be additional costs for those kids”

One of the top reasons students drop out of school is that they fall behind in their coursework, he said. “Those are the kids that probably need additional assistance and alternative programs that might carry a cost,” Paine said.

With that in mind, the department has proposed a credit recovery program. If a student misses only 35 percent of the content of a course, as Paine explained it, “let’s just make sure we re-teach and assess him on that 35 percent of the content versus the whole course. Let’s maximize student learning that way. And let’s allow them to remain in school at the same time to catch up virtually in some manner of credit recovery program.”

The program is part of West Virginia’s application for federal Race to the Top money, but he said the department intends to fund the program even if the application is rejected.

As he has said in other meetings, Paine told the senators he’s not bothered that the state is being required to switch to a different method of calculating the graduation rate. That new method shows that about one in every four student who begins ninth grade fails to graduate from high school within four years. That graduation rate is about 10 percentage points lower than what the older method yielded.

“I’m somewhat pleased we’ve flat-lined at a time we’ve raised the bar on the curriculum and the expectations of the system. We’ve also increased graduation requirements in mathematics.” – Supt. Paine

“We’re still above the national average,” Paine said. “What troubles me is that we’ve flat-lined. We’re not improving. Don’t take this the wrong way: I’m somewhat pleased we’ve flat-lined at a time we’ve raised the bar on the curriculum and the expectations of the system. We’ve also increased graduation requirements in mathematics. That, the counselors said, would drive more kids out of school. Apparently, it’s not. But now it’s part of adjusting the system to perform to the level of expectation with our curriculum and our assessments and our graduation requirements. That’s hard work.”

Sen. Edgell said the department should do more to prevent students from dropping out. Paine said some schools might want to implement Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs because ROTC programs help retain certain students who are interested in military careers.

“When a kid misses 10 unexcused days of absence in the eighth grade, they have data to actually predict the day that student will drop out right after they turn 16 years of age with pretty decent predictability.” – Supt. Paine

Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, called it “pretty astounding” that the dropout rate is so high, especially considering that West Virginia has the lowest rate of students who graduate from college. Paine said that’s why he has called upon Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center to help the state develop “a very comprehensive system, so that every school system, K-12, will have early warning signs. When a kid misses 10 unexcused days of absence in the eighth grade, they have data to actually predict the day that student will drop out right after they turn 16 years of age with pretty decent predictability. It’s those types of things we want to put into our data system.”

Coupled with that, he said, would be a policy requiring schools to intervene when they see the early warning signs that students might drop out of school. Chafin asked whether such social issues as coming from a broken home, economic hardship or drug use cause students to drop out of school. Paine said all of those factors come into play but are not sole determinants of which students will drop out. He noted that some schools in low-income areas have high graduation rates.

“Middle school seems to be the real pivotal point.” – Sen. Truman Chafin

“Middle school seems to be the real pivotal point,” Chafin said. He has noticed that the desire for clothes with designer labels can peer pressure so that some students who can’t afford certain clothes just give up on keeping up with other students. “It’s really sad,” Chafin said and suggested requiring students to wear uniforms.

Paine said the state might have another round of Innovation Zone projects with funding from a foundation. That might provide an opportunity to recruit a couple of schools for a comparative study on the effectiveness of school uniforms, he said.

“We’ll try to do that, Senator,” Paine said. “I’ll be in touch.”

Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said the state must do something to curb the dropout problem, especially considering that West Virginia is spending more per pupil than other Southern Regional Education Board states.

“We can’t turn our heads to this issue,” he said. “We thought vo-tech education would’ve kept students in. It didn’t work. We have to get to the bottom of what’s happening.”

As he has said before, Helmick expressed concern that dropouts will become non-productive members of society who will burden the state. “Those students will cost us a significant amount of money,” he said.

 

 

Bill to raise mandatory attendance age gets through Senate committee

By Howard O’Cull

The Senate Education Committee has approved a bill to increase from 16 to 17 the age at which students are allowed to drop out of school, but only after an extensive discussion of its potential effects.

Among the questions the senators considered were: If students who might drop out of school at age 16 were required to remain in school until age 17, would there be fewer dropouts? If the dropout age were raised to 17, would that extra year of schooling translate in to more “at risk” students entering higher education programs, finding meaningful employment or enlisting in the military?

The chairman of a subcommittee that studied the issue, Sen. Randy White, D-Webster, said statistics conclude the longer “at risk” students remain in school, the greater their chance of becoming productive members of society. He contended that moving the dropout age to age 17 is “one more tool to improve [these students’] performance.” In discussing the issue with 17-year-olds who had dropped out of school recently, he said, the former students told him their schooling lacked things that “interested them,” particularly as they became older.

“We, as policymakers, have made it too doggone easy for them to drop out.” – Sen. Randy White

However, White said most of the students expressed regret at the decision and some were pursuing General Equivalency Degrees (GEDs). He also argued that “at risk” students do not remain in school longer because “we, as policymakers, have made it too doggone easy for them to drop out.”

Some senators believe bill is misguided.

While they were sympathetic to White’s reasoning, other senators said the approach constitutes what Sen. Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier, said was “looking very narrowly at the problem.” Guills said other interventions must accompany raising the dropout age, and such programming would cost additional state and local dollars.

Sen. Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, a former school principal, echoed Guills’s sentiments, saying those who wish students to remain in school until age 17 might have the right intent, but they do not see the complete picture. “They’re absolutely correct, but they’re not in the real world,” he said.

As an assistant principal, Browning said, “I used my teacher education for naught. We have to quit taking on more and more of the parents’ jobs.”

Browning also agreed with other senators who said the issue is societal and that parents must bear major responsibility for students’ school progress. “We should be focusing on the kids who want to come [to school],” he said. Browning and other bill opponents maintained that the higher dropout age could burden schools with troublemaking students who would rather be somewhere else.

"The common saying in high schools is that these 16-year-olds who drop out, they sleep from 15 to 16 and then they drop out." – Sen. Larry Edgell

Sen. Larry Edgell, who taught for 30 years, said, "The common saying in high schools is that these 16-year-olds who drop out, they sleep from 15 to 16 and then they drop out."

Joining Edgell, D-Wetzel, and other lawmakers in their skepticism are the two unions representing the state's teachers. As they told several news media outlets after the committee’s vote, the bill can succeed only if it includes funding for alternative education.

Browning’s attempt to remove the bill’s provision that would increase the dropout age failed on a 7-4 vote.

Higher dropout age could affect quality of life.

White told members the issue was “economics” and the prospective well-being not only of students who drop out of school but the quality of life in West Virginia itself. Citing statistics presented at an interim legislative committee last year, he said about 50 percent of the state’s prison population are high school dropouts. The committee also found that dropouts are more likely to earn less money, collect more government assistance and require publicly funded medical programs like Medicaid.

“The body of evidence is too overwhelming to keep it too doggone easy to drop out, which is what we've been doing," White said.

“This will not solve the whole problem. This is a tool in the toolbox to cut down the dropout rate and improve performance." – Sen. Ron Stollings

As debate closed on the issue, Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, picked up on an analogy made by White: “This will not solve the whole problem. This is a tool in the toolbox to cut down the dropout rate and improve performance."
According to figures discussed in the meeting, 28 states require school attendance through age 16, while the rest require attendance until either 17 or 18.

The Senate Education bill also would reduce the number of unexcused absences needed before school boards can begin truancy proceedings. Currently, 10 unexcused absences have to elapse before schools can notify parents and, possibly, file complaints in magistrate court. The bill would reduce that number to five.

The state’s dropout percentage varies, based on differing calculations, but the state Education Department is moving toward using a method that indicates that about one of every four students who start ninth grade will fail to graduate from high school within four years.

Although various rationale were provided for establishing the dropout rate at age 16, some senators contended it was set in an agrarian society during the late 1800s, when it was easier for 16-year-olds to find employment, including working in agricultural endeavors.

Although the Senate Education Committee approved a motion to send the bill directly to the Senate floor, Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said later he would make sure his committee considers it before it goes to a vote by the full Senate.

The House Education Committee has yet to consider a similar measure, although House Education staff members said such a proposal has been referred to a subcommittee.

Howard O’Cull is executive director of the West Virginia School Board Association.

 

Several bills get House committee’s OK

 

The House Education Committee approved four bills this week, including one to make it easier for schools to use electronic resources in place of traditional textbooks.

House Bill 4349 would update the terms and process for approval and adoption of instructional resources in public schools.

“I think it’s a good bill to catch up with technology,” Delegate Walter Duke, R-Berkeley, said. But Delegate Stan Shaver, D-Preston, wanted to know if using electronic resources would be cheaper than traditional textbooks.

“It definitely will not be more costly,” Carla Williamson, executive director of the Education Department’s Office of Instruction, said. “We know that. And in some cases, we are seeing where it would be less costly.”

But she said electronic resources also have other advantages, which are being explored now in a pilot social studies project.

“What we’ll be allowed to do with electronic resources is always keep more current resources at the fingertips of our students and our teachers,” Williamson said. “For example, we have some teachers trying out what we’re calling Electronic Resource Packages with all digital resources as opposed to buying a textbook that’s out of date when it comes off the press.”

But House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour, expressed concern that some students might not have computers at home to use the electronic resources. Williamson explained what happened when Ohio County schools began using some electronic resources.

“What they did in order to have accessibility for all students was they bought so many CDs per classroom, and they bought a set of the literature books that could be checked out,” she said. “What they told us was that the kids were not using the textbooks. They would take the CDs and they would go to a neighbor’s house, a friend’s house or the public library. The kids preferred the electronic resources is what it boiled down to. But we have always held firm and do believe that we cannot deny any child that accessibility.”

 

Needy kids could get unneeded computers.

Another bill, House Bill 3123, could help address Poling’s concern, because it would allow for the donation of computer equipment to needy students. A few delegates worried about whether needy students would have Internet access or software available to them, but Education Department officials said they thought such problems could be overcome.

House Bill 4389 would exempt sales of personal tangible property and services by public and private schools from the consumer sales tax. Poling explained that the costs of collecting the tax was about the same as the revenue it brings in.

The other bill the committee approved this week was House Bill 4306, which would make changes in the public school support computation of local share. It was sent to the House Finance Committee for further consideration.

 

Two bills passed last week.

Late last week, the committee approved two other bills. House Bill 4211 would allow for funds appropriated by the Legislature to supplement programs required for students with Limited English Proficiency and for learning English as a Second Language when the costs of the programs exceed the capability of a county to provide the needed programmatic funds.

County boards may apply for the funds with the moneys to be distributed by the state superintendent in a manner that takes into account the varying proficiency levels of the students and the capacity of the counties to deliver the programs. The state Board of Education must promulgate a legislative rule to accomplish those objectives.

The bill was amended in committee to use a state school board definition for “Limited English Proficient students.” That definition is based on the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act. The bill then was sent to the House Finance Committee.

House Bill 4324 addresses a law that allows retired teachers to be employed for more than the 140-day post-employment limit set by state Consolidated Public Retirement Board regulations if the employing county board has adopted a policy relating to use of those individuals as substitutes in areas of “critical need and shortage.”

Those provisions are scheduled to expire June 30, but the bill would change the expiration date to June 30, 2013. Under terms of current law, the state board must approve the policy and the county board, must submit the retired teachers’ names along with other information to the CPRB prior to employing the individuals beyond the 140-day limit.

The House bill would require additional information to be forwarded to the CPRB and state Board of Education concerning the shortage areas filled by the retiree, the date the retiree notified the county board of his or her intent to retire and the effective date of the person’s retirement. This information is also to be included in a report the state Board of Education submits to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability.

House Bill 4324 also went to the House Finance Committee for further consideration.

Also this week the House Government Organization Committee adopted House Bill 4245 which makes some technical corrections in 2009 legislation relating to county board member training and related matters.

That bill is on House Calendar First Reading.

The Senate Education Committee has adopted the companion measure, Senate Bill 391. It is on Second Reading today.

 

W.Va. Board of Education intervenes in Fayette County Schools

The West Virginia Board of Education on Thursday intervened in Fayette County Schools following a recommendation by the Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA). The OEPA told the board that serious curriculum and facilities problems exist in Fayette County and it would be difficult to correct deficiencies without taking control of the entire school system.

The Fayette County School System has been under close scrutiny by the West Virginia Board of Education through the OEPA since 1999.Since the county was placed on non-approval status in 2007 progress has been made to reduce the non-compliances. Most notably, progress has been made in improving financial and personnel practices and functions.

“Although many initiatives have been undertaken to improve curriculum and instruction, student performance overall has not improved. The 2009 WESTEST scores and graduation rates have declined,” said OEPA Executive Director Kenna Seal, Ed.D.

In addition, Fayette County has been unable to maintain the current number of buildings, many of which are substandard and unsuitable to adequately serve students and staff. Fayette County residents recently voted down a school bond referendum which would have raised money to correct facility problems.

Immediately following the vote in favor of intervention, the board accepted the following recommendations by West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine. 

• The state superintendent will oversee Fayette County School System finances, personnel, school calendar and curriculum.
• The state superintendent has the authority to conduct hearings on personnel matters and school closure or consolidation matters and subsequently render the resulting decisions.
• The state superintendent has the authority to replace administrators and principals in low performing schools and to transfer them to alternate professional positions within the county at his discretion.
• The state board declare the office of county superintendent of schools of Fayette County to be vacant as of February 22, 2010 and for Dwight Dials, Mingo County Schools Superintendent, to step into that position as the state’s appointee.

“Fayette County has worked very hard but just have not been able to make enough progress,” said Paine. “Our key concern always has to be the students and right now it is in their best interest to intervene in Fayette County.”

Dials has served as county schools superintendent in Morgan and Raleigh Counties.

For the full OEPA report, contact the West Virginia Department of Education Communications Office at (304) 558-2699.

 

State Board Of Education sets a two year timeline to return McDowell County Schools to local control

 

The West Virginia Board of Education voted Thursday during its monthly meeting to accept a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with McDowell County Schools to return the school system to provisional local control.

“McDowell County educators, students and parents have worked extremely hard to address problem areas,” said state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine. “By July 1 of this year, I expect that all facility, personnel and policy issues will be corrected. Ultimately, we hope to return full control of the school system to McDowell County within two years.”  

As part of the MOU the state superintendent of schools shall maintain control over all personnel actions in the county and all facilities matters including financial decisions; specific timelines will be identified for the goals in the areas of facilities maintenance and cleaning, improvements in the personnel office, revisions of county policies, and continual instructional improvement in identified schools; the McDowell County Board of Education will receive training and support from the West Virginia School Board Association; and the McDowell County school system will work with the state department to improve student achievement in the county school systems.

Previously, an Office of Education Performance Audits (OEPA) review team found that McDowell County Schools made progress in finance and curriculum development and the local board was working cooperatively in support of the schools.

The West Virginia Board of Education seized control of McDowell County Schools in 2001, citing low test scores, shoddy school buildings and large numbers of uncertified teachers. The state board immediately restricted the authority of the local board in the expenditure of funds, the employment and dismissal of personnel, the establishment and operation of the school calendar, and the establishment of instructional practices and rules.

Under state guidance, McDowell County has made major changes in curriculum and finances. Advanced Placement classes have been added at all high schools, a new auditorium was dedicated at Mount View Middle/High School and technology improvements continue. The county also has opened a new elementary school and is building a new high school. Improvement plans also include intensive professional development to further enhance student performance.

At the conclusion of the first year of the provisional return to local control progress will be reviewed to determine whether the county school system will continue into the second year of the provisional return. The OEPA will continue to monitor and observe the county’s performance and will conduct a full audit of the county at the conclusion of the two year period to determine its overall performance and progress in addressing the deficiencies noted in previous reports.

The January OEPA report link is http://oepa.state.wv.us/PDFs/reports/2009-2010/McDowellCounty.pdf

For more information, contact the West Virginia Department of Education’s Communications Office at 304-558-2699.

 

Editor’s Note: -- Jim Wallace is a former government reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail and former news director of West Virginia Public Radio. He now works for TSG Consulting in Charleston and writes for several national and West Virginia publications.

 

 

 

Administrative Perspective

Legislature’s education work this week did not ‘slow down due to snow’

By Martha Dean, Ed.D.

The big news on the East Coast is the two snow storms that have come in quick progression. How ironic – just after Gov. Joe Manchin signs the bill to change the school calendar law so every school system can get in 180 days of instruction!

 This is not likely to happen this particular year, but on the average, according to state Department of Education data, most systems in the past three years have had over 175 days of instruction and just one (Kanawha) has had 180 days. 

This winter has been severe and unusual.  Here’s hoping for a spring that comes quickly and goes right into a warm summer!

 

Legislature plows ahead despite snow

The Legislature did not slow down due to the snow:  Both Education Committees met on Tuesday and used Thursday for subcommittee meetings.

 I chose to attend the House Education Committee meeting on Tuesday because the agenda contained four bills and the Senate had only two on its calendar. 

Committee members showed understanding of the concept that there are many students whose parents lack the resources to purchase home computers and also to be able to afford an Internet connection at home.

House Bill 3123 relates to the donation and transfer of surplus personal computers and other electronic equipment to local school boards for educational purposes. This is the third year for this bill, but there was a lot of discussion in the committee before they passed the strike-through amendment and the full bill. 

Committee members showed understanding of the concept that there are many students whose parents lack the resources to purchase home computers and also to be able to afford an Internet connection at home. They wanted to make sure that the state Board of Education would establish fair rules for the distribution of the equipment. 

 

Tax bill already went through House once.

The second bill was House Bill 4389, which passed the House last year but time ran out before it made it through the Senate. It exempts sales of personal tangible property and services by public and private schools from consumer sales tax. It also passed out to its second reference, the Finance Committee. 
               
House Bill 4349 would change the process for approval and adoption of instructional resources in public schools. It would allow alternatives to purchasing traditional text books. 

House Bill 4306 would change the computation of Public School Support Program (PSSP) local share by giving the state tax department authority to ensure assessments are accurate and removing the provision to punish county boards of education if the assessor is not assessing local property high enough. 

All the bills go to the House Finance Committee before going to the floor of the House.

 

Trip was cancelled.

I was scheduled to go to the National Conference of American Association of School Administrators in Phoenix.  However, my flight out of Charleston was canceled, and I could not get another flight out until Friday, so I decided not to go.

 Thursday, I attended the House Education subcommittee chaired by Delegate Stan Shaver, D-Preston. That subcommittee was formed to study the Office of Education Performance Audits and will be preparing a resolution regarding the operation of OEPA. 

The committee focused on two bills, House Bills 4436 and 4383, both of which deal with the same section of the code. 

The former would provide discretion to schools that make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) regarding what instructional strategies and assessments they utilize to improve instruction in their schools. A list of required materials and non-required-but-frequently-used materials had been prepared and distributed to the committee members.

The question seemed to be whether or not the state Department of Education could require a school to use materials that were not required by state board policy.

The question seemed to be whether or not the state Department of Education could require a school to use materials that were not required by state board policy.

House Bill 4383 has been introduced at the request of the state Department of Education. It would provide authority to the department to work with schools that are among the lowest-performing schools in the state prior to sending in OEPA to evaluate the schools. Subcommittee members had many questions about the proposal with there being a general feeling the bill was not needed to allow the state department to work with low-performing schools.

 

Committee keeps gathering information on OPEB.

The House Other Post-employment Benefits work group met on Thursday afternoon to hear from both state teachers’ organizations and representatives from other groups representing a variety of state employees and retirees. 

Both the West Virginia Education Association and the AFT-West Virginia representatives indicated it was important for the state to remove the OPEB liability from county boards. WVEA President Dale Lee thought that forcing boards to dedicate resources to meet the liability would decrease the number of employees they could pay for, and fewer teachers would mean higher class sizes.

WVEA’s government relations specialist, Perry Bryant, spoke about the necessity to focus on containing costs and offered some suggestions as to how that could be accomplished. 

Josh Sword indicated AFT’s emphasis on four items:  1) reinstate the retiree subsidy for new hires; 2) remove OPEB liability from county boards, making it a state responsibility; 3) provide incentives for employees to work longer by adding annual raises for years of experience 36-40; and 4) find a dedicated revenue stream to pay for the retirement benefit.

On Tuesday, the state School Administrators Association is to appear before the subcommittee to provide ideas relating to OPEB.

Martha Dean is executive director of the West Virginia Association of School Administrators.

 

 

WVSBA Direct

Charter schools, dropouts and higher education will be covered in WVSBA’s Winter Conference

The West Virginia School Board Association will explore charter schools at its 2010 Winter Conference, Feb. 19-20 at the Town Center Marriott Hotel in Charleston.

The topic will be featured in the plenary session, as approved Feb. 3 by the County Board Member Training Standards Review Committee, which is responsible for determining county board training programs.

Slated from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, the charter schools presentation will feature a panel discussion and a presentation by Todd Ziebarth, vice president for Policy for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. He will essentially provide a “Charter Schools 101” course. (Pre-conference readings will be posted on the association’s Web site – www.wvsba.org – early next week.)

Panelists will include: Judy Hale, representing the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia; Dale Lee, representing the West Virginia Education Association; Bob Brown, representing the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association; Ben Adams, a student at Capital High School in Charleston; WVSBA President Rick Olcott; and Tim McClung of West Virginians for Education Reform.

Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, also has been invited to be a member of the panel and to speak to conference attendees. Panelists will respond to Ziebarth’s comments. Additionally, questions and comments will be taken from the conference attendees.

Dropout problem will be addressed.

The second general session on Friday will feature a discussion of the state’s high school completion rate, including an exploration of “why” students quit school.

Presenters will include: John Sylvia of the Legislative Auditor’s Office; state Supt. Steve Paine, Ed.D.; Kenna Seal, Ed.D., executive director of the state Office of Education Performance Audits; Pat Kusimo, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the Education Alliance; a representative of the state Parent-Teacher Association (invited); WVSBA President-elect Mike Mitchem of McDowell County; and Keith Smith, Ph.D., director of the Coalfield Rural Systemic Initiative, a National Science Foundation-funded project aimed at improving  mathematics and science education in eight school districts in southwestern Virginia and 10 districts in southern West Virginia.  Smith also contributes his expertise to the Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC) at Edvantia and to the Rural Education Center at Edvantia (RECE).

As director of the Legislative Auditor’s Performance Evaluation and Research Division, Sylvia was instrumental in the agency’s recent departmental review of the Department of Education. His remarks will form the basis for the session. To view the report online, go to: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/joint/PERD/perdrep/DeptEd_1_2010.pdf.

Participants will learn more about how higher education works.

Gail Higgins, senior research analyst in the Legislative Auditor's Office’s Performance Evaluation and Research Division, will present the Saturday general session relating to higher education issues.

“This is an important session. Board members will discover a great deal of information relating to how higher education ‘works,’ including some information about its governance and the college completion rate, which may be directly attributed to college readiness.” – Howard O’Cull

“This is an important session. Board members will discover a great deal of information relating to how higher education ‘works,’ including some information about its governance and the college completion rate, which may be directly attributed to college readiness,” WVSBA Executive Director Howard O’Cull, Ed.D., said.

Panelists will include: Community and Technical College System of West Virginia Chancellor Chancellor Jim Skidmore; Rob Anderson, Higher Education Policy Commission senior director of policy and planning, and representatives of the WVSBA Executive Board.

The Legislative Auditor’s Report can be accessed at: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Joint/PERD/perdrep/HEPC_1_2010.pdf.

 

Other issues will be covered.

Other conference sessions will relate to an overview of legislative and policy issues facing county boards and a participant-led session conducted by association officers.
For more program information, please contact WVSBA Executive Director Howard O’Cull at: hocull@wvsba.org.

About 185 county board members have registered for the meeting.

The association’s FY2011 annual meeting will be held in conjunction with the meeting.

Resources

 

 

Imagination Library program serving more counties

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is serving more counties, according to information provided by the program coordinator.

The West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts forged a partnership with the Dollywood Foundation in 2007 to bring the program to the state. With funds provided by the Legislature and Gov. Manchin, the program provides high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to participating children in active counties. 

In the beginning, funding was granted for six pilot counties: McDowell, Lincoln, Clay, Barbour, Mingo, and Webster. The program expanded in 2009 into the seven remaining West Virginia counties designated as distressed by the Appalachian Regional Commission: Mason, Braxton, Calhoun, Summers, Wirt, Roane and Wyoming. That made a total of 13 active counties in the state.

From June 2007 through January 2010, the program mailed 123,555 books to more than 8,300 children in those counties.

In 2010, further expansion will add 14 counties: Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, and Tucker.  This expansion will increase the number of children eligible to receive books in their homes to 35,766.

An evaluation of the efforts in West Virginia has been completed by Dr. Jaci Webb-Dempsey of Fairmont State University and Dr. Sebastian Diaz of West Virginia University. 

If you are interested in receiving more information regarding the Imagination Library program or finding out more about the evaluation results, please contact Robin Taylor, Program Director, at: robin.j.taylor@wv.gov or 304-558-2440.

 

State Bar seeks student entries for YouTube video contest

The West Virginia State Bar and the West Virginia Department of Education have partnered to offer students the chance to win as much as $1,000 for creating a three-minute video on “Righting a Wrong” to be placed on YouTube. The second-place finisher will win $500, while third place will receive $250.

The contest, which is open to West Virginia public school students in grades nine through 12, gives participants the chance to create a video about a wrong that they would right, an injustice they would correct, or something that they would remedy within the judicial system. The creator of the winning video also will receive basic accommodations at The Greenbrier for the awards presentation during the West Virginia State Bar’s annual meeting in May.

“It is important in a democratic society to encourage students to express their ideas and interest in the law and the role it plays.” – State Bar President Sandra Chapman

"The idea of the video contest is to reach as many West Virginia students as possible to help them understand the importance of the justice system," State Bar President Sandra Chapman said. “It is important in a democratic society to encourage students to express their ideas and interest in the law and the role it plays. I am confident we will get some creative entries.”

Videos will be judged based on originality, creativity, adherence to the theme and overall quality. Entries must include a parental permission form for those under age of 18. Submissions will be accepted from Jan. 25 to April 1. Students interested in entering the contest can download an application and other forms as well as rules at http://wvde.state.wv.us/wvstatebar.

For more information, contact Timothy Haught at the West Virginia State Bar at 304- 455-0172, or thaught@wvdsl.net.

 

Commentary

 

 

Voters would have much to consider with proposed amendment

 

By Jerry A. Knight

At the direction of Gov. Joe Manchin in 2009, the state Tax Department reconstituted the West Virginia Tax Modernization Project.  The project was given the charge to identify areas within our state’s tax structure that were in need of  improvements with a short-term goal of developing recommendations for legislative action during the 2010 regular session. One of the recommendations of the project was a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature flexibility and discretion in the imposition of property tax on commercial and industrial tangible personal property while also considering the impact that the amendment would have on local governments.

“By forcing reductions in public services, tax cuts and incentives may retard economic and employment growth.” – Washington College economics Prof. Robert Lynch

In this regard, the project found: “One of the primary economic development impediments in West Virginia, according to business and industrial leaders, is the imposition of the personal property tax on commercial and industrial tangible personal property. Since tangible personal property is, by its nature, movable, the solution employed by many companies is to relocate their operations and, in turn, their property, to states that do not impose such a tax. This resolution would provide the legislature with more flexibility to ensure that companies are not relocating to surrounding states in search of a more attractive local tax structure.” 

However, in contrast, Dr. Robert Lynch, an associate professor and chairman of the Department of Economics at Washington College, found that “…state and local tax cuts and incentives are not effective for stimulating economic activity or creating jobs in a cost-effective manner. On the contrary, by forcing reductions in public services, tax cuts and incentives may retard economic and employment growth.” The foregoing serves to illustrate that clearly there are differences of opinion concerning the effectiveness of tax cuts and incentives as a tool to stimulate business location.    

Not withstanding those differences of opinion concerning the effectiveness of tax cuts to stimulate business location, in response to the above-referenced recommendation from the project, House Joint Resolution 101 was introduced on January 14 and referred to the Committee on Constitutional Revision, then to Finance. The stated purpose of the initiative is “… to submit the proposed ‘Commercial and Industrial Tangible Personal Property Tax Amendment’ to the Constitution of the State to the people of the state for ratification or rejection at the general election of 2010.” 

The introduced version of HJR 101 would “…permit the Legislature to exempt from ad valorem taxation tangible personal property directly used in commercial and industrial businesses, or such components thereof as the legislature may in its discretion designate.”

 

County officials are worried about the proposed amendment’s effects.

A proposal is now under consideration to modify HJR 101 to give county commissions the authority to decide whether an exemption of this type would be in the best interests of their respective counties rather than have the Legislature make such a decision on a statewide basis.

This proposed initiative became the subject of some major concerns by county officials regarding whether there was a need for such a measure in all counties. In addition, county officials were concerned with the potential budgetary impact of the initiative on local governments and how such budgetary impact would be addressed. In response to the former concern, a proposal is now under consideration to modify HJR 101 to give county commissions the authority to decide whether an exemption of this type would be in the best interests of their respective counties rather than have the Legislature make such a decision on a statewide basis. In response to the latter concern, a proposal is now under consideration to limit the exemption, if so established by the respective county commissions, to new personal property only, thus preserving the existing business personal property tax base.

Another item in need of attention regarding this initiative is the issue of identifying and instituting a revenue source to replace the property tax revenue losses associated with the exemption. As the project noted in its recommendation, this matter must be addressed, presumably, so as to fully inform the voting public of the full ramifications of the proposed constitutional amendment. The personal property tax base, inclusive of all types of tangible personal property has grown over the previous 10 tax years at a rate of approximately 4 percent. Therefore, to hold local levying bodies harmless, any replacement revenue source should also contain, at a minimum, such growth potential.     

Unfortunately, issues regarding this initiative are not black or white, but they are rather reflected as being in shades of gray. In addressing these issues, the needs of attracting and retaining businesses in our state must be considered and weighed against the matter of the fair amount of property tax contributions that must be required of our business community. If the Legislature approves HJR 101 in some form, the contrasting of these needs and their resolution will be decided by each of us when we cast our vote on the matter in the fall of 2010.  

Jerry A. Knight operates Knight Consulting Services. 

 

 

 

 

Legislative Record

“The less people know about how sausage and laws are made, the better they'll sleep at night” – Attributed to Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), Prussian prime minister.

2010 LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR

1st  Day - January 13, 2010: First day of session. (WV Const. Art. VI, §18)

20th  Day - February 1, 2010: Submission of Legislative Rule-Making Review bills due. (WV Code §29A-3-12)

41st  Day - February 22, 2010: Last day to introduce bills in the Senate and the House. (Senate Rule 14), (House Rule 91a) Does not apply to originating or supplementary appropriation bills. Does not apply to Senate or House resolutions or concurrent resolutions.

47th  Day - February 28, 2010: Bills due out of committees in house of origin to ensure three full days for readings.

50th  Day - March 3, 2010: Last day to consider bill on third reading in house of origin. Does not include budget or supplementary appropriation bills. (Joint Rule 5b)

60th Day - March 13, 2010: Adjournment at Midnight. (WV Const. Art. VI, §22)
Source: West Virginia Legislatur

 

Bill Derby - And They're Off!

"Remember, Lady Godiva put all she had on a horse and she lost her shirt!" - W. C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer.)

Senate Bills

Senate Bill 6. Providing higher education employees' eligibility for Legislature. Second Reference Senate Judiciary.  Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB6 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=6

Senate Bill 26. Requiring State Board of Education create school drug safety program. Referred to Senate Education Subcommittee chaired by Sen. Randy White, D-Webster. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS

Senate Bill 128. Relating to Smart 529 college savings plan. Second reference to Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS

Senate Bill 141. Providing foundation allowance for professional student support personnel. Second Reference to Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB141 SUB1.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=141 NOTE: Committee Substitute

Senate Bill 143. Relating to salary bonus for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certification. Second reference to Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB143 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=143

Senate Bill 212. Relating to higher education capital facilities. Second Reference Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB122 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=122

Senate Bill 229. Authorizing School Building Authority issue certain outstanding bonds.  Second Reference to Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB229 SUB1.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=229 NOTE: Committee Substitute

Senate Bill 343. Increasing minimum age for ending compulsory school attendance. Second Reference to Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB343intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=343

Senate Bill 391. Relating to county board of education members' eligibility. Senate Second Reading Feb. 12, 2010. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB391 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=391

 
House Bills

HB 2639.  Allowing for more teachers to be reimbursed for approved course work. Second Reference House Finance. Reference:
http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Text_HTML/2010_SESSIONS/RS/amendments/HB2639%20HED%20AM%201-26.htm (NOTE: As amended and approved by House Education)

House Bill 2967. Encouraging teachers who have achieved a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) certificate to renew their certifications when they expire after ten years, and continuing the salary bonus for renewed certificates.   Second Reference House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Text_HTML/2010_SESSIONS/RS/amendments/HB2967%20HED%20AM%201-26.htm (NOTE: As amended and approved by House Education)

House Bill 3123. Relating to donation and transfer of surplus personal computers and other information systems, technology and equipment for educational purposes. Referred to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb3123 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=3123

House Bill 4016. Strengthening the Ethics Act Financial Disclosure Filing Requirements. Passed House 1/20/10. Referred to Senate Judiciary then Senate Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=HB4016 ENG SUB.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4016 (NOTE: As passed by the House of Delegates – Engrossed Committee Substitute)

House Bill 4026. Relating to Higher Education Capital Facilities Generally. Referred to House Finance.  Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS

House Bill 4031.  Providing flexibility in the West Virginia public school support plan for funding regional education service agencies. Second Reference House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4031 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4031

House Bill 4040. Requiring county boards to adopt contingency plans designed to guarantee 180 separate days of instruction for students. Signed by governor February 5, 2010.  Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4040 ENR.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4040 (NOTE: Enrolled Bill). 

House Bill 4041. Authorizing the School Building Authority to issue bonds in the maximum aggregate amount of $500 million outstanding at any time. Referred to House Finance.  Reference:htmhttp://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4041 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4041

House Bill 4211.  Providing supplemental funding for providing alternative programs for limited English proficient students. Second Reference to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4211 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=

House Bill 4245. Relating to county board of education, eligibility of members and training requirements. House Calendar, First Reading Feb. 12, 2010.

House Bill 4324.  Extending the expiration date of employment of retired teachers beyond the post-retirement employment limit. Referred to House Finance: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS

House Bill 4306. Relating to public school support computation of local share. Referred to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4306 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4306

House Bill 4349. Updating terms and the process for approval and adoption of instructional resources in public schools. Referred to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4349&year=2010&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill

House Bill 4389. Exempting sales of personal tangible property and services by public and private schools from consumer sales tax and service. Referred to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4389 intr.htm&yr=2010&sesstype=RS&i=4389

Resolutions

Senate Concurrent Resolution 15. Requesting Joint Committee on Government and Finance study student performance and instructional time. Referred to Senate Rules. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Resolution_History.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS&input4=15&billtype=cr&houseorig=s&btype=res

Senate Resolution 17. Encouraging judicial circuits and county boards of education implement new approach to truancy.  Has completed legislative action. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Resolution_History.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS&input4=17&billtype=r&houseorig=s&btype=res

Senate Resolution 18. Requesting Senate substance abuse study committee review relationship between substance abuse and dropouts. Referred to Senate Rules Committee. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Resolution_History.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS&input4=18&billtype=r&houseorig=s&btype=res

House Joint Resolution 101. Commercial and Industrial Tangible Personal Property Tax Exemption Amendment. Referred to House Finance. Reference: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/Resolution_History.cfm?year=2010&sessiontype=RS&input4=101&billtype=jr&houseorig=h&btype=res

 

ETC.

 

 

 

Meanwhile in Scotland...

A Scottish primary school was has been criticized after banning Valentine cards to save pupils from the emotional trauma of being rejected.

Children at Ashcombe Primary School in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, were banned from celebrating Valentine's Day or exchanging cards because the head teacher said they are not emotionally mature enough to cope.

According to News.Scotsman.com, Peter Turner wrote to parents of the 430 pupils, aged between five and 11, warning that cards will be confiscated.

He said that children get upset when they are "dumped" which interrupts their learning.

Children should wait until they are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment in having a boyfriend or girlfriend, he said.

Parents condemned the ban as heavy-handed, saying learning about relationships and forming bonds with others is an important part of school life. Moreover, some parents said it was sad pupils would miss out on the fun and excitement of Valentine’s Day.

Not to be left out, some conservative politicians also criticized the move: "It's only a bit of fun once a year and it doesn't mean anything to kids that age.  I just think it is rather silly. Haven't they anything better to worry about at that school? " 

Source: http://news.scotsman.com/weirdoddandquirkystories/School-bans-pupils-from-exchanging.6062970.jp

 

Wisdom

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead.

Soundbites

“A minimum of sound to a maximum of sense.” – Quotation attributed to Mark Twain describing the term “sound bites.”

 

“First and foremost, the Legislature must -- this year -- remove the OPEB liability from county boards of education.” – WVEA President Dale Lee

“We should also be changing co-pays to steer PEIA patients toward high-performing physicians and away from those physicians who do not practice evidence-based medicine.” – Perry Bryant of the WVEA

“It raises $120 million. It gets 30,000 kids to stop smoking, which is a positive thing, and it’s a dedicated source of revenue that makes sense when we go to deal with health care costs. All we have to do is raise the tobacco tax to the national average, which I believe would still be lower than the states around us.” – WVEA Executive Director David Haney

“Trying to keep government at the same level cost-wise with inflation at 2 to 3 percent, it just doesn’t work.” – Sen. Brooks McCabe

“If we manage our debt responsibility…we could have money to do things like reform our court system.” – Delegate Tom Campbell

“The body of evidence is too overwhelming to keep it too doggone easy to drop out, which is what we've been doing." – Sen. Randy White

"The common saying in high schools is that these 16-year-olds who drop out, they sleep from 15 to 16 and then they drop out." – Sen. Larry Edgell

“What we’ll be allowed to do with electronic resources is always keep more current resources at the fingertips of our students and our teachers.” – Carla Williamson of the Education Department

 

Last Word

“The wide world is all about you; you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot fence it out.” – J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973), British writer and author of the richly inventive epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings.

West Virginia schools could do better

By James A. White

I teach at a small state university and know I have one of the best jobs a person can have.  My job is to read about politics and policy and to work with (mostly) young people to improve our shared understanding of democratic action and self-governance in the pursuit of individual liberty and collective happiness.

Nevertheless, by the time last semester ended, I had had enough of academic failure:  mine, my students’, my university’s, my community’s, my state’s, and my country’s.  I wrote an editorial for the Charleston Gazette, which the editors there called “Too Many Students Lack Basics.”  The editorial detailed some of my frustrations, and included specific anecdotes that are, in my opinion at least, horrifying:

• Colleagues who teach lessons on government but don’t know how many branches of government we have or what they are. 
• Current students, many of whom plan to be teachers, who can’t do the elementary school math assignments of calculating property tax because it involves multiplication using numbers with decimals.
• Students who don’t know, after a semester in government class with regular discussions of current public policy and newspaper reading assignments, who the speaker of the House, chief justice of the Supreme Court, or attorney general is.

The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back was, I think, that the only “A” earned on what I would consider a simple multiple-choice test was earned by one of our foreign students.

 

Numbers are disappointing.

Let’s begin with a truth that I hold to be self-evident:  Our K-16 school system in West Virginia needs to achieve better results than it currently does. For skeptics, here are some simple numbers that demonstrate the self-evident truth I just asserted: 

• Only three in four of our eighth-grade graduates will successfully earn a high school diploma in four years. 
• A bit more than half of that group will continue on to post-secondary education. (Let’s be generous and say 60 percent).
•  So we have 45 percent of eighth-graders who will earn diplomas and go to college, although standardized test scores indicate that more than a third will require remedial math and English before they can do college-level work. 
• Given this last statistic, it’s not all that surprising that our state colleges and universities graduate, on average, less than 50 percent of incoming freshmen in six years. 
• Again, summarizing, being generous, and rounding up, if current trends continue we can expect that by 2020 about 30 percent of current eighth-graders in West Virginia will have earned Bachelor’s degrees.

While we can’t promise 100 percent success, we can do better than 30 percent success.

I understand that people will argue these numbers are: misleading (The gross statistics are probably leaving out some students who go to the military, vocational school, etc.); immaterial (Not everyone needs to go to college; some young people will get married and raise families or will go on to jobs that don’t require college education); and/or irrelevant (Our children, parents, communities, and public officials are who they are, and we’re doing the best we can with what we have to work with); and, moreover, that loudmouths and know-it-alls like me should stop blaming the professional educators and instead look at the children and parents themselves.

I heartily agree that parents and students themselves bear primary responsibility for their own/children’s education, but we must begin by acknowledging that, while we can’t promise 100 percent success, we can do better than 30 percent success.

 

Americans must get serious about education.

Regarding parental and student responsibility, or lack thereof:  There are more than 6 billion people on the planet, and most of them would give a body part for the opportunity to be educated/have their children educated in an American school.  Last September, President Obama addressed the nation’s school children and their parents (link:  http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html), telling them to take responsibility for their own education by:  turning off the TV and video games; reading books; doing homework; paying attention in class and being respectful to their teachers and fellow students; and taking care of their bodies (getting rest, exercise, and appropriate nutrition) so they come to school ready and able to learn.

I agree. Even though I take attendance and sanction students for absences, it’s not unusual for students to miss three weeks or more of class (in a 15-week semester).  I know students have jobs, hobbies, extracurricular and family obligations, health and transportation difficulties, etc., but I also know that doing well as a full-time student requires full-time commitment, going to all 15 hours’ worth of classes per week and devoting an additional 40 hours or so per week to academic endeavor.

If we maintain reasonable professional standards, students not prepared for this level of commitment are probably not ready to be successful full-time college students able to graduate in four years. There’s clearly plenty of blame to go around in our K-16 system, from elected and appointed government leaders to school administrators to classroom teachers, individually and collectively.

There are many reasons that I love living in this beautiful, thinly populated state, but one of them is the level of access that we have to our government leaders.  Since my family moved to Athens in 1998, I have had the opportunity to discuss these issues with Governors Manchin and Wise (and Mrs. Manchin), gubernatorial candidate Lloyd Jackson,  Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Congressman Nick Rahall, former Secretary of State Betty Ireland, Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth, Delegate John Frazier, and many others.  Every single one of those individuals, regardless of partisan affiliation, ideology, etc., is, I am convinced, committed to a thorough, efficient, and outstanding education for every single West Virginian.

 

Better focus is needed.

So why do we fail?  I suggest because we’re not sufficiently and collectively focused on the simple, single, concrete goal of successfully educating through grade 16 a high percentage of our students within the constraint of available resources. Instead, too often those responsible focus on side issues like avoiding blame for failures and expansion, protection, and re-division of available resources.

I also know that if we were single-minded in our pursuit of student educational success, we would behave much differently than we do now. We would:

• Find a way to keep and fund community schools rather than waste money on consolidated schools;
• Care more about the qualifications, training, and hiring of our educators, putting more emphasis on both content knowledge and clinical training;
• Treat faculty hiring at least as seriously as football coach hiring; 
• Find ways to improve compensation, but only in return for more production;
• Scrap block scheduling (so teachers teach more than 270 minutes/day) and the current 10-month and two-semester school years; and 
• Forget, once and for all, the popular but nonsensical and unprofessional idea of “merit pay.”

 
We would, however, measure and evaluate, discuss and assess. We would continue to test students periodically to see what they know and how they compare to their peers nationally and internationally, and, most importantly, how each student compared to himself or herself last year.

We would give more and our best, not less and our least, resources to those that need the most help. With regard to compensating and evaluating higher level administrators such as school superintendents, assistant superintendents, deans, and college presidents, rewards would be reasonable and goal-oriented. Evaluations of principals and superintendents are harder, but collected data should include elements like enhanced course offerings, community involvement, service, and satisfaction, student wellness, and recognition of distinguished performance in curricular and extra-curricular endeavors.

We would require superintendents and public college presidents to work together to ensure that every classroom in West Virginia has a qualified instructor at the front of the class, particularly in geographic and content areas where such instructors are in short supply That includes our rural counties and math, science, special education, and foreign language. 

Superintendents would be expected to tell university presidents how many qualified teacher education graduates they need, and university presidents would then tell their deans, development officers, placement officers, division chairs, faculty, and admissions officers to make sure that such students were recruited, trained, graduated, and placed, even if it requires additional fundraising and scholarships.

I know those are a great many suggestions and that we can’t do them all now. But unless we think that 30 percent is the best we can do, we should do something and start soon – it took us a while to dig this deep hole, and it will take a while to climb out.

James A. White, Ph.D., is an associate professor of political science at Concord University

 

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The Legislature is published by the West Virginia School Board Association. It provides county board of education members, state policymakers, school administrators and the education community information and opinions regarding West Virginia legislative issues. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official opinion or policies of the WVSBA, unless specifically stated.

West Virginia School Board Association
PO Box 1008
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Production and Circulation
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Vincit omnia veritas
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