WVSBA The Legislature

February 20, 2009 - Volume 29 / Issue 3

Overview Info

Stats

Day of Session 10th
Days Remaining 50
Bills Introduced:
(Including agency/department rules bills)		 997

 

Quote:"The perception is that we are going to do something that would require students to be in school by the first of August or go to the end of June, that's not what we're trying to do. We’re just trying to get some flexibility to make up a few days…” – Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel, co-chair of a Joint Senate/House Subcommittee discussing the school calendar.

Inside

News


By Jim Wallace

The budget requests from the Department of Education are not suffering from a lack of attention from lawmakers. On Tuesday, the House Finance Committee spent most of the afternoon going over those requests with Supt. Steve Paine and other department officials.

Paine emphasized providing teachers with the support they need to adapt to a stronger curriculum. He also gave committee members a quick take on what the federal stimulus package might mean for West Virginia schools.

From department presentations and committee members’ questions, the meeting covered a wide range of subjects including: consolidation, aid for counties with low enrollment, school improvement zones, the School Aid Formula, parental involvement, advanced placement classes, dropouts, obesity, vocational education, No Child Left Behind and physical education.

The department’s budget request for fiscal year 2010 states that the public school system has “embarked on a great 21st century adventure to change not only what we teach but how we teach from preschool to high school. Yesterday’s three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic – now must incorporate today’s three R’s – rigor, relevance and results.”

The department is trying to close the gap between the knowledge and skills students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need for the workplace. To do that, the state school board revised and broadened the curriculum. As part of the changes, teachers are being asked to use project-based learning, shifting away from traditional teacher-centered lessons, and emphasize interdisciplinary, student-centered learning activities that are integrated with real world issues.

“We’re at a very strategic crossroads in public education” – Supt. Steve Paine

“We’re at a very strategic crossroads in public education,” Paine told lawmakers. He said the changes respond to calls from the National Governors Association, Congress and the business community to take schools in that direction. West Virginia teachers are willing to make that transition, Paine said, but they need a system of support to help them teach to the level of the new curriculum.

Paine said there is some concern that a side effect of the new standards might be that some schools won’t be able to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind program for annual yearly progress. But he said the department and state school board are ready to take a chance on that.

“We’ve moved in a different direction,” Paine said. “We’ll let the chips fall where they may on that test for No Child Left Behind.”

However, he added that he has spoken with new U.S. Secretary of Education Anne Duncan about that. He requested that the federal government not hold West Virginia schools to achieving annual yearly progress for two years because the tests they are now facing have become more rigorous.

“We haven’t moved student achievement a bit under No Child Left Behind,” Paine said. Based on his contacts with the federal Department of Education, he expects West Virginia to get a break on No Child Left Behind requirements.

 

Federal stimulus has two streams of education funding.

In regard to the federal stimulus package that President Obama signed into law the day of the committee meeting, Paine said some education money will come to states through their chief education officers and other money will come through governors. The money the governors receive will be more discretionary within certain parameters, he said.

Paine said West Virginia meets all the criteria for receiving the federal money except for one that no state meets. That is a requirement for the public school system to be able to exchange certain data with the higher education system. A law now blocks such exchange, he said, but he is hopeful that snag will be removed soon. He added that the stimulus package includes some school construction money.

 

School district consolidations are not in the near future

Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, asked what the effects of consolidating school districts would be. Paine responded that he wasn’t sure whether it would have any effect on performance outputs, but it would have a big effect on local control.

“It will probably happen when counties consolidate,” he said. Otherwise, Paine said, there would be concerns about the local identities of each county.

Later, Delegate Sharon Spencer, D-Kanawha, said she chaired a committee about 20 years ago that looked into consolidation of school districts. It was determined that consolidation would save money but opposition from small counties was strong, she said.

Manchin also asked when the results of the stronger curriculum will be seen. Paine said it takes three to four years to see such gains, so he expects they will begin to show up in 2011.

When Senate Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour, asked how much the department is requesting for student enrichment programs, Paine responded the total is $10 million. He added that he asked Gov. Manchin to have that written in very general terms in the legislation. One program would use older students to tutor younger students, he said.

The legislation would call for the department to put together programs with oversight from the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability and the governor’s office, Paine said.

 

House Education Chairwoman expresses concern about help for low-enrollment counties.

Poling said she was concerned about problems with the formula used to help school districts with low enrollment. Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Tucker and Wirt counties get help from that formula, which boosts the state aid they receive above the amounts their true enrollment levels would warrant.

Joe Panetta, executive director of the Office of School Finance, said studies of the issue indicate that enrollment of about 1,400 students is the level below which districts need the help the formula provides. The funding amount is based on Pocahontas County, which is the most sparsely populated county. However, he said, Pocahontas County has recently had an enrollment increase while the other seven counties have had enrollment declines, so that has thrown off how the other counties are affected and it should be examined.

Poling noted that because the formula caps the adjustment in the enrollment at 300 students, some of the counties won’t reach 1,400 in their adjusted enrollment levels.

 

Budget has only modest increases.

Terry Harless, the department’s director of internal operations, told committee members that the education budget request has 115 line-items. It totals $2.4 billion of which $1.8 billion is state money and $1.7 billion is in the State Aid Formula, he said. The budget is $55 million more than the current year’s budget, Harless said, but much of that increase is to cover higher premiums from the Public Employees Insurance Agency and for the unfunded retirement system liabilities.

The department’s top priority in a list of 21 improvements in the 2010 budget, Harless said, is $500,000 for innovation zones for developing 21st century schools. That would establish a process for selected schools to build 21st century schools through a collaborative model

Next on the priority list is $10 million for year-round student enrichment programs for all counties. Harless said that money would come from different funding sources.

 

School Aid Formula changes have helped.

Both Paine and Panetta said changes the Legislature made in the School Aid Formula last year have benefited the system. The four major changes include:

  1. Funding is based on net enrollment with special education students no longer given extra weight;
  2. Districts are divided into four groups, instead of two, based on their enrollment density;
  3. Districts below 1,400 students get additional funding; and
  4. Nurses and counselors are identified as support personnel and are funded under Step 5 of the formula instead of Step 1.

Making all those changes at once would cost $31 million in state funding to districts, Panetta said, so they are being phased in.

 

Parental involvement gets new emphasis

Paine told legislators that the department is putting a higher priority on getting parents involved in their children’s education. He said Assistant Superintendent Pan Cain is coordinating that effort.

Cain said one example of the need for more parental involvement is the issue of obesity. She said a recent study found out that many parents did not realize their children were obese, and reducing obesity requires help from parents. The school system’s nutritional policy on school lunches has helped, she said, and the department is still working to get soft drinks out of the schools.

The department also is trying to eliminate the use of food as rewards in the schools, Cain said. She noted that a study found that students would prefer other types of rewards for special achievements, but it’s hard to break parents of the urge to bring in treats like cupcakes.

“We’re finding the whole thing is a cultural change for us.” – Assistant Supt. Pam Cain on fighting obesity in children.

“We’re finding the whole thing is a cultural change for us,” Cain said. “We have seen some improvements, but we’re not where we want to be.”

Another initiative Paine announced is to require a minimum of four advanced placement classes in all high schools. That would require some rural districts to use distance learning technology, he said.

The department also is looking at ways to help districts improve the bandwidth for their telecommunications lines, Paine said, calling the issue severe in many places. “I have heard that consistently in every location I have been in,” he said. The federal stimulus bill has $6 billion to $7 billion to address such issues, he said, so he is hopeful some of that federal money might help West Virginia schools.

Delegate Tom Campbell, D-Greenbrier, told Paine that most Greenbrier County schools have no access to cable television systems.

 

Holding students back could increase dropouts.

Delegate Jeff Eldridge, D-Lincoln, expressed concern about an initiative that Gov. Manchin announced in his State of the State address last week. That initiative would hold back students who cannot meet standards at the third-grade and eight-grade levels, although they first would have opportunities to catch up through after-school and summer school programs.

What concerned Eldridge, especially with the eighth-graders, was that holding back those students would make them more likely to drop out of school later. Paine conceded that their likelihood of dropping out would probably increase.

“Each kid has a different story,” Eldridge said. For example, he said, if the decision on whether to advance students depends on a test, some of them simply might have bad test days. Thus, he suggested giving each student two chances to pass each test.

But Paine said such decisions would not be based on performance on one test alone. They would be based more on teachers’ evaluations. He also said the extra help those students would get would use alternative approaches to help them learn the material.

“If we can get kids and parents to partner with us, we can provide an environment in the summer that’s different than in the school year.” – Supt. Steve Paine on helping students in academic trouble

“If we can get kids and parents to partner with us, we can provide an environment in the summer that’s different than in the school year,” Paine said.

Delegate Spencer expressed concern about making vocational education for high-tech jobs more available, such as giving 14-year-old students access to it. Assistant Superintendent Stan Hopkins said there has been a lot of talk about that, but it’s difficult to get teachers for technical education programs. Also, Hopkins said, some high schools will let ninth-graders and 10th-graders take those courses, but their core curriculum requirements leave them little time for such electives.

Spencer noted that many students are graduating from college programs in fields that offer few job prospects, but there are plenty of jobs available for people with the appropriate technical training. Hopkins agreed, adding that career technical education is “the best dropout prevention program.”

 

Students want more useful skills from physical education.

Delegate Campbell, who is vice-chairman of the Education Committee, said he has received complaints from students about physical education classes. Specifically, he said, they have complained that they are not learning enough skills that would be useful in their adult lives.

Delegate John Doyle, D-Jefferson, questioned whether physical education should be used to develop skills that are useful after graduation. Instead, he said, he thought the point of physical education is to maintain students’ health so they can learn better.

When Campbell explained that the students would like to have classes in tennis and dancing, which are more likely to give them skills they would use throughout their adult lives than certain team sports, Doyle agreed with that point.

Delegate Richard Iaquinta, D-Harrison, said he has taught physical education classes and knows that it is important to provide alternatives for students. For example, he said, certain activities could be dangerous for students who are obese, so they should be allowed to engage in less-strenuous, but still beneficial activities, such as walking.

Iaquinta also asked about the extra money the Legislature allocated to schools last year to help them with record high gasoline costs. He requested a breakdown by county of how that money was distributed. Department officials promised to provide that information.

At the end of the meeting, Delegate Ron Walters, R-Kanawha, made a plea for help in replacing Bonham Elementary School, which has been hit by flooding five times in the last several years. It is located by a creek and a narrow hollow that can funnel water quickly into the creek and cause it to overflow. Walters said he feared that it could be impossible for students and staff to escape if the water would rise too quickly and noted the school has had some close calls.

The Kanawha County school board has not acted to address the problem, Walters said, so he wanted to be sure that Paine was aware of the problem. Paine said he serves on the board of the School Building Authority, so he would make sure that agency is aware of the problem.

-- 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.



By Jim Wallace

Among the many issues represented by initials and acronyms, OPEB is becoming one of the most important for school systems and many other government entities. OPEB stands for “other post-employment benefits,” which are mainly retiree health care costs but can include such other benefits as insurance.

The Senate Education Committee took up OPEB at two meetings this week. Several senators expressed strong concern about the effects that meeting accounting requirements for OPEB might have on schools systems and the state in the years ahead.

In 2004, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement 45, often referred to simply as GASB 45, to establish standards for the measurement, recognition and reporting of OPEB expenses and related liabilities. Since then, the issue has gained increasing attention from such government agencies as the Public Employees Insurance Agency and the many entities whose employees are covered by PEIA’s insurance plans.

Susan Smith, a coordinator in the Department of Education’s Office of School Finance, has been helping public school officials understand OPEB and presenting the department’s positions on potential changes to state code to help school boards deal with OPEB. On Tuesday, she gave a presentation on OPEB to the Senate Education Committee.

“There are a lot of questions,” she said Wednesday. “All the issues are important, but folks don’t understand them.”

OPEB liabilities in West Virginia include the benefit provided government employees who were hired prior to July 1, 2001, that allowed them to convert unused sick leave to paid-up PEIA premiums. Also included is the benefit that allows all retirees to purchase PEIA premiums at a deeply discounted rate.

 

Liabilities stem from actions taken three decades ago.

Jason Haught, PEIA’s chief financial officer, told senators on Thursday that those discounts are essentially subsidies for retirees. Those subsidies started about 30 years ago, he said, and they now have created a large, unfunded liability.

That expense has always been reported on a cash basis, Haught said, but GASB 45 requires governmental entities to accrue the expenses once they are earned. There are opinions pro and con about that, he said.

“It’s real. It’s an obligation. I think it’s a necessary item that we must recognize.” – Jason Haught of PEIA on OPEB

“It’s real,” Haught said. “It’s an obligation. I think it’s a necessary item that we must recognize.”

GASB 45 required implementation of its provisions in three phases based on the total revenues of the entities involved. The first phase for those with total annual revenues of $100 million or more included three school districts in West Virginia: Cabell, Kanawha and Wood counties. They had to meet its requirements for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008.

The second phase for entities with total annual revenues of $10 million to $100 million requires compliance for the current fiscal year, which will end June 30, 2009. That includes most school districts and many other local governmental bodies in West Virginia.

The third phase for entities with total annual revenues below $10 million will cover all of the rest of the local governmental entities and require compliance in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.

 

How to comply is not easy to determine.

Much of the confusion for many government officials has been over what compliance with the regulations means. As Smith points out, GASB 45 does not require governments to establish a payment plan and make payments towards the unfunded liability. But it does require them to have actuarial studies conducted to determine the extent of their obligations and to disclose those obligations in their financial statements.

“It’s something that’s been in place,” Smith said. “We just didn’t quantify it before.”

Governments have generally reported OPEB costs on a pay-as-you-go basis. Unless the Legislature provides funding, Smith expects most county school boards to continue that, but it’s likely sometime in the future that the pay-as-you-go amount will exceed the amount needed to fund the OPEB trust fund. Another source of funding must be identified then for providing benefits to retirees.

 

Lawmakers set guidelines three years ago.

In 2006, the Legislature passed House Bill 4654 to address OPEB issues. Among its provisions, it:

A point of confusion involves what state law requires for the accounting treatment of “contractual obligation” in regard to OPEB. That’s because the statute contains contradictory language on what constitutes the current year’s contractual obligation for state and local governments.

That section of code states: “It shall be the responsibility of the Public Employees Insurance Agency to bill each employer for the employer annual required contribution and the included minimum annual employer premium payment. It shall be the responsibility of the Public Employees Insurance Agency to annually collect the minimum annual employer premium payment. The Public Employees Insurance Agency shall, in addition to the minimum annual employer premium payment, collect any amounts the employer elects to pay toward the employer annual required contribution. Any employer annual required contribution amount not satisfied by the respective employer shall remain the liability of that employer until fully paid.”

 

Billing doesn’t necessarily require payment.

As Smith notes, the word “elects” is a key point in that paragraph. PEIA and independent auditors have interpreted the language in that section to mean:

The Department of Education is asking the Legislature to revise the statute to provide the PEIA Finance Board the authority to set the amount of the contractual required obligation. If the statute is not revised, the department believes the effects will be devastating for every local government in the state, especially county school boards. That’s because generally accepted accounting principles are clear about how contractual obligations are to be reported in financial statements.

Thus, governmental entities would be required to report the annual contractual obligation for OPEB each year as a current expense and any unpaid balance as a current liability. That would reduce the unreserved fund balance of the General Current Expense Fund and, according to calculations by the Office of School Finance, would cause every school board within three years to report a deficit fund balance.

If the statute would be revised with the contractual required obligation defined as some amount less than the annual required contribution, the remainder of the annual required contribution not paid by school boards and other entities would be recognized as a long-term liability and further explained in a note disclosure in the financial statements without affecting each entity’s fund balance.

 

Responsibility for liability is unclear.

Another issue for school boards on OPEB is which agency is responsible for providing funding to cover the OPEB liability for school district personnel authorized to be funded under the Public School Support Program.

Constitutionally, the state is required to provide a thorough and efficient education system for all students. So the Department of Education’s position is that the portion of the OPEB liability attributable to the personnel allowed to be funded through the Public School Support Program should be funded by the state.

State code states that the allowance to PEIA should be computed by multiplying the number of professional educators and service personnel allowed to be funded under the Public School Support Program by the average premium rate established by the PEIA Finance Board for all school board employees. The Department of Education believes that section should be revised to clearly recognize the state’s responsibility for funding the OPEB liability for personnel funded through the Public School Support Program.

At Thursday’s meeting, Sen. Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, agreed with Haught that OPEB is a problem. He wondered who will tell schools boards and other governmental bodies they must not only account for OPEB liabilities but actually pay for them – and when that might happen.

Haught said he doubted that could happen unless the Legislature let it happen. When Browning asked what the effect on school boards might be, Haught said he wasn’t sure. But he said he had heard from the Department of Education that within three to four years some school boards would be “upside down” because of OPEB.

 

Panetta says deficits are coming.

Joe Panetta, executive director of the Office of School Finance, said many school boards will likely show deficit fund balances at the end of this year, and all of them are likely to do that within three years.

“Will this affect board members’ personal liability?” Browning asked.

It could if those board members are shown to be negligent and willful, Panetta said. Although no one mentioned it during the meeting, the Manchin administration has introduced legislation, Senate Bill 258 and House Bill 2406, to clarify that local governmental bodies would not be held personally or criminally liable for OPEB liabilities.

“Is there any danger that local share money would be required to be used for this?” Browning asked. Panetta said that issue must be addressed.

“I don’t think any board member can ignore that in future years,” he said. What he thought would be fair, he said, would be for benefits for employees funded through the State Aid Formula to be recognized as expenses of the state. Browning agreed, saying the school boards have had no say in the level of the benefits.

 

Early payment is not part of the plan.

Sen. Mike Oliverio, D-Monongalia, asked whether boards that had the money to do so could pay down some of their OPEB liabilities early. Haught responded that if a board would send in extra money, it would be credited with making that payment, but all assets and liabilities are pooled, so that board would share any advantage of the early payment with all the others in the pool instead of getting all the advantage for the board’s school system.

“So there is no incentive to pay early,” Oliverio said.

Haught replied that PEIA officials have spoken with GASB officials about that. The GASB response was that as long as PEIA is running a multiple-employer plan, there can be no incentive for one board to pay extra if others do not.

Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, said there has been much talk about benefits but the talk should be about the costs. “The driving factors are the costs,” he said. “Retirees are the cost.”

“We’re funding retirees’ costs with active employees.” – Jason Haught of PEIA

“We’re funding retirees’ costs with active employees,” Haught said, adding that about 1,000 new retirees each year are expected in the years ahead. Plymale responded that he wasn’t sure the state could put enough money back into the system to compensate for that trend.

 

Budget Office sees problem growing worse.
Mike McKown of the state Budget Office told the senators that the state is trying to put payments in the budget for OPEB above what is required each year, but Medicaid is also a concern. He said the Medicaid Trust Fund could be broke by 2014.

“There’s no long-term funding solution,” McKown said. “The OPEB liability continues to grow even as we put money into it. It’s not sustainable.”

Government must flatten expenses, and participants might have to pay additional costs, he said. McKown added that there is no requirement for the state to pay retiree costs. The OPEB problem is bigger than the unfunded liability in the Teachers’ Retirement System was, he said.

“It could be fixed tomorrow, but it would take tough political decisions.” – Mike McKown of the Budget Office

“It could be fixed tomorrow, but it would take tough political decisions,” McKown said, adding that he would not like to be in the position of legislators.
                
After a brief discussion about the effects of OPEB on higher education, Plymale said to McKown, “Once you present the budget, we get the complaints. It would be nice to know how you are going to do it. You can never fault the legislative body in addressing unfunded liabilities.”

That was a reference to actions the Legislature took over the past several years to address unfunded liabilities in pension systems and the workers’ compensation system.

A summary of GASB 45 can be found at http://www.gasb.org/st/index.html.

-- 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.

 


By Jim Wallace

Eight days after Gov. Manchin called in his State of the State address for more flexibility in the school calendar to help school districts meet the requirement for 180 instructional days, subcommittees from the House of Delegates and the Senate held a joint meeting on that subject Thursday.

By the end of that meeting, members wanted more information. They expressed interest in hearing from principals of year-round schools and from superintendents as they try to figure out to make the 180-day requirement more achievable in years like this, when snow and other problems have forced most districts to cancel several days of classes.

Joe Panetta, executive director of the Office of School Finance, gave lawmakers a detailed explanation of all the requirements for putting together a school calendar, such as scheduling five Instructional Support and Enhancement (ISE) days and 20 non-instructional days, which include six Out-of-School Environment days and three Continuing Education days. He said at least four non-instructional days must be scheduled on or after March 1, so they can be used for rescheduling cancelled instructional days, but that often isn’t enough for some districts.

Districts also are prohibited from beginning their school years before August 26 or ending them after June 8. Manchin has proposed allowing earlier starts and later endings.

 

Only a few districts have a chance of reaching 180 days this year.

In a survey of school districts for the current year, Panetta said, only three counties are expected to reach the 180-day goal, and that’s assuming they don’t get much more bad weather that could cancel school. Some districts will be lucky to get in 168 days this year, he said.

Delegate Ron Fragale, D-Harrison, said officials in three school districts in north central West Virginia have been blaming the Legislature for not giving them enough days to work with. So he wondered whether the districts could use ISE days for classes when days must be made up.

Panetta said school districts are not precluded from doing that, but they must provide two hours on those days for faculty senate meetings, which would require late starts or early dismissals. Shortening the days causes other problems the districts prefer to avoid, he said.

 

Leap year doesn’t help much.

Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, pointed out that every fourth year is a leap year, so schools get an extra day to work with. He wondered how that affected the school calendar.

Panetta replied that there are other complications. For example, he said, if August 26 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the school calendar can’t begin until the following Monday. So he said there are many little quirks like that, which cause each school year to be different than the others before and after it.

Foster asked how West Virginia’s school calendar requirements compare with those of other states. Panetta said most states use 180 days as a minimum, but many of them don’t set starting and ending dates for school districts to work within.

“Sooner or later, we’re going to move to year-round school. I would prefer to do that now.” – Sen. Richard Browning

Sen. Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, said, “Sooner or later, we’re going to move to year-round school. I would prefer to do that now.” He then asked to see a calendar for a year-round school at the next meeting.

Panetta said Kanawha County has three year-round schools that schedule three-week breaks between quarters. He said the principals usually drive the effort to change their schools from the standard calendar to a year-round calendar. “They believe the students perform better,” he said.

But House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D- Barbour, said even year-round schools would have to cancel classes on days with snow, flooding or other problems. However, Panetta pointed out that some of those schools’ classes are held in the summer, so they would have fewer chances to have classes cancelled by snow.

Before the meeting ended, Jim Pitrolo, Gov. Manchin’s legislative liaison, told the lawmakers that Manchin is striving to have school districts hit 180 instructional days while keeping teachers’ contracts to 200 days. He said if districts begin the school year earlier and don’t have to schedule makeup days, they could end the year as soon as they reach 180 instructional days.

The subcommittee plans to meet again on the school calendar issue next Thursday.

-- 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.

 


The staff of Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, provided these explanations of two bills.

 

SB 243 - Relating to issuing general obligation bonds

Senate Bill 243 modernizes the statutory requirements of issuing general obligation bonds to give issuers, bond counsel, and underwriters flexibility to properly issue general obligation bonds by competitive sale.

Titled “Relating to issuing general obligation bonds,” Senate Bill 243 amends the West Virginia Code to authorize the use of electronic bidding, the current standard practice for competitive bid sales. It allows issuers to publish abbreviated sales of notice instead of the entire sale of notice, a publication cost-savings measure. The bill eliminates requirements that are inconsistent with the current practice of issuing general obligation bonds, such as allowing issuers to state a maximum rate instead of the actual rate in the bond resolution.

Sponsored by Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha; Don Caruth, R-Mercer; Robert Plymale, D-Wayne; and Roman Prezioso, D-Marion,  the bill also updates statutory language to include the 1982 amendment to the West Virginia Constitution that authorizes boards of education to issue general obligation bonds with a majority vote.

 

SB 251 -  WV Lottery Revenue Bond Act

In an effort to stimulate economic development, Senate Bill 251 allows municipalities and county commissions that receive lottery revenues to issue lottery revenue bonds for public projects, including capital costs, financing costs, real property acquisition costs, professional service costs, administrative costs, relocation costs, and organizational costs. A “public project” is broadly defined to include any type of project on which a governmental body is legally permitted to expend public funds. As opposed to being secured by the entity’s tax revenues, the bonds would be secured by the entity’s lottery revenues.

If Jefferson County voters approve the local option for table games, the Jefferson County Board of Education also will receive lottery revenue. Senate Bill 251 would permit the board to issue bonds secured by those lottery revenues, as well.

“If Senate Bill 251 is enacted by the Legislature, government entities that receive lottery revenues will have another tool to finance the public projects that have long been on their radar,” Sen. Brooks McCabe, the lead sponsor of the bill, explained. “As a result, this tool will be a valuable resource to these government entities because they will not be required to hold bond elections as required with general obligation bonds that pledge the taxing power of a governmental body.”

Other sponsors of SB 251 include Mike Green, D-Raleigh, Ron Stollings, D-Boone; Robert Plymale, D-Wayne;  Douglas Facemire, D-Braxton; Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall; and Edwin Bowman, D-Hancock.

 

 

State Public Health Benefits and Health Care Cost Savings

Perry Bryant, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, has presented these estimates of the benefits of the federal cigarette tax increase combined with a 65-cent per pack increase in West Virginia:

Fewer Kids Becoming Addicted Adults – 30,300

Fewer Current Adult Smokers – 19,800

Future Smoking Deaths Prevented – 14,800

Future State Health Care Savings -- $718.4 million

Medicaid Share of Future Health Savings -- $173.5 million

These projections are based on research findings that a 10 percent cigarette price increase reduces youth smoking rates by 6.5 percent, adult rates by 2 percent, and total consumption by 4 percent.

Kids stopped from becoming addicted adult smokers or from dying from smoking are from all kids alive today. Reduced adult deaths are from current adult smokers. Future health care savings accrue over the lifetimes of persons who stop smoking or never start because of the cigarette tax increase. Savings are in 2004 dollars. The Medicaid Share of Future Health Savings amounts for each state represent the future reductions to total health care expenditures by each state’s Medicaid program.

Sources. Congressional Research Service, Projected FY2008 Allotments Under Compromise Proposal, Compared to Allotment Projected Under Current-Law Baseline, September 2007. Chaloupka, F, “Macro- Social Influences: Effects of Prices and Tobacco Control Policies on the Demand for Tobacco Products,” Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 1999, and other price studies at http://tigger.uic.edu/~fjc and www.uic.edu/orgs/impacteen. Orzechowski & Walker, Tax Burden on Tobacco, 2006. USDA Economic Research Service, www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/tobacco. Farrelly, M, et al., State Cigarette Excise Taxes: Implications for Revenue and Tax Evasion, RTI International, May, 2003. CDC, Data Highlights 2006 [and underlying CDC data/estimates]. Hodgson, T, “Cigarette Smoking and Lifetime Medical Expenditures,” The Millbank Quarterly 70(1), 1992. U.S. Census. National Center for Health Statistics. Miller, L. et al., “State Estimates of Medicaid Expenditures Attributable to Cigarette Smoking, Fiscal Year 1993,” Public Health Reports 113: 140-151, March/April 1998; Orleans, CT, et al., “Helping Pregnant Smokers Quit: Meeting The Challenge in the Next Decade”, Tobacco Control 9(Supplemental III): 6-11, 2000. For information on shorter-term healthcare savings, see Miller, P, et al., “Birth and First-Year Costs for Mothers and Infants Attributable to Maternal Smoking,” Nicotine & Tobacco Research 3(1):25-35, February 2001. Lightwood, J & Glantz, S, “Short-Term Economic and Health Benefits of Smoking Cessation - Myocardial Infarction and Stroke,” Circulation 96(4):1089-1096, August 19, 1997.

 

 

MaryLu Hutchins is cruising forward with her responsibilities as the 2009 West Virginia Teacher of the Year. Gov. Joe Manchin on Feb. 12.  joined Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia, Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, the West Virginia Board of Education and the West Virginia Department of Education to present Hutchins with a car and cash.
  
“Teachers like MaryLu Hutchins are at the core to our state’s success because economic development and education are so closely tied,” Manchin said. “We acknowledge MaryLu’s dedication to the classroom and also truly thank Toyota, Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Smarter Kids Foundation for supporting this prestigious recognition every year.”

Although representing very different sectors of the economy in West Virginia, Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield and Toyota share one significant goal – improving the overall education system in West Virginia to ensure that students are prepared both mentally and physically to enter the workforce. Both organizations have programs to help accomplish this goal, but the common ingredient for the success of these programs is West Virginia’s teachers and other educators.

“Today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders and the lifestyle lessons we teach them today carry into the future,” Gregory K. Smith, president and chief executive officer for Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield, said. “Recognizing the efforts of those individuals who shape our leaders of tomorrow is just one small way we can ensure a prosperous and healthy outlook for our state. We are fully committed to offering and supporting programs that will have a positive impact on the daily lives of our customers and the citizens of West Virginia.”

Mike Lutz, general manager of administration, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia, said Toyota could not be a success without great teachers.

“It gives me great pleasure, on behalf of our 1,100 Toyota team members currently working in the Buffalo facility, to recognize West Virginia’s Teacher of the Year for 2009,” Lutz said. “Great teachers inspire great students, and great students are the sort of people we want to hire.  We truly believe there is a direct link between great teachers and our company’s ultimate success. We congratulate Ms. Hutchins on her achievements and appreciate her dedication to West Virginia’s children and ultimately our state’s positive future.”
The Teacher of the Year is the longest, ongoing awards program honoring classroom teachers in the country. It granted its first award in 1964.

“It is my distinct privilege to honor such a fine educator in our state’s public school system,” state Superintendent of Schools Steve Paine said. “MaryLu’s enthusiasm for teaching is evident every day. Innovative and dynamic in the classroom, she infuses students with tremendous motivation and instills in them a love for learning.”

Hutchins is a first grade teacher at Steenrod Elementary School in Ohio County. She began her teaching career in 1979 as a kindergarten teacher, and in 1985, she moved to Kruger Elementary School where she taught first grade until 1990. She has been teaching first grade at Steenrod Elementary since then. Hutchins also was named Teacher in Residence at West Liberty State College in 2006.

Hutchins, who earned her National Board Certification in 2004, also holds a bachelor’s degree from West Liberty State College and a master’s degree from West Virginia University, where she is currently working on a doctorate. She is the 2006 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the 2005 West Virginia Science Teacher of the Year and a 2000 Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award winner.

In addition, Hutchins is a program facilitator and mentor for the National Board for Professional Teaching Certification and serves on several local, regional and state education-related committees, including the West Virginia Board of Education/West Virginia School Board Association School Board Member Training Standards Review Committee (TSRC).

She will represent West Virginia in the National Teacher of the Year competition.

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



Administrative Perspective


By Martha Dean

This week has been a short week for me at the Legislature as I am attending the National Conference on Education. On Monday, there was a meeting of House Education Subcommittee C which took up a veterans’ benefits bill. On Tuesday, the full Senate Education Committee met to hear about the OPEB issue. Susan Smith of the state Department of Education was there with an excellent explanation and to answer questions. Committee Chair, Senator Plymale, suggested that the committee also hear from PEIA and other interested entities before making any decisions regarding a solution to the problem.

WVASA has adopted four legislative priorities that the organization hopes will be addressed during this session of the Legislature. They are in no order, but are of equal concern to the organization.  WVASA suggests:

 

Expansion of Broadband and Support for the Use of Technology in West Virginia Classrooms

Governor Manchin established a Broadband committee in 2008 to address the expansion of appropriate levels of broadband and the use of education technologies in all classrooms in the state. WVASA supports the recommendations of this committee to the governor. In addition, we support provision of on-line training for teachers and other stakeholders to facilitate the appropriate use of these technologies.

 

Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)

GASB Statement 45 requires all state and local governments to report OPEB expenditures and liabilities in their annual financial reports. WV SL §5-16D-6 contains contradictory language regarding what constitutes the current year’s contractual obligation for state and local governments, causing each entity to be billed for the full liability connected to this benefit. The impact appears to be that every board of education will consequently be required to report a deficit fund balance within three years.

WVASA supports one of two possible “fixes” to this problem:

 

Revisions to the Public School Support Program

The Public School Support Program was extensively modified during the 2008 legislative session, with implementation to occur over a five-year phase in period.

A few issues should be resolved:

The changes made in the 2008 legislation are definitely positive in nature and the law needs to be fully implemented early, if possible, but definitely over the five year phase-in period.

 

RESA Funding Cap of $4.2 Million Removed

RESAs provide a valuable resource and support to all county school systems that choose to take advantage of their services. One of the most valuable resources is computer support, repair, and maintenance. The costs have risen to provide all the services, and capping the RESA funding level for many years has diminished the level of support.  Lower level of funding for RESAs requires an increased level of funding from counties, which they cannot afford.

 

Support the Revisions to Personnel Law Proposed by the West Virginia School Personnel Association.

-- Martha Dean, Ed.D., is the executive director of the state School Administrators Association.

 

 

WVSBA Briefs


Winter Conference Program Logo

Thursday, March 12, 2009

  
7:00 p.m.

West Virginia School Board Association Executive Board Meeting

 

Friday, March 13, 2009

  
1:00 p.m.

The Mountain County Board of Education meets for its March Regular Session

WVSBA Vice President Mike Mitchem (McDowell) presides at this session. Via role-playing, the Mountain County Board of Education convenes for a March Regular Meeting.

Note: Will include five (4) county board members and one (1) county schools superintendent  who volunteer to act as members of the Mountain County Board of Education as well as one (1) county board member who will serve as county schools superintendent.

In this mock session, members will consider issues relating to: meeting management, a “policy v. administration consideration,” a charge of “micromanaging,” handling of delegations, matters regarding a rogue member – or so-called rogue member -  board meeting decorum, especially regarding members and presiding officers and their interaction with citizens, delegations and central office staff. 

 
2:45 p.m.

Break

 
3:00 p.m.

WV VITAL – 21S Century West Virginia VITAL Survey: Vision for Improving Teaching & Learning (W. Va. Department of Education)
Participants would receive information – statewide data trends – based on educators from districts having garnered a 40 percent or greater response rate on the WV VITAL Survey. Thirty-six (36) counties† met this criterion. Once the statewide trend data is discussed, county boards in those 36 counties, working with their superintendent and board central office staff (as applicable), could receive training credits for “whole-board” training as approved by the West Virginia Board of Education/West Virginia School Board Association School Board Member Training Standards Review Committee (TSRC). Such an approach will emphasize “whole-board” training while also providing county board members with possible areas for policy development and deployment.

The Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell,  Clay, Doddridge,  Grant, Greenbrier, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Logan, Marion, McDowell, Mercer,  Monongalia, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tyler, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wyoming County Boards of Education had at least a 40 percent (total) response rate.

 
4:15 p.m.

Adjournment of Afternoon Session (Dinner on Own)

 
7:00 p.m.

The School Board: Dynamics for the 21st Century – Introductory Session
WVSBA President-Elect Rick Olcott (Wood) introduces session.

WVDE/CPD staff provides results of prioritization.
Group briefly discusses prioritization.

 
Curtis Johnson, Ph.D., co-author - Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

First responding to the “prioritized information,” Dr. Johnson discusses main points made in his book. These remarks are made within the context of the W. Va. Board of Education’s proposed “innovation zones” legislation. 

The purpose of this discussion is to determine how progressive legislation such as “innovation zones” can prove empowering to county boards and how county boards can adapt focuses and outlook for the future to accommodate or initiate change, to become more effective in terms of governance and to become more accountable. 

A secondary purpose is to identify steps that can be taken for county boards to implement various recommendations made during the session.

 
8:45 p.m.

Adjournment

 
 

Winter Conference Program Logo

 

Saturday, March 14, 2009

  
7:00 a.m.

Breakfast

 
8:00 a.m.

Delegate Assembly (Non-training related programming)

 
9:00 a.m.

The School Board – Dynamics for the 21st Century – Session Continues
Introduction by Association President Rick Snuffer (Raleigh)

 
9:15 a.m.

Brief Remarks by various panelists

 
10:30 a.m.

Break

 
10:45 a.m.

Breakout Groups
Reportage

 
11:45 a.m.

Adjournment

 

 

NOTE: Due to two presenters’ changes in scheduling, program format has changed somewhat, although content remains same.

†The Barbour, Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell,  Clay, Doddridge,  Grant, Greenbrier, Hancock, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Logan, Marion, McDowell, Mercer,  Monongalia, Monroe, Nicholas, Ohio, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tyler, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wyoming County Boards of Education had at least a 40 percent (total) response rate.

 

Resources


The following are several grants available to public schools, educators and school districts.


Source: Public Education Network: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_grants.asp

 


  1. √ Opening Day – Jan. 14, 2009: Organizational session to elect officers and open and publish election results (WV Const. Art. VI, §18).
  2. √ First Day -- Feb. 11, 2009: First day of session (WV Const. Art. VI, §18).

20th Day -- March 2, 2009: Submission of Legislative Rule-Making Review bills due (WV Code. §29A-3-12).

41st Day – March 23, 2009: Last day to introduce bills in the Senate and the House (Senate Rule 14)and (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 – March 29, 2009: Bills due out of committees in house of origin to ensure three full days for readings.

50th Day – April 1, 2009: Last day to consider bills on third reading in house of origin. Does not include budget or supplementary appropriation bills (Joint Rule 5b).

60th Day – April 11, 2009: Adjournment at midnight (WV Const. Art. VI, §22).

Source: West Virginia Legislature

 

Commentary

 

By Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D.

I recently had the privilege of teaching a higher education class regarding, of all subjects, “leadership.”

Here are some of the quotes I used in the class with a longer piece about adaptive leadership which follows.

Those of us in public education hear so much about “leadership” – particularly “leadership,” elusive as that term is, and “management.” The latter term, “management,” is frowned upon today.  Indeed, the notion is that all persons, no matter how large or small their sphere of influence, should or must be “leaders.”

Just like the term “micromanagement,” leadership is hard to define. We think we can define “management,” and probably do a good job at that because its effects are palpable, measurable, tangible – even rote, bureaucratic or stifling. 

Leadership, however, is more difficult to quantify because it is less prone to quick definition and then, of course, there is the entire notion of whether leaders are born or “made,” based on environmental factors, upbringing, birth order, situation or context.

Not to belabor, here are some of the quotations:

Now for some final thoughts on leadership:

Marty Linsky, who wrote the book Leadership on the Line, teaches that the correct phrase is ―exercising leadership. It is the most important thing we can do. We can have all the knowledge in the world, and hold the most senior leadership position, but if we sit back and do nothing, we are not exercising leadership.  

Professor Linsky taught us to think differently by using what he called the balcony analogy. He asked us to imagine ourselves on a dance floor…We are on a dance floor. On it, we can see all the people dancing around us. We may be jostled a bit, or maybe if the dance floor is too crowded, our feet get stepped on. We’re swaying and moving. We are part of the action.

Now, imagine that we step to the edge of the dance floor, travel up to the balcony, lean over the railing and observe the dance floor from this new vantage point. Suddenly, the entire scene changes. We can see how the dancers are flowing across the floor. We see who is coming on to the dance  floor, and who is leaving. We see who is moving in rhythm, and who is not. Who is standing by themselves, and who is engaged with others. We see the entire dance floor as one moving piece, and we are separated from the experience, gaining perspective.

Professor Linsky taught that observing is not enough, however. When you are on the balcony watching those on the dance floor, imagine yourself down there with them. How were you reacting to and connecting with others? Were you having a positive or a negative influence on the action? Did you contribute to the rhythm of the dance, did you disrupt the movement, or did you stand outside the action?

Professor Linsky encourages [leaders] not to remain planted on either the dance floor or the balcony. He suggests that exercising leadership requires moving from the balcony to the dance floor, and back again – a constant shift in perspective so that we understand not only the big picture, but also our individual role in the action and the impact of our decisions and movements on those around us.

So the first part of exercising leadership is to be open to shifting perspectives. It is about understanding dynamics, interactions and reactions that occurs in a rapidly changing world…

ETC.


Text messaging by a 14-year-old girl escalated to her getting arrested in school.

According to a report from a Wauwatosa East High School resource officer, the student refused to stop texting during class Feb. 11 after a teacher told her to stop and the student told the resource officer she didn't have a phone.

She continued denying she had a phone, forcing the resource officer to walk back and forth to the classroom twice and find other students who saw her using it, according to the report.

The male school resource officer called for a female officer to conduct a search, the report says. The student laughed as the female officer explained that she found the Samsung phone in the student's clothes, hidden near her buttocks, according to the report.

The student, the resource officer notes, "is known to me and the administration based on prior negative contacts."
The officer gave the student a $298 ticket for disorderly conduct and kept the Samsung.

- Source: The Smoking Gun

 

 

“Practical politics consists in ignoring facts.” – Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

 

“We’ve moved in a different direction. We’ll let the chips fall where they may on that test for No Child Left Behind.” – Supt. Steve Paine

“There’s no long-term funding solution. The OPEB liability continues to grow even as we put money into it. It’s not sustainable.” – Mike McKown of the state Budget Office

“They believe the students perform better.” – Joe Panetta of the Office of School Funding on principals of year-round schools


Last Word


By Bob Brown
In Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Queen Gertrude famously says, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Queen Gertrude astutely observes that the Player Queen's protestation was laced with irony, if not outright deception.

Such is the case when county boards of education and superintendents make such loud protestations about lost instructional time when schools are canceled because of snow.

Are these folks really concerned about lost instructional time, or are these protestations merely to appease the public?

These folks contend that current school law does not give them enough flexibility to achieve 180 days of instruction in the event schools are closed for inclement weather. Nothing could be further from the truth.

State law provides 43 calendar weeks within which county school boards can schedule their instructional term. That means that school boards have a 43-week period within which to schedule 36 weeks of instruction. That shouldn't be so hard to do.

What makes it difficult is when school boards schedule a week off for deer season and spring vacation. If we are going to get serious about instructional time, let's go to school during hunting season and in the spring when there is not much chance of snow. This simply requires political will by school boards when they adopt the school calendar.

And what about all of the instructional time lost when schools are open? I challenge you to walk through the Charleston Town Center Mall during the boys and girls high school basketball tournament and not see hundreds of schoolchildren. Thousands of students descend on the capital city while school is in session and the days are counted as instructional days. These are not just the ballplayers in Charleston. Whole schools - indeed, entire school systems - spend a week in Charleston rather than receiving instruction in the classroom.

If we are so concerned about losing instructional days because of snow, why are we talking students away from precious instructional time for five days so they can attend a sporting event? If we are really serious about lost instructional time, why aren't we scheduling student sporting events on weekends?

If we are serious about instructional time, why do we allow a few chronic troublemakers to cheat the rest of our students out of precious instructional time? A recent survey by the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia found that the average teacher in West Virginia spends up to 20 percent of each day dealing with discipline issues. If school boards are really serious about instructional time, then they should enforce discipline policies so teachers can teach and students can learn.

Education employees understand that the purpose of our schools is to impart knowledge to our students through instruction, and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association stands ready and willing to sit down with all interested parties to engage in serious discussions about the school calendar and lost instructional time. But serious discussions require that all of the reasons for lost instructional time be put on the table, not just snow days.

I recently attended a county school board meeting where the board discussed the "inflexibility" of the school calendar. They had closed schools recently because of snow, and parents were angry. Like most school boards, their solution was to make the school year longer. During this discussion, one of the members protested loudly that she didn't know what to do with her children while she was working on snow days and her children were out of school.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

-- Bob Brown is executive director of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association.


*

 

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
Charleston, WV 25324
Phone (304) 346-0571 • Fax (304) 346-0572 WVSBA.ORG

Richard Snuffer(Raleigh), President

Howard M. O’Cull, Ed. D., Executive Director, Editor
hocull@wvsba.org
Shirley M. Davidson, Administrative Assistant,
Production and Circulation
sdavidson@wvsba.org

Vincit omnia veritas
“Truth conquers all”