News

Big education bills from governor failed in legislative session but still might have life

By Jim Wallace

The 2009 regular session of the Legislature is over, but some of the work begun during the session goes on, including work on education matters.

“I still think there is some very important work to be done.” – Gov. Manchin

“I still think there is some very important work to be done,” Gov. Joe Manchin said Monday in an announcement that he will call lawmakers into a special session to consider at least three bills.

Legislators already are scheduled to return to the Capitol on May 26 for an extension of the regular session to finish up work on the budget for the next fiscal year. Manchin indicated that he would work with legislative leaders to schedule the special session either during the extended session or directly after it.

“We’re still talking about the time frame and how to do it working within the 10-day slot that they’ve extended for the budget session,” he said.

Among the initial three issues Manchin plans to put on the agenda for the special session is his proposal to make sure that third-graders and eighth-graders are not promoted to the next grade level unless they have achieved the necessary skills. The other two issues the governor said he would ask lawmakers to address are post-mine land use and tax incentives to attract what Manchin called “high-tech server farms” used by Internet-based companies.

“I believe this year can finish up being extremely productive. I’m not giving up on it. I think it’s worth fighting for, and we’re going to continue to fight for it.” – Gov. Manchin

“We think these are three pieces of legislation that are a must for West Virginia to continue to move forward,” he said, adding that he did not want to accept the status quo. “I believe this year can finish up being extremely productive. I’m not giving up on it. I think it’s worth fighting for, and we’re going to continue to fight for it.”

When asked if he might put other education bills, Manchin said, “We’re still talking. I’m not giving up on anything. We’re talking on everything that we possibly can.”

 

Many were disappointed with regular session

The Legislature passed only 227 – or almost 11 percent – of the 2,113 bills introduced during this year’s 60-day regular session. That’s close to the success rate of most sessions, but the most common term people interested in education issues – from union leaders to lawmakers – use in describing the session is “disappointing.”

“We didn’t make any progress in education.” – Judy Hale, president, AFT-WV

“We didn’t make any progress in education,” Judy Hale, president of the American Federation of Teachers – West Virginia, said. “There wasn’t any funding for any programs to begin with.”

From the unions’ standpoirnt, West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said, “The focus was so much on defense this session and trying to prevent bad things from happening that there wasn’t the opportunity to advance progressive legislation.”

Among the legislation that failed to get passed were some key education bills, including four proposed by Gov. Manchin. In addition to the bill on third- and eighth-grade achievement, those bills included measures to put more flexibility in the school calendar, establish a process to create innovation zones, and change standards for hiring and promoting teachers.

House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour, said that, if there is to be a special session, a lot of work would have to be done beforehand to work out the disagreements between the House and the Senate. “It would be pretty difficult to consider bills where there was no consensus,” she said.

“I don’t know how you could ever call this governor a lame duck.” – House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling

Some observers have suggested that Manchin’s inability to get some of his key bills approved during the first legislative session of his second term could be an indication that legislators are already considering him a lame duck. But Poling said that had never entered her mind. “I don’t know how you could ever call this governor a lame duck,” she said.

Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, said he welcomes a special session as long as agreement can be reached on the key differences between the two chambers. Like others, he was disappointed so many big education bills died in the regular session.

“I think that the feeling seemed to be contentious for some reason, and I don’t know why,” Plymale said. “We were trying to tackle some pretty big issues.”

Because of the uncertainty during the current recession over how much money state government would have to work with in the next fiscal year, he said, the budget overshadowed everything lawmakers did. “There’s no doubt about that,” Plymale said.

“Conceptually, there were some good initiatives on the table that died.” – Bob Brown of WVSSPA

Likewise, Bob Brown, executive director of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, was sorry to see the failure of some of the education bills. “Conceptually, there were some good initiatives on the table that died,” he said. “On the whole, it was a rather disappointing session.”

 

 

School calendar bill ran into trouble.

On Senate Bill 249 to give school boards more flexibility in scheduling the school calendar, the Senate wanted to allow districts to begin the school year earlier in August and, if necessary, go later in June. Senators also wanted districts to finish the first semester before the Christmas break. The House preferred not to move the beginning and ending dates for the school year and wanted to allow districts to increase the number of minutes in the school day to make up for instructional time lost to snow days.

“I thought the House had a workable calendar bill,” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said. “It’s unfortunate that some type of compromise couldn’t be reached.”

Hale said, “I think that everybody was on the same page in terms of wanting students to get 180 days.” But she thought the Senate’s attempt to add what she called “goofy stuff,” such as withholding teachers’ pay until snow days were made up, hindered the bill’s ability to pass in the end.

“I think people got really polarized, so it was hard to reach consensus,” Hale said. “And I think too many bills went to conference.”

“You have to get 180 days.” – Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale

Brown said that despite the substantial differences between the two chambers on the calendar bill, he thought House and Senate negotiators might be able to work out a compromise. However, he said, there was no movement on the bill during the last evening of the session.

Plymale said he hopes an agreement on the school calendar can be worked out, but he remains convinced that the Senate’s approach is a good one. “You have to get 180 days,” he said.

Delores Cook, president of the West Virginia Board of Education, said she hopes that putting more flexibility into the school calendar will get further consideration from lawmakers, either in the special session or in the next regular session. She favors opening up the beginning and ending dates for the school year to help districts that have many snow days get at least 180 days of instruction in.

“We must continue to try to secure ways for our children to have as much learning as possible,” she said.

Rick Olcott, incoming president of the West Virginia School Board Association, said he was disappointed the school calendar bill died and hopes it can be revived. He said the Wood County school district, where he is school board president, usually falls three or four days short of the desired 180 days of instruction.

“I know some of the smaller counties in the rural snow belt have really struggled,” Olcott said.

When asked about the school calendar bill, Manchin said it’s possible that he might put that issue on the special session agenda.

 

Innovation zones got close but didn’t make it.

Although the school calendar bill received more attention from the public, the bill to create school innovation zones, House Bill 2836, also was high on the list of concerns of many people close to public education.

“I think that probably would have opened up some doors,” Cook said. She noted that the state school board supported the innovation zones proposal.

“I think the innovation zones could be the centerpiece of our education system going forward.”  -- Bob Brown, WVSSPA

Similarly, Brown said, “I think the innovation zones could be the centerpiece of our education system going forward.” He sat in on the House-Senate conference committee at the end of the session and thought it had a chance of passage.

Lee said, “It’s disappointing that we had worked collectively on the innovation zones bill that gave teachers the opportunity to make changes in their schools.” He blamed its failure on changes made by the Senate.

Hale said all interested parties had worked with the Department of Education on that bill to reduce problems before the legislative session. She expected House and Senate negotiators to work out their differences.

“It was a bill I hope we see again,” she said. “I don’t think they were that far apart.”

Olcott said the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. So he saw the innovation zones concept as a good opportunity to test new education techniques in small pilot projects to find out what would work across the state.

“Innovation zones are in the spirit of trying new methods,” Olcott said. “I echo the governor’s disappointment there.”

Although Manchin was not asked about the innovation zones bill at Monday’s news conference, he specifically mentioned it as one he would like to add to the special session’s agenda. First Lady Gayle Manchin, who is a member of the state school board, also said she would like lawmakers to try again to pass the bill, because there was not much difference between the House and Senate versions of it.

 

Student achievement bill was too close for governor not to try again.

Another bill that seemed to have wide support in concept but not enough agreement from House and Senate negotiators on its final form was House Bill 2832, the one education bill he already has designated for reconsideration in the special session. As Gov. Manchin proposed it, the bill would have provided extra assistance for students in danger of not having the necessary skills to advance from the third and eighth grades.

“I think it’s so important for every third-grader to have certain skill sets before we move them on.” – Gov. Manchin

“We can’t find any disagreements or large enough disagreements to prevent this from passing,” he said Monday. “I think it’s so important for every third-grader to have certain skill sets before we move them on. We put the money towards it. We’re committed to putting the money there. I think that one is going to be very, very doable. I just feel very strong about that one.”

Likewise, Lee said, “The third grade is an important grade to have kids on grade level. I’m not really sure why that didn’t pass other than the Senate didn’t seem to have time to take that up.”

Hale said she was pleased that Manchin presented that bill to the Legislature, especially for making sure that third-graders meet the standards for their grade level. But she was concerned about doing the same for eighth-graders, because it might lead to a higher dropout rate. “It was a good bill, but there was no funding with it,” Hale added.

Brown called the failure of the bill “tragic.”

Plymale said House-Senate conferees actually had an agreement on that bill, but the Senate just didn’t get to it before the end of the session. Along that line, Gayle Manchin said, “There was very little that was keeping them apart.”

Cook said she had not seen that bill but agreed with its concept. “Having been a classroom teacher, I know that it’s very critical,” she said, because if a child doesn’t have critical skills by the third grade, it’s difficult for that child to catch up.

Olcott was surprised that the bill failed. “Part of our challenge at each grade is to assess whether [students] are progressing well enough,” he said. “Perhaps it’s a concept that takes time. I know that some people are afraid of more tests.”

West Virginia School Board Association President Rick Snuffer said he would have not objected if the bill would have required more testing. “The only problem we had was with the funding,” he said, adding that he was afraid the state wouldn’t have paid for the new requirements it would have placed on school systems.

 

Teacher hiring standards bill had a rougher reception in the House.

In contrast to those three of the governor’s bills that died after reaching House-Senate conference committees, Senate Bill 513 cleared the Senate but never got out of the House Education Committee. That bill was based on recommendations from the 21 Century Jobs Cabinet and would have changed teacher hiring and transfer standards, reducing the importance of seniority.

“I think that change is in the air for education across the nation.” – Gayle Manchin

Gayle Manchin, who as a co-chairperson of the Jobs Cabinet, had a role in developing the proposal, said she was “obviously disappointed…but maybe not totally surprised” the bill met an early demise. But she is hopeful that it has opened the door to discussion on “things that were taboo for many years,” and maybe that could lead to some sort of reform in the years ahead.

“I think that change is in the air for education across the nation,” she said, citing U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan as one leader who is talking about innovations in education. “The conversation is not just in West Virginia. We’re going to do things differently in education across the board.”

On the bill’s effort to make seniority a less dominant criterion in teacher hiring, Olcott said, “I don’t think you can discount seniority as one of the parameters of the selection process. But it can’t be the pillar of the selection process.”

Nevertheless, he said, he could understand the natural resistance to the proposal. Much of that resistance came from teachers’ unions.

Snuffer said he had hoped for a compromise on the bill, because he thinks school districts need more flexibility to hire the most qualified person for each job. But teachers’ union officials saw the proposal as providing the wrong kind of flexibility.

“I was very pleased that Senate Bill 513 didn’t advance,” Lee said. “We can’t go back to the days of cronyism and nepotism.”

Similarly, Hale said, “I do not believe that we need to move away from objective criteria.” But she added that she had no objection to adding such criteria as competence in technology integration to qualifications for hiring teachers, as the bill would have done. She just didn’t want superintendents to have total discretion in the hiring process.

“I remember my father talking about the selling of teacher jobs at $100 a person,” she said, so she wouldn’t want to take a chance on letting something like that happen again.

Brown said Senate Bill 513 never had a chance. It wasn’t even “on the radar screen” in the House.

“If that’s the case, that’s a shame,” Plymale said, but he thought it might be possible to revive even that bill. “Anything is possible.”

However, Gayle Manchin has little hope that the bill could be reconsidered in the special session. Yet she would like lawmakers to consider provisions in the bill that would change the dates for teachers to announce their intention to retire to give school boards more time to replace them.

“Sometimes it’s August or September before a school can offer a position to replace a retiring teacher,” she said.

 

Another bill’s failure disappointed Mary Poling.

Most of the attention on education bills that failed to get through the full Legislature has focused on the bills proposed by Manchin, but Poling also is disappointed that House Bill 3123 died early in the process. The bill, which originated in the House Education Committee, would have provided for the donation and transfer of personal computers and other information systems to the Department of Education when state agencies dispose of them.

“In a session where the budget loomed over everything, that was partially responsible for bills not moving.” – Mary Poling

The bill never got past the House Finance Committee, on which Poling also serves. She said the administration produced a fiscal note that indicated that the program would have been too expensive, although she thinks the costs might have been overestimated.

“In a session where the budget loomed over everything, that was partially responsible for bills not moving,” Poling said.

Lee agreed that the budget overshadowed everything during the regular session, but he hopes that federal stimulus money will help overcome such concerns when lawmakers put the budget together. “I think it gives us the opportunity to make good decisions about public education,” he said.

Hale said, “It was just kind of a wash for us. It was difficult for us throughout the session. We had to be there every day and every evening when they began evening sessions.”

Cook called it an “unusual session.” She suggested that certain high-profile bills, such as one to ban the sale of Barbie dolls and another to require chain restaurants to post the calorie counts of their menu items, “might have detracted from getting work done on education bills.”
               
-- 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.

 

Session was good from school boards’ viewpoint

By Jim Wallace

The failure of the governor’s education bills stood out for many persons interested in public education, but what stood out the most for leaders of the West Virginia School Board Association was the success of two bills.

“I’m happy with that. I think all school board members were.” – WVSBA President Rick Snuffer on passage of casual liability bill

“It was a good session,” WVSBA President Rick Snuffer said. What pleased him most was that Senate Bill 258 passed, because it addresses concerns many school board members have about OPEB – other post-employment benefits. The bill clarifies that members of school boards and other local governments cannot be held personally liable for the huge deficit represented by OPEB, which is associated with health care insurance for retirees from the Public Employees Insurance Agency.

“I’m happy with that,” Snuffer said. “I think all school board members were.”

Likewise, incoming WVSBA President Rick Olcott said, “The most critical piece of legislation was passed.” He is president of the Wood County school board, which has been dealing with the OPEB issue a bit longer than most school boards in the state. Because of their size, the Cabell County, Kanawha County and Wood County school systems were the first systems in the state that had to set aside money last year for the OPEB liability. Most other systems have had to do that this year, while all school district will have to adhere to that requirement next year.

The Wood County board had to set aside $815,000 last year and $1.7 million this year, Olcott said, and his expectation is that the amount could jump to several million dollars next year. That money is tied up and can’t be used for educational purposes, he said.

“You could have a mass exodus of school board members.” – Incoming WVSBA President Rick Olcott

But without the provisions of Senate Bill 258, Olcott said, school board members would be in “a horrible position” of being held personally and criminally liable for carrying the OPEB liability on the school systems’ books. If the bill would not become law, he said, it could affect his decision next February on whether to run for another term on the school board.

“You could have a mass exodus of school board members,” Olcott said. But assuming that Gov. Manchin signs the bill into law, he said, it would allow board members to stay focused on education issues.

 

Another OPEB-related bill failed to pass.

Olcott is disappointed that another effort to deal with the OPEB liability stalled. The proposal was to make sure the unfunded liability would be directed at state government, which many people believe is responsible for creating it.

“It’s a $7 billion challenge for West Virginia that does not have a funding source.” – Rick Olcott

The concerns about OPEB resulted from regulations issued a few years ago by the federal Governmental Accounting Standards Board, better known as GASB. Olcott said the GASB regulations are good, because they raise accountability and forces agencies to make plans to deal with liabilities. But the problem in West Virginia, he said, is that the Legislature created the benefits offered by PEIA, so it’s not fair to make local school boards responsible for the liabilities that have ensued from that.

Olcott said the long-term liability should be recorded, but it shouldn’t be reported as a short-term liability on school boards’ balance sheets. “It’s a $7 billion challenge for West Virginia that does not have a funding source,” he said.

Getting legislation approved to deal with issues like this can take a couple of years to get through the Legislature, Olcott said. “At least the first step was made,” he said.

 

Bill on school board members’ training passed.

The second bill that both Snuffer and Olcott were pleased got through the Legislature was what is known as the “accountability bill,” House Bill 3208.

“That was a good bill for school board members.” – Rick Snuffer

“That was a good bill for school board members,” Snuffer said. “It will lead to better training and qualifications for school board members in the future.”

The bill would require the school district report card to include – in addition to the names and terms of board members and whether they have attended new members’ orientation – the number of hours of training that meet standards prescribed by the state Board of Education that members have received during the school term.

The bill also would require the state board to appoint a County Board Member Training Standards Review Committee to determine the particular types of training and training organizations that should be approved. The committee would meet at least once a year.

“It’s important to raise the standards of school board members and have that part of the report card,” Olcott said.

The Senate Education Committee amended into the bill provisions that had been in Senate Bill 557 to limit the political activities of school board members, but the House refused to accept those changes. Olcott was pleased the House stood firm on that. “It was an almost unconstitutional thing to do,” he said.

In addition to the provisions about school board members, the bill has provisions for filling superintendent vacancies.

 

Pay raise bill died, but there is hope for the future.

“We knew it was a bad time for raising the pay for school board members.” – Rick Snuffer

Another bill to raise the pay of school board members went nowhere, but Snuffer wasn’t surprised. Nor was he disappointed.

“We knew it was a bad time for raising the pay for school board members,” he said. “I hope it will be addressed.”

The proposal was to restructure the system so that a county school board member could earn up to 50 percent of a county commissioner’s pay. That would vary from county to county, but in Kanawha County, it would mean that a school board member would get almost $18,500 a year – more than twice as much as is currently possible.

Snuffer said he thought the effort was good for educating legislators, so maybe they might be more willing to consider improving board members’ pay in future sessions.

In reviewing the legislative session, Snuffer added this observation: “One of the best things was there were not unfunded mandates that I know of yet.”

Olcott summed it this way: “It’s been an interesting year, probably one of the more challenging ones from an energy standpoint of the association.”

-- 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.

 

It’s not over for innovation zones in the eyes of education reformers

By Jim Wallace

Two education reform leaders are disappointed that the West Virginia Legislature failed to pass House Bill 2836 to create school innovation zones, but they hope the proposal will be resurrected in a future legislative session.

“It’s surprising to see how difficult it is to pass a law that doesn’t really require anything but to open the door [to education innovation].” Curtis Johnson of the group Education Evolving said.

“You could have had an education policy that would have been the equal of the grandeur of your geography.” – Curtis Johnson of Education Evolving

Johnson is co-author of the book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. He is based in Minnesota, where he still is working to get an innovation zones bill passed by his home state lawmakers. But he said West Virginia had an opportunity to be the first state with an innovation zones law.

  “You could have had an education policy that would have been the equal of the grandeur of your geography,” Johnson said. He believes it is inevitable that other states will adopt innovation zones laws.

Tim McClung, an education reform advocate in West Virginia, agreed that, if the Legislature had passed House Bill 2836, it “would have allowed West Virginia to show other states a model of innovation.” But he is pleased that the innovation zones concept received considerable attention from lawmakers, because that should make it easier to get a bill through in a future legislative session.

“They will no longer be surprised when this type of discussion comes up,” he said. “The conversation is not whether we should have innovation zones but how we do them next.”

“I’m working on version two for next year.” – education reformer Tim McClung

Although McClung worked for passage of House Bill 2836, he said it’s not necessarily bad that the bill didn’t quite make it through the legislative process, because a stronger version might come out of next year’s regular session, if not a special session this year. “I’m working on version two for next year,” he said.

Johnson, who visited West Virginia three times in the past nine months, said the innovation zones proposal would give schools a chance to manage change on their own. As the bill was written, about 10 schools would have had the opportunity to test education innovations. Successful innovations then could be adopted at other schools across the state.

West Virginia has some of the nation’s best education standards, Johnson said, calling them “quite exemplary.” He said it also helps that Gov. Manchin understands and is pushing the innovation zones concept, that First Lady Gayle Manchin, who is a member of the state school board, is “a force in herself,” and that state Supt. Steve Payne is pushing for 21st century education standards.

“Everything is way too centralized and controlled from the top.” – Curtis Johnson

With that kind of backing, Johnson thought the innovation zones proposal would fare better in the legislative session. What West Virginia needs, he said, is to break the “culture of centralization” in public education.

“Everything is way too centralized and controlled from the top,” Johnson said. “Kids are so different from previous generations, and they are different from each other.”

Like McClung, Johnson thinks an advantage of the House Bill 2836’s failure in the regular session might be that a stronger version will do better the next time. “Let it simmer and it may be strengthened,” he said.

About his role in getting an innovation zones bill passed, Johnson said, “I’m not sure what that would be other than cheerleading from afar.”

McClung, who has a fulltime job outside of education, said he’s not sure how to get a new innovation zones bill passed, but he’s ready to try.

“I think something positive is going to happen on this,” he said.

-- 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.

 

Tight budget doomed RESA funding bill

By Jim Wallace

A bill to remove the budget cap on the foundation allowance for regional education service agencies had a well-positioned sponsor but went nowhere during the regular legislative session.

Senate Education Chairman Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, sponsored Senate Bill 618, along with Sen. Roman Prezioso, D-Marion. But the bill, which would have lifted the $4.2 million cap on the RESA budget, never got out of Plymale’s committee.

Plymale blames that on the shadow cast over West Virginia by the national recession. “In a tough budget time, there wasn’t going to be any increases,” he said.

House Education Chairwoman Mary Poling, D-Barbour, agreed that the state’s tight budget situation prevented consideration of legislation like Senate Bill 618. But she indicated she would be willing to consider removing the budget cap in the future.

“I have not been involved in the three years I have been chair in taking a look at the value of RESAs,” Poling said. “I do believe they provide important service.”

Poling said she wasn’t sure why the budget for RESAs was pulled out of the School Aid Formula and capped a few years ago. But she said study would be required before it could be put back into the formula.

-- 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.

 

PEIA Finance Board changes OPEB figures

By Jim Wallace

The Public Employees Insurance Agency Finance Board held a brief meeting last week to revise figures related to the OPEB (other post-employment benefits) liability.

Specifically, the board approved a change in the annual OPEB cost and the annual required contribution, which employers must pay or accrue. The annual OPEB cost was set at $791,943,000.

At the board’s March meeting, the annual required contribution was set at $762.26 per member per month. At the April meeting, it was reset at $761.20.

The annual required contribution is the amount employers must contribute in a given year to fully fund the West Virginia Retirees Health Benefit Trust, as determined by the actuarial valuation in accordance with requirements of generally accepted accounting principles. The amount represents a level funding that, if paid on an ongoing basis, is projected to cover the normal cost each year and amortize any actuarial liabilities of the plan over a period not to exceed 30 years.

Jason Haught, PEIA’s chief financial officer, explained to board members, who all participated in the meeting by phone, that the new figures were based on 10 months of billing reports, instead of the one month of billing reports used for the figures presented in March.

Although the board was tentatively scheduled to next meet in May, PEIA Director Ted Cheatham suggested putting off the next meeting until sometime in June.

-- 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.

 

WVSBA Briefs

Spring Videoconference training set for May 16, 2009; 3.50 hours’ credit for participants; programming provided by Regional Education Service Agency linkages

These are among the actions The West Virginia Board of Education/West Virginia School Board Member Training Standards Review Committee (TSRC), meeting Monday, April 20, 2009, took in  regard to county board member training:

• Voted unanimously to approve WVSBA’s Spring Videoconference program – the first such venue the organization has undertaken. The program will “count” for 3.50 hours credit for county board members who participate in each of the two (2) videoconference segments. The first segment, to be held from 10 a.m. to Noon, Saturday, May 16, 2009, will feature a presentation by West Virginia Department of Education officials relative to federal stimulus funding and other such matters. Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) also will be among items discussed.
• The second videoconference segment relates to legislation enacted in the 2009 Regular Session – West Virginia Legislature.  Association counsel Howard E. Seufer Jr., Esq., will conduct this segment. It is slated from 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Seufer also will touch on recent court cases and grievance decisions affecting county boards.
• Regional Education Service Agencies (RESAs) are coordinating the videoconferencing.
• Voted to limit “local” or “alternate” training to no more than two (2) hours’ credits, including programs conducted by the association, RESAs and other training providers. Each such program must also include an evaluation, with results to be provided to the TSRC. Local or alternate programming not approved in advance will be undertaken at a county board’s “own peril” in terms of whether or not training credits will be awarded.
• Limited participation in national conferences to count for no more than 2.00 hours credits, with such programs being considered as “alternate” training.
• Approved a county board request for RESA-provided training to count toward the required seven (7) clock hours’ training. That session dealt with “Effective Schools,” with the submitting county board detailing, to the satisfaction of the TRSC, that the program fit the TSRC definition of training and statutory provisions.
• Okayed several county board local or “alternate” requests, including sessions conducted by the WVSBA Executive Director and other providers. These sessions were approved precedence.
• Adopted a proposal that future training efforts be predicated on a “quadrant” approach – informational session, emergent issues training, whole board consideration(s), and training relating to governance effectiveness and boardsmanship. (Governance effectiveness and boardsmanship are cited in statute.)
•  Referred several matters to a standing subcommittee, including issues concerning  approval procedures for “alternate” training and online training.
• Agreed to meet late in June to assess training records for FY09.

The TSRC is chaired by state Board of Education member Gayle Manchin (Kanawha), along with WVSBA Immediate Past President Sally Cann (Harrison).

For more information regarding the TSRC, please contact Association Executive Director Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D. His preferred contact information is hocull@wvsba.org

O’Cull serves as TSRC secretary.

The group was first formed in 1989 and, if 2009 legislation is approved, will be codified in state law.

*

 

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”