Presentation On Governor’s ‘Principles For Education’ Leaves Some Wanting More

Lawmakers have said school funding reform is a top priority in next year’s legislative session. During a Joint Standing Committee on Education Sunday, they got a glimpse of the governor’s perspective on the issue.  

Curtis Capehart presented the Governor’s Principles and Objectives for Education Reform.  Capehart wears many hats in Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s administration including acting Secretary of Tourism. He told lawmakers his presentation would relate the governor’s fundamental principles for reform rather than particular statutes, rules, or policies.   

“It has been said that principles are the things that help you stay grounded when confronted with difficult decisions or issues of significant import. They can even help to resolve or avoid dilemmas in thorny areas,” Capehart said. “And with that said, the principles that follow now are what the office will have in mind when we are looking at proposed education reforms, and the governor hopes that this is helpful information for you all to know as we all move forward.” 

The governor’s principles for education reform generally included:  

• focus on achievement 

• accountability is core 

• reward mastery 

• balance tradition and technology  

“When it comes to education, newer is not always better. West Virginia should adopt reliable tools that demonstrably improve learning and outcomes, while eschewing approaches that feel modern merely for the sake of novelty,” Capehart said. “We should also identify technologies that can help to reduce the administrative and bureaucratic burden on teachers, so they can focus on educational time with their students.” 

On school funding reform, the governor’s principles were:  

• keep money tied to the student 

• reform must be carried out in a fiscally disciplined manner 

•  simplify the system 

• change should be deliberate and consensus driven 

  
“West Virginia ranks near the national average in terms of per pupil spending, but our education results do not. Many states spend substantially less per pupil than West Virginia does, but nonetheless have significantly better outcomes,” Capehart said. “This demonstrates that injecting more money into the system, simply spending more, is not the answer. Instead, we should devote our time and energy to ensuring that funds are being allocated in the most effective and efficient manner and places possible.”  

After the presentation, Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, asked Capehart how the governor’s principles squared with the administration of the Hope Scholarship. 

“The money that goes into the Hope Scholarship, there are no guardrails to that. I see advertising all the time, ‘You can use that money for dance lessons, for horseback riding lessons, for whatever the family wants to use it for.’” Pushkin said. “How is that illustrating its principle of accountability?” 

Capehart replied he was not there to speak about the Hope Scholarship but rather to simply present the governor’s areas of focus.  

After the meeting, Pushkin expressed frustration with what he felt was an unserious, unprepared presentation that added no information to the discussion on education reform. 

“We have a serious crisis going on in our state due to the underfunding of public education with money being drained out of it to put into this unregulated voucher program, and this is the type of report we get in front of Joint Education today,” he said. “Yes, we are renewing our calls to the governor to take this issue seriously. We are in a crisis in public education, and we need to update the funding formula.” 

Pushkin and other Democrats from the House of Delegates publicly requested Morrisey call a special session to deal with school funding immediately during a press conference Monday morning.