Dale Lee, president of WVEA, and AFT-WV President Kristie Skidmore will serve as co-presidents of the new organization until elections in 2027.
The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia (AFT-WV) and the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) formally approved the merger of their two organizations into Education West Virginia.
The merger was first announced just over a year ago. It was approved over the weekend, on March 29, and will become official on Sept. 1, 2025.
Dale Lee, president of WVEA, told West Virginia Public Broadcasting that he and AFT-WV President Kristie Skidmore will serve as co-presidents.
“September 1, it’ll be Education West Virginia” he said. “The transition council will govern until the first convention, which will take place in the spring of 2027 at which time the Education West Virginia will elect their first president and officers and governance council that will take office July 1 of 2027.”
In a joint statement, the co-presidents say they are committed to advocating for education professionals to ensure they have the resources, support, and conditions necessary for providing a high-quality education for West Virginia’s students.
“The organization aims to drive the changes needed to strengthen public schools and improve educational outcomes in every community across West Virginia,” said Skidmore and Lee. “We couldn’t agree more that it was time for this merger, as it will allow us to expand our efforts and make an even greater impact on the future of education.”
Teachers and school service employees rallied Tuesday night ahead of a Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) hearing in Morgantown.
PEIA is holding hearings across the state to receive input from state employees and retirees on proposed price increases to their health care plans that would take effect next summer. Changes include a 14 percent increase to premiums and a 40 percent increase to deductibles.
Members of the American Federation of Teachers – West Virginia (AFT) gathered outside of the Erickson Alumni Center at West Virginia University ahead of testifying in front of the PEIA Finance Board. They were joined by the West Virginia Education Association, as well as the United Mine Workers of America, who represent some school service workers.
Tena McElwain, a bus driver for Monongalia County Schools and the AFT service personnel president for the county, said the rally is a show of solidarity.
“The rally is just to show support, unity,” she said. Hopefully we can take care of PEIA this year, working through the legislatures and finding appropriate funding for it.”
McElwain said the proposed increases would cut even further into paychecks for service workers, and make vacancies even harder to fill.
“Right now there’s a shortage in Mon County for bus drivers, secretaries, aides, custodians, cooks, because of the PEIA increases,” she said. “We’re more or less working to pay insurance. We’re not taking anything home after PEIA comes out, we still have bills.”
Cullen Hencke, also a Monongalia County teacher and the vice president of the local AFT chapter, said teachers and school personnel aren’t the only ones that will be impacted by the rate increases.
“Sometimes we’re the loudest voices about these issues, but we know that they affect lots of other people who West Virginians care about and look to and in times of need,” he said.
Carol Roskos, a Monongalia County teacher and president of AFT Moningalia, echoed McElwain’s concerns of the rate increase’s economic impact.
“I would like to see the public hold their elected officials accountable for being responsible for helping West Virginia to run efficiently as a state,” she said. “If West Virginia is not taking care of their employees’ health insurance, there is a possible economic fallout that could happen if folks tend to leave the state or seek employment somewhere else.”
At least four officials elected to state office were present at Tuesday’s meeting, including Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, Del. Anitra Hamilton, D-Monongalia and Del. John Williams, D – Monongalia, but many attendants expressed dismay that more politicians were not present.
Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, was recently elected to the state senate for District 13. He spoke to the rally ahead of the hearing, and said PEIA’s problems were created by the legislature, and they can be fixed by the legislature.
“They’re fixes that an incoming governor can propose when we get into the legislative session this coming February,” Garcia said. “I’m hopeful, I think these people here are hopeful that their voices will be heard. And I just said a second ago, you can listen, or you can actually look at something, and see where people are. And I think that’s what we’re going to see a lot tonight about how this has affected people in their pocketbooks.”
Attendants at the Nov. 19, 2024 PEIA Finance Board hearing in Morgantown listen to a presentation on proposed increases. Chris Schulz/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Kristie Skidmore was elected president of AFT – West Virginia over the weekend. She echoed others and said she is concerned the rate increases will worsen the existing teacher shortage.
“A big picture that we need to look at is when members can’t afford health care, and they can’t afford to stay in the state, they’re going to go elsewhere, and they’re going to make more money, and they’re going to have better health care,” she said.
Dale Lee, president of the WVEA, said that healthcare is a national issue that cannot be fixed at the state level, but some of the burden needs to be redistributed away from employees.
“The burden of the increased cost shouldn’t be borne solely on the employee, and in this plan, more than 40 percent of the costs are going to directly to the employee,” Lee said. “Because not only do you have the premium increases of the 80/20 which, by law, you have to do, but you have $76.4 million in benefit reductions that is born solely on the employee.”
Lee pointed out that pay increases implemented by the legislature were intended to help address PEIA rate increases, but have had little effect.
“It’s really not a pay raise, because you’re not being able to have any more additional dollars for gas bills, electric bills, groceries, things like that,” he said. “You’re actually seeing your buying power decrease in this. So we really haven’t received a raise. It’s been an offset.”
The final public hearing in the series will be held in person Thursday, Nov. 21 at the Culture Center in Charleston.
Two of the state’s largest education unions are planning to merge.
Two of the state’s largest education unions are planning to merge.
The West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) and the American Federation of Teachers – West Virginia (AFT-WV) announced Wednesday that they have unanimously approved a values statement for a new, unified organization
Dale Lee, president of the WVEA, said the merger will help ensure educators’ voices are heard and strengthened together.
“We saw in 2018-2019 that united and standing together, we were a stronger voice,” he said. “And with that, we’ve also seen a target on our backs in the legislature the last few years. So this gives us an opportunity to expand on the strength that we saw in 2018, 2019. And to really build something that members want and are going to be proud of.”
Lee said the proposal has received significant feedback from members of both organizations via special delegate assembly and a special convention to approve the value statement.
“We’ve gone to several counties across the state talking about this and answering questions so our members really know what’s going on,” he said.
Lee said the governing bodies of both organizations must approve the merger, but the goal is to have everything in place and have a new organization in place by September 2025.
In a press release, Fred Albert, AFT-WV president said, “one merged unified voice for education employees is an exciting vision for the future of education in WV.”
“By definition, a union is a merging of people coming together to use their collective talents and knowledge to improve the working conditions and circumstances for the whole,” he said. “While there is much work still to be done, I look forward to continuing to work with Dale and the leadership of both organizations to make this vision a reality.”
Leaders of the state’s two education employee organizations are holding focus groups across the state.
Leaders of the state’s two education employee organizations are holding focus groups across the state.
After poor results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress released last month, the focus groups will offer input and ideas on the resources, supports, and other factors that will help improve student achievement.
The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia and the West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) will host six focus groups across the state. They will begin Tuesday in Morgantown.
WVEA President Dale Lee said they want to hear from everyone involved in our school systems.
“We want to hear from the experts, we want to hear from the educators and the parents and the community about the things that we need to do to make improvements, to make changes in student achievement,” Lee said.
The organizations plan to present their data to the Department of Education and the legislature.
“We will have questions for each of the participants to answer and a survey at the end,” Lee said.
Registration for all focus groups begins at 5:30 p.m. The focus groups will begin at 6 p.m. at the following locations:
Morgantown: Plumbers and Pipefitters Union – Tuesday, Nov. 29
Wheeling: Patriot Point at Wheeling Park High School– Wednesday, Nov. 30
Charleston: Mary C. Snow Elementary – Monday, Dec. 5
Beckley: Woodrow Wilson High cafeteria – Thursday, Dec. 8
Martinsburg: Martinsburg Holiday Inn – Tuesday, Dec. 13
Virtual forum: Register at qrco.de/bdPM86 – Thursday, Dec. 15
The state’s charter school board approved West Virginia’s first virtual charter schools on Wednesday. The news comes exactly one week after the board approved West Virginia’s first brick-and-mortar charters.
Five public charter schools are now expected to open in West Virginia by the fall of 2022. Last week, the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board approved three brick-and-mortar schools — Eastern Panhandle Preparatory Academy, Nitro Preparatory Academy and West Virginia Academy. This week, the board also approved two virtual, statewide charter schools.
Following this week’s vote, board member Dewayne Duncan called it a historic moment for West Virginia and for school choice.
“The authorization of these brick-and-mortars, and the authorization of these online programs, it opens up a world of opportunity for West Virginia students and their families,” Duncan said.
The two virtual schools will be available to K-12 students statewide and offer a max enrollment that ranges from 2,000 to 2,500 students, depending on the school.
Those two schools are West Virginia Virtual Academy and Virtual Preparatory Academy of West Virginia. Both schools will be required to provide technology to students who attend their schools, with physical offices located in the state.
Initially, the board considered three virtual applications, but state law only allows for two virtual, statewide charter schools.
Adam Kissel, chairman of the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board, said while the rejected virtual school had a strong application, the two that were approved offered a bit more in their curriculums for college and career readiness.
“At a time when we have perhaps 10 million unfilled jobs in the United States and a continuing need for economic development in West Virginia, it makes good sense that our board would make workforce development into curriculum a central criterion for determining which applicants to approve,” Kissel said.
Last week, board members also accepted the withdrawal of the application for a proposed brick-and-mortar school called the Shepherd Aviation Academy.
Of the five approved public charter schools, three of them will be run by the same education service provider — an organization called ACCEL Schools based in Ohio.
The other two schools will be run by different entities — one called K12 Virtual Schools LLC and another spearheaded by Morgantown resident and educator John Treu.
But despite the celebrations from supporters, Fred Albert, president of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, said he has several concerns, namely that the power to approve or deny charters in West Virginia is not in the hands of local voters.
“We have local school boards that have been voted on and elected by the citizens of West Virginia,” Albert said. “How does this fit with our local school boards, who should be overseeing the education of our students in our state and working with communities that they’re familiar with?”
A lawsuit on this issue is pending in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Albert also expressed concerns about adequate broadband access for the virtual schools and with the locations of the brick-and-mortar schools. The physical schools will be in the Eastern Panhandle, the Morgantown area and in Nitro in Kanawha County, which he says are affluent areas.
Albert argued the charters should be seeking to locate in critical need areas such as McDowell County.
West Virginia passed its first charter school legislation in 2019. In 2021, the law was revised by the legislature to allow up to 10 brick-and-mortar public charter schools to be approved within a three-year period, and up to two, statewide virtual schools. The law also created the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board to act as the state’s sole charter school authorizer. Kissel said they are continuing a search for an executive director.
The state’s charter school board could still approve up to seven more brick-and-mortar schools by July 1, 2023.
Kissel said the next step for the board is to meet with all five applicants within the next 90 days to sign contracts.
The next meeting of the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board will be on Friday Dec. 3 at 8 a.m.
A West Virginia judge has denied attempts to halt or slow a return to in-person learning for pre-K through 12th grade classrooms across the state.
Kanawha County Judge Carrie Webster denied a temporary restraining order filed by the state’s two largest teacher unions. The unions wanted the court to reverse a recent ruling made by the West Virginia Board of Education that no longer allows fully remote learning in pre-K through 8th grade.
That ruling by the state board also requires high schools to return to in-person instruction unless a county is red on the state’s COVID-19 risk map. Virtual school is still available to all counties and grade levels.
The action also sought to allow the decision of in-person learning to be made at the county level.
“Obviously, we are disappointed by the judge’s decision to deny the temporary restraining order,” said AFT-WV President Fred Albert. “We were hoping to secure time for our members to become fully vaccinated and protected during in-person instruction. However, we are respectful of the process and the opportunity to have the concerns of our members heard before the court.”
Albert said he still believes the decision regarding in-person versus remote learning are best left to the local boards of education who are elected by the citizens. The state Board of Education is not. Instead, nine of its eleven members are appointed by the governor.
WVEA President Dale Lee also released a statement and agreed with Albert, saying the state school board “took options away from county boards.”
“Decisions to teach in-person, remotely, hybrid and online should be a local decision, made by those who are the most impacted and who best understand how to best educate students safely,” Lee said. “While some areas may be able to safely return to in-person learning, for others it is an entirely different situation. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ does not fit the learning needs all [sic] of our students … in the middle of a pandemic.”
