Tag: Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce

Lawmakers Outline Hopes for New Education Reform Legislation, Charter Schools Could Resurface

A special session to address education in West Virginia is just around the corner, and lawmakers from the Eastern Panhandle are making plans to reintroduce controversial legislation next month.

Lawmakers spoke with constituents at a Legislative Wrap Up Breakfast this week in Martinsburg. The annual event is hosted by the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce.

Lawmakers listed issues they were glad to see through the legislative process, but some also expressed disappointment in the failure to pass Senate Bill 451 – the controversial comprehensive education reform bill that died in the House of Delegates in February.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, a Republican from Jefferson County, is the Chair of Senate Education. She said education is the key to fixing the problems in West Virginia, like opioid addiction and retaining workforce.

She’s hopeful many of the components that were in Senate Bill 451 will make it into a new bill during the special session, and she expects to look at all aspects of education.

“The special session call was broad enough that we can discuss anything in education, from K-12 all the way to higher education,” she said. “And I believe that there will be some discussions involving everything.”

Rucker said she and legislative leaders aim to increase local control, give teachers a pay increase, provide more social and emotional supports in public schools, and to implement charter schools. She says charter schools will make West Virginia more competitive with surrounding states.

Lawmakers stated during the breakfast that the special session would likely take place sometime in May.

Blair: We Have to 'Grow the Tax Base' to Better Serve W.Va. Workers

State lawmakers from the Eastern Panhandle met Tuesday for the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Wrap-Up Breakfast in Martinsburg, where education and the teacher pay raise took center stage.

 

Every year after the regular state Legislative session ends, Eastern Panhandle lawmakers come together to recap the session for their constituents. This time, education issues and the five percent pay increase for teachers, service personnel and public employees stirred up most of the discussion.

Debate over pay increases sparked a nine-day work stoppage by teachers and other school workers until lawmakers agreed to a five percent raise near the end of the session.

But not all affected by that raise were satisfied.

Many still voiced concern over the health insurance program (PEIA) for state employees, while others argued five percent just wasn’t enough.

Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair, of Berkeley County, said at Tuesday’s event that more work needs to be done regarding pay increases, but he argues, the state needs to do it within its means.

“We want to make it so that we grow the tax base in the state of West Virginia, and when we grow that tax base, then we don’t have pay issues,” he noted.

Blair said the way to boost pay raises and other financial issues in West Virginia is to attract more industry and get workforce participation up.

 

Other issues discussed by lawmakers at the Legislative Wrap-Up, ranged from solutions for combating the opioid epidemic, to the future of medical cannabis in West Virginia, to pride over passing the FY 2019 budget within the 60-day session.

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