Tag: Charter Schools

W.Va. Senate Clears Bill to Create Charter Schools

Members of the Senate approved a bill Monday evening that allows for the creation or conversion of a public school to a public charter school in West Virginia.

A public charter school is a school that uses government funding, but is not overseen by the county Board of Education, giving the school’s administrators and teachers more flexibility in how they deliver education. The schools, however, are subject to state education standards. 

The Senate Education Committee worked the bill for weeks, hearing from stakeholders every step along the way, but the bill stalled in the chamber over the weekend as Senators negotiated some final details, which ultimately were not agreed to by Democratic members of the body.

The bill was approved 18-16 on a straight party line vote.

Former Senate Education Chair Bob Plymale was in on those negotiations and offered amendments to the majority, some of which were incorporated into the bill Monday on the floor, but Plymale told members he wasn’t satisfied with the final bill, particularly when it comes to the oversight of school and student performance at the charters. 

Education performance is currently overseen by the Office of Education Performance Audits, or OEPA. in the state Department of Education.

“Even though it gives some verbiage in this related to OEPA, it does not explicitly say that it will be looked at on student performance, assessments and school performance. That’s really what you want to be looking at on this,” Plymale said.

Sen. Bob Beach was more concerned with the financial audits of the schools. The bill does require an annual audit by an independent organization, but Beach said the language in the bill is the same adopted in many other states across the country who created public charter schools. Many of those states also had to revisit the language after embezzlement scandals, he said. 

Republicans stood to back the bill many said gives students in West Virginia another option, another chance to succeed, including Education Chair Dave Sypolt in an emotional address to the body.

“I’ve said over the years, I remember on the campaign trial many times and education is always a big issue, one of my tag lines in front of a whole lot of people, I’m really not an education guy. I’ve said it many times. Mr. President, when the chairmanship of Senate Education was offered and I accepted I promised you I’d do one thing. I promised you I’d do the best job I could and I only hope that I haven’t let you and the state of West Virginia down. I believe in my heart that passing this legislation is an opportunity that has until now been unavailable to our parents and our students.” -Sen. Dave Sypolt,R., Preston County

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for its consideration. The last day of the legislative session is March 14.

Why Senate Dems Say Floor Fight Is Bigger Than Charter Schools

An argument over parliamentary procedure Tuesday has Senate Democrats up in arms, accusing the Republican majority of disregarding the chamber’s standard…

An argument over parliamentary procedure Tuesday has Senate Democrats up in arms, accusing the Republican majority of disregarding the chamber’s standard rules of order.

The disagreement started Monday when Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler successfully killed Senate Bill 14, a bill to create charter schools in West Virginia, during a Finance Committee meeting. Kessler, who said he simply counted during the meeting that he had a Democratic majority in attendance, made a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely.

Kessler maintained such a motion, according to the Jeffersonian Rules of Order, prevents lawmakers from taking up the bill for the remainder of the session.

“They accused us [Monday] of taking advantage of them politically,” Kessler said, “but they’ve been voting all session as a political block. I can count less than a half a dozen times where they broke rank and at the end of the day to say they lost one because someone was sick is wrong.”

In a press release Tuesday afternoon, the majority party explained three Republican Senators had missed the Finance meeting for various excused reasons, Sen. Chris Walters for a family illness, Sen. Jeff Mullins for an illness of his own and Sen. Tom Takubo to participate in a deposition.

Earlier Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael moved during a morning floor session to have the bill discharged from the Finance Committee, brought to the floor and read a first time, igniting tempers on the Democratic side.

“The bill wasn’t tabled, it was postponed indefinitely,” Senator John Unger said Tuesday. “It can only be reconsidered or taken from the table if someone tables it.”

“The idea is not a debate anymore about charter schools,” he said. “It’s the undermining of the Democratic process.”

The action sets a precedent to allow any bill to be pulled from a committee and debated on the Senate floor, Unger said, invalidating the entire committee process.

“Why even have committee meetings? Why not bring everything to the floor if what is decided in committee is not binding?” Unger said.

He added the decision also adds the potential to have lawsuits leveled against the state.

A release from the majority party said of the decision:

The full Senate, in adopting its own standing rules, has retained the power to withdraw any bill from any committee, even the President’s committee – the Committee on Rules – when the committee has not, for whatever reason, reported the bill.

Senate Bill 14 was read for a first time Tuesday meaning the bill could be up for a vote as early as Thursday.

Senate Takes Back the Charter Schools Bill

At the legislature today, bills are read in their entirety on the Senate floor as Democrats retaliate for action on the charter schools bill.  In the House, the Judiciary committee begins to consider amendments to the Coal Mine Safety and Jobs Act.  And, we’ll get a first look at a new documentary about one of West Virginia’s most notable politicians on The Legislature Today.

Senate Finance Committee Kills Charter Schools Bill

At the legislature today, infrastructure development around Morgantown will be helped by a bill passing the House of Delegates.  The bill makes adjustments for a tax increment financing district in Monongalia County. The Senate approves a bill that will add judges to four of the busiest circuits in the state court system.  And tonight, we’ll find out more about an effort to strengthen small communities to keep them economically viable on The Legislature Today.

Senate Approves Non-Partisan Election of Judges

At the legislature today, with three weeks left in this session, the Senate suspended the constitutional rule that bills be read on three separate days to quickly move legislation to the house.  In the House, the Government Organization committee has rejected a bill that would give County Commissions the authority to pass smoking regulations.  These stories and more legislative news coming up on The Legislature Today. 

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