Education Reform Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Calls On Lawmakers To Rescind School Sports Transfer ‘Mistake’

Gov. Jim Justice called for state lawmakers to reverse a law that allows students to transfer high schools to play on another sports team without changing addresses or completing a waiting period.

In 2023, state lawmakers passed a bill that, in part, allowed for high school students to immediately transfer high school sports teams, regardless of whether they changed addresses.

In his Wednesday briefing, Gov. Jim Justice called on state lawmakers to that law, calling the bill’s initial passage a “real, real mistake.”

Previously, state policies for high school sports required students to physically move to join a new school’s sports team, or wait a year after transferring to become eligible to compete.

Passage of the bill was contentious. It followed failed attempts from Sen Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, to push such a bill into law both in 2022 and earlier in 2023.

The bill was ultimately passed when it was coupled with sports transfer policies for recipients of the state’s Hope Scholarship.

But critics of the law, including Justice, have said it created an imbalance in high school sports, as students from schools with fewer resources are transferring to larger, more competitive schools in record numbers.

In November, Mountain State Spotlight found that the number of football games won by at least 70 points hit a record-high 13 in fall 2023 — compared to zero in 2022, and just four in 2021.

They also found that 432 students transferred high schools for sports in the fall, which tripled the number of transfers from the previous year-and-a-half.

In 2023, Justice allowed the bill to become law without signing it himself, voicing support for its Hope Scholarship transfer policy but concern over the broader sports transfer rule.

Now, however, Justice has become more vocal in his calls for lawmakers to change course.

During a press briefing Wednesday afternoon, Justice asked legislators to pass a bill reversing the controversial policy before the end of this year’s legislative session.

“If you play on a team and your team loses that game 95 to three in football, how do you feel tomorrow to get up and to go to school? Really and truly, that’s what we’re talking about,” Justice said. “We’re talking about embarrassing kids.”

Justice said if it remains in effect, the law could discourage youth from underprivileged backgrounds to pursue sports.

“We’re talking about kids that then decide, ‘I’m not going to have anything to do with this, even though I’m a pretty good athlete, and I’m a pretty good football player or basketball player,” he said.

The deadline is Feb. 28 for the West Virginia Senate or the House of Delegates to pass any bills that might make the change the governor is asking for. After that the chambers will turn to reviewing bills passed by the other chamber.

Board Of Education Hears Updates On School Discipline

Educational leaders have expressed concern about a legislative change to school discipline that makes it easier to suspend a student.

At the Wednesday meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education, Board President Paul Hardesty called a new requirement introduced by House Bill 2890 a “train wreck waiting to happen.”

The bill was written to give school teachers and administrators more leeway in school discipline, but the statute mandates that students be suspended if removed from a classroom three times in one month.

Hardesty said he’s concerned the law doesn’t define why a student would be removed, and that inexperienced teachers might remove students without cause.

“We have special needs teachers that have specializations, that have training to know what to look for in this child with this type of deficiencies and behavioral patterns,” he said. “We take a long term sub and put them in a classroom that has no training. Now we give them the capacity to become arbitrary and capricious in their actions for a child to get a finite result of being kicked out of school. It may be well intended but you’re not hitting what you’re shooting at.”

School discipline data presented by the West Virginia Department of Education to the board earlier this year showed that the state’s students already lose a collective 178,000 instructional days to suspensions.

Drew McClanahan, director of leadership development for the state Department of Education, presented the board with an update to the Student Behavior Response Plan that resulted from the May study. He identified three areas that comprise the focus of the plan: training and support, accountability and policy.

“With the training support piece, I am excited to announce that we’ve been looking at data practices for school administrators,” McClanahan said. “Root cause analyses have been a part of supports and trainings that we provided throughout the summer. We’ve had some best practices related to classroom management, engagement and structural quality.”

McClanahan also reported his office is working with the Behavior Technical Assistance Center at Marshall University to expand training and support for educators. He also announced that the public, statewide dashboard announced at the May board meeting and meant to promote transparency and accountability around school discipline is ready.

“We believe that it will give the public an opportunity to see what types of discipline are being used at a school,” McClanahan said. “We hope that that gives the community an active opportunity to have meaningful conversations with school administrators on what’s being used at their school.”

The discipline dashboard can be found in the state’s ZoomWV information portal.

Public Schools Sports Director Says Hope Play-Transfer Law Needs Legislative Revisit

Bernie Dolan said the one time transfer rule for upperclassmen and women has already prompted the beginnings of a recruiting portal system.

Gov. Jim Justice struggled with House Bill 2820. He didn’t sign the bill that becomes law 90 days from passage. lt allows Hope Scholarship recipients, along with those enrolled in private schools, home school, microschools and learning pods to participate on public school sports teams. The new law also allows student-athletes to transfer schools at least one time and keep their athletic eligibility.

Justice had no problem with the first part, but had serious concerns about the new, liberalized transfer rules.

Bernie Dolan, executive director for the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC), said he sees many inconsistencies throughout the legislation.

Dolan said removing the provision that the incoming student take one class at the school they are playing for weakens personal and academic ties.

“Now, kids will play for a school that they have no association with,” Dolan said. “We spoke loudly that we were opposed to that. We think that you should have that class – you should be enrolled in the school you’re playing for.”

Dolan said an academic component that requires a 2.0 GPA for public school students to play, but not private schoolers, creates an unfair playing field.

“Somebody may have to relook at the 2.0,” Dolan said. “They will say why is somebody allowed to participate with no academic standard, or limited academic standard, when the member school students all have a 2.0 that they have to achieve.”

He said incoming students will have to take a nationally normed test once a year, but said there are no comparisons offered to the academic qualifications required for public school students.

“There’s not really a standard test that they have to take,” He said. “It just has to be a nationally normed test, so we’re not even sure which test each student will be presenting.”

As to the one-time sports eligible transfer rule for any student, Dolan said the 13 or 14-year-old rule in place for underclassmen was a fair offer.

“You get to go anywhere you want in sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade,” Dolan said. “As long as you go to the beginning of the school year it doesn’t matter where you live. But you have to make that decision by your ninth grade year. You have a one-time transfer to come back and it has to be for academic reasons.”

Dolan said with the existing rule, students transfer as freshmen and they’re not already developed. He said it doesn’t become a feeder program for the bigger schools. Now, he said the one time transfer rule for upperclassmen and women has already prompted the beginnings of a recruiting portal system.

“As soon as it passed the legislature, before the governor even got it, there was a school, or somebody associated with the school, who was putting out ‘Hey, we lost this many people, these positions, that’s what we’re looking for.’ And somebody else has identified themselves as a recruiting coordinator,” Dolan said.

During a media briefing earlier this week, Justice addressed both aspects of this new law.

“I fully support the ability of our HOPE scholarship recipients, students in microschools or learning pods, homeschooled students, or our private school students to participate in extracurricular activities at their school or at their local public school,” Justice said. “However, allowing student athletes to transfer to any school, whatsoever, with no purpose other than jumping to a better athletic team, will do nothing but make a few teams better at the expense of all the others.”

Both Dolan and Justice are asking the West Virginia Legislature to revamp the law in a special session later this year.

Justice Signs Education Bills With Grade Schoolers

After a playful half hour of taking questions in the school gymnasium from the all-student audience, the governor had students help hold his pen as he began signing House Bill 3035, the Third Grade Success Act, putting teachers aides in grades one through three.

With his bulldog Babydog by his side, Gov. Jim Justice traveled to Leon Elementary in Mason County on Tuesday to sign four bills passed during the West Virginia Legislative session. All of them were education based.

He told the kids the classroom helpers would help them better prepare for the future.

“What we want to have happen is we want to ensure that all of you, every single last one, gets off in school to a great start and you’re able to master certain skills that will absolutely take you off in a really good way. We don’t want anybody behind,” Justice said.

The governor and the students signed three other bills into law:

House Bill 3369 creates a School Safety Unit within the Division of Protective Services.

Senate Bill 422 requires public schools to publish curriculum online at the beginning of each new school year.

And, House Bill 2005 establishes the dual enrollment pilot program for high school juniors and seniors in conjunction with state colleges, universities and community and technical colleges.

Leon Elementary is the home school of fourth grade teacher and Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who was emcee of the event. Grady read questions to Justice submitted by the students.

Olivia from the sixth grade asked if the governor got a lot of letters. That prompted the longtime high school basketball coach to tell a story of perseverance.

“I got a letter the other day from a kid I coached 25 years ago,’ Justice said. “I hadn’t heard from him in 25 years and this kid was just like a lot of y’all, didn’t have a whole lot growing up just like me. This kid worked really hard and in his letter he told me, ‘You told us a long time ago when we were playing for you in the national tournament to keep sawing the wood.’ He asked me what that meant and I told him that it meant just to stay at it and you’ll make steady progress. The student said, ‘I went to West Point, then I went to army ranger school and said in every deployment I ever had, I reminded himself every day to keep sawing the wood.’”

The question that got the biggest reaction from Justice and the kids was, “What is your favorite food?” Justice said he and Babydog were the same – chicken nuggets. A few minutes later, someone handed the governor a bag of chicken nuggets.

Babydog smelled them, and got up off his front legs. Justice fed his beloved pet a nugget, but didn’t eat one himself.

With W.Va. School Discipline At Crisis Stage, Remedies Offered

State education groups say school discipline is at a near crisis level. A bill debated in the West Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday is intended to offer educators a tool to limit disruption in the classroom.

House Bill 2890 gives school teachers and administrators more leeway in dealing with disruptive students. The bill attempts to define behavior that results from a personality clash between teacher and student and proposes moving that student to a different environment to protect the integrity of the class. The measure also charges county school boards to implement a preventive discipline program.

Democrats proposed several amendments to the bill, offering corrective safeguards for disruptive students but all were voted down.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, noted that the state has never implemented a legislative plan passed a few years ago to reduce West Virginia’s nationally leading rate of student suspensions and expulsions. He said the bill does not address root discipline causes.

“We’ve yet to see the plan. So what we’re doing today is the opposite of what this bill set out to do. This bill will lead to increased suspension and expulsion rates in a state that already unfortunately leads the nation in that rate,” Pushkin said. “I would urge you to really think about what you’re voting for here. This is going to be severely detrimental to the future of our state.”

House Education Committee Chair Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, countered that the bill helps provide a better education for all students by properly and fairly dealing with discipline problems.

“Our obligation is to provide a safe and good environment for these children and the staff to be able to teach and learn,” Ellington said. “This bill was trying to help those teachers help those students that are having their education disrupted, but it’s also to help those kids that are being excluded to help them get into a different alternative learning process. Whatever works, that’s what it is. It’s just one extra tool.”

House Bill 2890, modifying school discipline, passed with a 79-16 vote and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Debate Over Public Vs. Non-Traditional Education Gets Politically Heated

There are two schools of thought dominating the politics of improving West Virginia’s education systems. Some promote non-traditional education, while others say public schools must be prioritized.

State Treasurer Riley Moore oversees the legally revitalized Hope Scholarship program, offering state funding to families seeking educational avenues outside the public school system. Recently, while announcing his run for the U.S. Congress, Moore said he would push to create national educational savings accounts offering more school options across America. In doing so, he made a backhanded swipe at the public school system.

“This should be a federal program, we must have school choice for all of our children. You see the national test scores, they are abysmal,” Moore said. “Fourth grade and eighth grade reading and math has never been lower. We have to put our children first. There’s a war going on with the family in this country, and we have to be able to give them choice over indoctrination.”

Dale Lee is a long time educator and president of the West Virginia Education Association. He said implying that public schools indoctrinate students is a false, politically charged claim.

“We’re teaching them hopefully to become critical thinkers, and to look at all sides of issues,” Lee said. “As a middle school teacher told me, if I could indoctrinate my middle school kids, all of them would wear deodorant and stay off their phones during class. It’s not as simple as the far right wants to make us believe. We’re not indoctrinating anyone.”

Gov. Jim Justice said it was improper to speak so strongly against public schools.

“I do not think that it is constructive in any way for us to throw rocks,” Justice said. “Probably every last one of us that’s casting a rock went through the public school system, and I’m a believer in our public school system.”

Justice said supporting public and non-traditional schooling not only offers needed choice for West Virginia families, but sets up competition that makes the entire state education system better.

“Should we give our kids and our parents choice? Absolutely,” Justice said. “Without question, the competition level, whether it be charter or private or public, the competition level will make us better.“

Dale Lee countered that competition between public and private educational entities can not help improve things because they’re not on a level playing field.

“You’re not comparing apples to apples. I looked at a charter school back in the early 2010’s in Pittsburgh,” Lee said. “That school was successful, but it had a 15 to one student teacher ratio. I just left the classroom in Princeton High School, teaching a class of 38 kids and 12 on special needs. Anyone will tell you, in education, I can do far more at 15 to 1 students than 38 to 1.”

This debate will continue into the 2023 legislative session, where opinions on educating West Virginia children will become state policy proposals.