Education Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

No $465M COVID-19 Education Funds Clawback Justice Says

Gov. Jim Justice announced Friday that West Virginia will not face a clawback of $465 million in COVID-19 money from the U.S. Department of Education, alleviating concerns raised by state lawmakers during the final days of the legislative session in March.

The Republican governor said in a statement that federal officials approved the state’s application for a waiver for the money, which was a portion of the more than a billion dollars in federal aid the state received to help support students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to receive the money, the state needed to keep funding education at the same or a higher level than before the pandemic. In other words, the federal money could supplement existing state investment in education but not replace it.

For federal spending packages passed in 2020 and 2021, that meant a dollar-for-dollar match. For 2022 and 2023, the federal government examined the percentage of each state’s total budget being spent on education.

Those regulations were waived for West Virginia in 2022. As lawmakers worked to finish the state budget in March at the close of the session, the state had not been approved for a waiver for 2023.

The question threw the state’s budget process into disarray and caused uncertainty in the days before the 60-day legislative session, with lawmakers saying they would pass a “skinny budget” and reconvene to address unfinished business in May, when the financial situation is clearer.

Justice said then that his office was negotiating with the federal government and that he expected a positive resolution, citing funds dedicated to school service and teacher pay raises each year since 2018 — when school employees went on strike over conditions in schools.

On Friday, he praised the federal government’s decision, and he said he was never concerned the waiver wouldn’t be approved.
“This announcement came as no surprise and was never a real issue,” Justice said.

He also said the state has dedicated money to building projects and putting teaching aides in classrooms to improve math and reading skills. The state said it spent $8,464 per K-12 pupil in 2024, compared with $7,510 during Justice’s first year as governor in 2017, according to documents submitted to the federal government.

But because state spending increased overall — from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $6.2 billion in 2023 — the percentage marked for education decreased. The key metric eliciting pause from the federal government was an 8% decrease in the education piece of the budget pie — from 51% in 2017 to 43% last year.

Justice said the state’s investment in education speaks for itself: State leaders also approved $150 million for the state’s School Building Authority in the state budget for the fiscal year starting in July.

State Pre-K Program Continues To Rank High Nationally

West Virginia once again scored well in the latest State of Pre-K report from the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.

West Virginia once again scored well in the latest State of Pre-K report from the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. The institute, known as NIEER, has been advocating for universal pre-K and grading each state’s existing program for 20 years.

West Virginia moved from 6th to 4th in the nation for preschool enrollment for 4-year-olds, serving 67 percent of this age group in the state, nearly double the national enrollment.

Steven Barnett, founder and senior co-director of NIERR, said enrollment is up nationwide.

“In nearly every state, enrollment was also up over the previous year,” he said. “‘Enrollment increased by 7 percent year over year. The percentage of 4-year-olds is 35 percent, 3-year-olds – 7 percent enrolled. In terms of the percentage served, these are new records.”

The state’s 3-year-old enrollment matched the national average, at 7 percent and brought the year’s total enrollment to 13,731.

“West Virginia continues to be a leader in early childhood education, creating foundational learning opportunities for our most precious resources,” said Michele Blatt, state superintendent of schools. “Early learning has a vast impact on the growth and development of our children and the future of the Mountain State. Access to pre-K education provides families and students an introduction to lifelong learning.”

The state’s program once again met nine out of 10 NIERR benchmark standards criteria, which include student to teacher ratios, teacher specialized training and maximum class sizes. The only missed benchmark for West Virginia is staff professional development for teachers and assistants.

Allison Friedman-Krauss, assistant research professor at NIEER, said training and support is more important than ever amidst a growing teacher shortage.

“We’ve seen again this year, widespread reports of teacher shortages,” she said. “To date, the most frequent response to teacher shortages has been to allow less qualified teachers in the classroom.”

State spending on pre-K increased by $4 million, and per child spending equaled $7,053 in 2022-2023, a slight increase from the previous year.

W.Va. Peer Recovery Support Specialist Wins National Award

A peer recovery support specialist at a Marshall-based recovery program has won the Cornerstone Award.

The award honors an individual or organization that has gone above and beyond to support students in recovery.

Aaron Blankenship is a West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Network (WVCRN) team member and recovery support specialist at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College.

“Through his unwavering dedication and tireless efforts, Aaron Blankenship exemplifies the essence of the ARHE Cornerstone Award for Student Support,” said Dr. Pamela Alderman, president of Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. “His commitment to going above and beyond in supporting students in recovery transforms lives and serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for our community. We celebrate Aaron’s profound impact and recognize him as a cornerstone of support for those navigating the recovery journey.”

The WVCRN is housed within the Marshall University Research Corporation with support from the Marshall University Center of Excellence for Recovery.

Blankenship will accept his award at the National Collegiate Recovery Conference in San Diego, California this summer.

According to one of his peers, Hattie Newsome, student success coordinator for Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, Blankenship’s own recovery gave him the empathy and drive to work passionately with students and the recovery community.

“He inspires those in recovery by showing them they can achieve sobriety, goals and their dreams can come true,” she said.

Kanawha County Textbook Controversy, 50 Years Later

Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of a Kanawha County Board of Education meeting that became inundated with controversy over new, multicultural textbooks.

On April 11, 1974 — 50 years ago Thursday — a meeting of the Kanawha County Board of Education quickly became mired in controversy.

During the meeting, members of the board adopted a new slate of language arts textbooks, in part to promote multiculturalism in the classroom.

But after reviewing the books that had been approved for the new curriculum, board member Alice Moore and several local residents alleged some of them were antithetical to Christian values.

As proponents of the new curriculum stood firm in the board’s decision, others began to stage protests over the books’ inclusion.

Things escalated in the months following the meeting, and even turned toward violence. Some protesters threw dynamite and Molotov cocktails at local school buildings, and even targeted buses with firearms.

Ultimately, a contingent of residents and board members pushed the curriculum through. But some say the incident has parallels to today, as libraries and schools across the country face increased scrutiny over the books they provide youth.

Trey Kay, host of the West Virginia Public Broadcasting podcast Us & Them, produced a documentary on the textbook controversy in 2013.

On the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, Kay said 1974 was a year when the country was experiencing “one of its more progressive phases,” which brought forth new, often clashing ideas.

“A lot of things that would have been considered multicultural were society reacting to the changing role of women. Society was reacting to how we were making a correction with regard to civil rights,” he said. “The textbooks were reflecting how it was we thought about our government and how we conducted war.”

Debates seemingly over textbook content were also debates on what place these new values and ideas would have in American society, Kay said.

Five decades later, Kay said that the incident remains an influential memory for West Virginia residents. Perhaps most notably, Kay said a through-line over the years has been parents’ focus on what curricula their children are exposed to.

“The constant is that parents really have a great deal of care over what it is that their children learn,” Kay said. “They’re highly suspicious and vigilant about what the schools are teaching.”

Election Filing Changes And Solar Eclipse Safety This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, we learn from graduate students about how to view Monday’s eclipse safely. Also, changes to how and when political parties can fill vacancies after the candidate filing deadline in state elections.

On this West Virginia Morning, we learn from graduate students about how to view Monday’s eclipse safely and why the celestial event is scientifically important.

Also, in this show, Randy Yohe looks at changes made in the latest legislative session – on how and when political parties can fill vacancies after the candidate filing deadline in state elections.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Emily Rice produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

How To Safely View Monday’s Solar Eclipse

Later Monday, a solar eclipse will draw a path across North America. Although West Virginia is not directly in that path, there are still amazing opportunities to safely observe a unique celestial event.

Early in the afternoon, the moon will pass between the Earth and the sun blocking the light of the sun to observers. For those in the path of totality just north and west of West Virginia, they will experience a total solar eclipse.

“Totality means that the entire disk of the sun is covered,” said Susie Paine, a physics PhD student at West Virginia University, and a graduate student assistant at the university’s planetarium. “So it’ll be almost like nighttime in the day. Totality is rare. We won’t have totality in West Virginia, unfortunately, we’re getting like 95 percent of the sun covered by the moon.”

She said the path of the moon and earth actually produces eclipses fairly often. What makes Monday’s event special is just how many people in North America will be able to observe it without having to travel.

“The appearance of rarity is that most of the Earth is not a great place for humans to be in the middle of the ocean,” Paine said. “So most solar eclipses are not going to happen in a place that’s convenient for any particular person to see them.”

It really is a once in a lifetime experience. According to NASA, the next total solar eclipse that will travel across the lower 48 states from coast to coast is in 2045, but that will cross from California to Florida. A total eclipse like this isn’t going to come close to West Virginia for another 100 years.

But if you only know one thing before the eclipse, Paine needs it to be about safety.

“The big thing is buy and wear solar eclipse glasses,” she said. “I cannot stress this enough, wear eclipse glasses.”

Paine said the only time to safely look at the eclipse without protection is during totality, something that won’t happen anywhere in West Virginia. The risks of staring at the sun are no joke.

“It could cause cataracts which can cause other eye diseases,” she said. “If you look at it for too long, then you’re gonna go blind. So don’t do that.”

Eclipse glasses like these are a crucial tool to enable direct observation of a solar eclipse.

*Photo Credit: Chris Schulz/West Virginia Public Broadcasting*

One of the safe ways to indirectly observe the eclipse, without looking directly at the sun, is a pinhole projector. A projector can be made with a simple piece of paper, a shoe or cereal box or even by holding up a colander to let the sunlight shine through the holes and onto the ground or a white sheet. As the eclipse progresses, you’ll notice changes in the pinholes of light.

“You’ll see a bite taken out of it,” Paine said. “Sort of like when the moon is waxing or waning, it’ll eventually look crescent. Then most of the sun will be obscured, and then there’ll be a bite on the other side, and that’ll pass away.”

Jackson Taylor is also a graduate student at WVU and also cannot stress enough the importance of safety when observing the eclipse.

“Just to reiterate, nowhere in the state of West Virginia will it be safe to view the eclipse without eclipse glasses. Nowhere in the state,” he said. “Even with the eclipse glasses, you should still give your eyes a rest. You shouldn’t really be looking at the sun for more than five minutes, even with eclipse glasses.”

Taylor said the eclipse offers scientists unprecedented opportunities to learn more about the sun.

“For astronomers, we love solar eclipses, because they block out the light of the sun, and it lets us see the outer solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun, which extends way past the actual visible part of the sun to our eyes,” he said. “Because it’s getting blocked by the moon, we’re able to see parts of the sun that we’re not able to see on any given day.”

Eclipses have led to incredible discoveries, including the element helium – helios is Greek for sun – burning in the corona, and even the confirmation of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

“The sun is the closest star to us so by studying our own sun, we’re able to study all the other stars,” Taylor said. “So if we’re not taking into account the corona for our own sun, our own star, then we cannot take it into account for the other stars that we’re studying.”

The public will benefit from that scientific fervor because even if it’s cloudy, Taylor said NASA will be live streaming the eclipse online. And Paine has one more parting piece of advice.

“Wear your eclipse glasses,” Paine said. “Just don’t look directly at the sun, the same rules that have applied every other day of your life apply on April 8.”