Finances Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Addressing Diversion In W.Va.’s Criminal Justice System

On this episode of The Legislature Today, host Randy Yohe talks with forensic psychologist Dr. David Clayman and Senate Jails and Prison Committee Co-Chair Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, to talk about the diversion of certain persons from the criminal justice system.

On this episode of The Legislature Today, host Randy Yohe talks with forensic psychologist Dr. David Clayman and Senate Jails and Prison Committee Co-Chair Sen. Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, to talk about the diversion of certain persons from the criminal justice system.

Also, in the House, a bill to help those with dementia and their families heads to the Senate, and a bill on whether authorities should release mugshots has sparked some controversy.

And, we’re now more than a week into the session, and bills have started to move through their respective committees. The Education committees in both chambers are addressing financial issues in the state’s schools. Chris Schulz has the story.

Finally, it was Rural Health Care Day at the Capitol. Many health care providers and health advocacy organizations were at the capitol to discuss challenges and advocate for possible solutions in rural health care. Briana Heaney has more.

Having trouble viewing the video below? Click here to watch it on YouTube.

The Legislature Today is West Virginia’s only television/radio simulcast devoted to covering the state’s 60-day regular legislative session.

Watch or listen to new episodes Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

WVU Announces Proposed Cuts To Academic Programs

West Virginia University has released the recommendations of its academic program review process. They include the discontinuation of several degree programs, as well as the complete dissolution of the World Languages Department.

West Virginia University (WVU) has released the recommendations of its academic program review process. They include the discontinuation of several degree programs, as well as the complete dissolution of the World Languages Department.

The recommendations from the university’s provost come as part of a restructuring in response to an estimated $45 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2024. The individual recommendation notifications can be viewed on the provost’s website.

World Languages is the only department under review recommended for full dissolution. Other programs, such as Applied Human Sciences’ School of Education or the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Public Administration program may lose specific degrees.

In a press release, WVU said 32 of the 338 majors offered on the Morgantown campus have been recommended for discontinuation; 12 undergraduate majors and 20 graduate-level majors affecting more than 400 students.

The preliminary recommendations also included faculty reductions, totaling 169 faculty positions.

“While we view these preliminary recommendations for reductions and discontinuations as necessary, we are keenly aware of the people they will affect,” President Gordon Gee said in the press release. “We do not take that lightly. These faculty are our colleagues, our neighbors and our friends. These decisions are difficult to make.”

Gee is further quoted as saying the Board of Governors charged university administrators to focus on what will best serve the needs of our students and the state.

“Students have choices, and if we aim to improve our enrollment numbers and recruit students to our university, we must have the programs and majors that are most relevant to their needs and the future needs of industry,” he said.

The recommendation to shutter World Languages cites a national decline in enrollment and student demand.

Lisa DiBartolomeo, a teaching professor and supervisor of the Russian studies program, said language education is on the chopping block when it is most necessary.

“If we are allegedly equipping our students to go out into the world and not educating them in means of communication with people from other countries and other backgrounds, we are failing them as a university and we’re failing them as a society,” she said. “The United States is already behind the rest of the world in terms of proficiency in a language other than their own language and this is going to exacerbate the problem for students in a state where foreign language education and cultural competency is already a challenge.”

DiBartolomeo said the recommendation has left faculty both in and outside of World Languages shocked.

“It is unthinkable that a university of our size and stature would cease to offer any language and culture programs whatsoever,” she said.

WVU said it is reviewing plans to eliminate the language requirement for all majors, citing similar decisions at universities like Johns Hopkins and George Washington. Recognizing that some students may still have an interest in languages, the university is considering alternative methods of delivery such as a partnership with an online language app or online partnership with a fellow Big 12 university.

Earlier this year, two WVU students were awarded the highly competitive U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship, and on Tuesday the university boasted that seven students had received Fulbright Scholarships, the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program.

DiBartolomeo expressed concern that ending the teaching of world languages at WVU will severely limit these and other opportunities for future students and contribute to the state’s brain drain.

“If you’re a rising senior in the state of West Virginia, and you’re looking at where you’re going to go to college, and you’re going to depend on the Promise scholarship to help you afford to go to college, you don’t have a lot of options if you’re staying in the state of West Virginia,” she said. “If WVU no longer teaches languages, that student has to choose between studying at a university that recognizes that global readiness and intercultural competence matters, or going out of state and going further into debt and being able to do the program that they want. If kids go out of state to college, they’re even less likely to stay in the state afterward.”

The decision comes after what Provost Maryanne Reed calls a holistic process “considering a variety of factors, including the potential for enrollment growth.”

But DiBartolomeo and others are questioning that process. The World Language Department’s own self-study – a part of the program review process – indicated that the department consistently generates a profit of more than $800,000 annually.

“Revenues exceeded our expenses,” DiBartolomeo said. “My department also really contributes deeply to the service mission of the university. We teach a lot of students. And I don’t think that the provost’s office and the administration are fully aware of the ramifications of closing the language program at a university like this.”

Scott Crichlow, associate professor of political science, said that the results of the program review show that the administration’s decisions are not based on educational needs.

“It’s solely based upon things like class sizes and student-teacher ratios, and that’s going to inevitably prioritize certain programs and deprioritize different programs,” he said. “They’re not about the norms of professions. They’re not about skills. They’re not about student needs. It’s just about following spreadsheet data.”

Crichlow and DiBartolomeo both said the announcements have been demoralizing for faculty across the university. Crichlow said although his program was not up for review and discontinuation in this round, he expects it will be soon.

“Part of the whole concern about this entire process is that the rule change that the administration rushed through doesn’t solely eliminate faculty protections and faculty stability for this one crisis here. The rule change makes it possible for all the years to come to make it much easier to fire faculty,” he said. “International Studies will presumably be part of a future round for elimination. If you’re gonna get rid of all of the world languages, I don’t see how you have an International Studies program going forward.”

Deans and faculty of all affected programs have until Aug. 18 to file an appeal.

Post Special Session, Bills Passed And Failed

Earlier this week, 35 of 44 bills proposed in the recent special legislative session passed. But what about the bills that failed?

The special session included about $30 million to address the ongoing crisis in the state correctional system, $12 million for volunteer fire departments and EMS, and $45 million to help Marshall University establish a Cybersecurity Program. Several other passed bills will make a mark on the state.

Gov. Jim Justice, who called the legislature into special session to address the 44 bills, said corrections and roads were his top priorities. Senate Bill 1026 appropriated $150 million to the Department of Highways. Justice said in a media briefing that road maintenance funding makes more money for the state.

“We have made incredible progress there,” Justice said. “It’s an economic driver beyond belief.”

Other passed bills include allocating $4 million to help make the West Virginia Culture Center compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and $1 million dollars that will replace worn patient beds in state veterans’ hospitals.

In 2019, the legislature eliminated the state severance tax on timber. But that left the state forestry department without a source of income for fire suppression. That’s according to Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam.

“So we went back in and put in about $4 million for fire suppression equipment for forestry,” Tarr said.

Find a complete list of passed special session bills here.

The nine bills that did not pass included funding denied for the Attorney General’s technology litigation staff, some state park repairs, mine reclamation emergencies and rejected appropriations to the Department of Revenue.

Tarr said there was nothing inherently wrong with the bills that did not pass. He said when the House of Delegates rejected a procedural funding bill that incorporated a rainy day fund “smoothing” mechanism, it greatly reduced the surplus money available to allocate.

“Fixing that problem would have reduced the rainy day transfer from $231 million to about $87 million,” Tarr said. “So you have to go through and prioritize some of these spends. It really comes down to ‘Do you take the the miser ideology, or do you take an entrepreneurial approach, and invest in the state?’”

Tarr said “I can’t say that what we did aren’t the end all solutions, but they are really big steps toward comprehensive solutions that we do with these issues.”

The nine failed bills include:

HB 101 – Relating to combining the totals of the Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund and Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund

HB102 – Supplementing and amending the appropriations to the Department of Revenue

HB 108 – Relating to pretrial release

HB 111 – Authorizing agreements for reimbursement for certain training costs and to authorize the division to cooperate with the Supreme Court of Appeals on developing a comprehensive transportation plan

HB 113 – Relating to making West Virginia an agreement state with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

HB 118 – Supplementing and amending the appropriations to state board of education

HB 135 – Supplementing and amending the appropriations to the Department of Environmental Protection

HB 136 – Supplementing and amending the appropriations to the Department of Commerce, Division of Natural Resources

HB 140 – Supplementing and amending the appropriations of public moneys out of the Treasury from the balance of moneys remaining as an unappropriated surplus balance in the State Fund, General Revenue, to the Attorney General

State Board Of Education Receives Updates On Ongoing Investigation, State Assessments And More

During its monthly meeting Wednesday, Aug. 9, the West Virginia Board of Education received an update on the investigation into Upshur County Schools, which was placed under state control earlier this summer.

Jeffrey Kelley, accountability officer for the state Department of Education, reported to the board that the investigation into Upshur County Schools’ management of funds is ongoing with the collaboration of the state police.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also become involved based on an early inspection of child nutrition in the county.

With the start of the school year just around the corner, Kelley commended Upshur Schools’ central office, including Superintendent Christy Miller, for balancing the investigation with their regular duties.

“All of this stuff that we reported out last month and this month, these corrective pieces that have been spearheaded by Superintendent Miller have taken place while they’re also trying to get ready for the opening of schools and navigating the craze we call summer personnel,” he said.

Both Kelley and Miller discussed outdated policies that have been discovered as part of the investigations that are being replaced.

“Operationally policy is a big deal,” Miller said. “Each time we open the supposed policy manual that’s in place, we do find outdated policy, outdated language.”

Miller told the board Upshur is on the mend and is on its way to becoming a lighthouse example for others across the state.

“I’m a believer that I have to go in with the enthusiasm, confidence in them, that we’re all there to do the job that we are hired to do, which is to support our students, and improving their outcomes,” Miller said.

Later in the meeting, board members received a detailed report on the state’s Schools of Diversion and Transition. Formerly titled the Office of Institutional Education Programs, the West Virginia Schools of Diversion and Transition provide educational services to juveniles and adults in residential and other state-operated correctional facilities.

Jacob Green, superintendent of Schools of Diversion & Transition, gave the board an overview of the various facilities and programs his department oversees, including a truancy diversion program in 14 counties.

“For instance, in Putnam County, Judge Towers can actually sentence a kid to our classroom instead of going to detention,” Green said. “Last year we served 408 students.”

He said his department also served around 6,000 adults in correctional facilities across the state, and discussed how his department has to deal not only with the state’s shortage in teaching positions, but the correctional officer shortage as well.

“We have a lot of challenges being spread out,” Green said. “We are affected by the correctional officer shortage every day, we sometimes do not have enough officers to hold class the way we normally do. We have to improvise and work with those host agencies because we don’t own any of the buildings we’re in. We are a guest of either the DHHR facilities, those that run those facilities, or the Division of Corrections.”

The board also heard a report on the year’s summative assessment results from Vaughn Rhudy, director of assessment for the department. He reported that overall students showed improvement year over year.

“In math, we increased two percentage points over last year. 35 percent, where we were 33 percent,” Rudy said. “Last year in English language arts, another two percentage point increase 44 this year, 42 Last year. And in science, we did see a one percentage point increase to 29 percent over 28 percent last year.”

Accounting for grade level and subject, there were some small decreases or no change, including for seventh grade language arts from 41 percent to 39 percent. The full results can be viewed on the Zoom WV website.

State Board Of Education Hears Reports On County Investigations, Confirms Leadership

Michele Blatt was sworn in as the new state superintendent of schools, and the board heard updates on two school systems under state control.

The July 12 meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education opened and closed with administrative procedures.

Michele Blatt was sworn in as the new state superintendent of schools. She thanked the board members for their confidence in her taking the position.

“I just know that with the support I have from the board, along with my colleagues across the state, that we’re going to be able to do great things for West Virginia,” Blatt said.

Then, the board heard updates on two school systems under state control. Logan County Schools was placed under state control last October, while Upshur County Schools became the latest system to be placed under state control in June.

Both school systems were taken over after investigations by the West Virginia Department of Education discovered financial misconduct.

Jeffrey Kelley, accountability officer for the West Virginia Department of Education, said the review is ongoing with department staff onsite regularly. He said they have been in contact with representatives of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, as well as the U.S. Department of Education’s inspector general and the West Virginia State Police.

“Also, our office of child nutrition has begun an inspection of nutrition in Upshur County,” Kelley said.

It was also reported that the investigation had discovered more than $1 million in staff overtime expenses. Kelley said in the future the state needs to be able to identify these issues sooner.

“Having processes in place where these red flags go off sooner as opposed to later,” he said. “Basically, we need a stress test for counties in all areas, and I thought that was an appropriate term for what we’re looking to do.”

Kelley said updates to the existing accountability system for schools, known as Policy 2322, are already being discussed.

The final item on the board’s agenda was the election of the West Virginia Board of Education officers.

President Paul Hardesty, Vice President Nancy White and Financial Officer Scott Rotruck were all nominated without contest.

“I will therefore announce that the slate of officers nominated by Mr. Dunlevy are elected by acclamation,” Hardesty said.

WVU Identifies Dozens Of Programs For Review, Possible Discontinuation

West Virginia University identified 25 programs that will be subject to the program review process with the possibility of discontinuation.

During a Campus Conversation over Zoom Monday morning, West Virginia University identified 25 programs that will be subject to the program review process with the possibility of discontinuation.

Earlier this year WVU announced an estimated budget deficit of $45 million. The school’s recently approved financial plan for 2024 requires reduced expenses totaling nearly $10 million, $7 million of which comes from a reduction in the number of employees.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences had the most programs flagged for review at eight, including the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, Chemistry and English.

The School of Public Health, the School of Pharmacy, and the College of Law will all be reviewed. The complete list of programs under review can be found here.

WVU Provost Maryanne Reed said the reviews are part of an academic transformation due to budget shortfalls at the university.

“Our goals for this work are as follows: To develop a more focused set of academic programs that align with student demand, career opportunities and market trends, while also supporting our land grant and research missions, and to ensure that the programs in our portfolio are being delivered in the most effective and efficient way possible” she said.

Reed also identified RPK Group, a national higher education consulting firm, that has helped the university validate the data and analysis used to select programs as well as helped develop a framework for decision making.

WVU President Gordon Gee said the review process was not an administrative effort, but a community effort that the entire university was engaged in together.

“This is a difficult damn process,” he said. “It involves the notion that we are engaged in making some very difficult decisions and people will be affected by those.”

Mark Gavin is the associate provost for academic, budget, facilities and strategic initiatives. He clarified that just because a program is under review does not automatically mean it will be discontinued.

“Being on the list simply means that we need to take a closer look at the unit’s operations and programs to determine if, and I do emphasize if, some changes need to be made,” Gavin said. “There might be opportunities to achieve greater efficiency through personnel reductions.”

Gavin identified several reasons why programs and units such as departments were selected for review.

“The unit and its programs can be identified for formal review for one or more of several reasons, including concerning enrollment metrics for one or more of its programs, and/or for concerning unit-level metrics around (student credit hour) production, faculty resources, instructional efficiency or financial performance,” he said.

Deans and chairs of the identified programs will now seek input from faculty and staff to create a Program Review Self-Study Form to be submitted to the provost’s office.

Recommendations for Program Reduction or Discontinuation will be made the week of August 11.

This is a developing story and may be updated.