Gov. Jim Justice has issued a proclamation calling for the West Virginia Legislature to convene for a second Special Session of the year starting Monday, Sept 30, 2024. Both chambers will gavel in at 11 a.m.
There are 27 items on the call, including one to pay for costs of the session itself. Most of the remaining 26 items are supplemental funding requests with excess revenue from the 2024 fiscal year. Those funds must be appropriated to state programs or sent to line items like the rainy day fund.
The first five items on the call are of special note.
1. Calls for an additional 5 percent personal income tax reduction over and above the 21.25 percent decrease last year and the triggered 4 percent from this summer that was included in the previous cut.
3. Allows public charter schools to apply for School Building Authority money.
4. Authorizes the state to work with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to create a system for the control of sources of radiation for the protection of the public.
Despite numerous calls to address issues relating to homeschooling, Justice said Friday that would be better left to the regular session which begins in February 2025. Justice will no longer be governor at that time.
Once the session gets underway, bill status may be found here.
Justice released the following statement:
“As I call this Special Session, the goal is clear that we need to help the hardworking people of West Virginia. I’m hopeful that we can get another personal income tax cut across the finish line. I’ve said it time and again: nothing will help our population grow, create new opportunities, and drive economic progress in West Virginia like eliminating our personal income tax. We’re on the right track, but we need to keep pushing forward. The growth and momentum we’ve built during my time as governor is off the charts. It’s truly been a rocketship ride. We’ve also minded the store, and because of that we now have the opportunity to get these things done.
“We also need to do something to help hardworking families afford childcare. Right now, families across the country are struggling with extreme childcare costs, and we can’t sit on the sidelines and watch it happen in West Virginia. We need to step in and help. That’s why I’m again asking for a childcare tax credit to lower costs for families. This will make things a lot better for working families.
“There are additional things to address, such as more money for our schools and our nurses and getting major water, sewer, and infrastructure projects across West Virginia completed.”
State Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, was arrested on Monday for suspicion of driving under the influence. This is his third arrest since his tenure as a state senator began in 2016. His other arrests were for solicitation of a prostitute and indecent exposure.
Now the Monongalia County GOP has asked him to step down. Maroney’s district encompasses nine counties: Marshall, Monongalia, Wetzel, Marion, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Gilmer, and Calhoun.
Ethan Moore is the county party chairman. He says that Maroney no longer represents his district’s values.
“We believe that we deserve representation that represents our goals and our values,” Moore said. “The actions that Senator Maroney has taken here recently, and the issues that have caused him to be arrested for allegations, we don’t believe, represent those values and goals of our community and our constituents.”
He says absenteeism has also been a problem with the senator. Maroney was absent during the May special session, and all the interim sessions since.
He said in a message to the senator, that he hopes he gets better.
“Take care of yourself, straighten out your life and focus on recovery and making sure that you’re leading a life worth leading,“ Moore said.
Moore is asking the governor to grant Senate leadership the ability to remove Maroney from office if he fails to resign. Following his last arrest Maroney was removed from all of his committee assignments, including the health committee that he chaired.
On this West Virginia Morning, estimates suggest one-third of West Virginia children are not receiving sufficient child care. Gov. Jim Justice is calling lawmakers to Charleston on Monday for a special session where child care will be a main topic of discussion.
Briana Heaney visited the Capitol and spoke to child care providers to learn more about the state’s growing crisis.
Meanwhile, we’re in the middle of Banned Book Week, an annual campaign that raises awareness about efforts to remove books from libraries and schools. Reporter Caelan Bailey tells us how restrictions on book access have affected West Virginia.
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 and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Maria Young produced this episode.
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In a new national study, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute advocates that schools the state has identified as low-performing should be first in line when closure is considered.
Dozens of schools have closed in West Virginia over the past decade as enrollment in some counties has decreased by 20 percent or more. Declining school enrollment is a growing issue across the country, leading to widespread closures and consolidations.
In a new national study, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute advocates that schools the state has identified as low-performing should be first in line when closure is considered.
Michael Petrilli, president of the Fordham Institute, said focusing on low-performing schools will help students have better outcomes in already difficult situations.
“We know from research that if you close a school and the students end up in higher-performing schools as a result, they will do better academically,” he said. “On the flip side, if you close schools and the kids end up in lower performing schools, they’ll do worse.”
Petrilli acknowledged that any closure, regardless of analytics, will be harder for rural communities where alternatives are not nearby.
“In a city, you may have two schools that are relatively close to one another, and so if you close one, the kids don’t have to go very far to go to a better option,” he said “I understand that in the case of West Virginia, you may be talking about very long bus rides when a school closes, and it’s a big deal for these communities when they lose a school.”
The analysis identified nine schools in West Virginia that have both declining enrollment and have been identified by the state as low-performing. They are:
Arnoldsburg School in Calhoun County
East Bank Middle School in Kanawha County
Ranger Elementary in Lincoln County
Duval Pk–8 School in Lincoln County
Kimball Elementary School in Mcdowell County
Cherry River Elementary School in Nicholas County
Lakeside Elementary in Putnam County
Wayne Middle School in Wayne County
Mullens Middle School in Wyoming County
The researchers used the states’ own judgments, using Comprehensive Support and Improvement designations (CSI), a provision in federal law requiring states to identify:
The lowest-performing 5 percent of their Title I schools using a set of state-defined indicators.
High schools with graduation rates below 67 percent.
Title I schools with very low-performing subgroups of students that did not improve after being previously identified for “additional targeted support and improvement.
Petrilli is careful to point out that each state is allowed to determine its performance metrics, and it should be one of many considerations when making the difficult decision to close a school. Ultimately he said only a local community can determine if it’s appropriate to close one school in favor of another.
“From afar, it’s impossible to know,” he said. “Surely, there are some of those schools that are working on improving and, you know, may be on their way. There may be other ones, though, that have been chronically low performing for a long time and aren’t getting any better.“
West Virginia libraries have seen no challenges to book access so far this year, following just one challenge in 2023, according to American Library Association (ALA) Communications Specialist Raymond Garcia.
The data comes during a national downturn in reported book challenges, although some challenges and self-censorship may go unreported.
Last legislative session, House Bill 4654 proposed that the state hold educators criminally liable for displaying media deemed to be “obscene matter” to minors. The bill did not pass the West Virginia Senate. Lead sponsor Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, did not respond to requests for comment.
The West Virginia Library Association released a statement on HB 4654, comparing it to other states’ bills that ultimately removed books from institutions. It argued that the bill “opens our cultural and educational institutions to damaging attacks.”
Ron Titus, an electronic services librarian at Marshall University, has put together several digital resources about banned books in West Virginia, pointing to a history of book bans extending to the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook War. He said advanced literature classes often include difficult topics on their curriculums.
“I always say what you’re doing with your child that’s totally up to you, but that doesn’t necessarily give you the right to dictate to someone else what they do with their own child,” Titus said. Libraries should be “a place for the whole community.”
Titus said parents can pull their individual child from units with required reading. But he also encourages people to read and engage with books on a case-by-case basis rather than rely on organized groups trying to remove lists of titles, a trend in recent years.
“Talk to your kids,” Titus said. “They’ll let you know if they are uncomfortable with something.”
Jeannette Walls is the author of “The Glass Castle,” a memoir about her childhood that features her years living in Welch and includes extreme poverty and abuse. She said she still considers West Virginia “home.”
The book has faced challenges and bans outside of West Virginia but remains on many school reading lists. Walls said while she is often unsure of how to help specific communities resist book bans, she is “passionate” about advocating for the book’s accessibility.
“I tour a lot on behalf of it,” Walls said. This often includes “kids coming up and saying, ‘I thought I hated reading until I read your book,’ and, ‘Your story’s like mine.’”
“They tell me their stories and it just takes my breath away,” she said.
For Walls, writing the book opened ways to understand herself and connect with people from all different socioeconomic backgrounds. She said that seeing students have a similar experience in reading the book is more “meaningful” to her than any widespread recognition.
Walls also emphasized the importance of book discussion happening in the community space of a classroom, where she credits teachers’ skills in guiding conversations and creating space for students — like her West Virginia high school teachers did for her.
“I think we’re underestimating kids and their ability to understand and cope with these stories,” Walls said. “And I think that sharing and taking people out of their shame is the most valuable tool that we can give our kids.”
Turmoil over vacancy proceedings has plagued the Jefferson County Commission since the summer of 2023. That’s when former Commissioner Claire Ath stepped down from office, triggering a dispute over her successor.
Two commissioners, Jennifer Krouse and Tricia Jackson, disapproved of the candidates for Ath’s replacement, with Krouse saying online that they were not “actual conservatives.”
In protest, Krouse and Jackson refused to attend seven consecutive meetings, stalling the county government and later resulting in their removal from office.
One year after the conflict, confusion surrounding vacancy proceedings has surfaced again. Only this time, the looming general election in November could render another search for a successor inconsequential.
The court decision
In August, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld an earlier circuit court decision that removed Krouse and Jackson from office.
In the months between the May circuit court decision and the August supreme court decision, the commission was permitted to select temporary, stand-in commissioners without a full appointment process.
They chose James Cook to represent Krouse’s Shepherdstown District, and Kevin Upson to represent Jackson’s Harpers Ferry District.
The supreme court decision affirmed that Krouse and Jackson could not return to office, triggering a full appointment process. Under state law, this process requires identifying a successor “of the same political party” as the outgoing commissioner upon their departure.
For Jackson’s former district, that meant finding a Republican.
This meant her successor had to come from the Mountain Party, a minor party with fewer than 2,500 members statewide and just 145 in Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Commission at its May 2 meeting, the first meeting after former Commissioners Tricia Jackson and Jennifer Krouse were removed from office.
Photo Credit: Jefferson County Commission
Starting the search
In May, then-Mountain Party Chair Denise Binion told West Virginia Public Broadcasting she was unsure why Krouse switched affiliations, because her “politics don’t match the party at all.”
At the time, Krouse did not respond to requests for comment. But her switch came after months of dispute with the local Republican party.
Earlier this year, the county government fallout led the West Virginia Legislature to reform county commission vacancy protocols.
Successors soon must come from an outgoing commissioner’s party upon election. But that policy only takes effect at the start of 2025, meaning Krouse’s replacement still must be a member of the Mountain Party.
Per state law, the Jefferson County Commission had 30 days after vacancy proceedings began to find replacements independently. They quickly reappointed Upson to represent Harpers Ferry.
For Krouse’s former district, the Mountain Party State Executive Committee recommended Todd Cotgreave, a former mayoral candidate in Shepherdstown, according to current Mountain Party Chair Dylan Parsons.
But Commission President Steve Stolipher said they could not agree upon a member of the Mountain Party to represent Shepherdstown.
“We interviewed some Mountain Party candidates. It just so happened to be a tie,” he said. This disagreement meant the commission was unable to find a replacement within 30 days.
Parsons is skeptical that the party was simply unable to agree.
“The Mountain Party platform advocates for reforming county commissions, including reducing the length of terms for commissioners,” he wrote in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “It is therefore unsurprising that the Jefferson County Commission is keeping a true Mountain Party member from filling the vacancy.”
After 30 days, a party’s county executive committee must then select three nominees for office to be voted upon by the county commission.
But this brought about another issue: The Mountain Party did not have a formal county executive committee in Jefferson County. Plus, Parsons said the party struggled to identify enough eligible candidates.
A question of authority
“Due to the party being a minor party, finding three names who truly represented party values was difficult,” Parsons wrote. “Three names for us is the same as 300 names for the GOP, to put it in perspective.”
Deak Kersey, chief of staff to Secretary of State Mac Warner, said it is unclear whether the Mountain Party’s state committee has the authority to nominate a candidate for office.
Deak Kersey with the West Virginia secretary of state’s office says challenging current Jefferson County vacancy proceedings could require legal intervention.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“First, there’s a question of: Do they even have the body, the political committee, that can submit the names to the commission?” he said. “We are in that limbo where the authority goes to the county party, [but] there isn’t a county party, so there can’t be a list submitted to the county commission.”
Parsons said his party has formed a local county executive committee headed by Cotgreave, and that his party still wants the commission to appoint him.
But Stolipher said the county commission is still awaiting a list of three names for potential candidates, which is required under state law. Kersey said the commission likely has legal grounds to wait.
“Otherwise, the county parties could just submit one name every time,” he said. “It removes the authority of a county commission to select from the list.”
The general election
Vacancy proceedings are currently at a standstill. Regardless, both Krouse and Jackson’s former seats will be contested, because appointed commissioners must be formally elected to remain in office.
This means, if the Shepherdstown seat is filled, the new commissioner would serve for just a matter of weeks.
Kersey said challenging the commission’s vacancy proceedings would probably require going to court. But this would still likely overlap with the general election, limiting courses of action and making the appointment process less consequential.
“It’s a tricky situation,” Kersey said.
Once the county certifies its election results, the commissioner elected to represent Shepherdstown will take office, which could come as soon as late November, according to Kersey.
In the meantime, the Jefferson County Commission currently has four members in office. Despite the risk of a deadlock on any given vote, there are enough people to meet quorum and conduct business, Stolipher said.
For now, the county government is “completely back to normal,” Stolipher said; just with one less voice.
