House Education Committee Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

School Discipline Bill Stumbles In House Education Committee

School discipline was identified as a key issue coming into this year’s legislative session. But with the session’s end just days away, a key school discipline bill is in question after a contentious committee meeting Monday afternoon.

Senate Bill 614 aims to expand teachers’ ability to remove disruptive students to the elementary level from grades kindergarten through six. But the bill also has further requirements including suspension of the unruly student and placement in alternative education.

Lindsey McIntosh, general counsel for Kanawha County Schools, brought up several concerns when the Senate Education Committee discussed the bill in February. She was on hand again Monday afternoon in the House Education Committee, and told lawmakers that the bill will create more work for schools and school districts. According to McIntosh, the bill requires a student that has been removed to undergo a risk assessment, a step above what Kanawha County Schools already does.

“What we typically do, unless we’re talking about an expulsion, is we do a Threat Report, which is based on the Virginia model of threat reports,” she said. “It is a scientifically proven model that we evaluate whether or not that threat is transient, meaning it was just language used or if it was something that was substantive, meaning they have an intent to actually do what they stated that they were going to do. Once that threat report comes back as substantive, then we do the risk assessment.”

McIntosh said the county does far more threat reports than risk assessments.

She further warned legislators that as written, the bill’s required assessment could spell federal legal trouble for schools. McIntosh said the requirement triggers special education protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, also known as IDEA. Those federal protections are incongruous with the bill’s requirement to remove students from their classroom.

“It’s going to create an ambiguity that is going to lead to litigation, there is no way above that or beyond that,” McIntosh said. “If we have teachers that are asking for these students to be removed, and the law says technically they are protected students under the IDEA, which all of these kids would be because they’re all now triggering ChildFind under this language, then we as a school system have to figure out how to litigate – are we under the IDEA? Or are we complying with the law?”

SB 614’s lead sponsor and Senate Education Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, was on hand to defend the bill. She said the bill’s requirements raise the standard for all counties.

“The whole purpose is to remove that child immediately, one to three days, and there have been school systems who say we can’t do a risk assessment, or we can’t do analysis in three days,” Grady said. “Well, you can, you’re just not doing it right now because there’s nobody forcing your hand to get it done right away. And this is kind of what we want to do is make sure we get that done quickly, rather than them dragging their feet for two weeks at a time and saying we don’t have that ready.”

Grady, a teacher, has consistently said that discipline is the number one issue for teachers, driving them away from the profession and robbing other students of their right to learn. She said SB 614 isn’t perfect, but something needs to be done to help the situation.

“You need more people to help with risk assessments, then so be it. That’s what you do,” Grady said. “You rearrange things. That’s what we do in education, we make do with what we have. And so I think that, that’s the best way we would do it now. And if it seems like there are a lot of referrals and specific counties or specific areas, then we have to revisit that and see what needs to be done.”

Grady said the law can be reassessed moving forward as needed, acknowledging it will not fit every situation.

“We don’t have an answer for everything. I wish we did,” she said. “And I wish that this bill solved every problem we have, it would be so great. I worked so hard to try to make this perfect. And I realized that it’s not perfect, and it’s never going to be perfect. Because let’s face it, every kid is different. Every county is different. Every school is different, every teacher is different. And so it’s not a one size fits all.”

After more than an hour of discussion over the bill’s language and potential changes to ensure compliance with federal requirements, the committee adjourned without taking further action on SB 614. With only four days left in the regular session, the bill’s future is unclear.

Language similar to, but less stringent than, SB 614 is included in House Bill 5262, also known as the Teacher’s Bill of Rights, which has cleared both education committees and is now pending in Senate Finance.

Special Education Staffing, School Athletics Discussed In Education Committees

The House Education Committee moved to address a critical shortage of special education staff, while the Senate Education Committee took a rarely seen action in their meeting.

Wednesday was the first ever Special Education Day at the Capitol, and the House Education Committee took the opportunity to move House Bill 4902.

The bill would first raise the pay of special education aides to match the pay of “Early Childhood Classroom Assistant Teachers” created by last year’s Third Grade Success Act. And then it would give special education aides a 5 percent raise on top of that.

The bill also gives a 10 percent raise to Special Education Teachers in self-contained classrooms, where students with the most complex needs, who require the most support, are placed.

Another component of the bill that required board members who are certified in the subject area of a critical vacancy to go to the classroom and fill that position until someone is hired to do so was removed by amendment during the meeting.

Bill sponsor Del. Elliot Pritt, R-Fayette, said he agreed with the amendment because it left the most important action intact.

“We have people sitting in board offices at desks who are qualified to do jobs in the classroom, while we have critical vacancies in classrooms, across counties,” he said. “And all this would have done is tell them, hey, if there’s an empty critical vacancy, you have to be in the classroom till it’s filled. And you want to talk about lighting a fire under somebody’s rear end to aggressively try to find someone to fill those positions. You make them leave their office to go into that position for a while.”

The bill was voted to the House floor, but first with a recommendation to the House Finance Committee. The bill does not have a fiscal note at this time, and Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, urged his colleagues on that committee to take HB 4902 seriously. He said it was one of the issues he hears most about from his constituents.

“This is something that’s needed. It’s at a crisis level, the shortage that we have in our special education classrooms,” Pushkin said. “I certainly hope that they prioritize this bill. I know it’s late in the session for us to take this up, but better late than never. So those of you that are on the Finance Committee, get on it.”

House Education also discussed and advanced:

HB 4829, Relating employment of service personnel and removing the requirement for a high school diploma or general education development certificate.
HB 5425, Granting a waiver to fill certain professional educator positions of employment when no applicants have six or more years of experience.

In Senate Education

The Senate Education Committee met Thursday morning and took a rare action to reconsider an amended bill that they had recommended to the full Senate Tuesday.

Senate Bill 813 would allow students to participate in non-school competitive activities and remove restrictions on external teams as a condition for playing for a school, team or sport.

Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, rescinded his amendment extending the bill’s provisions to coaches, allowing them to coach multiple teams. Speaking to the broader bill, he gave the example of a cheer squad that could not cheer for their school’s basketball team all season because their competitive team season had a slight overlap.

“I think the goal of this bill is to give opportunities to children, but also give flexibility to parents to be able to decide what activities they will allow their children to participate in which ones will drive them to the school or locations for,” Oliverio said. “I think there’s some good that can come from this bill.”

The unamended bill was once again recommended to the full Senate.

Senate Education also discussed and advanced:

SB 842 – Modifying training requirements for county boards of education members
SB 859 – Limiting requirements for issuance of professional teaching certificate
SB 861 – Increasing support and professional development for educators

Homeschooling, School Sports Discussed In Education Committees

Education committees in the West Virginia Legislature started the week off by considering changes to homeschooling requirements, as well as sports outside the school.

Monday afternoon the House Education Committee considered bills to promote registered apprenticeship programs, revise requirements of local school improvement councils and remove some requirements for homeschooling.

The original House Bill 5180 would have done away with the requirement that homeschool parents have a high school diploma or higher to provide home instruction. But that requirement was added back in with a committee substitute.

The bill changes how required academic assessments of the homeschooled child at grade level 3, 5, 8 and 11 are presented to the county superintendent, and allows microschools to submit a composite of assessment results instead of individual scores.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, proposed an amendment that would bar county boards of education from authorizing instruction in the home if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation or a domestic violence conviction against either custodial parent or an instructor.

Pushkin said he recognizes most homeschoolers are deeply involved and care for their children but was inspired by another law that has often been proposed but never made it far in the legislative process.

“Oftentimes, it’s an instructor or a gym teacher, somebody a service personnel, somebody in the school, spots the signs of abuse, and that’s how they find out and that’s what could lead to that phone call being made that might save a child’s life,” he said. “I’ve offered this amendment, because unfortunately, that bill has been introduced year after a year, Raylee’s Law has been introduced year after year.”

Raylee’s Law is named after an eight-year-old girl who died of abuse and neglect in 2018 after her parents withdrew her from school.

The amendment was voted down nine to 15, and the committee substitute was recommended to the full House for consideration.

The House Education Committee also discussed:

HB 5162, Establish a program to promote creation and expansion of registered apprenticeship programs.
SB 172, Revising requirements of local school improvement councils.

Senate

In the Senate Education Committee Tuesday morning, Senators approved bill SB 750 aimed at promoting fentanyl awareness and education, without discussion. A similar bill sparked much debate in the House Education Committee last week.

Senators instead debated the merits of SB 813, which would allow students to participate in non-school competitive activities, and remove restrictions on external teams as a condition for playing for a school, team or sport.

Committee Vice Chair Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, expressed concern that the rule change would allow teams to keep playing beyond their intended season and erode the state’s athletic schedule.

“Right now you can’t start football practice until a certain date, you can’t start basketball practice until a certain date,” Clements said. “So what are we going to do with this and we keep talking about baseball. Okay, we take baseball. Baseball season usually ends for high school at the state baseball tournament. So if this is allowed to continue with the same coach and the same kids will just continue this whole season through until football season starts.”

Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, proposed an amendment that would extend the bill’s provisions to coaches, freeing them up to coach multiple teams.

Sen. David Stover, R-Wyoming, expressed his support for the amendment but also stated his concern that non-school teams would compete concurrently with school teams resulting in divided attention and loyalty from student athletes.

“If you’re playing a high school sport, that’s where your loyalty lies,” Stover said. “I agree with all this. Coaches should, they all better coach the travel teams. I don’t care if you play baseball around the clock but during the season for high school, that’s the season for high school ball.”

The amendment, as well as the broader bill, were ultimately adopted and recommended to the full Senate.

The Senate Education Committee also discussed:

SB806 – Removing certain required reports to Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability
SB761 – Providing greater access to unused buildings for public charter schools

New Fentanyl Education Discussed By Education Committee

Whether or not to teach middle schoolers about fentanyl and overdose-reversing medicine sparked discussion in the House Education Committee, while Senate Education modified a House bill on special education.

Titled Laken’s Law, House Bill 5540 would mandate fentanyl prevention and awareness education, as well as use of naloxone, in grades six through 12.

The bill sparked more than a half hour of discussion and debate in the House Education Committee Wednesday, with many delegates expressing concern about whether it was appropriate to teach sixth graders how to administer opioid-reversing medication.

State Superintendent Michele Blatt told the committee that drug prevention has been a focus of health education in schools for years and reflects the lived reality of many students in the state, even in middle school.

“I think middle school is where a lot of those problems begin,” she said. “One of the surveys that we do, the safe and drug free school survey, students start talking about as early as sixth and seventh grade being exposed to it or having the opportunity to use it. So I don’t think it’s too early to share the messaging of the dangers and the harms of it.”

Fentanyl has been a leading cause of overdose deaths in recent years. But data released last June by the Office of Drug Control Policy revealed a decline in opioid overdose rates, marking a positive turn in the fight against the ongoing drug epidemic. Health officials attribute the positive trend to a combination of factors, including expanded availability of naloxone. Blatt compared training for the use of naloxone products, such as Narcan, to first aid and CPR.

“Sadly, the world we live in now, it may be a matter of the student learns to use it, because they’re going to have to use it on mom or dad at home when they can’t wake up their parents or something,” she said.

The bill was amended to include heroin and other opioids in the new mandated education, and now goes to the House for its consideration.

House Education also discussed:

HB 5405, Providing additional professional development and support to West Virginia educators through teacher and leader induction and professional growth.
HB 5553, To provide and change graduation requirements and change duties relating to academic content standards.
HB 5607, Relating to public charter school’s application for funding
HB 5650, Allow suspended school personnel to enter school property functions open to the public.
SB 507, Relating to repeal of WV EDGE.

In the Senate

The Senate Education Committee focused on one Senate bill and two House bills Thursday morning.

House Bill 4860, which originally freed general education teachers from documenting special education accommodations, was hotly debated when it passed through the House Education Committee Jan. 22. Bill sponsor Del. Elliot Pritt, R-Fayette, a middle school teacher, called existing documentation requirements onerous, while critics of the bill raised concern that the bill would open the door for shirking of legal responsibilities to special education students.

Thursday morning, the Senate Education Committee changed the bill to re-introduce some documentation requirements for all teachers. Pritt was on hand to approve of the changes.

“In Fayette County, many other counties right now, we’re required to complete just an onerous amount of daily paperwork to prove that we’re already doing what we’re required to do by law in the first place,” he said. “I spoke with Chairwoman Grady and have agreed with the changes he’s proposed to the bill. It still equals a desired outcome of less onerous paperwork and but still meets, I guess, addresses the concerns that some people had about there being no daily documentation.”

The bill now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

The Senate Education Committee also discussed:

SB 727 – Revising process for county boards of education to hire support staff
HB 4768 – Relating to increasing the number of out- of-state medical students receiving in-state tuition rates who agree to practice for a specific time within West Virginia.

School Board Accountability, Gender Identity And Campus Hunger Focus Of Education Committees

The education committees of both chambers started the week off by advancing bills to improve management of local school districts, as well as bills on gender identity instruction and hunger on college campuses.

West Virginia code tends to favor local control of schools via county boards of education. But in recent years, the state Board of Education has deemed it necessary to step in to address financial and administrative issues in several counties.

House Bill 5514 would enhance the training requirements for county boards of education members from the current seven to 12 hours.

The bill’s sponsor Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, told the House Education Committee Monday afternoon that more training should better prepare elected board of education members to hold administrators accountable and reduce the need for state intervention.

“They run for the school boards, and they believe they have a good handle on it,” he said. “And trust me, I served 10 years, until you’re actually sitting in that seat and start taking on these things, you really do not have a good understanding. And sometimes after that you still don’t have a good understanding.”

The bill was advanced to the full House for its consideration.

The House Education Committee also discussed:

H. B. 4709, relating to vocational and technical education programs.
H. B. 5021, relating to cardiac response plans.
H. B. 5175, eliminate funding for the Center for Nursing and transfer its duties and authorities to the Higher Education Policy Commission.

In The Senate

Another House bill aimed at improving county board of education accountability was taken up by the Senate Education Committee Tuesday morning.

House Bill 4832, which has already passed the House, requires the state superintendent to make an annual report to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability regarding the finances of each school district. A similar report is currently made to the governor and the legislature broadly. Any school district that fails to report its finances to the state superintendent may be subject to a reduction of its state funding.

The state Board of Education took emergency control of Upshur County Schools last year after financial misappropriation, including tens of thousands of dollars in misspent federal funds, was discovered in a routine review.

House Bill 4832 now goes to the full Senate for its consideration.

The Senate Education Committee also considered Senate Bill 515, which prohibits public schools from requiring students to participate in sexual orientation instruction. It requires public schools to give advance written notification of any instruction regarding sexual orientation and gender identity and of a guardians’ right to exempt the child from participation.

However, as Senate Education counsel Amy Osgood explained to the committee, the bill has further requirements regarding students’ gender identity.

“It also provides to the public school and county board employees that are assigned to the school may not knowingly give false information or misleading information to the parent, custodian or guardian of the student regarding the student’s gender identity, or their intent to transition to a gender that is different than the sex listed on the student’s official birth certificate or a certificate that is issued upon adoption,” she said.

The bill also allows for parents and guardians to bring civil action against the public school if affected by a violation of the new law.

The bill was advanced without discussion or comment, with a reference to the Judiciary Committee.

Hunger-Free Campus

Senate Education also considered Senate Bill 292. Titled the Hunger-Free Campus Act, the law would require the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) to establish a grant program to address food insecurity among students enrolled in public institutions of higher education.

Colleges and universities working toward a hunger-free designation would need to establish a Campus Hunger Task Force, provide at least one food pantry on campus, provide options to use SNAP benefits – colloquially referred to as food stamps – at campus stores, and several other requirements.

The committee heard from student advocates on the need for more food support on the state’s college campuses.

Madison Santmyer, West Virginia University (WVU) student body president, told the committee that on-campus food banks have seen an increase in use over three years.

“For June 2020 to 2021… 77 visits and then jump to June 2023, we’re at 428,” she said. “Over four times the amount of students are visiting these food pantries on our campus. The need, whether that’s they know more about it now, but the need is obviously there. Some of the visits go to the thousands for some of the months.”

Several senators pointed out how much the cost of attending college has increased since their time.

“Now I went to WVU and then to Glenville State where I graduated but that was back in the 70s,” said Sen. David Stover, R – Wyoming. “And I remember I could get my room, board, tuition and fees for $600. Don’t you wish?”

Stover asked Santmyer how that compared to the cost of just a meal plan today.

“I don’t know the exact number off the top of my head, but I know for WVU, I believe it’s a few thousand dollars, between two and four,” she said.

WVU’s least expensive on-campus meal plan is $2,634 per semester.

Sen. Michael Azinger, R-Wood, was the sole dissenting voice. He spoke against the bill, calling it “nanny state stuff.”

“My first year of college, I lost 20 pounds,” he said. ”I think what we’re doing here, probably unintentionally, but we’re creating a victim group, I think, of people who are just experiencing the normal hardships of life. You know, you go to college, sometimes don’t have food, sometimes you get hungry. It’s life. It builds character.”

The bill was recommended to the full Senate.

A similar bill last year failed to make it out of the Senate Finance Committee. Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said that should not be an issue this year.

“We have requested for the finance chairman to waive the second reference and he has agreed so that should be done on the floor,” she said.

Apprenticeship, Absenteeism Discussed In Education Committees

A bill in the House of Delegates is working to give those trade workers academic credit, while a Senate bill is trying to get to the heart of the state’s student absences.

Everyone wants to get credit for their work, and for years legislators and educational leaders have said vocational apprentices have gone unnoticed for theirs. A bill in the House of Delegates is working to give those trade workers academic credit, while a Senate bill is trying to get to the heart of the state’s student absences.

According to federal data, West Virginia has one of the lowest educational attainment, or levels of post-secondary education, in the country. But educational leaders and lawmakers like Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, believe that rating is artificially low.

Rohrbach is lead sponsor of House Bill 5435. He told the House Education Committee Wednesday the bill would allow people completing apprenticeships to receive an associate degree in applied science.

“One of the things that I know the speaker and I feel very strongly about is, we need to get that recognition because I don’t accept the fact that West Virginians aren’t educated,” Rohrbach said. “These folks are just as educated as anybody coming out of any other college and this is going to be a track that they can get an associate’s degree or certificate program, whichever they choose. And that will get our college attainment rates up to where they should be, frankly.“

Apprenticeship programs from any trade or industry will qualify, provided the program is recognized by the U. S. Department of Labor. Apprentices will be required to complete 15 credit hours of general education courses.

Del. Rolland Jennings, R-Preston, expressed concern that apprentices at smaller businesses and operations will be excluded.

“My heartache with it is, I can see a lot of small companies not being recognized under the federal guidelines,” he said. “And so their people won’t have this opportunity. Because they can still test and get their license. But they’re not going to be eligible because they’re not recognized through the federal government as an apprenticeship program. And so now they can’t use this.”

The committee ultimately recommended the bill to the full House, but first referred it to the Committee on Finance.

The House Education Committee also discussed and moved forward four other bills, including reconsidering two bills that had previously passed the committee.

HB 4919, Relating to the Promise Scholarship.
HB 4951, To facilitate the interstate practice of School Psychology in educational or school settings.
HB 4986, Relating to computer science and cybersecurity instruction for adult learners.
HB 5262, Relating generally to teacher’s bill of rights.

Chronic Absenteeism

In the Senate Education Committee Thursday, senators discussed a bill to address chronic absenteeism among students.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent of the school year or more, which amounts to 18 days. State Superintendent Michele Blatt told the committee a third of all students in West Virginia are considered chronically absent, reflecting a rising national trend.

“We have about 34-35 percent of our students that are chronically absent,” she said. “When you’re missing one to three days a month out of instruction, you’re not only getting behind yourself, but our teachers are having to struggle to catch that child up while continuing to move forward with the rest of the class. So it has a huge impact on the achievement really, of all students in the school when we’re dealing with these chronic absenteeism issues.”

Senate Bill 568 changes the focus from counting truancy and unexcused absences to a multi-tiered system of support with emphasis on all absences, both excused and unexcused. Attendance officers would be required to make contact with parents and guardians as soon as three absences of any kind were recorded.

Blatt said currently, attendance staff are occupied primarily with record keeping and documenting absences.

“It frees up our attendance directors, counselors, social workers and those people in our in our counties to truly focus on what’s causing this chronic absenteeism issue and what are the things that we need to put in place because so much time in the past has been tracking whether it’s an excused or unexcused absence, and the bottom line is if they’re not there, they’re not getting instruction,” she said.

The bill now goes to the full Senate for its consideration with a reference to the Judiciary Committee.