On this West Virginia Morning, a conversation about what President Joe Biden’s energy policies have done for the state and region, understanding the role of West Virginia’s Foster Care Ombudsmen, and beech trees are on the brink of extinction in Pennsylvania.
On this West Virginia Morning, Curtis Tate speaks with the executive director of the White House Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities about what President Joe Biden’s energy policies have done for the state and region.
Also, in this episode, one of West Virginia’s Foster Care Ombudsmen testified before a committee during November’s interim legislative session about the role her office plays in the state’s child welfare system, and beech trees are on the brink of extinction in Pennsylvania.
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.
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
On this West Virginia Morning, plans for a controversial water bottling plant in Jefferson County will require modification and some say concerns about the project remain. Also, a legislative work group on the state’s child welfare system reported their findings and recommendations to lawmakers this month.
On this West Virginia Morning, plans for a controversial water bottling plant in Jefferson County will require modification after a vote from the local planning commission. But even with modifications, some say concerns about Mountain Pure Water Bottling Facility remain. Reporter Jack Walker spoke with Jefferson County Foundation President Christine Wimer about worries being raised by the community of Middleway.
And for many years West Virginia has led the nation in foster care rates, with more than 6,000 children currently in state custody. This year, the state legislature formed a work group to identify and address complaints of neglect and ineptitude in the state’s child welfare system. As Emily Rice reports, the work group reported their findings and recommendations to lawmakers this month.
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.
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
Student safety continues to be a concern across the nation. In West Virginia, a rash of hundreds of hoax threats made against schools across the state earlier this fall has renewed conversations about the safety of, and preparedness of, aging school structures and dwindling budgets.
Lawmakers on the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA) met Sunday, Nov. 10 to receive the annual school facility safety and security report from the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE).
The report is based on responses from county school districts, vocational centers and public charter schools regarding security measures that have been implemented and spent, as well as needs moving forward. The total request from all schools in the state for spending on security this year is close to $250 million.
Jonah Adkins, director of the Office of Safety & Tiered Support Systems, told the commission that much of that amount would be one-time expenses, and local school systems have spent more than $23 million to address school safety and security needs.
“We know that we would never be able to meet all this at once, but if we could chip away a little bit each year, I believe that we can make some good headway,” he said. “Our school districts are working with the resources that they do have available to them to address those needs as they arise, but obviously there is a greater need. It’s the unfortunate reality of our society that we live in, that we have people that are targeting children and targeting our schools to do bad things.”
Adkins told the commission that school entries are a top need because they are specified as the next distribution from the State Treasury’s special revenue fund, the “Safe Schools Fund”, after all public school facilities have been funded to meet special education video camera requirements.
Sen. Charles Clements, R-Wetzel, asked about the report listing 272 schools needing new entryways, or what he called “mantraps,” at an average cost of $319,000 per entry.
Micah Whitlow, director of the Office of School Facilities for WVDE, explained the number comes from the requests districts submitted as part of the report survey, professional estimates and the known cost of similar projects. He said a specific building’s needs can raise or lower the price significantly.
“We have a pretty good basis of knowledge that a mantrap is going to be in that $300 (thousand) to $500 (thousand) range,” he said. “Some of them could be super complicated and be a million, depending on the configuration and the age of the building. And some of them might be very simple and be maybe $100,000.”
Del. Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, expressed shock that so many schools were still without adequate security at their entrances, and pointed out that the legislature had allocated money for that specific security improvement several times.
“What is causing us to have so many at this point in the game that doesn’t have a safe entrance way?” he asked.
Whitlow replied that the number of schools needing to upgrade their entryways has decreased year to year, but the price is simply too high for some counties.
“Looking back at the previous reports, the number has been decreasing, it’s just expensive,” he said. “So it’s hard to pay for a whole lot of those, and especially if a county doesn’t have a levy or a bond or there’s extra ways of building things. It’s just been hard for them.”
Statler asked what the plan is to ensure the safety of students and staff in schools without “mantrap” entryways. Adkins replied that most schools have moved to restrict entry and exit from the building to one door, as outlined in their mandated Crisis Response Plan.
Del. Patrick Lucas, R-Cabell, asked about the implementation of weapons detection systems after a school administrator in Ohio was stabbed by a parent before being arrested in West Virginia in October.
“Can you comment on how successful the schools with weapon detection systems have been?” he asked. “Is it more of a deterrent, or are we actually catching people trying to bring weapons into the school?”
Adkins and LOCEA Co-Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, commented that having someone to monitor and run a weapons detection system is often a barrier to implementation.
“I’ve had that conversation multiple times with with school personnel regarding, how do you if you have a high school with 1000 students, how are you going to get all those students through, through one metal detector, for example, and who’s who’s going to mind that, and who’s going to respond if they do find a weapon?” Adkins said.
Whitlow closed by providing more solid numbers on the declining need for new mantraps in schools. He said the number of schools without a mantrap is trending down from 327 in the 2021-22 school year, to 299 in the 2022-23 school year and 272 in this most recent report for the 2023-24 school year.
The Public School Support Program, also known as the state aid funding formula, is the multi-step procedure used to determine the state’s financial responsibilities to local school districts.
School administrators are asking state legislators for more flexibility in the school aid funding formula.
The Public School Support Program, also known as the state aid funding formula, is the multi-step procedure used to determine the state’s financial responsibilities to local school districts.
J.P. Mowery, director of finance for Pendleton County Schools, gave a comprehensive summary of the formula to lawmakers at an interim meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Education Sunday. He pointed out that the formula does take into consideration small and rural counties with low and declining enrollment.
“Enrollment certainly is the engine that drives funding,” he said. “How many students that a county district has drives the funding for how many personnel you allow for professional and service, which are the certainly largest areas of the formula…There is a provision which we are extremely appreciative of in the small rural counties for 1,400 students.”
The state formula has a floor of 1400 students, meaning that calculations will use that number regardless of enrollment actually being lower in a district.
Charles Hendrick, superintendent of Pendleton County Schools, presented a county perspective on the formula.
Hendrick said that the formula is well thought out, but could use some flexibility when it comes to issues like price increases due to inflation.
“You can see it’s pretty complex, and it covers a lot of areas, and they’re pretty targeted as what you can spend money on, and it’s a well thought out funding formula,” he said. “But it also doesn’t have a lot of flexibility in some places as to when the money comes in, in one of those steps, that’s what it’s for. And so the request for this would be to increase that amount to allow local school districts a little more flexibility in their funding.”
Hendrick also identified other areas of concern in the funding formula, including alternative education to support school discipline efforts and special education.
Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, asked about funding to curb staff absenteeism and reward staff for refraining from using sick leave, a practice that he said was commonplace for employees before 2015.
“What I’m trying to do is create some value for those days, and the legislation I offered provided an opportunity where, if at the end of the school year, a teacher could basically sell all 10 of those days back to the school system in exchange for an amount,” Oliverio said. “The goal of what I’m trying to accomplish here is we have a really high teacher absenteeism rate in West Virginia, and if we can further incentivize them to remain in the classroom, that could potentially be 10 more days of a certified teacher with a prepared lesson plan in front of our students instead of a substitute teacher.”
Hendrick also identified the sick day buyback scheme as a place for improvement in his own analysis, and said legislation could allow many different incentives.
“If there’s enabling legislation, like the attendance incentive, when persons miss less than four to five days, there is a bonus that’s out there now,” he said. “I can’t speak for the other 55 superintendents, but we’d be willing to try that to see if it worked, because even if we broke even, we would be better off having, you know, certified teachers who were there in front of our students, as opposed to substitutes who may not be certified in that area.”
In the aftermath of the death of 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller, who was found dead in a near skeletal state, officials and members of the media asked questions that went largely unanswered.
In the Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Resources Accountability, Department of Human Services (DoHS) Secretary Cynthia Persily said she is working with the attorney general’s office, legislators, academics, stakeholders, and similar departments in other states to come up with better policy.
“We met directly with four states that have model confidentiality legislation, as well as the University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children to inform the legislation,” Persily said.
At the time, she said federal law prevented the release of any personal information about a child. Others outside the department claimed an exception in the case of fatalities.
Persily said there is a thin line between transparency and jeopardizing the prosecution of a neglect and abuse case.
“We are very conscious of the fact that there is a balance between the public’s need to know and the ability to prosecute a child abuse and neglect case, and we would never want to interfere with that,” she said.
Vacancies in Child Protective Services dropped to 17 percent in January and have stayed at that level. Persily said this drop has helped the department hit target time frames for checking in on reported neglect and abuse.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect the correct percentage of vacancies in Child Protective Services.
Fall classes are well under way across the state. But state lawmakers meeting at the Capitol in Charleston over the weekend learned about lingering issues with a federal form from last year.
Fall classes are well under way across the state. But state lawmakers meeting at the Capitol in Charleston over the weekend learned about lingering issues with a federal form from last year.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA, unlocks both federal and state financial aid for students. An update to the form released late last year has been plagued with issues that continue to this day.
Sarah Armstrong Tucker, Chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC), told the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA) Sunday that paper FAFSAs are still being processed. She also warned the U.S. Department of Education has already announced the release of the form will be delayed again this year for next year’s students.
“Typically, the FAFSA is ready October 1,” Tucker said. “The department has come out and said that it will not be ready October 1. They are shooting for December 1.”
Tucker said she’s also concerned the change of administration after the November election will cause further delays.
“One of the things that happened with this FAFSA rollout was that nobody was paying enough attention to the vendor who was trying to build this form,” she said. “So as people are starting to leave now, and may not get higher leadership until January, February, what happens to the FAFSA? Who’s minding the shop to make sure that it actually comes out December 1? I have a lot of concerns about that, and I’ve asked a lot of questions about that. I’m not getting great answers about those questions.“
In late April, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in higher education, opening a path for the state to circumvent its own FAFSA completion requirement for state education awards. During a special session in May, the West Virginia Legislature formally extended the state of emergency to October via Senate Concurrent Resolution 102.
Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, asked Tucker about the $83 million loan package the legislature approved during the May special session to backfill federal monies delayed by issues with FAFSA. That package included some $32 million for colleges and institutions to help with some of their operation costs.
“The institutional dollars that were to help offset some other costs, that has all been deployed,” Tucker said. “The institutions have that money, and they’re using it okay in the way that it was intended.”
Tucker also said students are using the other portion of the package, $40 million, to supplement their financial aid awards.
“As far as emergency grants are concerned, most are helping students meet whatever that sort of gap is between what their state aid is, their federal funding is, and what their tuition and fees are,” she said.
Health Policy Changes
Hank Hager, counsel to the Senate Education Committee, told LOCEA about the proposed replacement and repeal of West Virginia Board of Education (WVBOE) Policy 2423 – Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
The changes would remove several existing health requirements including health and oral health checks for students in grades two, seven and 12. Requirements for those entering pre kindergarten or kindergarten are maintained. Similarly, a requirement that all students to receive a Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis) vaccine before grade 12 is also removed for students who have completed the primary DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) series.
In response to questioning from Sen. Rolland Roberts, R-Raleigh, state deputy superintendent Sonia White said the policy change was largely cleanup.
“This policy had not been touched since 2015, and since 2015 we’ve had a global pandemic and some other things, changes in state code,” White said. “So we just cleaned up the policy and added new pieces of code that had been put in there, cleaned up the language so that if, say, federal code changes, it’ll refer back to the most current federal code, and we wouldn’t have to open the policy over and over again.”
State lawmakers also got a chance Sunday to see the direct impact of their work on the issue of school discipline. Passed in 2023, House Bill 2890 allows a teacher to remove a disruptive student to a different environment to protect the integrity of the class for the duration of that class period.
Jeff Kelly, assistant superintendent of accountability programs for the Department of Education presented LOCEA with disciplinary data for the 2023-2024 school year, the law’s first year of implementation.
“Per that code, which reads, ‘Students who are removed from the classroom three times in one month are required to be suspended,’ that number was 204,” Kelly said.
HB 2890 suspensions represent a fraction of the more than 29,000 students that were suspended more than 35,000 times across the state in the 2023-24 school year.
Kelly also pointed out that kids who have no discipline referrals represent about 80 percent to 82 percent of the student population.
More in-depth analysis of the data is expected to be presented at the upcoming WVBOE meeting Sept. 11.
“You’re talking about 60,000-plus pages of discipline data,” Kelly said. “Trying to get that down to a level where we can give you guys something to work with is kind of a hard place to get. We spent a lot of time talking about that very thing.”
