Tag: RFA 2019

Volunteers, National Guard Help with Flood Recovery in Eastern W.Va.

Local and state leaders are beginning to clear roadways in eastern West Virginia, where counties dealt with severe thunderstorms and flash flooding Saturday night. Volunteers and the state National Guard have been a big part of their recovery.

In Grant County, emergency management staff are handing out “flood buckets” that include cleaning supplies to anyone in need, courtesy of the West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD), a state chapter of a larger nonprofit that responds to disasters nationwide. 

On Monday, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in Preston, Pendleton, Tucker, Randolph and Grant counties, authorizing the state National Guard to get involved where authorities deem necessary. 

Across the five affected counties, most emergency officials reported washed out culverts and basements.

The West Virginia Division of Highways said in a statement on Tuesday its maintenance crews and others are cleaning up debris and making road repairs where needed.

In Randolph County, 911 Director Cindy Hart said the local water and sewage plants were hit hard. As of Tuesday, water had been restored and leaks had been fixed in the Harman area, Hard said. The sewage plant still needs repairs.

The National Guard spent Tuesday removing debris from Harman School, according to a statement from the group that afternoon. The county has received $1.2 million from the School Building Authority for renovations at the school since 2016, as the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports, following a ceiling collapse in 2014.

The National Guard has set up two stations in Randolph County for potable water on Job Road and the Randolph County Senior Center in Harman, where Hart said volunteers were also handing out hot meals and bottled water.

Access to the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center at the Monongahela National Forest in Elkins is limited due to water damage and mud in the parking lot, according to a statement on Monday from staff. 

Tyrand Parish in Randolph County and the West Virginia VOAD are accepting cash donations and cleaning supplies to offset recovery costs. 

 

Justice Signs Sweeping Education Bill

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed an omnibus education reform bill] on Friday, June 28, that will lead to the state’s first charter schools.

House Bill 206 allows for three charter schools in the 2021-2022 academic year, with approval from the charters’ respective county boards of education. The bill allows for three more charters every three years, beginning in 2023.

The legislation also entails a 5 percent raise for public school employees. A bulletin on Friday from the Senate Finance Committee said most of that roughly $67 million increase has been set aside in the budget for Fiscal Year 2020. 

Education reform has been at the crux of the state’s most recent regular session and a special session called by Justice in March, after the original omnibus measure from the Senate failed.

Teachers and service personnel from schools statewide have gathered at the Capitol on several occasions this year to protest charters and other aspects of the omnibus bills they disagreed with, including education savings accounts and anti-strike language that would penalize public school workers for protesting. 

Justice didn’t hold any public bill-signing events Friday, issuing a press release instead. 

“Looking at the bill in its entirety – with all of its many, many great pieces that help our children and our teachers – there is truly so much good that will benefit teachers, students, and all West Virginians,” Justice said in Friday’s statement. “I am really pleased with where we got to at the end of the day and I commend the Senate and the House for working with me to come to a compromise that will result in a big win for the entire education community and all West Virginians.”

HB 206 passed the Senate 18-16 on Monday and the House 51-47 on June 19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

W.Va. Senate Passes Controversial Education Omnibus on 18-16 Vote, Measure Heads to Gov. Justice

Despite tornado warnings and a brief recess in which lawmakers and the public were evacuated downstairs at the Capitol, the West Virginia Senate voted Monday to pass a controversial omnibus bill that could most notably lead to the state’s first charter schools. Senators fast-tracked the bill by suspending rules that would normally require they read the bill three times on three separate days. 

 

Under House Bill 206, teacher and school service personnel will receive pay raises. Three charter schools could be established — only by county boards of education — to begin operating in the 2021-2022 academic year with the possibility of three additional charters allowed every three years beginning in 2023.

 

The Senate passed House Bill 206 18-16. Sen. Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and Sen. Kenny Mann, R-Monroe, joined Democrats to oppose the measure.

 

The upper chamber voted 32-1 to suspend the Senate’s three-day rule. Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, was the lone no vote and Sen. Randy Smith, R-Tucker, was absent for the procedural vote that fast-tracked the bill to a Monday vote.

 

A small number of people sat in the galleries Monday night, and only a few were waiting outside the chamber shortly before senators gaveled in around 5 p.m. The size of the crowd was significantly smaller than other groups that gathered at the Capitol to oppose the bill over the past few months.

 

Senate Democrats Fail to Get Support for Amendments

 

Before Senators returned to Charleston for Monday’s session, Carmichael said he wanted to pass the bill as it came over from the House.

 

However, minority Democrats still tried, but failed, to wipe out charter schools from the bill and implement other changes.

 

Sen. Hamilton again tried to force counties to hold a referendum to allow for the authorization of a charter school. That proposed amendment also failed.

 

West Virginia’s Education ‘Betterment’: Months in the Making

 

The debate over education reform in West Virginia has festered for months. 

 

Teachers went on strike for two days in February as they rallied against Senate Bill 451, the original omnibus measure that ultimately failed in the House during the Legislature’s regular 60-day session.

 

Republican Gov. Jim Justice called the special session on “education betterment” in March after lawmakers were unable to agree upon education reform, despite earmarking the pay raises in the FY 2021 state budget.

 

While voting on the similar omnibus Senate Bill 1039 for education in early June, Democrats refused to suspend the rules before passing it 18-16. The House of Delegates balked on Senate Bill 1039 and Senate Bill 1040, another measure that would have established a voucher program for public dollars to be spent on some aspects of private education.

 

House Creates Its Own Omnibus

 

The House of Delegates cleared House Bill 206 last week on a 57-47 vote after making their way through dozens of amendments. Lawmakers in the lower chamber spent nine hours debating the controversial measure.

 

Some significant changes did occur in the lower chamber as delegates made their way through the amendment process. With House Bill 206 originally calling for a cap of ten charter schools, delegates chose instead to temporarily set that limit at three. Lawmakers also added a back-to-school tax credit to be applied to the purchase of clothes and school supplies. 

 

The House also avoided addressing the rights of school employees to strike and protest, whereas the Senate had amended its bill to include anti-strike provisions that would allow schools to withhold pay or fire employees who strike. 

 

With no changes made in the Senate, House Bill 206 will soon head to the governor’s desk for a signature. Gov. Justice, who had in the past said he opposed charter schools, has said he will sign the bill.

 

Jefferson Co. Group Delivers Petition Calling on Gov. Justice to Halt Rockwool Construction

Residents from Jefferson County gathered at the West Virginia Capitol Wednesday to give Gov. Jim Justice a petition regarding a stone wool insulation plant they’ve spent the last year protesting.

The petition demands for Justice to put a stop to the Rockwool manufacturing plant that’s under construction in Ranson, Jefferson County.

“We ask that you (Justice) stand with the citizens of Jefferson County and facilitate the removal of Rockwool from our County,” several environmental groups said in the petition, including the Eastern Panhandle Green Coalition, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Jefferson County Vision and the Eastern Panhandle West Virginia Sierra Club.

Justice has, in the past, expressed support of the plant.

Both Rockwool and Justice say the facility will bring 150 new jobs to the state. However, residents have pointed to air quality concerns and the plant’s proximity to four public schools.

“We currently have no heavy industry in our county,” said Catherine Jozwik, president of the Eastern Panhandle Green Coalition and a member of the Concerned Citizens Against Rockwool. “The presence of heavy industry, particularly in this location, would threaten existing agribusiness and tourism jobs in the county.”

Jozwik, who was one of several speakers at the Wednesday Capitol event, said the petition to Justice includes at least 13,000 unique signatures, all asking Justice to remove Rockwool from Ranson.

“If they won’t do that, then we need Rockwool to act like the environmentally responsible company that they present themselves as and install electric arc ovens instead of coal burning furnaces,” said Joznik, adding that would significantly reduce emissions. 

The Denmark-based company announced plans in July 2017 to build a new Rockwool facility in the Eastern Panhandle.

The group broke ground in June 2018 on the 460,000-square-foot site within miles of four public schools and a low-income neighborhood.

During four open houses Rockwool held for concerned residents in 2018, residents gathered in hordes from cities as far as Winchester, Virginia and Hagerstown, Maryland, arguing the plant will affect the air quality of the entire tri-state area.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection approved Rockwool’s air quality permit in April 2018. The company has said it anticipates construction will end in 2020.

Rockwool was cited in October for violating environmental regulations after investigators found sinkholes on the Ranson construction site. Members of the Eastern Panhandle Green Coalition said on Wednesday they have several ongoing lawsuits against the project.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member

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