Tag: Teacher Walkout

Schools across West Virginia reopened Wednesday as families got back into their daily routines following a nine-day teacher strike.

The strike was declared over Tuesday, March 6, after the Legislature passed and the governor signed a 5 percent pay raise to end what’s believed to be the longest strike in state history. The last major strike, in 1990, lasted eight days.

Now the state’s 35,000 public school employees are back to work — and 277,000 students back to their books. At schools across the state, school buses and long lines of cars dropped off children, who were a bit slow afoot to get inside despite snow flurries in the air.

But in a way, it had the feeling of the end of summer vacation as families try to adjust to a new, yet old, routine, especially not being able to sleep in.

“I feel really good today that school has re-started and I think the teachers had every right to do the strike because they deserve more money,” said Stonewall Jackson Middle School student Braycen Foster.

Some parents had a more difficult time with the restart because the 13-day layoff helped them bond more with their kids.

“I’m not one of those parents that actually want my kids to go — I like her home,” Brandie Barber said as her sixth-grade daughter got out of her car, grabbing her backpack filled with softball bats. “I want her in school. But when she’s off, it’s fine with me. I want to keep her as young as I can for as long as I can.”

Nannette Higginbotham had mixed feelings as she said goodbye to her daughter.

“I love having her home, but I’m glad they’re getting back to school and getting it over with,” she said.

County superintendents now must determine whether to make up the missed time.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has asked them to be flexible in their decisions to meet the requirement of having 180 days of school, saying Tuesday that students “have suffered enough.” He wants families to have time for summer vacation and doesn’t want summer feeding programs placed in jeopardy if classes go too far into June.

Some superintendents are mulling whether to cut short spring break, typically in late March, although families often have vacations already slotted during that time.

“I think these two weeks they had off should be their spring break,” Higginbotham said. “Some people have plans. We don’t.”

At the Capitol on Tuesday, teachers expressed relief and exhilaration by breaking out into song after legislators approved the pay raise bill, which Justice swiftly signed.

“I’m so thrilled that it’s over, and that I get to go back to my special ed kids, back to our regular routine, and that we’re going to get some great work done the rest of the school year,” said Melinda Monks, a special education teacher at Bridgeview Elementary in South Charleston.

The deal ended a paralyzing strike that shut students out of classrooms statewide, forced parents to scramble for child care and cast a national spotlight on government dysfunction in West Virginia.

The West Virginia teachers, some of the lowest-paid in the country, had gone without a salary increase for four years. They appeared to have strong public support throughout their walkout.

Teachers walked off the job Feb. 22, balking at an initial bill Justice signed that would have bumped up pay 2 percent in the first year as they also complained about rising health insurance costs.

Justice responded last week with an offer to raise teacher pay 5 percent — a proposal the state House approved swiftly but that senators weren’t so eager to sign off on. Instead, the Senate countered with an offer of 4 percent on Saturday.

Leaders of all three unions representing the state’s teachers held firm, announcing that the walkout would continue, and the lawmakers gave in. The vote for 5 percent raises for teachers, school service personnel and state troopers in the House of Delegates was 99-0. The Senate followed, voting 34-0.

Senate Finance Chairman Craig Blair said lawmakers will seek to cut state spending by $20 million to pay for the raises, taking funds from general government services and Medicaid. Other state workers who also would get 5 percent raises under the deal will have to wait for a budget bill to pass.

Some students also were eager to return to school after the long layoff.

“I felt like my brain was rotting,” said middle school student Emma Patterson. “And I’m just like excited to see a book again.”

Gov. Jim Justice and West Virginia’s Republican leaders tentatively agreed Tuesday to end the state’s nine-day teachers’ walkout by giving 5 percent raises to not just teachers, but all state workers.

To pay for it, lawmakers will seek to cut state spending by $20 million, taking funds from general services and Medicaid, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Craig Blair said.

“We have reached a deal,” Justice tweeted. “I stood rock solid on the 5% Teacher pay raise and delivered. Not only this, but my staff and I made additional cuts which will give all State employees 5% as well. All the focus should have always been on fairness and getting the kids back in school.”

The governor, union leaders and the House of Delegates had agreed last week to the 5 percent pay raise for teachers, who are among the lowest paid in the nation and haven’t had a salary increase in four years. But the Senate refused to go along, approving a 4 percent increase.

Some teachers cheered in the hallways of the Capitol after the governor tweeted the news. Others waiting inside the meeting room indicated that they’re wary of getting excited until House and Senate majorities approve the deal.

“We’ve been down this road before,” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said. “The winners in this are the students of West Virginia and the educators across West Virginia who finally see a true investment in education.”

The union’s spokeswoman, Kym Randolph, said that if lawmakers quickly pass the legislation as they said Tuesday they intend to, teachers could be back at work Wednesday. “We just need to see it in writing,” she said.

Senate leaders said they’re on board this time. Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns, R-Ohio, said talks with the governor’s office lasted into early Tuesday identifying cuts everyone could agree to.

“These are deep cuts,” Blair said. “This has been the fiscally responsible thing to do, in my opinion, to get us to the point we’re at today.”

Justice said additional budget cuts by his staff will fund the raises. Blair said that if the governor’s estimates of increased revenue estimates from Justice come to fruition, supplemental appropriations could take place.

“This is very positive,” said Tina Workman, a second-grade teacher from Midland Trail Elementary in Kanawha County who has been at the Capitol each day with other striking teachers. “We are surprised, but we aren’t putting all of our eggs from the chickens in one basket. We want it signed, sealed and delivered. Because seven days ago we were told the same thing, and we’re still here.”

A show of support by thousands of teachers and supporters on Monday didn’t sway lawmakers in time to avoid a ninth day of cancelled classes for the school system’s 277,000 students and 35,000 employees.

Ferns said late Monday after a House-Senate conference committee worked for a compromise that Senate Republicans were concerned more about how the raise is paid for than the exact amount.

Blair, R-Berkeley, and Ferns hade been skeptical about the legitimacy of revised, higher revenue figures Justice cited to support the higher pay raises. Blair suggested at one point that schools reopen while the Legislature tries to work on the bills, prompting groans from the audience.

The Capitol was briefly closed as well on Monday after 5,000 people entered the building, posing security concerns. It was reopened an hour later, and teachers vented their frustration over the lack of progress. Their strike, in one of the poorest states in the country, has disrupted lives across the state, forcing working parents to scramble for child care and putting children who rely on meals at school at risk of going hungry.

With 17.9 percent of West Virginians living below official poverty levels, teachers, bus drivers and other volunteers are collecting food for students who rely on free breakfasts and lunches. Teachers also are sharing stories of donating their time, money or food. At least two GoFundMe pages have been launched in support of the walkout.

“It does make you feel good because we are helping them,” said Ann Osburn, a special education teacher at Buckhannon Academy. “I think we’re reaching as many as we can.”

Rachel Stringer, a stay-at-home mom from Cross Lanes, said her biggest challenge is making sure her children don’t forget what they’ve learned this school year. Despite the long layoff, Stringer supports the teachers.

“They deserve to be paid,” she said. “They deserve to be able to have insurance.”

Many teachers said they’d rather be in the classroom, but believe they’ve come too far to back down.

“We feel like we’re under attack constantly,” said Cody Thompson, a social studies and civics teacher at Elkins High School. “Eventually, whenever you’re pushed into a corner, you’ve got to push back.”

The teacher walkout over pay and benefits began on Feb. 22 after the governor signed a 2 percent pay raise for next year. He reconsidered after an initial round of protests, and the House of Delegates later approved a 5 percent increase. The Senate’s insistence on a 4 percent raise Saturday prompted the union to extend the strike.

Many teachers already have side jobs to make ends meet. Kristie Skidmore, an elementary school reading specialist, has a clothing shop at her home.

“You’re looking at people here who every day care about other people, other families. People’s kids,” Skidmore said. “Now we’re forced to be able to figure out how to care for our own families.”

The West Virginia teacher strike entered its ninth day Tuesday. A bill that provides salary increases for teachers, school employees and other state workers was again the focus of lawmakers and teachers at the Capitol on Monday.

Following the establishment of a conference committee Saturday on House Bill 4145, three representatives from each chamber met twice on Monday afternoon in an attempt to find a resolution on pay raises on for teachers, school service personnel and state police. However, members of the committee have yet to come to terms — and union leaders of teachers and school service personnel are standing firm in their demand for a 5 percent raise.

The conference committee came after the House refused to concur with an amendment from the Senate Finance Committee to the House Bill 4145 that called for a 4 percent raise this year for those groups. On Wednesday of last week — and following a Tuesday announcement from Gov. Jim Justice that he had struck a deal with union leaders — the House passed a bill calling for 5 percent raises.

Republican Delegates Paul Espinosa and Bill Anderson — along with Democrat Brent Boggs — were appointed to the committee. Senators Ryan Ferns and Craig Blair, both Republicans, join Democrat Bob Plymale representing the upper chamber.

In the Monday afternoon meeting, Justice’s chief of staff, Mike Hall, and budget director Mike McKown answered questions from the committee, many of which focused on the increase of $58 million in revenue estimates for next fiscal year. Those updated estimates came as Justice and union leaders announced the deal designed to end the strike.

Hall and McKnown also acknowledged that representatives of the state had been contacted by representatives of Standard & Poors, although it was about the teacher strike in general and not about the adjusted revenue estimates.

“I do think that it is pertinent for each of our respective bodies to return; Democrats in the House, Democrats in the Senate, Republicans in the House, Republicans in the Senate to go back to our respective caucuses,” said Ferns. “[And let’s] talk about what is a possible compromise, if any. If there is no compromise, we are going to be in a position where one side is going to have to come completely to the other. Those are our options.”

The impasse stretched through a short evening meeting of the conference committee. Another meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Conference committee co-chairman Ferns said he had offered a compromise position to the House of Delegates, although he did not specify exactly what that plan would be.

House members of the committee, along with Plymale from the Senate, stood firm on the 5 percent pay raise — with all calling for immediate action.

“I once again think it’s imperative that we get this resolved as quickly as possible. I’m willing to give it till tomorrow morning if that’s the will of this committee. But at some point we have to reach a consensus,” said Anderson.

“I do know that this needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. I think we really need to act in the morning. I think we’re just really — literally — out of time,” added Boggs a few moments later.

In an attempt to move the conversation beyond the increase of $58 million in revenue estimates, Plymale noted that increases by the governor’s office late last fiscal year — to the tune of more than double of this year’s adjustments — were accurate. Although he did not motion on the bill Monday, Plymale said he would be prepared to do so at the Tuesday meeting.

However, Senate Republicans remained skeptical of adjusted revenue estimates for the upcoming fiscal year. Senators Ferns and Blair continued to question the validity of the governor’s adjusted revenue estimates.

“I think where were the fundamental differences between the majority in the Senate  — and perhaps all the other parties — is our concern over the validity of the new revenue estimates that, in our opinion, seemed to have came out of a an emotional situation where you there was a conversation about ending a strike,” Ferns said. “And, so, it further affirms our concerns with hearing that the executive branch is receiving phone calls from some of the bond rating agencies.”

Following the meeting, West Virginia Education Association president Dale Lee and American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia president Christine Campbell said they remain firm that teachers won’t return to the classroom until their deal with Gov. Justice calling for 5 percent raises is honored. Both also placed the blame on Senate Republicans for the continued impassed.

“Senator Ferns and Senator Blair — they are the reason we are out of school tomorrow,” Lee said.

 

All 55 county school systems had called off school forTuesday by the time the conference committee had met for their Monday evening meeting.

“They seem to have a plan. They don’t want to talk about the plan,” Campbell said of Blair and Ferns. “They want to talk about everything but a plan and they know where everybody else on the committees is. You have six people on this committee. Four of them appeared to agree and two of them appear to disagree and they’re not even having a conversation about it outside of putting it off.”

According to joint rules of the Legislature, the conference committee’s deadline can be extended for one day by adopting a concurrent resolution by midnight Tuesday.