House to vote Friday on eliminating Department of Education and the Arts

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A bill that would eliminate the state Department of Education and the Arts is scheduled for third and final reading Friday in the House of Delegates.

The bill (HB 2524) eliminates the cabinet secretary’s office and the Office of Professional Development. It returns the Educational Broadcast Authority and the state Library Commission to independent status. It shifts state Office of Rehabilitation Services to WorkForce West Virginia and the Division of Culture and History to the Department of Commerce.

Education and the Arts oversees various commissions which appear to run well on their own, House Education Committee Chair Paul Espinosa (R-Jefferson) said.

MORE Read bill here

“It appeared inefficient to continue to have to leave a secretary of the commissions all of whom existed and operated well for many years and are led by capable governor appointees,” Espinosa said.

The language of the bill focuses more on eliminating the Office of Professional Development. It says the state Board of Education shall come up with a system for professional development and help the individual counties to the extent they need it. Professional development be from the bottom up, Espinosa said.

“It empowers our local school districts, our principals as the instructional leader of their school, to work collaboratively with their educators in their school to determine what professional development they need rather as opposed to determining it here in Charleston,” Espinosa said.

Delegate Larry Rowe (D-Kanawha) was unsuccessful in his attempt to amend the bill Thursday. Rowe said the arts will lose its advocate if the cabinet secretary’s office is eliminated.

“When the governor and the cabinet are sitting around trying to figure out all of the ‘gotta’ stuff, ‘We gotta fund Medicaid. We gotta do this. We gotta do that.’ Who is it at the cabinet level–who in that meeting is going to tap on their shoulder and say, ‘What you gotta do is help the dreams of our youth,'” Rowe said.

The short title of the bill is “Improving the focus on school-level continuous improvement processes.”





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