CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice says he may be obligated to sign a bill dissolving the Department of Education and the Arts if it saves money.
But Justice has a big caveat: He says even if the department is dismantled, he still wants a cabinet secretary for the arts.
“There is a real hangup that I have, and it’s just this: If I sign the bill, I’ve got to have the ability to create a secretary of the arts because our arts need to grow in West Virginia,” Justice said during a public appearance today at the Charleston Civic Center. “We do not need to restrict in West Virginia.”
What Justice will do with the bill has been highly-anticipated ever since it passed during the regular legislative session.
Conflict over what to do resulted in last week’s firing of Justice’s high-profile secretary for Education and the Arts, Gayle Manchin, the wife of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.
Republican supporters in the state Legislature have said the bill would result in more efficient government by combining redundant programs.
Some would go into the separate Department of Education. Some others would wind up in the Department of Commerce.
But critics have opposed doing away with state government’s official advocate for the arts. They have also said more specific transitions need to be developed for some of the programs within Education and the Arts — along with assurances that federal dollars would follow any movements to new departments.
“The other part that is mandatory is we’ve got to be able to have a seamless transfer that none of our programs, none of our funding, nobody — whether it be the sick or the elderly — is going to be hurt,” Justice said today.
“So we’ve got to be seamless in the transfer, we’ve got to save money and that may warrant my signature provided if I can find a way to have a secretary for the arts.”
Delegate Larry Rowe, who spoke many times during the legislative session about preserving government’s advocate for the arts, said he supports Justice’s instinct about the bill.
But Rowe acknowledged it would be impossible at this point to tinker with the bill, moving ahead with some aspects of what it entails while preserving some arts-related agencies under an arts secretary.
“This bill is either up or down,” said Rowe, D-Kanawha, in a telephone interview. “And you have to ask, what’s the hurry?”
So Rowe suggested the governor veto the current bill but then come back and work with the Legislature next year.
“Let’s give it a year, fix it and have him participate.”
State code — Section 5F-1-2 — outlines the nine departments of state government along with the secretaries to lead them. The Department of Education and the Arts is one of the nine.
That part of state code begins with a declaration that state government should be made more responsive to the citizens of the state:
that more effective management of the executive branch of state government must be achieved; that the efficiency of the operations of the agencies and boards of state government must be increased; and that in view of the financial crisis facing the State of West Virginia, it is essential to compel a curtailment and reduction of governmental expenses and hold them within reasonable bounds consistent with the economical and efficient administration of governmental services and to ensure the strictest economy in the matter of governmental expenditures to the end that agencies and boards of government may not be compelled to abdicate their responsibilities or cease to function but that in carrying out their responsibilities they shall not place upon the public any expense which is not necessary.
The super secretary structure dates back to a Caperton administration effort to streamline administration. Critics said the result actually produced another layer of expensive bureaucracy.
One product of that reorganization was the Department of Education and the Arts. Then-Gov. Gaston Caperton, in 1989, proposed a constitutional amendment that would have placed responsibility for public education with the department, rather than with the state Board of Education.
The amendment was defeated, but the department lived.
Rowe has already been thinking about how the cabinet secretary over the arts could be redefined: Secretary for Arts, Music and Culture.
“It’s kind of hard to put humanities into that,” Rowe said, describing the possibility of wordiness. “But we in West Virginia need that very much.”
Under that scenario, Rowe suggested, educational programs such as the Center for Professional Development could go ahead and be transferred to the Department of Education.
But other programs such as those dealing with libraries, humanities council, governors academies and more could remain under one organization.
The trouble with that plan, Rowe acknowledged, is it wouldn’t really save money.
Then again, Rowe doubts the current proposal saves very much.
A fiscal note from the Department of Education — which is a separate agency from Education and the Arts — estimates savings of $750,000 through the elimination of some staff positions.
A separate fiscal note from the Department of Education and the Arts estimates no savings and suggests the move could actually be inefficient.
“HB 4006 is extremely vague overall,” that fiscal note concludes. “The language in the bill excludes numerous programs and other non-appropriated funds. There is no mention of staffing or administrative support for any of the Agencies. With no mention of centralized administrative support there would be additional cost(s)for each Agency to address this and determine what staffing or other administrative support is needed.”
Rowe suggests hitting the re-set button.
“The only thing for him to do that makes sense is to veto the bill and then work with the Legislature next year and move the education programs we need to for efficiency,” Rowe said, “and then let’s establish an arts and culture department that takes care of everything else.”