CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Like some of her colleagues, Delegate Dianna Graves is looking for balance in the omnibus education bill.
“I’ve really been riding the knife blade on this bill,” Graves, R-Kanawha, said Tuesday afternoon in her office at West Virginia’s Capitol.
Her inbox has been inundated with support for charter schools and education savings accounts, which would set aside tax dollars for students who leave public schools for private education.
Yet Graves has reservations. Her concerns about education savings accounts focus on keeping fraud to a minimum when parents are trusted with public dollars.
And she doesn’t want to take actions that would harm public schools.
“I believe in the public school system. That’s how we reach the most kids,” she said, holding her hands up like a balancing scale.
“So I want to make sure what we’re doing — and that’s where I have concerns — is structured in such a way that, if possible, benefits the public school system and doesn’t damage it. And right now I’m just not completely convinced that that’s where we’re at.”
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Questions like those will meet the test over the next couple of days as delegates vote on the broad-ranging education bill, which wraps a spectrum of changes to the school system with a long-promised pay raise for educators.
The bill is on track for passage in the House by Thursday.
But the real test of consensus will be Wednesday when delegates consider amendments.
That stage is likely to shape the bill and determine whether it stands or falls in the end. Among the issues is to what degree will delegates accept charter schools or educational savings accounts.
“I haven’t made up my mind about any particular amendment. I think there’s some consensus among our group that we want to see — what do people propose, what do we agree with, what do we not agree with?” Graves said.
What bill is the House considering?
What delegates will be considering is, technically, the version that passed the state Senate a little more than a week ago.
A version by the House Education Committee is one big amendment to the Senate’s. Delegates would need to vote to accept the House Education version today.
The House Education version differs from the Senate’s in several key ways.
It removes a non-severability clause that would have struck down the entire bill if any aspect were successfully challenged in court. It also removed a ‘paycheck protection’ provision that would have mandated annual approval to have union dues withheld from paychecks.
The Senate version allowed unlimited charter schools The House Education version includes a pilot program for two.
The House Education committee voted to remove an entire section that detailing the consequences of a work stoppage. Originally, the bill would have withheld pay if a work stoppage closed schools. Extracurricular activities would have been canceled.
The committee altered a section that would have removed seniority as the main factor in job retention. Now seniority is linked to evaluations in those instances.
An amendment passed by the committee would provide money for innovation zones, which are already in West Virginia law but without funding.
What amendments will be offered?
There will be no shortage of changes to consider.
Democrats were expecting to propose several.
One would bump up a bonus for teachers who take four personal days or fewer from $500 to $1,500. Another provides guidelines for the number of counselors in public schools.
Republicans will offer their own.
House Finance Chairman Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, said amendments will aim to boost the number of charter schools. More will aim to restore education savings accounts to the bill.
Those amendments would reflect proposals that failed to pass out of House Finance earlier this week.
“I don’t plan to offer any myself, but I will support those amendments concerning increasing charter schools from two to five or some type of proposals for some type of ESAs,” Householder said.
House Majority Whip Paul Espinosa, R-Jefferson, expressed disappointment that the number of charter schools is currently limited to two.
“It’s basically no, really, school choice there,” Espinosa said. “And I think that’s why that measure will likely be addressed on the House floor.”
What’s the level of support in the House?
To state the obvious, that largely depends on what shape the bill takes.
There are 59 Republicans in the House and 41 Democrats. That seems like a bigger gap than it really is. If nine Republicans cross over, then it’s a tie vote. One of the Republican delegates, Larry Kump of Berkeley County, has been away recovering from surgery.
Democrats seem united against education savings accounts and skeptical of charter schools.
Members of both parties met privately on Tuesday afternoon, discussing their positions on the education bill. Some delegates characterized the Republican gathering as rough.
As the bill has gone through the House so far, Republican votes have been less than solid.
On Monday night, the House Finance Committee voted down its own version of the bill, 13-12. That version allowed education savings accounts plus five charter schools.
Republicans Erikka Storch, Bill Anderson and Steve Westfall voted against that version.
House Finance later approved the House Education version with a 17-8 vote.
Westfall, who serves on both Finance and Education, said he supports that one. He was a chief sponsor in the Education Committee to remove education savings accounts, saying he can’t support them.
“I think the House Education Committee strike-and-insert is a compromise,” Westfall, R-Jackson, said Tuesday afternoon. “Teachers still don’t like it. Nobody really likes it, so I think it’s kind of a good fit.”
The vice-chairman of House Education, Mark Dean, is also a principal of Gilbert PreK-8.
Dean said he supports the House Education Committee version of the bill. His support would fade with education savings accounts and more charter schools.
“I mean, of course it would have to be the will of the body to pass those amendments,” said Dean, R-Mingo.
“I know that I’d be voting no on both of those. I don’t support any educational savings accounts, and the charter schools I would support are stretched thin with the two-school pilot program.”
The votes that delegates make over the next couple of days will shape important aspects of West Virginia’s schools.
Delegate Graves is hoping for the wisdom to make the appropriate choices.
“I really believe in parents having a choice. I really believe public education has got to be the best we can because that’s where we reach the most kids. So it’s going to be balancing act,” she said.
“And you know what? It can’t be perfect. If I wait and vote no because this bill is not perfect at the end of the day, I’ll be waiting forever. This is a first step. I’m leaning toward voting yes because we take this step and we learn from it.”