Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s education reform bill looks to be on the fast track to pass the legislature by the end of the week.
After a compromise agreement Monday morning, the state Senate passed the bill 34-0 and the House of Delegates quickly assigned it to the education committee, which will likely take up the measure Tuesday.
The bill contained most of Gov. Tomblin’s original provisions, including changing the school calendar to give counties five additional weeks to make up snow days. Without the extension, some counties have failed to meet the required 180 instructional days in the current calendar.
The bill removes counting teacher continuing education days and snow days toward the 180-day requirement.
The governor held strong on changing the way teachers are hired, moving toward a process that depends less on seniority. The compromise allows faculty senates and principals to have a “weighted” say on who should be hired.
The compromise gets rid of the provision in the original bill that said teachers could be hired from the group “Teach for America.” Instead alternative certification issues will be studied during the next year.
West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said his union will not fight the bill as it heads to the House of Delegates.
“No, no, we’ve given our support and we expect it to pass the House as is,” Lee said.
Neither the WVEA nor the West Virginia American Federation of Teachers were able to remove all of their concerns from the bill.
“My goodness, we’ve given from two sets of criteria of hiring to one. We’ve given on the calendar. All snow days will now be made up, which will be good for students,” Lee said.
However, Lee also pointed to some victories gained in the negotiations.
“Seniority has its role in hiring and we’ve ensured that OSE days will remain in the contract for teachers,” he said. “It is a motion of the give and take.”
State Senate President Jeff Kessler said the bill gives more local control in public education, provides more education opportunities for younger students and emphasizes technology training for middle school students.
“There were some very difficult negotiations but I believe this addresses the most important issue that our kids are getting a quality education,” Kessler said. “Overall it’s a good, strong bill.
The bill is the highlight piece of legislation on Tomblin’s agenda this session. Education reform has been a hot topic in West Virginia since an audit pointed out systemic problems that have the state ranked near the bottom in student achievement. The audit also highlighted the top-heaviness at the state Department of Education. The bill that passed Monday includes a 5 percent personnel spending cut in the department’s budget each of the next two years.
The bill has only one committee reference in the House and could pass the full House by Friday.