The state Senate Education Committee is listening to what interested groups have to say about Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s education reform bill. The committee spent Tuesday spent Tuesday afternoon hearing various comments.
West Virginia American Federation of Teachers President Judy Hale says the bill has some good things in it but a lot of inconsistencies.
Hale says the bill would eliminate planning periods for teachers during the school day. She says that won’t help increase student achievement. Hale says another part of the bill would allow trips to the state high school basketball tournaments to be counted as instructional days.
Hale wondered if changing teacher hiring practices would really change things.
“We need to improve academic achievement, but is it because we aren’t hiring the best teachers?”
Hale spent most of her prepared comments criticizing the state Dept. of Education. She says last year’s education audit focused more than half of its comments on the bloated bureaucracy of the system but there’s nothing in the governor’s bill to address it.
Hale was also critical of the regional education offices, known as RESAs. She says there are 465 RESA employees across the state.
“Can anyone in here tell me where all of those people are located or what they do? Nobody seems to know. But we want to hire more people at the RESA level,” Hale said.
That prompted comments from RESA 6 Executive Director Nick Zervos of Wheeling. He says the agency helps five counties with supplies, repairs and many other resources. He says it’s an efficient operation.
“If the people that put RESAs together in 1972 could see what we do today in our RESA in Wheeling, West Virginia they would say ‘We made the right decision when we created RESAs because they are doing exactly what we asked them to do,'” Zervos said.
Hale reminded education committee members they have the power to cut the fat out of the Dept. of Education.
“Last time I looked this legislature appropriates the funds for the Dept. of Education’s budget. It seems to me that this bill or the budget bill would be the perfect place to deal with the top heaviness,” she said.
The Senate education committee is expected to work the bill, with a committee substitute and proposed amendments, on Thursday.