CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The only drama on a committee vote for a big education bill was the silence.
Senators acting as a Committee of the Whole passed a broad-ranging education bill this morning, 18-16. Republican senators Kenny Mann and Bill Hamilton voted with the minority.
The bill now goes to the full Senate, which went ahead at noon today with the first of three required readings. It will be second reading, amendment stage, in the Senate on Friday. And then the bill would be on a Senate passage vote on Monday.
The discussion is likely to be livelier from here on out.
When it was time to consider the bill today, committee chairman Craig Blair opened up for discussion.
“Is there discussion?” asked Senator Blair, R-Berkeley.
He was met with silence.
“OK, no discussion,” Blair said.
He continued, “Moving on to amendments. Are there amendments?”
Silence again.
So the vote went on, about as expected. Hamilton and Mann have consistently expressed reservations about the bill, as have Democrats.
After the vote, Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, said a prolonged argument in committee would have been pointless.
“It’s an exercise in futility,” he said. “The board’s stuck on 18-16 no matter what we do. So why go through the agony of doing it here and going to the floor and doing it again?” Prezioso asked.
There was also a strategic element that went unsaid. The record-keeping for committees is less detailed than in floor sessions. So arguments, amendments and votes are likely to be amplified if this contentious issue is hashed out on in a regular floor session.
“We’ll meet with our caucus, we’ll meet with our constituent groups, we’ll make a plan and we’ll go forward,” Prezioso said. “Hopefully somebody over there will come to reason that this bill is detrimental. It needs to be broken down.”
Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, described satisfaction with the bill’s passage through committee.
“Think about how transformative this bill is for the education system in our state,” Carmichael said after today’s floor session.
“If you care about the kids of West Virginia and our student performance, this is a bill that will garner lots and lots of support.”
The bill’s quick passage from committee came just a day after a 9-hour discussion on the Senate floor. That involved an explanation by staff attorneys and testimony by experts who were invited to speak.
The bill wraps together a variety of items, including a long-promised payraise for educators.
It also opens the way for charter schools and educational savings accounts that would set aside public dollars for private schooling for a certain number of participants.
The bill would also let teachers bank personal days for retirement credit. It would give counties greater latitude in paying some teachers more for in-demand expertise.
The bill would require teachers to sign off annually on union dues. It stipulates that if there’s a work stoppage that closes schools, those involved would not be paid.
It’s all tied together with a non-severability clause, saying that if any part of the bill is struck down then it would all be void.
Gov. Jim Justice has said repeatedly the past few days that he does not believe all those issues should be bundled together. He has also described some as hot-button topics that are not worth the fight.
West Virginia’s state school board has also taken issue with the bill, saying professionals with the state Department of Education should have been consulted more thoroughly. A resolution from the state board also said the components of the bill should be considered separately.
Carmichael on Thursday said the governor and the state school board had not swayed his thinking.
“No,” he said, “and for a couple of reasons. One is, we have met with the various entities that said they have not met with us. There have been meetings. I can show you on my Senate calendar where they have been in my office.
“I’ll say it this way: If you can call an emergency meeting to express your opinion on this bill and you can’t come over to the Senate president’s office — while you’re in the office — and say that you have issues on this bill then shame on them.”