CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The House of Delegates Education Committee took parts of two days to discuss a Senate-passed bill concerning posting school curriculum online before deciding to approve it.
SB 422 was approved on a voice vote Tuesday. It’s a bill that came from Gov. Jim Justice after hearing how some county school systems in the state were posting the information.
“The governor sees this as actually encouraging further participation of parents in their child’s classroom, further conversations with the teacher, get those questions answered,” Justice administration General Counsel Berkeley Bentley told the committee Tuesday.
The committee got bogged down Monday in discussion of whether the bill would require teachers to post daily lesson plans. Delegate Todd Longanacre, R-Greenbrier, who instructs ROTC in Greenbrier County said posting daily lesson plans would be impossible and painful.
“I would rather staple bologna to my face and stick my head in a fish bowl full of piranha than to have to sit down, as a teacher, an update this every day that something changes,” Longanacre said.
Committee members were assured Tuesday the bill had nothing to do with lesson plans but rather with curriculum that county school systems approve. The bill says it has to be posted 30 days after approval but it can only be viewed by parents, guardians and students with a password because of copyright concerns.
West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said he’s not sure the legislation is needed. He said schools are open to sharing curriculum and teachers open their classrooms.
“And it’s not just me saying that–you have several teachers on this committee who would agree with the same thing–you are welcome in their classrooms any time you choose,” Lee said.
Bentley said it seems to have gone well for county school systems that have decided to publish their adopted curriculum decisions.
“Not every county does that. This would say that every county would have to offer that level of transparency,” he said.
Bentley said those counties usually do the posting in the summer months.
The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington indicated the Tuesday morning meeting may have been the last this session for the committee.