CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The head of the West Virginia Education Association has some key concerns about measures which were not addressed by lawmakers during the 60 day regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. However, Dale Lee said he’s even more concerned about the measures which did win approval.
One bill approved in the final hours would require teachers to be mandatory reporters to parents if a child comes to them with information such as trans gender discussions.
“It’s about teaching sexual orientation, which we don’t do anyway, but other parts of the bill are really not good. There are a lot of issues that I just have problems with that bill,” Lee said.
It’s not the only one. Lee said the WVEA is also very concerned about the bill which gives the Legislature authority over the policies of the state Department of Education. Removal of that autonomy failed at the ballot box three years ago in a Constitutional Amendment rejected by voters. Some lawmakers balked at the measure because it had been decided by voters, but not enough to stop it. Lee also had misgivings.
“Not only have the voters said they didn’t want it, but the Supreme Court has ruled it’s unconstitutional,” he said.
Lawmakers tried to implement a bill which addressed some of the issues of teacher pay in West Virginia, including the issue of locality pay, but ultimately it failed. Lee said while it would have helped some in the Eastern Panhandle where competition from neighboring states is driving a lot of educators into Virginia for better salaries, it ultimately didn’t solve the pay problem.
“I think we need to address the pay overall when you have more than 1500 positions without a certified teacher. The Governor has said he wants to make our pay contiguous with surrounding states, but that bill wouldn’t have done that,” he explained.
Lawmakers failed to tackle the situation with PEIA, but Lee said he wasn’t so disappointed about that omission. He believed the problem is so complex the 60-day session wasn’t the time to dedicate the attention the measure is going to need.
“I really believe PEIA may be looked at in a special session later on this year. It’s a lot more involved and a lot more complicated than you could have divided the time out for in a 60-day session,” he added.
Lee said they are hoping to get comprehensive reforms for the long term for the state workers and teachers’ health insurance program sometime later this year.