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Senate leaders push back against Justice veto threat of education omnibus

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, and Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, respond to remarks from Gov. Jim Justice on the education omnibus bill. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate is moving forward this morning with discussing an education reform package after the governor threatened to veto it Tuesday.

Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, and Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, addressed the press Tuesday afternoon shortly after Gov. Jim Justice announced his displeasure at Senate Bill 451, the education omnibus bill.

“The governor has every right to express his opinions,” Carmichael said. “I honestly feel that he is mistaken. If you want to change this system, if you care about our children and our kids and their education process, you will want to approach this and not hold everyone back from doing a fundamental overhaul of our system.”

Rucker and Carmichael pointed out that Justice, during his 2016 campaign for governor, ran on the platform of lifting West Virginia out of last place, including in the area of education.

“The governor ran on education,” Rucker said. “What we’re doing in the Senate is actually following through on what he promised when he ran. We’re tired of being last. We want to move up. We want to increase student outcomes. We want to help every West Virginia student, empower the teachers and empower the counties. This education bill does exactly that.”

“The ads as we were listening to the campaign were ‘are you tired of being last, are you tired of being 50th,” Carmichael said. “Are you? I think we are, and we want to move this state forward in terms of education reform.”

All 34 senators will meet later this morning as the Committee of the Whole, a parliamentary procedure used only three times in the state’s history, to discuss the bill as a super-committee.

The bill was originally supposed to go to the Senate Finance Committee after passing the education committee last Friday. Two members of finance — Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, and Kenny Mann, R-Monroe — expressed through social media and media reports that they are opposed to the bill, meaning the finance committee did not have enough votes to pass the bill.

Carmichael would not confirm that’s why the bill was moved to the Committee of the Whole. He said this process would allow the members of the finance committee, as well as all other committees, to hear the details about the bill at once, ask questions, and hear testimony.

“I’m excited about the process,” Carmichael said. “I think this is a process we need to go through to hear and to understand the current condition of the education system in West Virginia, what other states are doing to improve their outcomes, and what West Virginia can do to move in that direction.”

In his earlier press conference, Justice said he did not support several provisions of SB 451, including requiring unions to seek annual approval before deducting dues from teacher paychecks, education savings accounts, and a nonseverability clause which would render the entire bill invalid should it be challenged in court.

Justice also said he did not support the public charter school program, which, if passed, would make West Virginia the 45th state to have charter schools.

“I think there is a myth about charter schools that has been allowed to grow and perpetuate itself that’s just not based in fact,” Carmichael said. “Forty-four other states have charter schools. Is this the death of public education?”

“If you look at the data, all of the public schools around public charter schools have actually improved their outcomes,” Rucker added. “It has not hurt those public schools, they’ve actually gotten better.”

As for whether the governor might veto the bill should it get out of the Senate and through the House of Delegates, Carmichael said they would cross that bridge when they get there.

“We’ll just have to deal with that,” Carmichael said. “In this state we have options for mistakenly-vetoed bills. We’ll just approach it as we go through the process.”

Should the bill fail, Carmichael said the Senate is still committed to passing the 5 percent pay raise for teachers and school service personnel, but he hopes his fellow lawmakers and the governor will support the Senate Republican’s education reform efforts.

“If we feel a moral imperative, as we should, to provide a world-class education to every student in West Virginia, why would we not approach fundamental, comprehensive education reform.”

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