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West Virginia lawmakers, advocates make case for education reforms

CHARLESTON — Hiring more assistants for teachers, changing the way colleges and universities receive state tax dollars and making improvements to health insurance and retiree benefits for teachers and staff are some of the desires for the 2022 legislative session.

Lawmakers, representatives of higher education and teacher union officials made their case for these initiatives Friday during the West Virginia Press Association’s 2022 Legislative Lookahead. The 2022 legislative session begins at noon Wednesday.

The annual Lookahead was to take place at the Culture Center in Charleston after going to a virtual event last year due to COVID-19, but a positive COVID infection within the staff of the Press Association and Thursday night’s snowfall sent the event again back to Zoom.

Members of the press and lobbyists heard a panel Friday morning dedicated to education issues. The only member of the Republican leadership team for both the Senate and House of Delegates education committees who participated was Delegate Joe Statler, R-Monongalia.

Statler is the new vice chairman of the House Education Committee, taking the place of former Putnam County Delegate Joshua Higginbotham. Higginbotham resigned to run for state Senate in 2022.

Statler said House Republicans are working on a bill to hire and train assistants for first- and second-grade teachers. Following a model set by the state’s successful pre-kindergarten program, Statler said Republican lawmakers want to hire up to 1,800 teaching assistants at a cost of about $68 million.

Under the current draft of the bill, first- and second-grade teachers with more than 12 students would be required to have at least one assistant in the classroom. Statler said providing assistants will help students be able to receive more individual attention from teachers.

“This piece of legislation, I believe, will be tremendously productive in this state, as it allows more one-on-one with the students,” Statler said. “It actually adds to the help that we can give these students … we know the building of the foundation and education is critical so that these students have what they need, especially in the reading skills to move forward.”

Last month, Gov. Jim Justice proposed a 5% pay raise for state employees, educators and school service personnel starting in July with the new fiscal year. Justice also proposed a 2.5% one-time bonus that would kick in this year.

Delegate Ed Evans, D-McDowell, is a minority member of the House Education Committee and a retired science teacher. He said more funding should be used to recruit and retain certified teachers. According to the state Department of Education, there are more than 1,000 vacancies for certified teachers in West Virginia.

“I’m thrilled with the fact that our teachers are expecting a pay raise, but you know, we should also be looking at ways to recruit these young people that are brightest and best,” Evans said. “The education people I’ve spoken with, especially (board of education) members and teachers, they’re telling me that they simply can’t fill the jobs. … We’re losing our youngest; we’re losing them left and right. They come in, they spend a couple of years, and they decide that’s not for them. We’ve got to figure out what the problem is.”

Sen. Ron Stollings, D-Boone, is a minority member of the Senate Education Committee and a doctor in his hometown of Madison. He called for using some of the federal COVID-19 dollars in the American Rescue Plan to beef up funding for the Birth to Three program, which provides support to low-income families with limited access to developmental programs for their children.

“We don’t have a bad Birth to Three program, but we just need to put it on steroids, if you would, because that’s the only thing that’s going to down the road save us,” Stollings said.

Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, gave his support for Justice’s pay raise proposal for public employees, though he also called for a cost-of-living adjustment for public employee retirees. Lee called on lawmakers to raise teacher and school service personnel pay and make it competitive with surrounding states.

Lee also called for new solutions to fund the Public Employees Insurance Agency. While premiums have not increased for PEIA under Justice, Lee is concerned that public employees won’t be as lucky under the next governor.

“If you look at the five-year plan for PEIA, you’re looking at about a 15% premium increase, and then about another 9% premium increase to the employees projected in the coming years,” he said. “We have to find a solution for PEIA.”

Lawmakers will also consider creating two performance-based funding formulas for distributing more than $400 million in tax dollars annually from the general revenue budget to the state’s 10 four-year colleges and universities and nine community and technical colleges, based on Tennessee’s program.

“This is just going to be another piece of legislation that will really help,” Statler said. “The colleges and universities will also have some certainty that they can go on, that they don’t have to wait until the end of session when a budget is passed to know approximately where their money will be now.”

The actual formula is being developed by the Higher Education Policy Commission/West Virginia Community and Technical College System, though lawmakers have been advised of the progress. Once completed, lawmakers will receive a bill to approve.

Mira Martin, president of Fairmont State University and the West Virginia Council of Presidents, said the formula will determine state taxpayer funding for higher education institutions based on several education outcomes, including how many students complete a set amount of credit hours, college graduates, how colleges spend money on research and how many students enter the workforce.

“Taken together, these metrics will allow institutions to directly support students in attaining a degree on time, while producing job-ready graduates who are able to meet the evolving economic needs of the state, thereby providing taxpayers with enormous returns on their investment, while also ensuring that the institutions continue to advance their unique missions in higher education for the public benefit,” Martin said.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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