West Virginia

Overview

West Virginia teachers walked off the job again in February 2019 temporarily re-sisting the call by the republican legislature for charter schools. Ultimately charter schools were approved in an extraordinary legislative session held in June well after the traditional school year had closed. School personnel had much less leverage without classes in session; House Bill 206 was signed into law on June 28, 2019, permitting charter schools. Estimates are that 88% (WVDE, 2019a) of the West Virginia public did not support charter schools. Students, teachers, and the public fear the diversion of public funds to charter schools in an education environment that is already underfunded (Hanover, 2019). The legislation allows for the creation of three charter schools and up to three more every three years after 2023 (H.B. 206, 2019).

Charter school legislation passed despite challenging drug abuse and poverty statistics, and at a time of declining enrollments and college-going rates. American Community Survey data released in September of 2019 show that 25.9% of children in West Virginia (WV) live below the poverty line, the national average is 18.4% (ACS, 2019). Despite these challenges, West Virginia continues to lead the country in high school graduation rates with 90.2% of students earning a diploma; an increase of .8% from 2017 (WVDE, 2019b). The State retains the 3^rd highest high school graduation rate in the nation, but the college going rate has dropped 1.9% from 2017, to 52.58% (WVDE, 2019c).

Priorities

Increasing teacher pay was identified as the number one priority for public education. West Virginia ranks 49^th in teacher pay. The Department of Education lists increased social and emotional support for students as the second highest state priority. Providing additional flexibility to high performing schools, and increasing funding for teacher training in areas where skills are short round out the top priorities identified by the department of education (WVDE, 2019a).

Changes

General revenue collections for FY2020 are estimated at $4.36 billion. Of that amount, $2.02 billion is allocated to public education. This is an increase of $35.8 million. Higher education also saw an increase of $22.7 million, much of which ($10 million) will be directed at the State's free community college initiative. Nearing press time, it was estimated that revenue collections would fall $100 million short of original projections; budget cuts were already being considered (McElhinny, 2019).

The state has enacted free community college in a last dollar in system that requires, among other things, students not have earned a previous college degree, not be in default on a federal student loan, take coursework towards a degree in select high-demand fields, file a FAFSA, commit to remaining in West Virginia for at least two years post-graduation, and pay for and successfully complete a drug screen prior to each academic term (WVCTCS, 2019).

Pressing state issues

More pressing than the legislature's usurping of the will of the people (88% of public against charter schools) regarding charter schools is the state's opioid crises. The department of education states that the epidemic "may be the single worst crisis impacting students in the state's history" (WVDE, 2019b, p. 6), and suggests that teaching has changed so much in the last five years that educators are required to provide extraordinary social and emotional support just to maintain a healthy education environment. ReclaimWV, a West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) campaign designed to respond to the opioid crisis and its effect on students, reports that 70% of teachers are experiencing an increased impact from substance abuse and misuse, and 90% of teachers do not feel they have the tools to appropriately respond to and support children who experience drug abuse in the home. In response to this crisis the WVDE has made four recommendations to mitigate these issues:

1. 1. Increase funding to districts for social emotional supports, but do not earmark funding for specific personnel or specific programs. Allow districts and schools to take responsibility for how they spend this funding to best fit their local needs.

2. 2. Continue to expand Communities In Schools throughout West Virginia and...