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West Virginia Teachers’ Union: ‘Everything Is on the Table’

CHARLESTON — It’s been less than a year since West Virginia teachers walked off the job for a nine-day strike to protest pay and benefits.

Now, as an omnibus education reform bill works its way through the Senate, the head of the West Virginia Education Association is warning “everything is on the table” in terms of how the state’s teacher unions could react if Senate Bill 451 — which authorizes charter schools and increases class size for elementary grades, among other items — continues to move forward.

“I am angry and saddened that we’re here today talking about a damaging bill for education being ram-rodded through at a record pace without any discussion on the impact to our students, our public schools, or the impact on our state financially,” said WVEA President Dale Lee.

Late Monday, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that a group of Mingo County educators and service personnel approved collecting votes among all county school employees for a one-day walkout.

Brandon Wolford, president of Mingo County’s chapter of the WVEA, told the Gazette-Mail the district is “in the first steps of a work stoppage.”

Just as Monday’s West Virginia Senate floor session was set to start, leaders of the state’s teacher unions and school employee associations called on the Senate to abandon the bill and sit down with teachers and administrators for education reform discussions.

The group included the West Virginia chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, the West Virginia Education Association, the West Virginia Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals, the West Virginia Association of School Administrators, the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, and the West Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals.

SB 451 includes multiple proposals the unions agree with, such as a 5 percent pay raise for teachers and school service personnel, converting saved sick leave for free retiree health care, and a $250 tax credit for teachers to purchase classroom supplies.

It also contains provisions the groups don’t like, such as the state’s first public charter school program, education savings accounts, increases to class sizes, provisions to dock teacher pay during a work stoppage, eliminating seniority as the sole criteria for deciding reductions in force, and requiring annual approval before unions can deduct dues from employee paychecks.

The groups also don’t like the speed at which the bill is moving through the Senate.

“The omnibus education bill being fast-tracked … is a radical agenda that was written and is being promoted by outsiders,” said AFT-WV President Fred Albert. “Many provisions contained in this bill defy logic and fly in the face of credible research.”

West Virginia Board of Education President Dave Perry referred to SB 451 as a “grave mistake.”

“As a veteran of the public education system and for the sake of our public education students, I sincerely hope cooler and reasonable heads will prevail as this legislation is discussed over the next few weeks,” Perry said. “Given the events that have transpired on the bill to date and because of the unprecedented, rapid pace and process this bill is following, I feel it is imperative the state Board of Education weigh in on this matter.”

Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, said the bill is “a slap in the face aimed at teachers and school service personnel to punish them for standing up for their rights last year.”

Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, contested that thought, saying the bill’s main intent is to improve student test scores and performances.

“There’s not a retaliatory bone in anyone’s body here,” Carmichael said Monday. “What we are doing is providing education for the next generation of West Virginians. It’s incredibly important.”

Jenny Craig, president of the Ohio County Education Association, said the bill doesn’t address the lack of mental health services in West Virginia’s public schools.

“We are severely understaffed in the areas of school psychologists, counselors, school social workers and prevention resource officers,” Craig said. “This so-called education reform bill does nothing to address inadequate mental health care.”

Craig, a teacher at Wheeling Middle School, also questions the logic of increasing class size. “We have to ask ourselves: What does a class size of 28 to 31 students actually reform, and would we have better education for our students?” she said.

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