[Nfbwv-talk] WVSDB News Article

[Smyth, Charlene R]

I again want to thank Karen for sharing this.



Senate opens unwanted path for WVSDB.

CHARLESTON



On page 68 of the 145 pages of the Student Success Act that the State Senate passed are these few

sentences:



the state board may promulgate a rule in accordance with §29A-3B-1 et seq. of this code which allows the schools for the deaf and blind to apply to the state board for authorization to become a public charter school.



It's a provision that officials at the West Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind did not know about in advance, did not ask for and do not want.



Del. Ruth Rowan, the schools biggest champion in the Legislature, said she was flabbergasted to find the provision as she read the bill.



And, in all fairness, it's a provision that would have to be approved by the House of Delegates and could be out of the bill today, as fluid as the situation is in Charleston at the moment.



Even if the provision is written into law, WVSDBs Administrative Superintendent Mark Gandolfi says he doesn't see anything changing in Romney, which has been home to the school since it was created in 1870.



It says could become one, he said. It doesn't mean it becomes one.



Other laws could prohibit WVSDB, a state agency, from applying for charter school status because charter schools have to be nonprofits, and we're not, he noted.



Rowan sees no upside to such a move. WVSDB received nearly $14.7 million in the state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.



Charter-school status would put WVSDB into the general education budget, probably qualifying it for $500,000 to $600,000 under the per-student formula.



Moreover, Gandolfi pointed out, Charters aren't given buildings.



Rowan said Senate and education officials were being tight-lipped about who inserted the provision in Senate Bill 1039.



The State Senate passed the bill on June 3 by an 18-15 vote. The House convened on Monday to take up the senate bill, but also to consider its own education measures.



On Tuesday, the House was debating its own omnibus education bill that differed from the Senates.



The special session addressing education grew out of the inability of the

2 houses to agree on a bill during the regular session that ended in mid-March.



Both sides agreed that the centerpiece of the bill was another 5-percent raise for school employees, but the Senate attached unpopular provisions to the pay that the House rejected.



A similar showdown is occurring now, 3 months later. The Senate bill reintroduces charter schools and adds language prohibiting future teacher strikes.



A memorable 9-day strike a year ago gave school and state employees 5-percent raises and touched off similar moves across the nation.



Teachers walked out again this year to stop the senate's omnibus overhaul of the state's education system.





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