West Virginia Lawmakers Out to Punish Educators for Taking a Stand
In October, the West Virginia Legislature promised to give educators a pay raise. It failed to deliver on that promise and so a special session was called to hash out the details. As many suspected, strings would be attached.
“Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation,” wrote Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, in an editorial in the Charleston Gazette-Mail, “but even we’re a little shocked at how far West Virginia’s [senate] has gone to punish public school teachers and service personnel for striking two years in a row to defend their livelihoods and the kids they teach.”
On June 3, the state senate narrowly passed an amendment to its Student Succeeds Act (S.B. 1039), which does include some provisions educators support, like providing more social workers, counselors, and nurses. But the bill also comes with a heavy dose of bitter pills: banning teacher strikes, removing local control from county superintendents to close school districts for a strike, canceling extracurricular activities during work stoppages, and docking the pay of teachers and staff who go on strike—or firing them altogether.
Additionally, the bill proposes an unlimited number of charter schools and diverts public dollars toward voucher programs.
“[T]he Student Success Act … [was] never about students at all,” Lee explained. “[T]his late addition is petty and vindictive, and probably what Senate President Mitch Carmichael … wants more than anything, after being embarrassed by the teachers, school service personnel, and their unions two years in a row.”
In 2018, WVEA members statewide went on strike for nine days, which lit the fire for#RedForEd across the U.S. Thirteen months later, they showed their power again with another work stoppage over charter expansion and vouchers.
West Virginians Ignored
The Student Success Act is similar to a previous senate bill (S.B. 451) that died in the house in February 2019. The main discord between the two chambers was over charter schools and vouchers.
Wendy Peters, an elementary school teacher, told MetroNews at the time, “Some CONTINUE READING: West Virginia Lawmakers Out to Punish Educators for Taking a Stand
