At the Capitol this week, the two chambers came together in what they believe is the best plan for selecting our new governor.
Heeding what they called strong public sentiment, the House of Delegates passed its version of legislation on Monday calling for a special primary election for governor. The Senate had already begun to move a bill to call for a primary election through its committees last week. However, after the House passed its election bill, the Senate quickly amended the dates to reflect an agreement by each chamber to meet in the middle and passed the House bill. The bill specifies a primary election to be held on May 14 and a general election to be conducted on October 4 of this year. The bill now awaits the governor’s signature.
Now that this controversial issue seems to be resolved, our union is optimistic that we can turn the focus of legislators to education. AFT-WV continues to work to achieve our legislative priorities. We continue to seek support from legislators to expand the one-time bonus proposed by acting Governor Tomblin into a meaningful and sustained salary increase for teachers, service personnel and higher education employees.
HB 2757, calling for annual teacher evaluations, passed the House Education Committee and moves to House Finance for action. This bill provides for a fair and thorough annual evaluation of professional personnel in public schools. The bill requires more frequent observation and evaluation of professionals, particularly those in the beginning stages of the profession. AFT-WV believes the bill is structured in a way that allows for the incorporation of a finished product by the evaluation work group. This group, comprised of teachers, union representatives, administrators and WV Department of Education personnel, has been meeting for months, working to develop an evaluation mechanism that will meet the needs of our public school system. Additionally, HB 2757 will move the dates for RIF and transfer deadlines from February back to April, allowing county boards to have a better forecast of their staffing needs and to avoid unnecessary RIF and transfers.
HB 2556, which will reset the expiration date of provisions that allow the employment of retired teachers as substitutes beyond the post-retirement employment limit for critical need content areas, has passed the full House and advanced out of the Senate Education Committee. The bill has been sent to Senate Finance for action.
AFT-WV’s bill to address planning periods is expected to be introduced soon. Meanwhile, we still want your testimonials on this issue. If you face the continuous loss of planning time, call us at 1-800-222-9838 so we may share your story with members of the legislature. We also encourage teachers to take our online survey on the planning period issue at www.aftwv.org.
SB 255 has passed the full Senate and moves to the House for action.. This bill allows the $55 million of federal stimulus money, known as the Education Jobs Fund, to be released to the county school boards for use for tutoring, summer school programs, etc. The funds can also be used to retain personnel to lower class size for our schools. Funds will be disbursed to local boards of education as soon as the bill passes the House and is signed into law by the Governor.
AFT-WV remains vigilant at the Capitol, working to improve the lives of our members and strengthen public education.