Manchin has stern words for state school board
'If you think that everything is fine and it should stay the way it is, I think we have a problem as a state'
by Zack Harold
Daily Mail staff
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin had some frank language for West Virginia Board of Education members about the state's recent failed Race to the Top application and the upcoming second round of applications.
Manchin said other states have been "aggressive" in changing their education systems to win a share of the U.S. Department of Education's $4.3 billion Race to the Top money.
But he said there's no point in asking lawmakers to change state education code unless the state school board and the West Virginia Department of Education are willing to "take the lead"
"If you think that everything is fine and it should stay the way it is, I think we have a problem as a state," Manchin said.
"We've got to all be on the same page," he said. "We're going to do a special session if you want. We're not going to do a special session if you don't want it."
Officials found out last Friday that West Virginia is not among the finalists for Race to the Top funding.
Only 15 states and the District of Columbia were chosen as finalists and the U.S. education department is only expected to name four or five of those as Race to the Top recipients.
The governor pledged in his State of the State address in January that he would call a special legislative session if the state was denied first-round funding.
According to the U.S. Department of Education's Web site, West Virginia was eligible to receive between $20 million and $75 million. State officials applied for $80 million.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said states' funding eligibilities could be changed come round two.
The education department won't release states' application scores until April.
Manchin said when those scores come out, the state Department of Education doesn't need to spend money on consultants to figure out why the state's first application was rejected.
"I think it was pretty much laid out," he said.
Manchin said he wants his office to be more involved in crafting the state's second application because many of the changes that might need to be made might have to come through the Legislature.
"It's a team effort if we're going to go through a special session," he said. "In the special session, we set the agenda."
The governor said last fall, he talked with each of his cabinet members and asked what state codes were stopping them from doing their jobs. When the legislative session started this year, Manchin said he started asking lawmakers to make those code changes.
First lady and state board member Gayle Manchin said the same needs to happen with the state education department.
"Whatever is tying the hands of the people in this building or in this department, those are the things that need to be brought forward," she said.
But to make those changes, the governor said he needs board and department members' support.
"I can't move it without you," he said
State Superintendent Steve Paine said he "stands ready" to help the governor make changes to West Virginia's education system. Board president Priscilla Haden said she agreed.
"We're all for what our children need, what our students need," Haden said.
After a report from Kenna Seal, director of the Office of Education Performance Audits, board member Wade Linger asked if the agency could perform an audit of the state department of education.
"They can always come up with something that we're doing a great job of," Linger said, but he said he'd like to know if the board's directives are doing anything to increase student performance.
"Maybe we should be changing the direction we're giving," he said. "But you'll never know if you don't ask."
Linger said in the business world, whenever a company wants an independent evaluation they find an independent evaluator.
He said Seal's education performance agency, which reports directly to the state board, has the resources to do that kind of independent evaluation even though the office has never audited the state education department before.
The first lady also chimed in, citing McDowell County's lack of progress after almost a decade of state board control. She said she worries members of the department don't feel accountable when counties the state takes over don't make any improvements.
In a report presented to board members in January, Seal's office found that McDowell schools didn't make Adequate Yearly Progress in the 2008-2009 school year and five of the county's schools have missed AYP in the last five years.
McDowell's average ACT composite scores also dropped, going from 18.4 in 2007-2008 to 17.9 in 2008-2009, just below the county's 2002-2003 score of 18.0.
The county's SAT math scores dropped, too. In the school year 2002-2003, students' average score was 450. In 2008-2009, students' average score was 438.
The state board took over McDowell schools in 2001 after auditors found over 200 violations including nepotism, poor academics, old facilities and improper accounting procedures.
Paine said he wasn't ready to say his department wasn't effective in McDowell schools, and pointed out that several other county school systems the state has taken over -- like Lincoln, Logan and Hampshire -- have regained their autonomy.
The superintendent also pointed out that the West Virginia Legislative Auditor's office recently did an evaluation of the department.
"I don't think I got an answer," Linger said when the board took a short break.