$1,000 pay raise for teachers gets panel's OK 7th-, 8th-grade class sizes eyed   CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Lawmakers reviewing proposals for July's education special session agreed Friday to recommend across-the-board raises of $1,000 for teachers and $500 for school service workers. The House/Senate working group similarly endorsed an audit of state education spending, and added to that a study of how the 55 county school systems can share jobs or operations. The working group also OK'd a... http://wvea.org/news/articles/1000_pay_raise_for_teachers_gets_panels_OK,312.aspx Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT 2010-06-27T09:00:00 Seven Out of Eight MetroNews Charleston All but one of eight education reform bills will make the Governor's call for next month's special session. After Thursday's meeting of a legislative working group looking at those issues, Senate Education Committee Chair Bob Plymale said the group has already passed along those seven bills with their recommendations to Governor Joe Manchin. The only bill that did not make the list is a piece of legislation that deals with teacher hiring and... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Seven_out_of_Eight,311.aspx Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT 2010-06-25T09:00:00 W.Va. teachers tell lawmakers of their education ideas   CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- West Virginia would experiment with alternative classrooms for disruptive elementary students under a measure recommended Thursday by a legislative panel shaping next month's planned education-focused special session. The House-Senate working group agreed to submit a pilot project proposal to Gov. Joe Manchin after hearing at times harrowing accounts from teachers of run-ins with troubled and violent students. Manchin... http://wvea.org/news/articles/WV_teachers_tell_lawmakers_their_ideas,310.aspx Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:00:00 GMT 2010-06-24T19:00:00 Union legislators an obstacle for school reform School personnel bring their expertise, but also tend to side with unions by Zack Harold Daily Mail staff CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Teachers, principals and other school personnel make up a fifth of West Virginia's 100-member House of Delegates. Most of those educators are affiliated with the West Virginia Education Association, one of the state's teachers unions. And the service personnel are members of the West Virginia School Service Personnel... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Union_legislators_an_obstacle_to_reform,309.aspx Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-17T08:00:00 Manchin wants more 'flexibility' for school issues Governor says education personnel laws don't allow for much negotiation by Zack Harold Daily Mail staff   CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- As lawmakers prepare for a second special session on education reform, Gov. Joe Manchin says there's one solution to West Virginia's education woes that no one is talking about - collective bargaining.   "I would sign collective bargaining tonight if you'd let me repeal the code and bargain for what we should be doing and... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Manchin_wants_more_flexibility_for_school_issues,308.aspx Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:00:00 GMT 2010-06-16T18:00:00 Panel scales back school reforms Health screenings for kids to be strongly encouraged, but would not be mandated by Ry Rivard Daily Mail Capitol Reporter CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A group of lawmakers is scaling back or delaying key portions of Gov. Joe Manchin's education reform package, including changes to teacher hiring criteria and mandated health screenings for school children. Manchin assembled a 10-member House and Senate task force when a legislative special session on education ground to a... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Panel_scales_back_school_reforms,307.aspx Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-15T08:00:00 Pension outlook is bleak Phil Kabler CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A group of senators met with Gov. Joe Manchin during interims last week, I'm told, to question the governor on why he has been largely silent on the most critical issue facing state government: how to pay for $8 billion of future health-care costs for state and public school employees, otherwise known as the OPEB liability. The solution most assuredly will be unpleasant: A combination of higher taxes (most likely on cigarettes, alcohol, beer... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Pension_outlook_is_bleak,306.aspx Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-14T08:00:00 Difficult But Not Insurmountable The education reform bill focusing on changing the hiring practices for public school workers is no longer before a legislative working group. Group member Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, says the bill has been sent to a legislative interim subcommittee that he co-chairs for further discussion. Foster says the differences among those on the working group are "fairly significant" so the Senate and House education chairs decided to move the bill to... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Difficult_but_not_insurmountable,305.aspx Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-14T08:00:00 Teacher Hiring Practices Debated By Working Group WVMetronews Staff State Capitol “If it isn't broke, don't fix it." That's West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee's take on a proposed bill that would change the way teachers and other education personnel are hired. But Tucker County School Superintendent Rick Hicks says current hiring practices within the West Virginia school system definitely need some tweaking. "I think we... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Teacher_hiring_practices_debated_by_work_group,304.aspx Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:00:00 GMT 2010-06-09T14:00:00 Working Group Friction Metronews Staff State Capitol Members of a state legislative working group focusing on education reform will try and tackle three of the most difficult proposed bills at meetings Wednesday and Thursday. The senators and delegates broke off their meeting early Tuesday after disagreement arose over a bill dealing with low-performing schools. House Education Committee Chair Mary Poling, D-Barbour, told the group she couldn... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Work_group_friction,303.aspx Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:00:00 GMT 2010-06-08T14:00:00 End of Days For W.Va. Schools Posted Thursday, June 3, 2010 ; 06:00 AM | None of West Virginia's school districts hit the mandated 180 days of instruction. By Christine Miller Ford Youngsters across West Virginia will start summer break next week without a single school district having provided the state's mandated 180 days of instruction for the 2009-10 school year. Counties missed the mark as the... http://wvea.org/news/articles/End_of_days_for_WV_schools,302.aspx Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:00:00 GMT 2010-06-04T10:00:00 Education session postponed Manchin decides to delay work until July interms By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter — A legislative panel needs more time to wrap up its task of hammering out differences in an eight-bill education package, prompting Gov. Joe Manchin to put off a resumption of his special session until July interims. Lawmakers had planned to return to their desks Monday, coinciding with June interims, picking up where they left off in May — back at square one. Manchin... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Education_session_postponed,301.aspx Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-03T08:00:00 Special session postponed By Phil Kabler CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  Gov. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday he is postponing calling the Legislature back into special session on education reform until July, after a House-Senate workgroup requested more time to complete its review of eight proposed bills. That was after the 10-member task group wrapped up a marathon two-day, 12-hour session with endorsements of four of the bills, including a significantly amended version of legislation to permit charter... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Special_session_postponed,300.aspx Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-03T08:00:00 Thompson: Consensus Reached on 3 School Bills By JOSELYN KING Political Writer POSTED: June 2, 2010 WEIRTON - A West Virginia legislative work group seeking an accord on eight proposed education reform bills has reached consensus on three of them, West Virginia Speaker of the House Richard Thompson said Tuesday in Weirton. The work group - consisting of 10 lawmakers and representatives from the state's teachers unions - has reached agreement on bills pertaining to annual evaluations of teachers,... http://wvea.org/news/articles/Thompson_Consensus_reached_on_three_bills,299.aspx Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT 2010-06-02T08:00:00 W.Va. among nine states not in 'Race to the Top' By The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS -- About two dozen states are going back to Washington for another shot at billions in education grants under the "Race to the Top" program, but at least nine others with more than 7 million children won't be trying a second time. Even a chance at hundreds of millions of dollars wasn't enough to overcome the opposition of teachers unions, the wariness of state leaders to pass laws to suit the program and fears of... http://wvea.org/news/articles/WV_among_nine_states_not_in_Race_to_the_Top,298.aspx Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT 2010-06-01T09:00:00 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:18:19 GMT http://wvea.org/shared/handlers/newsrss.ashx?cid=17 10 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:18:19 GMT