HB 2711 AND SB 18
EDUCATION
By Jessica Wintz-Adams
When Governor Jim Justice was sworn in on January 16,
2017, he brought with him a blue folder he said contained his
plan to improve West Virginia’s education system, which has
been under the microscope over the past several years concern-
ing student achievement, education standards and assessment
testing. He called for the elimination of unnecessary agencies
and spoke about how his plan would offer new insight regard-
ing the state’s education system.
Justice believed his education bill, House Bill (HB) 2711,
would help promote an efficient and effective public education
system by reducing state bureaucracy, restoring local control
through increased flexibility with regulations for county school
systems and providing support for classroom teachers throughout
the state. If passed, the bill would perform many functions by
calling for the abolition of Regional Education Service Agencies
(RESAs) and their funding and eliminating the Office of Educa-
tion Performance Audits. The bill would also require flexibility
to help counties meet the 180 instructional days in the school
calendar and provide an $808 pay raise for classroom teachers.
HB 2711 also proposed changing school accreditation and
accountability measures, an issue Justice spoke of during his
State of the State address when he proposed replacing Smarter
Balanced, the state’s current summative assessment test given
to students, with ACT. This goal was
meant to be accomplished with the
introduction of Senate Bill (SB) 18.
The West Virginia Senate took up SB
18 first, which originally proposed the
requirement of using ACT and ACT
Aspire as the comprehensive statewide
student assessment. Once the bill was
amended by the Senate Education Com-
mittee, SB 18 no longer named a par-
ticular assessment test to be used, and
its language was further amended on
the floor by Senator Patricia Rucker
to say that lawmakers have the right
to mandate standards to any level of
specificity. Her amendment also added
language that said the state can’t use any
statewide standardized testing based on
Common Core, Next Generation or
College and Career Readiness standards.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
Senate Democrats and Senate Education Committee Chairman
Kenny Mann spoke out against the intentions of Rucker’s amend-
ment, and the bill narrowly passed by an 18-16 vote. The bill
was then referred to the House Education Committee, where
it died without further action.
House Education Committee members then took up HB 2711
in a late-night marathon session where lawmakers debated the
pros and cons of eliminating RESAs and ensuring West Virginia
schools would continue to be provided with the training and
services offered by RESAs. After passing by the full House, HB
2711 caused tension among Senate Education Committee members
when Senator Robert Karnes proposed language similar to SB
18’s concerning the Legislature’s role in mandating education
standards. The committee adjourned before taking action on
the bill. The Senate Education Committee took up the bill the
next day and accepted language changes that called for the West
Virginia Department of Education to constructively consult with
lawmakers prior to the adoption of education standards. With
five minutes until midnight, the Senate passed Justice’s education
bill, and it was signed into law on April 26, 2017.
While it is unclear what other education measures Justice or
state lawmakers may propose in future sessions, the debate con-
cerning West Virginia’s education system continues.