Senator Randy White voted NO in the Senate Finance Committee and will be voting NO on the Senate floor on SB-249, the school calendar as it is present.
I have received numerous emails from school service personnel and teachers. The following is just an example:
The proposed new legislation concerning teacher pay for snow days should not be passed.First, we are SALARIED employees, meaning that we do not get paid for the hours we work each evening or weekend just to keep up with the mountains of lessons, tests, and other paperwork.
We do not get paid for the evenings and weekends we come back to school to work on a project, meet with administrators or parents, chaperone a dance, game, prom, or graduation. When we need to be absent, we write detailed lesson plans so that our students do not fall behind while working with a substitute.
We do not get paid when we attend workshops or graduate classes in the summers, often even at our own expense. We're not paid overtime when we come in early for morning duty, work through our lunch working with a student or on lunch duty or stay late for bus duty.
Second, as SALARIED employees, most of us have our salaries divided over 12 months. Snow days should not be a factor.Third, if the school calendar is extended only 7 days for students, but can be stretched beyond the end of school just to make sure that the teachers work" their full 200 days, what are we to do with ourselves in the classroom without the students?
We deal with constant stress. It comes from working with 20, 30, or even 35 students in each class. It comes from the variety of personalities in front of us at any given moment. It comes from dealing with the multiple levels in educational ability (from those who cannot learn to read beyond a third grade level to the highly gifted) in the same class.
Stress comes from knowing that one student is in trouble at home, or that a student is homeless, and has trouble focusing on classwork. It comes from having several sick students in the room, knowing that there will be others, and maybe you'll be next, taking it home to your family.
Stress comes from computers that won't work, not enough texts, classrooms that are too hot or too cold because the heating or air conditioning does not work properly. It comes from mandated tests and the pressure to get students to perform when neither the student nor the parents really care.
Stress is the biggest health factor in our profession. Please do not add to this stress by worrying about whether or not we work on a snow day. Trust me---with the extra hours we're all putting in, you're getting your money's worth.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
WVFT, WVEA, and School Service Personnel Support SB-249
During the afternoon floor session, SB-249 the school calendar bill was held over on third reading untill Wednesday evening to produce a workable solution. Upon returning that evening for final debate on SB-249, the Senate learned a new version of the bill had been worked out between the WVFT, WVEA, and School Service Personnel, and Senate Education Chairman, Robert Plymale.
Provisions of the agreed to version include the following changes: 1) no longer is it mandated to end the first semester by December 23rd, but now the language "encourages" the ending date be December 23rd. Included is a provision that protects the Christmas week holiday from having instructional days. Additionally, it is encouraged the school calendar to start 2 weeks prior to Labor Day; 2) the 6 a.m. snow day determination for instructional purposes has been moved to 4:30 a.m. However if service personnel have shown up for work, this will not count against them as a makeup instructional day; 3) any reference to a non-pay instructional day has been removed; 4) reference includes completing the 180 instructional days within the 43 week school calendar; 5) Five I.S.E. days remain in the bill and are instructional days (2 hour faculty senaate must be held in the months of September, January, March, April and May; and 6) O.S.E. days can be changed to meet the 180 instructional day requirement if necessary.
The county boards of education will be encouraged to begin the school year, two weeks prior to the Labor Day holiday. In the case of the next school year, classes could begin on August 17th.
The new version of SB-249 passed the West Virginia Senate and now goes to the House of Delegates.
Provisions of the agreed to version include the following changes: 1) no longer is it mandated to end the first semester by December 23rd, but now the language "encourages" the ending date be December 23rd. Included is a provision that protects the Christmas week holiday from having instructional days. Additionally, it is encouraged the school calendar to start 2 weeks prior to Labor Day; 2) the 6 a.m. snow day determination for instructional purposes has been moved to 4:30 a.m. However if service personnel have shown up for work, this will not count against them as a makeup instructional day; 3) any reference to a non-pay instructional day has been removed; 4) reference includes completing the 180 instructional days within the 43 week school calendar; 5) Five I.S.E. days remain in the bill and are instructional days (2 hour faculty senaate must be held in the months of September, January, March, April and May; and 6) O.S.E. days can be changed to meet the 180 instructional day requirement if necessary.
The county boards of education will be encouraged to begin the school year, two weeks prior to the Labor Day holiday. In the case of the next school year, classes could begin on August 17th.
The new version of SB-249 passed the West Virginia Senate and now goes to the House of Delegates.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The Legislature Today
Things are starting to move to the floor, as the 40th day of the Regular Session approaches. Since we are two-thirds of the way through the session, this is to be expected. Big deadlines are closing in and I find myself scrambling for time to make sure the important issues are handled correctly.
March 23 is the last day for bills to be introduced, which explains one reason why this week has been so busy. This is the very last minute to introduce bills in e\the Senate or the House. The next important date I would like to bring to your attention is March 29, the last day that bills can be discussed in their committee in their house of origin.
Once a bill is introduced, it is immediately advanced to a committee like Education or Agriculture. Once the bill is put on the agenda the committee considers, amends and forwards the bill to another committee, like Finance or Judiciary, for more consideration. By the 29th, those bills will have to advance out of committee. It is an important cutoff date because it forces the most important bills to move forward to the floor.
I was one of the original sponsors of Senate Bill 403, one of only three bills to have completed legislation, which makes supplemental appropriation from the State Road Fund to the Department of Transportation and was effective as soon as it was passed. It passed on March 11 and has since been reported to the Governor.
Currently, there are many bills going through the committee process that I have cosponsored. Senate Bill 142 is currently waiting to make the agenda in the Finance Committee, after first being introduced to the Economic Development Committee. This would amend the Tourism Development Act of 2004 to add two new credits, one for small scale tourism development projects and one for tourism facilities development projects.
Another bill that I have recently sponsored is Senate Bill 624. It would protect small property owners from increased natural resources valuation and taxes if they have coal on their property but are not mining it. I sponsored this bill because many of our citizens are in this situation currently. If a person is not mining coal that happens to be on their property, then it is not fair to tax them for it.
There has been a lot of discussion on the future of the Community and Technical College at West Virginia University Institute of Technology recently. For instance, the Education Committee has recently discussed Senate Bill 536, which would effectively merge or consolidate WVU Tech with the Community and Technical College at West Virginia State University. While I am happy to hear that the Legislature is invested in the future of WVU Tech, I believe that the school should be afforded more time to stabilize after recent changes to the structure of the administration and another change of that sort would not be beneficial to the growth of the institution.
You can find more information about the bills I have sponsored and others by going to the Legislature’s Web site, which is www.legis.state.wv.us. You can also contact me anytime with your questions or comments about current issues at (304) 357-7906 or randy.white@wvsenate.gov.
March 23 is the last day for bills to be introduced, which explains one reason why this week has been so busy. This is the very last minute to introduce bills in e\the Senate or the House. The next important date I would like to bring to your attention is March 29, the last day that bills can be discussed in their committee in their house of origin.
Once a bill is introduced, it is immediately advanced to a committee like Education or Agriculture. Once the bill is put on the agenda the committee considers, amends and forwards the bill to another committee, like Finance or Judiciary, for more consideration. By the 29th, those bills will have to advance out of committee. It is an important cutoff date because it forces the most important bills to move forward to the floor.
I was one of the original sponsors of Senate Bill 403, one of only three bills to have completed legislation, which makes supplemental appropriation from the State Road Fund to the Department of Transportation and was effective as soon as it was passed. It passed on March 11 and has since been reported to the Governor.
Currently, there are many bills going through the committee process that I have cosponsored. Senate Bill 142 is currently waiting to make the agenda in the Finance Committee, after first being introduced to the Economic Development Committee. This would amend the Tourism Development Act of 2004 to add two new credits, one for small scale tourism development projects and one for tourism facilities development projects.
Another bill that I have recently sponsored is Senate Bill 624. It would protect small property owners from increased natural resources valuation and taxes if they have coal on their property but are not mining it. I sponsored this bill because many of our citizens are in this situation currently. If a person is not mining coal that happens to be on their property, then it is not fair to tax them for it.
There has been a lot of discussion on the future of the Community and Technical College at West Virginia University Institute of Technology recently. For instance, the Education Committee has recently discussed Senate Bill 536, which would effectively merge or consolidate WVU Tech with the Community and Technical College at West Virginia State University. While I am happy to hear that the Legislature is invested in the future of WVU Tech, I believe that the school should be afforded more time to stabilize after recent changes to the structure of the administration and another change of that sort would not be beneficial to the growth of the institution.
You can find more information about the bills I have sponsored and others by going to the Legislature’s Web site, which is www.legis.state.wv.us. You can also contact me anytime with your questions or comments about current issues at (304) 357-7906 or randy.white@wvsenate.gov.
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