Education

A bill expanding West Virginia’s current charter school law is now heading back to the House of Delegates after seeing a handful of changes in the Senate.

A bill expanding on West Virginia’s public charter school law is now back, in part, to an earlier version that was passed by the House of Delegates last week.

A bill that would expand West Virginia’s charter schools saw changes Tuesday evening. HB 2012, as it left the House of Delegates, allowed for up to 10 public charter schools to be established in the state over the next three years. But, on a narrow vote, Senate Education Committee members brought that number back down to three over the next three years. If successful, 10 charters would be allowed every three years after that.

The West Virginia Board of Education voted on Tuesday to mandate elementary and middle school students return to five days a week of in-person instruction by March 3.The board also voted for high-schoolers to return to the classroom in counties that are not marked red on the Department of Health and Human Resource County Alert map.

SB 15 prohibits teachers from receiving a pay increase for any education level above a bachelor’s degree unless they have received a master’s degree that directly connects to the areas in which they teach. By doing this, that teacher would then be eligible to receive a bump in pay.

West Virginia University administrators announced plans to hold an in-person commencement ceremony in May amid improving public health conditions. The plan was announced in a virtual campus forum Thursday.Last spring, graduates had their graduation ceremony canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s ceremony will be held on May 15-16 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown.

The West Virginia House of Delegates voted to recommit HB 2013, establishing the Hope Scholarship Program, to committee on Friday.

The West Virginia House of Delegates considered amendments Wednesday to a bill that would establish the Hope Scholarship Program, which creates education savings accounts in the state for certain students.

The West Virginia House of Delegates has passed two much-watched education bills in the second week of this year’s state legislative session.

A bill to expand West Virginia’s public charter school law is on the fast track in the West Virginia House of Delegates. In the second week of this year’s state legislative session, leadership has gone full steam ahead with HB 2012.