West Virginia Senate may put public worker pay raise, education overhauls in same bill [View all]

West Virginia Senate President Mitch Carmichael’s proposed education overhauls, like charter schools and reducing seniority’s role in employment, might be rolled into a single bill that also includes the promised 5 percent pay raise for public school employees.

“We’re very much leaning in that direction,” Carmichael, R-Jackson, said Friday.

He called it “comprehensive” education reform, and said the legislation probably would be filed sometime this week.

The pay raise bill could include legalizing charter schools; providing public money for homeschooling and private schooling; allowing teachers in some subjects to be paid more than others; and reducing the protection that years of service offers school workers from being laid off or transferred.

“I think it’s a moral imperative for us to instill competition and flexibility and achievement into the school system,” Carmichael said at a news conference this month. “Through public charter schools is one option.”

Read more: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/wv-senate-may-put-public-worker-pay-raise-education-overhauls/article_bd067391-b245-5ad0-be4f-62dcc45ac6ff.html