Should We Be Concerned?

I was a listener to conversations the other day about the condition of West Virginia's educational system. One statistic that was raised was alarming. The speaker said there are states that require 200 instructional days per year for each student compared to West Virginia's 180 instructional day requirement. If that is the case, a West Virginia student will attend school one month less than a student in a state requiring 200 days of instruction each year. Applying very simple math, a West Virginia student would loose out on one full year of instruction compared to a student in a state requiring 200 instructional days annually over the course of their secondary education.

School reform became top priority for Gov. Manchin after the conclusion of the legislature's regular session in March. Citing figures that show WV students were lagging behind their peers in certain areas, he asked the state Board of Education to come up with a series of school reforms to bring before lawmakers, which they did.

But in the end, only a handful of minor reforms passed. Advocates of school choice didn't get any language opening the way for charter schools or giving school administrators more flexibility to replace bad teachers. School employee unions didn't get laws helping to reduce class size or raise the starting wages of teachers, which are the lowest in the nation.

Gov. Manchin struck a conciliatory tone immediately following the conclusion of the special session July 21st. That tone was largely gone nearly a week later, with the governor saying the session's outcome was "very disappointing".

"The bottom line is - we have not reformed,' he said. "...The taxpayers in West Virginia have come forth: They have always been at the top of the national average in paying to educate their children. The system and all of us in the system have failed them."

Should we be concerned?