When I saw the Gazette-Mail website's headline, “Kanawha schools to cut 140 staff positions; cite lack of funding, declining enrollment,” it occurred to me that we are in the midst of an education crisis in West Virginia.
If your child doesn’t go to public school, you know someone who does. Well over 90% of West Virginia kids attend one. No state succeeds without strong public schools. Full stop.
Every teacher laid off, every dollar cut or diverted, steals from kids. In the latest news, Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed James Paul — who is a private school crusader and wrote his doctorate on anti-DEI policies — to the state Board of Education. He’s a fox guarding the henhouse.
I’m not saying there aren’t imbedded challenges; there are. But we can fix them.
- More creativity and holistic learning is an urgent need.
- Bullying intervention must be prioritized.
- Ditch worksheets.
- Limit reliance on technology.
- Increase the ratio of aids for students with advanced learning or behavioral needs until it's one-to-one.
No student should fall through the cracks. Every kid should know how to read and write.
We need smaller class sizes. The current limit is 25 in elementary school. It should be lowered to 15. After elementary school, there is no cap on class size. I know a middle school teacher in Kanawha County teaching a class of 38 kids. That’s absurd. A reasonable limit must be crafted.
And now we are approaching spring. Oh boy, a teacher’s favorite time. Spring is RIF (reduction in force) season. Teachers are stressed. Will they need to relocate to another county for employment? Uproot their family? Sell their home? Leave their community? For some, the answer is yes. Seniority provides safety. Not all teachers have that.
Morale in West Virginia's public schools is so low you could mop the floor with it. Teacher pay is about down there with it.
And so, the pernicious, self-fulfilling prophecy unfolds.
It goes like this: Defund schools, cut teachers, lose students, repeat. Got a headache yet?
For most families, there are few options beyond public schools. Yes, private ones exist. Private schools carefully cultivate, curate and filter. They pick, choose and reject students. There are winners and losers and no guarantees.
Want to homeschool? Most parents can’t. Some do it brilliantly, some let kids roam free. Both have value, but we need balance.
I get it. Schools need more creativity, healthy, local food and public-private collaboration.
In Randolph County, we have a wonderful arts partnership with the nonprofit ArtsBank, bringing visual arts to schools, and Augusta Heritage Center, filling classrooms with old-time music. This is a terrific blueprint for progress. The answer is not burning the house down.
Yes, many problems predate current political leadership. Social challenges — an opioid crisis without adequate recovery options, poverty spurred by low wages, grandparents raising kids on Social Security and poor health — are part of the crisis. But state policies exacerbate it. This year, the Morrisey administration slashed health and human service budgets. That didn’t help.
The point is simple: Our Legislature must agree to a long-term funding solution for our schools. Now. Not a bandaid, but something permanent. Otherwise? Our economy craters.
Investing in public schools is a small price tag for long-term financial rewards. A healthy economy requires healthy public schools.
Here’s the deal, kids don’t have a political party. They have minds to learn and hearts to tend. Stop failing them one dollar at a time.
The future isn’t tomorrow. It’s today.
