CHARLESTON — Among all of the education reform legislation the House of Delegates was handling on Monday was a piece that Judiciary chair John Shott was puzzled to see on his agenda.
HJR 101 is education related, but it’s a proposed constitutional amendment and is something typically handled more deliberatively and at length, said Shott, R-Mercer.
Delegate Marshall Wilson, R-Berkeley, is sole sponsor. In short, it proposes to have West Virginia’s voters decide if the Legislature should have more direct oversight over the state Board of Education, which committee counsel Brian Casto described as a quasi-independent body.
It proposes to add two phrases to the portion of the Constitution governing the BOE. The Constitution now says, “The general supervision of the free schools of the State shall be vested in the West Virginia board of education which shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.”
Wilson’s version says, “The general supervision of the free schools of the State shall be vested in the West Virginia board of education which shall ‘be organized by the Legislature to’ perform such duties as may be ‘directed by the Legislature or’ prescribed by law.”
During questioning of counsel, Delegate Larry Kump, also R-Berkeley raised the question on many minds: What does “organize” mean? Casto didn’t know, saying, “Your puzzle is as good as mine.”
Casto yielded to Wilson, who said the amendment is intended to give the people of the state oversight of the state BOE via the Legislature. It could mean directing the BOE via legislative rules, or something as fine-tuned as dictating the number and types of BOE committees. That would be worked out.
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, questioned if the proposed wording is necessary, since the Legislature already prescribes the BOE’s duties in code, as the section’s original wording says.
Shott pointed out that constitutional amendments require a two-thirds vote of both chambers to get on a ballot, which is why the process typically takes a while.
He sent the resolution to a subcommittee, to be chaired by Wilson, He said while they may complete work on it during this special session, it’s not likely. It will probably require joint House-Senate consideration during the remainder of interims.
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