CHARLESTON — Here is a look at some other House floor action from Friday.
— SB 3033, the Congressional district bill. The House passed it Thursday and returned to it briefly Friday to change the effective date to make it effective from passage.
— SB 3018, to transfer $250,000 in surplus funds to the Department of Education for the state Charter School Board.
Money transfers typically don’t generate much debate, but this one is for the board that will review charter school applications, so it drew some Democratic opposition.
Finance Chair Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, pointed out that if the money isn’t approved and the board takes no action, the seven current charter school applications would be automatically approved without review. Without funding the board, “you’re not going to have any oversight.”
Answering a question about what the money’s for, Education Chair Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, said he and Senate Education Chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, are non-voting members of the board. They’ve already met via Zoom. The board will have to cover legal counsel and some annual operating expenses, such as staff salaries.
It’s not known, he said, how long the $250,000 might last or what the board’s annual budget will be.
Delegate Cody Thompson, D-Randolph and a school teacher, said he agrees that charter schools will need accountability, but this sum of money seems exorbitant and could be better spent to help students.
The vote was 70-26 along party lines.
— SB 3026, the bill to clarify health board rules and orders and county government oversight of health boards, passed 81-15. It had generated extensive debate in the Senate and an attempt to give local boards of education veto power over health board orders was voted down in the Finance Committee.
Health Vice-Chair Matt Rorbach said that health board rules are for such things as the guidelines for restaurant inspections. Orders are the enforcement mechanisms, such as citing or closing a restaurant that violates health rules.
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