CHARLESTON — Gov. Jim Justice visited the school where the Senate Education chair is a teacher to celebrate signing a bill meant to bolster educational resources for students in kindergarten through third grade.
School children reacted in awe at the governor’s dog, who also attended the bill signing.
Sen. Amy Nichole Grady, who teaches fourth grade, gave the young students a quick civics lesson in the governor’s role in signing bills passed by the Legislature.
“I’m the biggest kid in the room,” Justice said at Leon Elementary in Mason County.
The governor told the school children that House Bill 3035 will put more aides in classrooms, starting with the first grade.
“We want to ensure that all of you, every single last one of you, gets off in school to a great start,” Justice said. “We don’t want anybody behind. Nobody.”
Both the House and Senate went into this legislative session making a priority of support for early-grade students. Leaders in each chamber wanted additional classroom support in those grades, along with additional resources and the ability to intervene for young students falling behind.
Delegates and senators had different visions on some specifics, and that made passing a challenge.
Grady, a Republican senator from Mason County, said this week she is pleased by passage of the bill.
“When you have a smaller class size, when the ratio of students to teachers is smaller, then students do better,” Grady said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“So if you’re putting two adults in those classrooms, that is taking that class size and, basically, splitting it in half. So if you’re looking at it from a ratio perspective, it’s going to help tremendously.”
She said the bill encourages early intervention to assure students are prepared for their next challenges.
“What we’re hoping for is, if all of these techniques and all these strategies are implemented, all these interventions are taking place like they’re supposed to in kindergarten, then again in first grade, then again in second grade, then again in third grade, there should be very few kids that are held back because they’re not on the right proficiency level,” she said.
“Because if everything is done from kindergarten all the way up to third, then we should notice that before they get to third grade.”
