SB 1207, the
grade-the-school bill, passed the Senate on a 21-20 vote, with Lt. Governor
Bolling breaking the tie. As was related
yesterday, the Senate bill was amended and no longer conforms with the House
bill - these bills will go to a committee of conference.
On a 21-18 vote
the Senate passed SB 934, Senator Obenshain's bill to allow charter schools the
options of (1) employing unlicensed teachers and (2) not providing VRS
retirement benefits.
Three measures
advancing the Governor's Opportunity Educational Institution (OEI) were
considered by the House and Senate today - HB 2096 (passed 66-34), SB 1324
(passed 21-20 with a tie breaking vote from Lt. Gov. Bolling) and SJR 327 (by for the day).
The concept
comes to us from Louisiana, where, with the assistance of post-Katrina federal
funding, the state took over underperforming schools. In Louisiana they call the program Recovery
School Districts.
In summary, the
way the program works is that schools identified as "Priority
Schools" based on state and federal accountability data are taken over by
the state and run by a board appointed by the governor. These schools become
part of a new statewide school division.
The governor also appoints the executive director of the OEI. This board contracts with corporations to run
the schools. Federal, state and local
funding is provided to the board. The
localities have only nonvoting ex-officio representation on the board, despite the
fact that they not only must provide local funding, they must also provide
needed maintenance and repair of the school.
Teachers in the
school at the time of the take-over can apply to work for the OEI as a new
employee or attempt transfer to another school.
One of the
arguments against OEI is that the measures are unconstitutional. Proponents of HB 2051 and SB 1324 vehemently
deny the constitutional problem.
Ironically, the proponents support SJR 328, a constitutional amendment
which would allow OEI.
The final fate
of this legislation may be determined by the Senate Finance Committee and the
budget conference committee. The Senate
amended SB1234 by adding "the clause”:
"That the provisions of this act shall not become effective unless
an appropriation of general funds effectuating the purposes of this act is
included in a general appropriation act passed by the 2013 Session of the
General Assembly, which becomes law."
The budget language in the Senate asks JLARC to study the issue and make
recommendations prior to the next session.
Senator Saslaw's
SJR 328, a VEA initiated resolution calling on JLARC to determine "if
adequate state support is being provided to the Commonwealth's public schools
and if not, how state support may be increased and used more efficiently"
gained final passage in the Senate on voice vote.
