W.Va. Senate clears charter-school bill after lengthy debate


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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — After weeks of debate and Democratic outcry, the Republican-led Senate cleared a reform Monday to allow charter schools in West Virginia.

In an 18-16 party-line vote, senators passed a bill that would strike West Virginia from the list of eight states that don't allow charter schools.

The state House of Delegates, also with a Republican majority, will consider the bill before the legislative session ends March 14.

The bill would allow two new charter schools in the state for the first five years. Local school boards would have the final say over whether to open them in their counties. State education officials would start seeking proposals at the end of June 2016.

Republican advocates said West Virginia needs to change its approach, given the state's abysmal educational, economic and quality-of-life rankings.

"The time for debating and arguing is over," said Sen. Kent Leonhardt, R-Monongalia. "We all know that we need something here in West Virginia different than what we've been doing."

Democrats said the reform would permit inequality across student populations, while siphoning money from the public school system.

"It is our responsibility to be architects for systemic change that will benefit all children, rather than the chosen few," said Sen. William Laird, D-Fayette.

Sen. Ed Gaunch, R-Kanawha, challenged Democrats to propose a better plan, saying that spending more money wasn't the answer. He said the lottery system for picking students would be fair and randomized.

Charter schools generally have more flexibility in using public money and have more accountability requirements.

Sen. Robert Plymale, a Wayne County Democrat who opposed the bill, said there needs to be a stronger push for Innovation Zones, where public noncharter schools can get waivers from state education policies and additional money, in certain cases. It passed the Legislature last year.

Unions and many teachers have fought against the charter-school push, while business groups have been advocates of the change.

Monday's vote closes weeks of long committee meetings and testy back-and-forth exchanges on the Senate floor.

Democrats thought they had killed the bill in a late February committee vote. Afterward, Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, pronounced himself "Proud of what I did."

The next day, Republicans resurrected the bill on the floor, and Democrats accused them of breaking the rules to do it.

It became the most-heated conflict between the parties since Republicans earlier this year took control of the Legislature for the first time in more than eight decades.

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