CHARLESTON — On March 1st, Senate Republicans passed H.B. 2012, which creates an expansion of West Virginia’s charter school program. The senate voted 19-14 in favor of the legislation, which is now returning to the house for final passage, after minor adjustments were made.
“It is going to let us get more federal funding for our charter schools. It creates a professional charter school authorizing board (which will be members of the community, who are dedicated to learning about [what contributes to developing] the best charter schools), and ensuring that we have the best high quality charter schools that we can get in West Virginia,” Sen. Patricia Rucker (R-16) expressed in a statement. “It allows for virtual online charter schools, which is something that other states have done. And those states that had this option, when the pandemic hit, were much better prepared to provide online instruction. They didn’t have hardly any loss in student learning and are doing great. Giving us that option in the future, to me, is just common sense. We don’t know what the future is going to bring when it comes to the pandemic, health, and other issues, but what is clear is that we should be better prepared.”
Sen. Robert Karnes (R-11) also addressed the charter school expansion, stating that it will allow certain rural schools to remain open, that would otherwise be shutdown due to consolidation.
“Particularly in my district, a lot of times when people are thinking about charter schools, they are thinking about something happening in the city (maybe like a magnet school or something for special needs children, and so on). But I actually see the power and I see it across the country, in at least a dozen states, charter schools are helping keep rural schools open, or in some cases, even opening rural schools.
In my district, we’ve repeatedly seen schools close as a result of consolidation. Charter schools could help turn that back, so that Diana Elementary School in Webster County may not have been closed if this charter school legislation had been in effect at the time that closure happened. More importantly, the opportunity is there for Dianna to have a charter school open up today, as soon as this bill were to become law.”
Sen. Karnes also expressed that in locations where school boards are planning the closure of a rural elementary school, “this charter school legislation is going to give a little bit of power back to the parents and to the community to say maybe we would rather keep our school here, as a charter school, rather than having our kids ride on a bus an hour (or even more) away.”
“I’m excited about charter schools, because as we’re seeing in New Mexico, Florida, Minnesota, Arizona, many states are using these rural charter schools to keep that small community school open. And we know that small community schools are just as important to small classroom sizes, when it comes to educating our children. So, it’s a great day for West Virginia.”
Republicans senators Bill Hamilton (R-11), Amy Nichole Grady (R-4), and Ryan Weld (R-1) voted against the bill, joining with democratic leadership. The bill is expected to pass the House of Delegates and will be signed by the Governor upon passage.