| 摘要 | This week, for the second time in just under a year, West Virginia teachers went on a statewide strike, and they proved even more adept the second time around. In opposition to Senate Bill 451, an omnibus education bill that included two “privatization” provisions, 54 of the state’s 55 districts shut down on Tuesday and Wednesday. A single hold-out district, Putnam County, remained open but reportedly struggled with missing teachers and school bus drivers, and served as a focal point of protesters converging to make the strike 55 strong.
The union’s “all in” strategy did not work in Putnam county, where schools remained open, but it worked in Charleston, where the West Virginia House of Delegates tabled the controversial SB 451 before the first day of striking was over. This second victory in a year may seem like déjà vu all over again, but the two strikes showed critical differences.
Last March, West Virginia teachers struck over teacher pay, and after nine days of shuttered schools, Governor Jim Justice signed off on a 5 percent raise in teacher salaries. This time around, teachers took issue with SB 451, which until Tuesday evening was working its way through the state legislature. SB 451 included funding for education savings accounts and charter schools, two “privatization” measures the union would not abide.
The last version of the bill included up to 1,000 education savings accounts (ESAs), each worth about $3,100 which students could use for educational expenses outside of West Virginia’s public schools. The ESA provision amounted to roughly $3.1 million in state funding. Another major provision would allow two charter schools to open in West Virginia per year, with a cap of 7 (charters don’t currently exist in West Virginia). Estimating enrollments of roughly 250 students in the first year at each new charter school, this could cost about $5.5 million in year one. All told, these two provisions would run the state about $8.6 million in year one.
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But the other big ticket provisions in the bill are getting far less attention. First among these is another 5 percent raise for teachers, on top of last year’s raise, at a total estimated annual cost of over $45 million. |
