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“Journalism is literature in a hurry.” – Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), British poet and cultural critic.

Two committees consider education funding

By Jim Wallace

The state school board and the Department of Education are asking lawmakers for five legislative priorities along with some other funding requests this year. Supt. Jorea Marple and other department officials presented their requests in budget presentations to both the House Education Committee and the Senate Finance Committee this week. They received a warmer reception on the House side than on the Senate side, where the committee chairman rejected most of the legislative priorities.

The five priorities are:

1. Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB): Relieve the county school boards from carrying the burden of the OPEB liability for personnel funded through the School Aid Formula. Without resolution of the issue, the financial burden could affect school districts’ ability to uphold the tenets of the Recht decision on maintaining a thorough and efficient education system.

2. Educator and Service Personnel Pay Raises: A general pay increase for all educators and service personnel in the public school system to make salaries competitive nationally and with neighboring states.

   “In this state, we are 48th in the nation, so what we’re saying here is let’s develop a plan that over this next decade our target is to move to 25th in the nation in terms of salaries.” – Supt. Jorea Marple

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   “We all need a target we’re working toward,” Marple said. “In this state, we are 48th in the nation, so what we’re saying here is let’s develop a plan that over this next decade our target is to move to 25th in the nation in terms of salaries.” She said the talent pool for teachers is declining as more and more teachers become eligible for retirement. She said 44 percent of the current workforce could retire within five years, so it’s important to make the jobs attractive to new teachers, because school systems already are having trouble filling some positions.

   Marple said she spoke with some students this past week who have had five different substitutes in math so far this year. She also spoke with students who don’t have fully qualified teachers in their classrooms. “It is going to get worse, and we must do something about it,” she said.

3. Technology Infrastructure: Instructional and Administrative Technology: The highest-need improvement package, including infrastructure, tools and supports to serve students and teachers. The request builds upon the annual investment in “Tools for Schools” that supports existing technology utilization and infrastructure.

   Marple said she was afraid lawmakers would think she is a broken record, because she has been talking about this for five years straight. “But it’s getting to be a crisis in our schools,” she said. “I listened to students ask me, ‘When will I get a computer? When will I be able to access virtual courses? When will I be able to quit carrying textbooks and use electronic resources to do learning?’ The inequality in access is increasing all over the state.”

   Wirt High School already has one-to-one technology for all students, Marple noted, and students at Mingo Central High School were thrilled to get laptops this year. She said school districts across the country are moving to one-to-one technology.

   Last year, the department asked the Legislature for $271 million for technology. “That has not changed in terms of our estimate, but what we said is maybe we can make this more manageable, roll this out over a period of years,” Marple said. “This requires a commitment of $22 million every year for four years.” Counties would get to choose which six grades get the technology upgrades first.

   “This would mean that over a four-year period of time in six whole grades children will have one-to-one technology,” Marple said. The plan is to achieve total implementation for all grade levels by 2020. The fiscal note for this request is: $22,931,125 annually for four years.

   Marple said broadband is coming to all schools, so they need the technology and people to support it. The department’s request includes putting in technology integration specialists and technology support system people.  “It also says everybody has to share in the burden,” she said. The same split used for state aid funding would apply: 65 percent from the state, 25 percent from the local district and 10 percent from grants and federal money.

   The legislative priorities were not grabbed out of mid-air, Marple said. “We have talked to and received confirmation from every superintendent,” she said. “This has gone to every board of education in every single county. We’ve talked to community people who say these are good priorities.”

4. Lifting the RESA Funding Cap: Lift the cap on the Regional Education Service Agencies by returning to the law’s original intent of “sixty-three one hundredths percent of the allocation for professional educators.”

   Marple said the request to lift the RESA cap is nothing new, because the department has been seeking it for years. “So much of it relates to technology, but much of it also relates to the fact that counties are getting smaller,” she said. “It’s using those RESAs to maximize the resources and support. In just two years, we’ve had to eliminate almost 12 technicians who support computer repair in school districts.” The fiscal note for this request estimates the cost to eliminate the cap completely at $1,561,198.

5. Educator Mentoring and Induction: A structured induction and support program for beginning teachers and administrators to improve retention and effectiveness. Marple said Cabell County has used a legislative waiver of state statute through an Innovation Zone pilot to run a successful program.

   “We’re asking for a change in statute that will increase the flexibility, allow counties to develop their own specific plans and allow us to hold them accountable,” she said. She said it also would increase mentoring reimbursement from about $700 to about $1,500. The fiscal note lists the cost of this request at $930,466 in addition to the current appropriation of $842,034 for a total of $1,772,500.

    

In addition to the five legislative priorities, Marple asked for three additional improvement packages:

• Career/Technical Education College and Career Readiness: Middle School Modules and Digital Learning Platform: These would support career exploration, goal-setting and self-direction. The fiscal note places the cost at $1.75 million and says it would be a continuing request.
  
  “This is about a request for building a platform that will allow children to put the evidence of their learning,” Marple said. “We’re moving away from a time when we were all in school and we had to sit in class for 8,100 minutes to get Algebra I credit. Why, if a child has those skills already, can we not take that evidence and say, yes, you have those skills? Or if a child needs 16,000 minutes, we allow them more time to do it. We’ve got to have a place where children can talk to teachers, teachers can talk to children, they can look at the evidence and we can see the child’s progress.”
   
• Universal Pre-K Supports: The state almost has completed the process of making pre-kindergarten programs universally available across West Virginia. “As it becomes universal, we are restricted from using federal dollars to support that program, so this is a request to be able to support positions and move them out of federal funds to state funds,” Marple said. The fiscal note lists the cost for this request at $400,200, and it would be a continuing request.

• West Virginia Youth Science Camp: It would extend the program at Cedar Lakes, which began last year. “It was an incredibly successful project,” Marple said. “It will not exist this summer unless we have some funding.” The fiscal note says the cost would be $219,954 and would be a continuing request.

The department’s budget package also includes requests for funding for educating school-age juveniles in state correctional institutions. Marple further noted that the department and state board have convened a series of stakeholders groups to address such issues as: year-round education, teacher evaluation, the GED, attendance, incentive packages to recruit and retain educators, the School Aid Formula, and the education efficiency audit conducted last year.

Department has a mixed response to the education efficiency audit.

“I think there are many things in the efficiency audit that reaffirm the direction that we’re moving in, and that’s good news. I think there are many items that we need to study and we need to think about in terms of efficiency level and to make sure that we make statutory changes, policy changes or organizational changes.” – Supt. Jorea Marple

On the audit, Marple said, “I think there are many things in the efficiency audit that reaffirm the direction that we’re moving in, and that’s good news. I think there are many items that we need to study and we need to think about in terms of efficiency level and to make sure that we make statutory changes, policy changes or organizational changes. It’s for the benefit and the well-being of our children and our teachers and our service personnel. And we’re committed as it relates to that audit to work with everybody to become more and more efficient over time.”

But she added that the discussion of how to use the audit to improve the education system in the future should not deter discussion of the issues the department and school board already believe should be addressed.

Delegate Walter Duke, R-Berkeley, wanted to know more about what is being done to improve students’ attendance. Marple called that “an extraordinarily important issue” that the department has been working on with the judicial system. She said a stakeholder committee met just last week with several judges about making changes in statute and policy.

“I think things actually are getting better, because we’ve raised the awareness of the communities that it matters whether or not we have children in school,” she said. “But we also have to make sure that when we get that child in school that it is interesting, it is engaging and it is a place where they want to be.”

Marple told lawmakers that the budget requests are based on the state board’s goals and strategic priorities. One of those priorities is to accelerate innovation in the schools and provide them with more flexibility. Marple noted that the board has 165 policies right now, but that number could get smaller soon.

“We’re working hard to reduce the number of policies to make them manageable, to give teachers flexibility, to address time requirements, to address credit requirements so children can take a broad-based education,” she said.

“We have a difficult job in this state,” Marple added. “If you look at the demographics in this state, it’s pretty startling. You know that we have lots of issues that we have to address in order to bring about progress.”

Among the demographics she referred to are: the number of five- to 17-year-olds living in poverty increased by 3,000, a 5 percent jump, from 2009 to 2010; almost 150,000 children, 53 percent of those in public schools, qualify for the free and reduced-cost lunch program; about 85,200 children live in homes where they don’t know how they will get their next meal; about 17,000 students, on average, are absent from school on any given day; West Virginia ranks 15th in child homelessness; one in five babies born in West Virginia had evidence of drug or alcohol exposure; and West Virginia has the highest teen birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds in the nation.

In a review of the numbers in the budget request, Assistant Supt. Joe Panetta said it includes “very little increase from the current year to next year in total. In fact, in total, the department’s request has actually decreased.” He also said there is little difference between the governor’s recommended funding levels and the department’s request.

Senate Finance Committee responds harshly.

When the Senate Finance Committee received the department’s budget presentation, Chairman Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, made it clear he wasn’t happy at all with the proposals.

“I look at all these things, and I don’t see anything about truancy, dropout prevention, evaluation, testing, drug prevention, the middle school dilemma,” he complained.

“They’re all there,” Marple responded, but Prezioso disagreed. He said he thought most of the legislative priorities did not merit being priorities. For example, he said the Legislature already had indicated it will take responsibility for fixing the OPEB problem. About pay raises, he said they “have been on the radar screen forever. I agree they need to be raised.”

But Prezioso’s sharpest criticism was directed at the request for funding technology improvements.

“You look at these students right now. They have more infrastructure and technology in their back pocket than we do in any of our schools. You’re chasing notebooks and laptops and things of that sort. They’re all carrying iPads and iPhones right now. There’s more technology there than you can imagine. We’ve got to adapt those teachers to connect with their technology.” – Senate Finance Chairman Roman Prezioso

“Technology infrastructure – you look at these students right now,” he said. “They have more infrastructure and technology in their back pocket than we do in any of our schools. You’re chasing notebooks and laptops and things of that sort. They’re all carrying iPads and iPhones right now. There’s more technology there than you can imagine. We’ve got to adapt those teachers to connect with their technology.”

Prezioso also dismissed removing the RESA funding cap as a worthwhile legislative priority.

“The only good one I see here is the mentoring in education,” he said. “Quite frankly, I think they’re disappointing. I’ve talked to the state Board of Education president about these issues, and I think he agrees with me. I think if this is the best we can do, then we do have some problems. We got to look at students. We got to look at more things that are going on in that classroom about testing procedures that we use, about teacher involvement, parental involvement. Quite frankly, I have a hard time buying into these five legislative priorities.”

Marple said she would like the opportunity to respond to his concerns in detail.

“I wish you would, and also we would love to give you plenty of time to respond to that [education efficiency] audit,” Prezioso said. “It needs some response. We’ll make some time for you to come back to this committee and talk with us about it.”

“We actually have a report provided to the state board already that identified many, many recommendations from that report that we’re ready to implement,” Marple said. Prezioso again insisted that lawmakers want more action on such issues as testing, teaching and curriculum.

Marple said the state board and the department already have changed content standards and improved professional development. “But these legislative priorities aren’t about this department; they’re about what teachers and principals and superintendents in the field believe that they need to be able to address those problems that you articulated,” she said.

Senator wants to go back to the basics.

Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton, also had strong criticism of the Education Department.

“It seems like the answer to everything is more money. It’s not working.” – Sen. Doug Facemire

 “The thing that troubles me about this: It seems like the answer to everything is more money,” he said. “It’s not working.”

Facemire, who is in the grocery business, mentioned that he didn’t go to college, but he employs about 450 people. He said many of them are high school and college students who have trouble counting change and don’t know the difference between a quart and a pint.

“In my humble opinion, if we teach these kids how to do arithmetic, writing and reading, anybody can learn to use these [computers],” Facemire said. “They’ve made them so simple I can use it.”

Friends of his who are teachers and superintendents have complained about trouble they have dealing with unruly students, so he said he wants to hear more about addressing discipline in the schools. “Somehow, we’ve disconnected in this country,” Facemire said. “Parents have become unresponsible [sic]. It’s not the job of the educators to teach these kids how to behave.”

Some teachers have told him the lessons they plan are ruined because of a few kids who disrupt the classroom and prevent other students from learning. “Discipline is the root of everything,” he said.

“Instead of worrying about more computers and all these kinds of things, I think we need to get back to the basics in this country, and the basics of teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, because with those three skills, you can learn to do anything else from there that you want,” Facemire said.

“I have a level of frustration in my heart. I don’t think much is going to change.” – Sen. Mike Hall

Marple replied that the public school system is making progress, such as in WESTEST2 scores that show improvement is student performance in reading.

“You are absolutely right about behavior, and it’s not just the job of the schools,” she said, adding that the state board has restructured policy so establish standards on how children are expected to behave. “Technology, Senator, is a way that we can teach children to read more effectively and efficiently. It is a way that we can engage our children and make sure that they’re interested so that they have a lesser number of behavior problems. Public education is complex. There are a lot things that we can’t predict, but we have to provide our teachers with the time and the tools and the resources to do the job, and technology is one of those great resources.”

But Facemire said many children don’t seem to understand the importance of education. He said the disruptive students seem to think they don’t need an education, because they can go on welfare.

“We’ve taken away in our country somehow the importance of being a productive citizen and helping to push the wagon, not drag the wagon backwards,” Facemire said. I think it all starts in early childhood, and unfortunately, we cannot control these parents. I don’t know how we can do that, but at some point in time, we cannot allow this percentage of children to rob the rest of the children who come to school wanting an education. Somehow, there has to be a disconnect there.”

Senator is tired of fad reforms.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hall, R-Putnam, expressed frustration at the series of federal education programs that have come from each new administration, such as the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind and the Obama administration’s Race to the Top. Marple told him that the state is moving away from No Child Left Behind to a growth model of improving student performance..

“I think what we have to do is what’s right for our children, and if federal legislation and funding supports it, that’s a good thing,” she said. “But we have to create schools that are caring and that we have a broad curriculum, not a narrow curriculum, which we have had too long. A narrow curriculum does not get us to where we want to be.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but do you know what?” Halls said. “I have a level of frustration in my heart. I don’t think much is going to change.”

“I think things are changing,” Marple said. “We’re looking at our policies right now to take out those time requirements, in effect to say, you don’t have to sit in class for 8,100 minutes. Show us you have the skills.”

The department also is considering changing credit requirements, she said. “In states that have the highest number of credit requirements, they have the lowest SAT and ACT scores,” Marple said. “We actually move in and support the direction you’re talking about.” “

Although Hall is a Republican, he said he agrees with President Obama who has said some educators should be rewarded and others should not be in their jobs. However, Hall blamed unions for blocking reforms that could get bad teachers removed from their positions.

Marple responded, “We do have statutes that allow people to be held accountable, and I think we need to work with our administrators to make sure that they do what the statute and policy allow them to do. If you have a teacher who is not proficient at their skills, you can address that, if you choose to address that as a principal and a superintendent. I’ve been in both those roles. But you have to do it. You have to put in place those processes that give opportunity for that teacher to improve, hold them accountable if they don’t improve and bear consequences if they don’t improve.”

Senator wants administrative reductions.

Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, asked whether the department is doing anything to reduce staff at the state level because of student enrollment reductions over the years. Marple said the department is not filling nine positions that are vacant right now, but it must balance such cuts with the desire to get as much federal funding as possible.

“We’ve been very aggressive about writing grants and securing positions, and then we put them in the field,” she said. “So we have to walk a careful balance to make sure that we don’t give up the opportunity to get federal dollars.”

The department just applied for a grant to improve efficiency for teachers by redesigning the data system, she said, and that grant probably would require adding eight or nine positions. Panetta said about 43 percent of the people employed at the state department are paid with federal funds.

Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel, said he has heard that some districts want to be relieved of OPEB liability not only for employees whose salaries were covered by the School Aid Formula but also for those in positions outside of the formula. He said he hopes they don’t do that.

Panetta said he had not heard much about that. But he said the estimate is that the total OPEB liability for school employees on June 30, 2012, will be $870 million. About 88 percent of that is for personnel in the formula, he said, so about 12 percent is for personnel outside the formula.

“I would hate to think that they would be cleared of responsibility for everything,” Edgell said of the county schools board. He also expressed concern that boards that have set aside money for OPEB might soon think they can spend it on anything they want.

Sen. Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas also expressed concern about that possibility. He asked Panetta to give lawmakers a report on how much have county school boards have set aside for OPEB.

Administration wants to deal with OPEB and recommendations of the education efficiency audit

By Jim Wallace

Education reform and the OPEB liability are among the top priorities for the Tomblin administration during the current legislative session. Two administration officials – Rob Alsop, Tomblin’s chief of staff, and Jason Pizatella, the governor’s legislative director – discussed those priorities during a legislative briefing breakfast in Charleston this week.

West Virginia’s liability for OPEB – other post-employment benefits – is mostly a result of health care benefits promised to current and future retirees from public sector jobs. Alsop noted that, a few years ago, it was estimated the liability could go as high as $50 billion until the Public Employees Insurance Agency’s Finance Board cut off the retiree subsidy for new hires after July 1, 2010. Then late last year, the board capped benefits for retirees, which cut the projected liability of more than $10 billion in half.

Alsop said Gov. Tomblin will introduce a bill by early next week with a plan to pay off the liability by 2036 or 2037.

“I know that may seem like a long time, but when the Teachers’ Retirement System was bankrupt in 1992, they went on a 40-year payoff plan,” he said. “So we’re talking a $5 billion liability that we’re going to have paid off in 24 years, which is pretty remarkable and will be another good signal that we want to keep our tax structure the way it is and keep the pressure off the budget.”

Although Alsop did not mention relieving county school boards of having to carry a share of the liability on their books, legislative leaders already have said they expect that to be part of any OPEB bill that goes through the Legislature this year.

“We’re really trying to look at the big picture and solve the OPEB problem. I really think we’ll get it solved this session.” – Rob Alsop

“We’re really trying to look at the big picture and solve the OPEB problem,” Alsop said. “I really think we’ll get it solved this session.”

Teacher evaluations would change.

On another matter, Pizatella said administration officials are still going through the report from the education efficiency audit that Tomblin commissioned, but they already know that they want to change the way professional educators are evaluated.

“The governor has introduced a bill this year that would slightly change the way teachers are evaluated,” he said. “What we want to do is to make that more based on student achievement than what is currently involved.”

Pizatella said another bill would deal with the Reconnecting McDowell project, which is aimed at revitalizing the schools in McDowell County and their communities, but if that effort works, it could have effects in other parts of the state.
 

“The governor has introduced a bill this year that would slightly change the way teachers are evaluated. What we want to do is to make that more based on student achievement than what is currently involved.” – Jason Pizatella

“One of the things that the education audit has told the state is that West Virginia’s public education system is the most highly regulated of any state they have ever examined, and they have examined 37 of the 50,” Pizatella said. “They’re saying that the state regulates it to a point where the counties don’t have any flexibility to do what they need to do in order to put more money in the classrooms and to evaluate teachers and evaluate principals and hiring. Everything that is done in the public education system is too tightly regulated at the state level.”

So, he said, the administration’s bill would remove some restrictions in McDowell County during a five-year pilot that could lead to more flexibility for school districts.

SBA has a plan to accelerate some school construction

By Jim Wallace

The School Building Authority is proposing bond sales that could provide more money for school construction in the next two years.

Mark Manchin, executive director of the authority, said his agency has given Gov. Tomblin proposals that could make either $50 million or $70 million available through bond sales that would take advantage of historically low tax-exempt interest rates. The Legislature already has provided the authority to proceed with such bond sales, he said, so it is up to Tomblin to decide what to do.

The plan would speed up some school construction projects and avoid inflation in construction costs. Manchin mentioned the proposals during a budget hearing for the School Building Authority before the Senate Finance Committee Thursday.

Members of the committee expressed no concern about that plan, but they were concerned about other aspects of building school facilities and getting rid of old schools.

Sen. Erik Wells, D-Kanawha, said that lawmakers and education officials have realized that public schools need to provide students with more vocational training at younger ages, so he wondered if school facilities could accommodate that.

“All new high schools built in West Virginia over the last seven years are comprehensive high schools,” Manchin said, so they include vocational facilities. He said such facilities have not been included in middle schools and elementary schools, but regular classrooms can accommodate some of the career exploration programs that are being considered for those schools.

Two other senators – Bill Laird, D-Fayette, and Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas – expressed concern about what happens to old schools when they are replaced by new facilities.

Helmick said school boards generally have “no interest or money” to put into old school buildings after they are replaced. Some of those buildings just deteriorate, he said, while others are turned over to community groups, but those groups often don’t have the funds to repair and maintain the buildings, so they still deteriorate.

Manchin agreed that community groups “don’t realize what they’re getting into” when they buy an old school building for just $1, as is a common practice.

“There’s literally hundreds of abandoned schools all over the state – elementary, middle, high schools. It is a major issue, an issue that certainly must be addressed.” – Mark Manchin

“There’s literally hundreds of abandoned schools all over the state – elementary, middle, high schools,” he said. “It is a major issue, an issue that certainly must be addressed.”

If the Legislature directs the School Building Authority to do something about the old school buildings, he said, his agency already has gathered data on what facilities have been abandoned. “We have that knowledge,” Manchin said. “What we don’t have are the necessary funds.”

The cost of demolishing one old high school can range from $500,000 to $1 million, he said.

However, Manchin said, old school buildings are not always the responsibility of school districts. In some areas of the southern West Virginia coalfields, he said, when coal companies donated property for schools, they stipulated that when the buildings no longer are used as schools, the property reverts back to the coal companies.

State’s high teen birth rate gets lawmakers’ attention

By Jim Wallace

The rising teen birth rate in West Virginia is such a cause for concern that it caught the attention of not one or two, but four legislative committees that came together to hold a joint hearing on the subject. The hearing in the House of Delegates chamber involved members of the House and Senate Banking and Insurance Committees and the House and Senate Health and Human Resources Committees.

Then a few days later, a House Education subcommittee also took up the issue. Chairwoman Tiffany Lawrence, D-Jefferson, said the subcommittee doesn’t have any legislation before it yet, but she indicated she wants it to do the work that could lead to legislation.

The reason lawmakers are so concerned is that the rate of births to teenage mothers in West Virginia increased by 17 percent from 2007 to 2009, while it decreased nationally. In fact, Megan Foreman, a health policy specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), told the four committees involved in the joint meeting that the national teen birth rate is the lowest it has ever been since records started to be kept in the 1940s. From a high of 61.8 births to 15- to 19-year-olds per thousand women in 1991, the national rate declined to 39.1 per thousand in 2009.

Foreman said the national decline is basically due to less sex and more contraception among teenagers. “The portion of high school students who have ever had sex has decreased to 46 percent from a high of 54 percent in 1991,” she said, while 61 percent used condoms and 20 percent used birth control the last time they had sex. However, she said, teen pregnancy is still a problem, because 400,000 babies are born to teen mothers annually. In 2009, the number born to teen mothers in West Virginia was 2,845.

“One-quarter of teen mothers have a second child before age 20, which makes their goals and the goals for their children even harder to reach.” – Megan Foreman

“So even though much progress has been made, this remains a serious issue,” Foreman said. “It’s also a compounding issue: one-quarter of teen mothers have a second child before age 20, which makes their goals and the goals for their children even harder to reach.”

The problem matters to state budgets, because children born to teen mothers cost $10.9 billion in 2008 when federal, state and local costs associated with children born to teen mothers are added up. Foreman said teen childbearing cost West Virginia taxpayers $67 million in 2008. She said there was some good news, because West Virginia saved $23 million in 2008 due to a 16 percent decline in teen births from 1991 to 2008. “The challenge is now to save another $23 million, or maybe $67 million,” she said.

Teen pregnancy is costly in many ways.

The NCSL cites research that has found that the human costs of teen childbearing (when compared to peers who delay childbearing to age 20 or 21) include:

• Teen mothers are more likely to be poor, use welfare, not graduate from high school or earn a college degree, and be reported for child abuse/neglect.
• The children of teen mothers are more likely to be in poor health, have learning difficulties and behavior problems, not graduate from high school, and have lower lifetime earnings.
• The boys are more likely to come in contact with the criminal justice system. The girls are more likely to become teen mothers themselves.
• About 80 percent of the fathers of children born to teen mothers never marry the mothers.
•  Two-thirds of the families started by teen mothers are poor.
• One-quarter of teen mothers go on welfare within three years of a child’s birth, which affects education for the teen mothers and their children.
• About 30 percent of the teen girls who drop out of school cite pregnancy or parenthood as the main reason.
• Only 40 percent of teen mothers will finish high school and less than 2 percent complete college by age 30. “So there are most definitely linkages to your state’s workforce and their lifetime earning potential and state tax revenue,” Foreman said.
• Only about two-thirds of the children of teen mothers will earn high school diplomas, compared to about 81 percent of their peers with older parents. “These children also perform worse on many measures of school readiness and are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade,” Foreman said.

The most important thing to take away, she said, is that many of those outcomes are improved if parents are age 20 or 21 when birth occurs.

Life is even bleaker for teenagers in foster care:

• Young women in foster care are more than twice as likely as their peers to become pregnant by age 19.
• Many have repeat pregnancies by age 19.
• About 49 percent of young males in foster care have gotten someone pregnant.
• If births among teenagers in foster care were delayed until age 20 or 21, foster care placements for their children would drop 8 percent, saving governments $1.8 billion in child welfare costs per year.

“One of the most difficult things about the children in this population is that a lot of these pregnancies are intended,” Foreman said. “Some of these young women want something to call their own, and they want to be loved unconditionally. They think that a baby will do that. Unfortunately, one in five moms in foster care are themselves investigated for child abuse or neglect. And although they have health care coverage through Medicaid, one in five teen moms in foster care does not receive prenatal care until her third trimester. They often live in temporary settings and lack permanent mentors. Adolescence is marked by risk-taking behavior, but this population has little guidance. One-third of the children in foster care are over age 12, and the average time they spend there is about four years, so there certainly is time to be reaching this population.”

“One of the most difficult things about the children in this population is that a lot of these pregnancies are intended. Some of these young women want something to call their own, and they want to be loved unconditionally. They think that a baby will do that.” – Megan Foreman

Foreman said every dollar spent on family planning services saves almost four dollars in Medicaid costs the following year, so the savings are almost immediate. Those savings come in maternity care, delivery and infant care costs. Also, planning and spacing out pregnancies tends to reduce the incidences of low birth-weight babies, pre-term babies and infant mortality. In addition, investing in family planning services increases the likelihood that mothers will have access to prenatal care early in pregnancy and that they will breastfeed.

Other states have done more.

The federal government has allowed states to use waivers to expand Medicaid family planning services to specific populations not otherwise eligible. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has made it even easier for states to obtain state plan amendments for family planning expansions. Foreman said more than half of the states provide family planning services to those on Medicaid, and an evaluation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid showed that all the programs yielded huge cost savings to state and federal governments.

“Family planning services for Medicaid-eligible people are matched at a federal rate of 90 percent, so the state only pays 10 percent of these services,” she said. “Family planning services are exempt from cost-sharing requirements for program participants, because the research shows that this increases benefit uptake among very low-income women.”

Abortion is not one of the included services, she noted.

West Virginia has neither a waiver nor a state plan amendment, Foreman said, although the Guttmacher Institute estimates the state could save $3.3 million to $3.9 million with a state plan amendment. That organization also estimates that 110,300 women in West Virginia in 2008 were in need of family planning services. Foreman said that poor women are five times more likely to have unintended pregnancies than more affluent women.

In Texas, the state spent $2.8 million from its general fund in 2009 to enroll 151,989 participants in its Women’s Health Program, part of a five-year demonstration waiver. It is estimated to have averted 10,300 Medicaid-funded births, decreased Medicaid costs by $113 million and saved the state $92.7 million in general funds after program cost outlays.

California and Arkansas also have had success through expanding family planning services. In Arkansas, the average age of mothers at first birth rose 3.5 years.

Under the federal health care reform law, new private health plans must cover contraceptive methods and counseling without cost-sharing as part of clinical preventive services beginning this August.

Foreman said that West Virginia does not mandate private insurance plans to offer maternity coverage, but 18 other states do. However the new federal law will require insurance plans to offer maternity care as part of the “essential benefits package” beginning in 2014.

West Virginia needs to make better use of a good law.

In terms of sexual health education, Foreman said West Virginia’s law compares well to other states, although its implementation is not so good. West Virginia joins 20 other states and the District of Columbia in mandating sex education and 32 other states and D.C. in mandating HIV education. The required content in West Virginia includes abstinence and contraception, Foreman said, and additional required content makes the law comprehensive compared to those of other states. However, she said, there is no standard state curriculum or implementation or information specific to teen pregnancy prevention or healthy pregnancy.

Just this month, the American Association of Health Education, the American School Health Association, the National Education Association and the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education released national sexuality education standards for kindergarten through 12th grade. They include standards on: anatomy and physiology; puberty and adolescent development; identity; pregnancy and reproduction; sexually transmitted disease and HIV; healthy relationships; and personal safety.

            Standards related to pregnancy and reproduction include:

• Second grade: Students should be able to explain that all living things reproduce.
• Fifth grade: Students should be able to describe the process of human reproduction.
• Eighth grade: Define sexual intercourse and its relationship to human reproduction; define, think critically and apply knowledge around abstinence, contraception, pregnancy and prenatal practices.
• 12th grade: Compare/contrast the advantages and disadvantages of abstinence and different types of contraception; identify medically accurate sources of information on contraception, emergency contraception, pregnancy and prenatal care; demonstrate ways to communicate decisions about whether/when to engage in sexual behavior; apply decision-making model to choices about abstinence/contraception, pregnancy and parenting; describe correct steps to using a condom; identify laws related to sexual health care services, pregnancy, adoption, abortion, safe surrender and parenting.

(The full standards are available at: http://www.futureofsexed.org/fosestandards.html.)

“The message here is that sex ed is more than just the birds and the bees, but it’s also skill-building and related topics that help kids use what they’ve learned.” – Megan Foreman

Foreman emphasized the standards for the eighth grade and the 12th grade. “The message here is that sex ed is more than just the birds and the bees, but it’s also skill-building and related topics that help kids use what they’ve learned,” she said.

There is no gold standard for implementation, Foreman said, and there are many approaches to sexual health education and teacher training. For example, state laws and school board policies vary dramatically, and programs are often under local control.

PAPA sets an example.

But although there is no gold standard, Foreman singled out the Parenting and Paternity Awareness (PAPA) program in Texas as an example of statewide implementation on a shoestring budget. She said the Texas attorney general’s office developed the program and the legislature adopted it in 2007 as a mandatory part of the health curriculum. It was implemented statewide in the fall of 2008.

Within one year, the attorney general’s office trained 7,000 teachers, counselors and school nurses covering 90 percent of the state’s school districts. The attorney general’s office staff acted as trainers and the office absorbed the training costs. Although PAPA is not a sex education program, Foreman said, it does address child support and paternity issues before pregnancy occurs. 

“So it’s something that might be more palatable to folks who don’t feel like they can get behind sex education,” she said. “The goals are to educate young people about the rights, responsibilities and realities of parenting and to encourage optimal sequencing, so finish your education, enter the workplace, form a health relationship and then have a child.”

Foreman said a recent study showed an abstinence program for middle school students was effective in delaying the onset of sex.

“An important message is that we don’t have to be talking about sex to do positive youth development or to do other programs that are going to give young people the skills they need to be successful,” she said. Some service learning programs have kids do community projects and then have small-group discussions, Foreman said, and the students involved delayed pregnancy at least during the years they participated.

“There are over 400 risk and protective factors that contribute to sexual behavior,” she said. “Some of them are unchangeable, but others can be influenced or changed.”

One important factor is how connected kids are to their schools, communities or places of worship. Foreman said they need to have a reason not to have a child too early.

Aunt Sarah has useful advice.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has developed what is called “Aunt Sarah’s List,” which are statements that Foreman said need to be shared with teens and young adults:

• Babies need adult parents.
• “If it happens, it happens” is no way to start a family. And “I just never really thought about it” isn’t either.
• Babies don’t cement relationships; they often put great stress on them. Be sure you are in a solid relationship before you begin a family.
• Sex has meaning, risk and consequences. It’s not a casual activity. Take it seriously.
• Babies don’t give unconditional love; they demand it from the adults around them.
• Children do best when they are raised by parents who are committed to each other and to years of devoted parenting.
• To boys and men: Making babies doesn’t make you a man. Being a devoted husband and father may.
• To girls and women: Sex won’t make him yours, and a baby won’t make him stay.
• Personal responsibility and parental responsibility mean it’s not just about “me,” the adult – it’s about what’s in the best interest of the child, community and future generations.

“Adults and parents often feel like they’ve lost their children to the media or to peer influences, but teens actually say their parents most influence their decisions regarding sex, love and relationships.” – Megan Foreman

“Adults and parents often feel like they’ve lost their children to the media or to peer influences, but teens actually say their parents most influence their decisions regarding sex, love and relationships,” Foreman said. She added that teens who fear that their parents will find out about a confidential health care visit will forego the care, but not the sex.

West Virginia expert also testified.

The four committees at the joint meeting also heard from Dr. Brenda Dawley, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is chairwoman of the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership.

“If you asked a little six-year-old girl what she wants to grow up to be, I doubt if she’s going to answer, ‘I want to be an unwed mother on welfare when I’m 18.’ So I would like to prevent that from happening,” she said.

Dawley found it alarming that West Virginia was the only state where births to 15- to 17-year-olds increased between 2007 and 2009, and the increase was a significant 17 percent. She said that West Virginia’s teen birth rate was lower than the national average until about 2002, and since then, it has continued to rise even while the rates in other states have declined.

“These are the ones that are going to drop out. They’re not going to get a college education, and they’re not going to achieve the goals that they wanted to when they were six years old.” – Dr. Brenda Dawley

“These girls are in high school,” she said. “These are the ones that are going to drop out. They’re not going to get a college education, and they’re not going to achieve the goals that they wanted to when they were six years old.”

Dawley said that, even though the national teen birth rate has declined, the United States has a higher teen birth rate than 17 other developed countries.

West Virginia also is counter to the national trend with higher rates among white, or Caucasian, girls than among African-American girls, she said. It used to be the other way around, but African-American girls’ rate has dropped tremendously, she said, “So something is going on in that subgroup that has been positive. It would be wonderful if we could duplicate that among Caucasians and our Latin group.”

Counties differ greatly in their rates.

The rates of teenage births also vary widely among West Virginia counties. The state’s average rate of teen births per 1,000 females from 2002 through 2006 was 21.7. The highest rate was McDowell County’s 34.7, and the lowest rate was Monongalia County’s 10.2. In 2009, the counties with the highest teen birth rates were: Calhoun, Clay, Mingo, McDowell and Tyler. The counties with the lowest teen birth rates were: Brooke, Monongalia, Pleasants, Putnam and Tucker.

“If they had a school-based health center, they had less teen pregnancy. That makes sense. The kids can actually get to the nurse. They can get the contraception so they can prevent the teen pregnancy.” – Dr. Brenda Dawley

“The counties that had better and more experienced health educators – so if they had more than 20 years’ experience, their teenagers tend to get pregnant less, and when they do get pregnant, they have better outcomes,” Dawley said. “If they had a school-based health center, they had less teen pregnancy. That makes sense. The kids can actually get to the nurse. They can get the contraception so they can prevent the teen pregnancy. If you’re in a county without that, you have to try to find transportation, and if you’re 15, you can’t drive. Now, how do you get to the family planning center and get your prescription and get your condoms. It’s much easier if it’s actually in the high school.”

Sex education is important, she said, but it is done better in some counties than in others.

Dawley said that, while the rate of sexual activity among teenagers nationally is down to 46 percent, it is still up around 54 percent among West Virginia teenagers. Meanwhile, she said, fewer sexually active teenagers are using condoms.

“Almost 50 percent of our teenagers, when they have intercourse, are not using condoms,” Dawley said, and about 80 percent do not use birth control pills. She said they must be made to realize this activity has consequences.

As Foreman said earlier, West Virginia’s laws on sex education are very comprehensive, she said. “Unfortunately, it’s not consistently delivered to the teenagers,” Dawley said. “It varies by school and by county.”

Some health education classes don’t get to sex until the senior year, when it’s too late for some girls, she said.

One of her patients is 16 years old and on her fifth pregnancy, Dawley said. Such teenagers also tend to have other habits that are not good for the children they bear, she said. For example, in some back counties, the rate of smoking among pregnant teens is 80 percent, she said, “So it’s almost unusual to have a teenager who doesn’t smoke.”

When teenagers show up for prenatal care, they are more likely to do so later than other women, often in the second or third trimester, Dawley said. “It’s not uncommon for them to show up and be so sick that I have to immediately take them to labor and delivery and induce labor, no matter if they’re 30 weeks or 32 weeks,” she said. “There you have a sick mom and a sick baby.”

“You have a mother who’s really a child herself, who is not well educated, and you’re sending her home with one of the most difficult babies to take care of. Is it any surprise that they end up having their kids in foster care more often than the regular mother?” – Dr. Brenda Dawley

Even when those babies survive the neonatal period, they are more likely to be high risk, requiring more care, Dawley said. “And think about it: You have a mother who’s really a child herself, who is not well educated, and you’re sending her home with one of the most difficult babies to take care of. Is it any surprise that they end up having their kids in foster care more often than the regular mother?”

The cost of caring for one low birth-weight infant ranges from $14,000 to more than $100,000, she said.

Dawley noted that the Public Employees Insurance Agency does not cover contraception for dependents. But a study by Marshall University’s Center for Business and Economic Research figured there would be 2,624 females from age 14 through 26 who would take advantage of such covered if it were available. The study determined that would prevent 222 potential births and save PEIA $980,991.

West Virginia is fortunate that is has a good family planning program with services available at little or no cost at 156 clinics throughout the state, Dawley said. The program has been ranked as sixth in the nation in terms of service availability. But Dawley said the challenge is to get teens to go to the clinics and to return to them. She said they are much more likely to take advantage of those services when the clinics are located in their schools rather than elsewhere.

Dawley said that, for every $1 spent on family planning services, $3.74 is saved overall.

The recommendations she left with lawmakers were:

1. Require insurers, including PEIA, that cover prescription drugs to provide coverage of the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices as well as emergency contraception.
2. Require insurers that provide coverage for contraceptives and pregnancy care to extend that coverage to all females covered by the policy to include all dependents.
3. Amend the state Medicaid plan to expand Medicaid coverage for contraceptives from the current two months postpartum to 24 months postpartum.
4. Support the implementation and enforcement of uniform and comprehensive health and sexuality education throughout all schools in West Virginia.

“Education here already is comprehensive. Let’s just make sure that all of our teenagers are hearing it.” – Dr. Brenda Dawley

“Education here already is comprehensive,” Dawley said. “Let’s just make sure that all of our teenagers are hearing it.”

After all that data about teen mothers, Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell, asked whether data have been collected on unwed father. But Dawley said it’s much harder to keep track of the fathers.

In response to questions about sex education, she said, “Even though the mandate is there from the legislation, it’s not being done. So the counties with the worst outcomes are not teaching the students, the teenagers, what is in the mandate for health education.”

Again, Dawley said access to family planning programs must be improved. She also said that about 30 percent of the teenagers who get pregnant will get pregnant again as teenagers.

House subcommittee gets similar report.

When the House Education subcommittee met this week, Nancy Tolliver, director of the West Virginia Perinatal Partnership, gave a report based on the same information Dawley had used. Subcommittee members had many questions about why West Virginia has such a bad teen pregnancy problem. Delegate Linda Sumner, R-Raleigh, wanted to know in particular why the problem generally is worse in southern counties than in northern counties.

Tisha Reed, director of family planning in the Department of Health and Human Resources, said many reasons, especially socio-economic factors, contribute to the higher rates in southern counties. She said her agency has cooperated with the Department of Education to develop a program in McDowell County that works with school-based health centers and community groups to address the teen pregnancy problem.

The Family Planning Program wants to prevent those births altogether, she said.

“We are really pushing for contraceptives in school-based health centers. It’s been effective in the ones that we do have.” – Tisha Reed

“We are really pushing for contraceptives in school-based health centers,” Reed said. “It’s been effective in the ones that we do have.”

Reducing the rate of teen pregnancy comes down to getting teenagers to have less sex and use more contraception, she said.

“We also have a program called the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Initiative that goes into schools as a resource to teach programs that are abstinence-based but also comprehensive sexuality education,” Reed said. “And they do have a responsibility component. So we hope to cover all those areas and decrease that teen pregnancy rate.”

Delegate Lawrence asked how much health education should be required, and she wondered whether it should start at younger ages.

Melanie Purkey, executive director of the Office of Healthy Schools, replied that one full credit is required for graduation from high school, but counties vary in how they deliver that. In middle schools, health education is less consistent, because there is no set time requirement, she said.

“Sometimes, from what we gather, they’re getting six weeks or maybe less in some middle schools depending on how they do their scheduling,” Purkey said. She added that those classes also must deal with tobacco use and substance abuse in addition to reproductive health.

“All of these issues go into that health education content that has to be covered, and then you have six weeks or less in those middle school grade levels,” Purkey said. “That is not enough.”

Students’ knowledge is assessed statewide in the sixth grade, in the eighth grade and in high school, she said. “At the sixth-grade level, we’re really looking at: Have they accumulated the health knowledge that they should have accumulated based on the content standards from pre-K to fifth grade when they enter the sixth grade? I can tell you the only area of content knowledge is injury prevention that we do well statewide. We are not at a good level of proficiency in any of the other content areas.”

Purkey said there is no set requirement for health education in elementary school.

Lawrence said she hopes to get state Supt. Jorea Marple to speak to the subcommittee next week. She also asked Education Department officials to provide members with more information on what public school students are being taught about sex and reproduction.

News Media Roundup

The following is a compilation of news media articles relating to public education in the Mountain State.

Prezioso upset with Education Priorities
http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=50556

Fayette County School Helps Build Education and Homes
http://www.wvnstv.com/story/16606077/fayette-county-school-helps-build-education-and-homes-at-southern-appalachian-labor-school-youthbuild-academy

Two Pocahontas County Teachers Chosen for NASA Program
http://www.wvnstv.com/story/16603314/two-pocahontas-county-teachers-chosen-for-nasa-program

Tug Valley High School Juniors Get Brand New Laptops
http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/Tug_Valley_High_School_Juniors_Get_Brand_New_Laptops__138082808.html

National Education Technology Task Force Includes Two West Virginians
http://www.wvnstv.com/story/16598097/education-technology-task-force-includes-two-west-virginians

SWAT Team Surveys Greenbrier County Schools
http://www.wvnstv.com/story/16597801/swat-team-surveys-greenbrier-county-schools

Students Collect Pillows for Shelter
http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/556657/Students-collect-pillows-for-shelter.html?nav=5061

PHS on Lockdown for Drug Sweep
http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/556663.html

Wood BOE Talks School Repair Funds
http://www.newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/556626/Wood-BOE-talks-school-repair-funds.html?nav=5066

Brookhaven Students Selling Used Books for Kelsie’s Korner
http://www.wboy.com/story/16593815/2012/01/24/brookhaven-students-selling-used-books-for-kelsies-korner

Group Ranks WV K-12 Education System Dead Last Among 50 States
http://www.statejournal.com/story/16591840/group-ranks-wv-k-12-education-system-dead-last-among-50-states

Ritchie County Students Tour Recycling Center
http://www.wboy.com/story/16591695/2012/01/24/ritchie-county-students-tour-recycling-center

Warner Resigns from School Board After Arrest
http://www.mydailyregister.com/view/full_story/17278370/article-Warner-resigns-from-school-board-after-arrest?instance=home_news_lead

School Board to Address Vacancy Left by Warner
http://www.mydailyregister.com/view/full_story/17291448/article-School-Board-to-address-vacancy-left-by-Warner?instance=home_news_lead

Former Kanawha County Principal Found Dead in NC
http://www.dailymail.com/News/201201240208

Debate Students Give Kids a Lesson in Diplomatic Differences
http://www.dailymail.com/News/201201230078

Marion County Board of Education Discusses Personnel Changes
http://www.wdtv.com/index.php/home/local-news/11861-rifs

School Lunches to Have More Veggies, Whole Grains
http://www.dailymail.com/News/NationandWorld/201201250110

Kanawha School Board to Seek Excess Levy Extension
http://wvgazette.com/News/201201240170

Community Supports Mary C. Snow Name for School
http://dailymail.com/Opinion/LetterstotheEditor/201201230105

Local Contractor Submits Low Bid for West Side School
http://www.dailymail.com/News/201201240245