On the ballot Amendment #4 states “The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that the rules and policies promulgated by the State Board of Education (BOE), are subject to legislative review, approval, amendment, or rejection.” This will establish the only oversight over our awful state BOE.
The very corrupt National Education Association, however, as usual is lying about most things, including Amendment #4. The NEA claims that this Amendment will “Take decisions away from the people we trust.” The NEA only trusts the infiltrators it has inserted into our unelected state BOE, not the representatives of the People– the State Legislature. The NEA hates representative democracy. It prefers unelected bureaucrats to do their bidding.
Our state BOE is the worst in the country. We have about the 48th worst educational quality in the U.S., yet the People of West Virginia are paying the 22nd highest amount per student in the country. And we pay the 5th highest state budget percentage in the country. The most recent test scores showing a catastrophic decline is due to our state school board. By any measure the state BOE is a complete failure. This BOE needs not only oversight of its incompetence, but an investigation into how our educational system has deteriorated so far.
To use the NEA’s own words, should we actually trust a state BOE with this incompetent level of effectiveness? Should we trust a state BOE that slavishly adheres to an NEA bent on indoctrinating and sexualizing our children? Or should we trust the parents who elect their representatives to the State Legislature ensure the state BOE is actually doing their jobs properly?
The state BOE just took over the Logan County school system. There is no legislative oversight of this decision.
This amendment would primarily require the state school board to comply with the law, similar to every other part of the state government. If you look at the language in our current state Constitution, it says “The general supervision of the free schools of the State shall be vested in the West Virginia Board of Education, which shall perform such duties as may be prescribed by law.” Our state Supreme Court ruled that the word “may” means that the BOE is not required to follow the laws from the legislature. As such, the BOE does not. In particular, the BOE does not submit its policies or rules for legislative review. Every other part of the state government does so, just not the BOE. This will actually force the BOE to comply with the law.
We need to vote for Amendment #4 to give basic oversight of this awful state BOE. The Republicans, and particularly I, plan to force the BOE to comply with the laws of the state and not be the rogue entity it has become.