The President of the West Virginia Board of Education says he is happy to hear Governor Earl Ray Tomblin say now is the time for major changes within the state’s education system.
“I’m ecstatic,” Wade Linger said on Thursday’s MetroNews Talkline, a day after Governor Tomblin delivered a State of the State Address that largely focused on proposals for education reform.
“As a Board, I don’t know how you can be more pleased to see that the issue that we work on, day in and day out, is being taken so seriously,” Linger said.
In addition to making proposals for change in education to the Legislature, the Governor is also calling on the state Board to use the power it has already, from the state Constitution, to lead the reform efforts.
In a letter, he’s asked for Board action to address six specific proposals to improve student achievement. They are as follows:
- Check teacher certification for elementary teachers to help make sure students learn to read early.
- Establish a commission to review the current governance structure of the 55 individual school boards of education in West Virginia
- More clearly define the roles of the Regional Education Service Agencies (RESA).
- Integrate public education and the community and technical colleges in West Virginia
- Improve career pathways to meet Southern Regional Education Board Standards. The goal would be to better prepare students for options after high school.
- Integrate technology into the classroom.
Governor Tomblin’s full letter to the state BOE can be read here.
