MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Just days ahead of Election Day, WVU professor Kendra Fershee is pitching a message of freedom.
More accurately, she calls it the “freedom to stay” in West Virginia.
“My freedom message is, I think, important because we have to remember what helps us stay here,” she said Thursday on WAJR’s Morgantown AM. “Health care, jobs, and education.”
During the interview, Fershee focused on education. That includes, she said, the vital role the federal government plays in education.
“We have a Department of Education that is headed by someone who really is not a fan of public schools,” Fershee said. “So, what we need to do is ensure at the federal government level that the Administration is not tearing down public schools by pumping money into private school voucher programs.”
Fershee was heavily critical of both Betsy Devos, who heads the Department of Education, and the since-rejected budget she offered to Congress.
“DeVos’ suggested budget, which fortunately didn’t go through, would have cut more than $3 billion from public schools and would have funneled more than $1 billion into private school vouchers,” Fershee said. “That’s four billion plus less money for public schools.”
“That, in West Virginia, would be absolutely devastating to our public school system.”
Education has been a lightning rod issue throughout the state, particularly in light of the nine-day teacher work stoppage that resulted in one-year, five percent pay raises and a long-term goal of shoring up the funding for the Public Employee’s Insurance Agency. During the work stoppage, there were also a number of questions about why West Virginia education tends to lag behind the rest of the nation.
Fershee said she has a simple, and maybe surprising, solution — follow the model of the annual National Football League amateur player draft and provide the most federal funding to the states struggling the most to keep up with modern education standards.
“We need a Congressperson to go to D.C. who will fight for us to be first pick,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with saying we should be number one. We should be top priority whenever it comes to (federal) funding of schools, for example; or small grants to local communities to help build industrial hemp operations, for example, or agricultural operations, infrastructure.”
“You name it, we should be first,” she added.
Like her competitor Gary Baxter, Fershee also touched on the opioid epidemic — touting it as a key issue in her campaign.
“There’s still way too many opioids available,” she said. “We need to cut those numbers to make sure that the only people who are getting their prescriptions for heavy duty drugs are people who need heavy duty drugs.”
“I can’t tell you how many people I meet on the campaign trail who say, ‘Yeah, I had minor dental surgery and got a three month prescription for vicodin.”
You can hear the interviews with Baxter and Fershee at the podcast section of the website. WAJR is also working to secure an interview with Tom Payne, also running for the Democratic nomination in West Virginia’s first Congressional District.