CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After dying in the House during the 2015 session, a Harrison County delegate believes a bill to allow public charter schools in the state has a chance this year after some reworking.
“There’s been a lot of work put into the bill since last year,” Del. Danny Hamrick (R-Harrison, 48) said on the “Mike Queen Show” Wednesday. “The bill last year wasn’t quite what we were looking for and wasn’t quite as detailed, but this year the bill has come together quite well.”
Soon to be introduced in the House, the bill would permit county schools to create and establish a charter in their system.
Public charter schools are “unique public schools that are allowed the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement,” according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Hamrick said this translates to options for parents and students in the Mountain State.
“They don’t have to live under the iron fist of State Board of Education or State Department [of Education], with all the rules and regulations. They’re able to go out and make choices that could be different from some of those rules, if the needs of the students demand that.”
Sometimes, this translates to a school that specializes in a certain field like the arts or language.
While researching for the bill, Hamrick visited one of these specialized public charters in a nearby state.
“I actually visited a school in South Carolina that was a school for math and science and I was amazed at the progress that those kids were making,” he said. “That’s what it’s about, just giving the kids, the parents, the teachers and the county the choice to go a different way with education.”
Currently, 43 other states and the District of Columbia have public charter schools and Hamrick said in order to make the 2016 bill better than the 2015 version was to pull the best pieces from those other states.
“Indiana’s had charter schools for a long time, they’re pretty much recognized for the best in the country. A lot of this legislation has a lot of the same language from the new revision that Indiana’s made.”
There is expected to be pushback to the legislation, much like there was last year.
The leading criticism for opponents is that charter schools will pull funds and resources from the public schools already in place.
State Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano has said he would entertain the idea of public charters but shared the fear of opponents as West Virginia’s school already need all the resources they can get.
However, Hamrick points out that the bill does not require charter schools to be established, only presents the option.
“If a county would decide that it takes too much money away from the other schools in the county, then they have every right to not start a charter school.”
The debate will more than likely begin in the House Education Committee, which Hamrick is a member of.