Lawmakers grapple with school calendar: ; Legislation would give counties more flexibility

A legislative proposal would give counties more responsibilityfor setting their school calendars, including the requirement thatthey pick up half the costs of makeup days needed to reach therequired 180 days of instruction.

Gov. Joe Manchin's proposal this month to give counties moreflexibility in their school calendars has sparked a wide-rangingdiscussion of how students spend their time in and out of class,touching on everything from standardized testing to deer hunting.

The latest proposal is a bill approved Monday by a Senateeducation subcommittee that tweaks Manchin's idea by requiringcounties to finish the first 90 days by Dec. 23 and by allowingschools to schedule classes on days in February, April and June setaside for teacher development.

The senators favoring the bill say those steps give countiesenough flexibility in the second half of the school year to handleany weather-related cancellations without cutting into the 180required days.

But if schools have to go beyond their employees' 43-weekcontract period to meet the requirement, the bill would makecounties pay part of the tab.

"If they go fooling with the calendar and they don't allow forsnow days, they're going to have to pick up half the costs of thosedays," said Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel.

Currently, the first and last days of the school year are set bystate law, so counties that miss days can't make them up beyond June8. As a result, thanks to the harsh winter, as many as 52 countiesare likely to fall short of the 180-day mark this year. Undercurrent law, there's no penalty or sanction for counties that fallshort of the 180 day mark.

Both Manchin's proposal and the Senate bill would eliminate thecurrent fixed dates, allowing counties to start earlier or endlater, as long as the year falls within the 43-week contracts mostschool employees work under.

If counties miss so many days they can't get to 180 within 43weeks, they'd have to ask the state to go longer, and pick up halfthe costs.

Unions representing school employees are wary of the proposal,although several union leaders said Monday they like the idea offinishing the first 90 days by Christmas.

Union leaders have contended there's enough flexibility in thecurrent calendar to allow for 180 days of instruction, even withnumerous snow days.

Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association,one of two teachers' unions, said many teachers have up to 30 days ayear of either standardized testing or preparation for standardizedtesting.

He also said laws designed to reduce chronic absenteeism amongstudents lack teeth, because parents can provide ready excuses.

Bob Brown, executive director of the West Virginia School ServicePersonnel Association, said the 180-day requirement could be metmore easily if deer season started earlier, or if events like thestate high school basketball tournament didn't lead to days off forlarge numbers of students.

"The county boards of education are going to have to step up tothe plate and do a better job when they design the school calendar,"he said.