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By Hoppy Kercheval
WV MetroNews
NEW YORK, NY – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will propose using $85 million from the state’s Rainy Day reserve fund to balance the 2016 fiscal year budget, according to Fitch Ratings. If approved by the Legislature it will make the second year in a row the state has had to tap into savings to balance the budget.
Last year, the state needed $100 million from the emergency account to achieve a balanced budget. Even after the withdrawal, the state...
By Jeff Jenkins
WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The positive news that surfaced following November tax collections in West Virginia took an about-face Monday when the revenue figures for December were released. State Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss said collections missed estimates by $27 million.
Kiss said that probably means the state government hiring freeze will remain in effect for the rest of the fiscal year.
“Our hope was that (the freeze) may not have to be in...
By Ryan Quinn
The Sunday Gazette-Mail
Groups that support teaching students about the evidence showing that humans are contributing to a global rise in temperatures are speaking out against West Virginia’s changes to the state’s new K-12 science education standards.
At the request of state school board member Wade Linger, who said he doesn’t believe human-influenced climate change is a “foregone conclusion,” the teaching requirements concerning climate change were...
By Bobbi Nicholson
The Sunday Gazette-Mail
Mark Twain is credited with saying, “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.” That seems an uncharitable assessment, and perhaps an insulting one (at least to the genuine idiots among us).
On the other hand, recent decisions by some esteemed members of the West Virginia Board of Education do call into question their judgment and the intellectual caliber that underlies it. That...
By Kristi Murphy
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON - The Cabell County Board of Education voted Tuesday to endorse a petition to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin that supports increasing salaries for teachers and support personnel.
Teacher Denis Chapman asked the board to endorse the West Virginia Education Association's efforts to lobby lawmakers for a multi-year salary increase, citing Cabell County's proximity to other states where teachers are paid more.
"They can go to...