1. Teacher’s minimum wage:
Before the last 3.5% pay raise for teachers, West Virginia ranked a dismal 47th nation wide in teacher pay. Despite that, we are now ranked 48th. What is even more egregious is after the West Virginia State Senate passed a 3.5% pay raise, rejecting teachers requested 6% increase; the Senate voted themselves a 5% increase in their own salaries. That was disingenuous and wrong. In West Virginia, over sixty percent of our teachers are of retirement age. If teachers become more dissatisfied in their income gap between them and the national average, then more of them will retire or move to other states. West Virginia will have a teacher shortage crisis. To keep good teachers and attract new teachers into our state, I propose a minimum wage for teachers. This minimum wage should be set at the national average for teacher salary as stated in Department of Education statistics. This will be updated every few years. This will assure West Virginia Teachers are paid the national average and keep us out of the bottom of the pay scale among states. I have been an advocate of this proposal and it is stated in my web page at www.rogerdecanio.com
2. Increase general funding in education:
Within the past 14 years, West Virginia decreased its education spending from 57% to 49%. Had we stayed at 57% we would have had an additional $543 million dollars in additional public education spending. We must rectify this now. I propose a mass investment in our educational system by filling this educational funding gap as much as our budget permits. We should look to an assessment on natural resources extraction industries and earmarking it to education is a methodology to support education. Incorporated into this suggestion is the establishment of a lower student-teacher ratio that maximizes the interaction. This will no doubt require retaining more teachers and educators. This added revenue and investment would permit accomplishing this goal and the others I have suggested below.
3. Return physical education back to all schools as a major part of the curriculum.
A renewed emphasis in physical education will promote wellness and reduce the tide of childhood obesity and diabetes. Other states, such as Massachusetts have proposed requiring a minimum of 150 to 200 minutes a week depending on the age. New York and Illinois, have established minimum time or frequency standards for physical education. Those two are the only states that have such standards for all grades, but about 18 states have minimum time or frequency standards at some grade levels, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. I propose a minimum of 150 to 200 minutes a week in physical education and invest in more qualified health and physical education teachers and provide the equipment necessary to return this curriculum back to our schools.
4. Equip the schools with high-speed internet
Access to broadband or high speed internet should be required in every school throughout the state. Each school should be provided with quality hardware and software necessary to take advantage of this teaching tool. See below for an example. Every school throughout our state should have access to this tool to augment out teachers’ resources in education.
5. Making a renewed emphasis in teaching high-level math/science
Taking challenging courses and mastering high-level mathematics and science are the gateway to success in college, careers and citizenship. Similarly, for West Virginia business and industry, a well-trained workforce with knowledge and skills in these subjects is the key to competitiveness in the global economy and the road to economic growth and prosperity. Thomas Friedman said in his recent book entitled The World is Flat, “[M]ath and science are the keys to innovation and power in today’s world.” Greater encouragement and investment in this field of study should start at an early age and must be followed up through high school. One idea is developing even a more challenging concentrated learning opportunities in science and mathematics at the junior high and high school levels by partnering with universities. We should also use technology such as the internet to connect rural schools in West Virginia to universities. Access to such concentrated coursework should be equally available to all schools. Finally, I would propose a commission to follow the progress and suggest new ideas to develop this curriculum.
6. The Promise Scholarship
I propose to strengthen the Promise Scholarship program that Governor Wise had enacted. As a former Congressional Aide to Bob Wise I am proud that this was one of his most successful accomplishments as Governor. I would very much like the opportunity to further promote technical colleges as a participant to the program in addition to universities. The only stipulation to obtaining such benefits from taxpayers is that these young students agree to live and work in West Virginia or participate in a service program. One method that these college graduates could meet their service obligation is by serving as volunteers in public schools and tutoring students who need more attention and help and assisting our teachers, and all the while, these Promise Scholars will be learning in the process and giving back to their community.
7. Music and Art
It is also important to keep music and art in our schools. It has been demonstrated a child’s intelligence is increased with music instruction. Children with music training had significantly better verbal memory than those without such training, and the longer the training, the better the verbal memory. A 2004 Stanford University study showed that mastering a musical instrument improves the way the human brain processes parts of spoken language.[1] Consequently, we should also focus our efforts to improve music and art in our public school system.
I value the input and guidance of those professionals who dedicate their lives to teaching and when elected to the House of Delegates, I would look to teachers to listen and learn from them so I can better represent their interests and their needs.
Roger A. Decanio
2/11/08
