West Virginia Senate’s education plan: Ban teacher strikes – By Laura Clawson (Daily Kos) / June 3 2019
The West Virginia state Senate is trying to make sure teachers don’t repeat their powerful strikes of 2018 and 2019. Republicans don’t plan to avert strikes by fixing the state’s public education system, though—they want to make it illegal for teachers to strike.
Republicans passed an amendment to their education bill banning all public employees from striking, allowing school workers to lose pay or be fired if they strike, and barring school superintendents from closing schools during strikes. The education bill would also allow charter schools and reduce the amount of daily instructional time students are guaranteed … but it would raise teacher pay, so I guess that’s supposed to make everything all right. And when it doesn’t, well, hey, teachers won’t be allowed to strike, so there won’t be anyone calling such visible attention to the problems in West Virginia schools.
The state House, which is currently on recess, would have to pass an identical version of the bill for it to go to the governor.
