Dr. James Paul appointed to West Virginia State Board of Education
By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gov. Patrick Morrisey has appointed Dr. James Paul to the West Virginia Board of Education. Paul is a former executive director of the West Virginia Professional Charter School Board and director of state education opportunity for the America First Policy Institute, a non-profit research institute that promotes educational freedom.
Paul will replace Debra Sullivan, who announced her retirement back in October.
Prior to making the announcement, during a press conference on Wednesday, Morrisey said that West Virginia is 27th in the nation when it comes to per pupil spending, but educational outcomes are “some of the worst in the country.” He said the problem, however, isn’t spending. It’s how the system is “structured and managed.”
“I think one of the challenges that we have is with our state school board,” Morrisey said. “Our state board of education is unelected and independent from the rest of government. They have very long terms that are set forth under the constitution – nine years. That’s actually far longer than other states, and I think it makes it harder for that body to be accountable when our students start to falter.”
Morrisey continued that change will need to be made before the state’s educational outcomes can improve.
“We know there are challenges. Enrollment has declined by more than 11%, yet non-teaching staff levels have continued to grow,” Morrisey said. “Teachers now make up a smaller share of school employees than they did two decades ago. Think about that. The result is too much money in bureaucracy while teacher pay remains too low.”
Morrisey added that when a state has nine or ten county school districts under state control, questions are raised about why.
“What’s going on? What’s happening with the oversight?” Morrisey questioned. “I know that when I first heard about what was going on in Hancock County, I said ‘You know, we have to make sure that we are on top of all of that.’”
He said that the West Virginia Budget Office received no “heads up” that the West Virginia Department of Education would need “hundreds of millions of dollars” for the next fiscal year.
“When we don’t get a heads up over these kinds of problems, it starts to raise questions,” Morrisey said. “And, we’d like to be brought in sooner, I think the legislature would like to be brought in sooner and people talk about accountability – I’m more convinced than ever that the legislature needs oversight of the school board.”
Morrisey continued that with his first appointment to the West Virginia Board of Education, change is beginning to happen.
“Maybe, through your leadership we can start to tackle more of these issues and look out for our kids even more,” Morrisey said as he introduced Paul, adding that Paul has a clear understanding of the constitutional roles of the Board of Education and a dedication to accountability.
“Thank you for this appointment,” Paul said as he introduced himself. “I’m very grateful for your confidence.”
Paul explained that he has worked in the field of educational policy and has studied educational issues for some time.
“I helped launch West Virginia’s first public charter schools, and all of these experiences have taught me something important – people in state capitols, people on boards and commissions, legislators, we, they, don’t have all the answers, and they likely never will,” Paul said. “But we all still have a very important responsibility and that is a responsibility to set, when it comes to education, to set a clear vision, to build strong foundations for our students’ learning, to set high standards, and, once we’ve done that, step back, let educators do their work, let families have the power to choose, because it’s parents, it’s families who ultimately know their kids best and know what works best for their children.”
He said the state Board of Education has a constitutional role to carry out the laws passed by the legislature and to provide general supervision over the public school system.
“I intend to approach that responsibility with a lot of humility and a lot of respect for our democratic system, for how our democracy here in West Virginia is supposed to work,” Paul said, adding that school options will “strengthen the education system.”
“I’ve seen this first-hand, I’ve studied this,” Paul said. “When families have choices, all schools respond by improving and by better meeting the needs of the families that are in those schools. And, there’s just something inherently so valuable and so important about protecting a parent’s right to decide where they’re going to send their child to school. And, that’s something I will focus on in my role on the state board.”
