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House Bill 4574 sailed through committee and passed the House in a single day. The measure creates a financial safety net for county school systems that fall into fiscal peril.
Brad McElhinny: House votes for $8 million emergency fund for distressed county school boards
The immediate catalyst was Hancock County Schools. Plainly, the system is broke.
Intended to provide stability following a state takeover and to eliminate uncertainty about making payroll, the bill as passed Monday falls short when it comes to the necessity of consequence.
Yes, the legislation establishes conditions that must be met to obtain and retain emergency funding. But it stops short of the most meaningful accountability measure available: removal of the local board of education.
The county’s financial officer, superintendent, and assistant superintendent have already been dismissed. Yet the elected board that approved budgets, personnel levels, and administrative leadership remains intact.
While sections of the bill gesture toward the possibility of terminating board members, the language is vague and noncommittal. It does not clearly or decisively ensure accountability.
It’s murky at best.
Absent a new board, where is the deterrent? Where is the assurance that fiduciary responsibility will be taken seriously?
County boards of education approve personnel decisions. A single call to the West Virginia Department of Education revealed that Hancock County was 140 positions over formula. Did the board not know this? If it did, why were corrective steps not taken? Were the right financial questions ever asked… questions that might have surfaced this crisis before it reached the brink?
These questions, and many others, deserve answers. The people of Hancock County – and frankly the taxpayers of the entire state, whose dollars will now plug the hole – are owed a full findings report.
That takes time. So does impeachment or formal removal of a board member. Due process should always prevail over expediency.
But there is a cleaner, faster accountability mechanism available.
If a school system requires money from this emergency fund, the bill should mandate the resignation of every sitting board member as a condition of receiving those funds. No resignations, no money.
In the private sector, boards are ultimately responsible for outcomes like this. The same principle should apply here. A captain asleep in his quarters is still responsible when the ship runs aground. Hancock County’s board is responsible for the actions of the managers it hired and retained.
Some will argue this disenfranchises Hancock County voters. After all, they elected these board members.
Maybe.
But the taxpayers financing this bailout live in Cabell, Raleigh, Monongalia, Ohio County, and beyond. Their interests matter too.
Reason and prudence demand that taxpayer dollars not become more good money after bad.
A new administration and a new board together are far better positioned to ensure financial discipline than a new administration alone.
Finally, a consequence this severe may give pause to those seeking these seats in the future. Do they possess the financial and managerial competence required? Do they understand how to say no when a county is hundreds of positions over formula with no way to pay?
The Legislature should appropriate this money. Workers must be paid. Obligations must be met. Hancock County students and employees did nothing wrong.
But unless the board is held accountable, nothing prevents this from happening again.
The Senate should consider such a move, or something akin to it, before passing the bill.