9 Days, 55 Counties!

A state strike adds up to a win in West Virginia

By Mary Ellen Flannery

West Virginia’s teachers and school support staff were angry. Every year, state officials pledged to invest in public education. And every year, they did not.

This year, after years of empty promises, West Virginia educators erupted. On February 22, they walked out, in every one of the state’s 55 counties. And they stayed out. As educators from across the nation watched, West Virginia educators showed what union solidarity and power look like. They stood united in a historic nine-day statewide strike that didn’t end until March 6, when the governor signed into law a 5 percent pay raise.

“The winners in this are the students of West Virginia and the educators across West Virginia who finally see the first step made towards a true investment in education,” West Virginia Education Association (WVEA) President Dale Lee said.

Before the strike, West Virginia teachers ranked 48th in the country in teacher pay. Making matters worse, educators faced rising healthcare premiums from the state-controlled Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA). Their take-home pay actually was declining each year.

With teachers earning $20,000 more a year across state lines, the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers for West Virginia students has become a very difficult task.

“The mass exodus from teaching is not because of the long hours. It is not because of lack of passion. It is not even because of challenging environments. The exodus is because our state has decided its priorities lie elsewhere. Teachers are forced out because we can’t afford to teach.” said Webster County high school science teacher Casey Compton.

In the deal signed into law by the governor, all West Virginia teachers and support staff—indeed, all public employees—will get 5 percent pay raises, boosting West Virginia teacher pay to 43rd in the nation. It is a necessary first step to help attract—and keep—quality teachers to West Virginia classrooms, educators said.

Equally important, Gov. Jim Justice froze healthcare costs and also established by executive order a state task force to find a long-term solution to PEIA. That task force will include the voice of a WVEA member, as well as members of the state’s other education unions.

Although the strike began on February 22, it was years in the making. In 1990, the last time West Virginia teachers went on a large-scale strike, pay ranked 49th in the country. Decades later, it wasn’t much improved. In the weeks leading up to the strike WVEA members in eight counties participated in rolling walkouts. In the days before, an energetic pre-strike rally brought thousands to the Capitol steps in Charleston, including NEA Vice President Becky Pringle.

Pressure was building, but state legislators chose to ignore it. On February 21, they voted for a measly 2 percent raise. On February 22, every public school in the state was closed.

“By walking out, walking in, rallying, and filling the state capitol, educators are making it abundantly clear that they expect to be treated with respect and dignity,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.  “I am proud that our members are refusing to sit silently by while lawmakers attempt to inflict further damage on the future of public education in West Virginia.”

About midway through the nearly two-week strike, Gov. Justice and union leaders struck a deal around the 5 percent raises and PEIA task force, but Republican leaders in the state Senate resisted. They offered 4 percent; educators refused to back down. They had not fought so hard, for so long, to accept less than what had been agreed to. Finally, on March 6, as some educators wept tears of joy, and others chanted “We love our kids!” the strike ended.

“I am so proud of West Virginia educators and the West Virginia Education Association,” said Eskelsen García, who traveled twice to Charleston to speak with union members and legislators. “They have stood in solidarity and made their voices heard to demand recognition of their professionalism and dignity because they know attracting and retaining the most caring and competent educators for West Virginia students is essential to their state’s success.”

Government-sanctioned Housing Policies Harmed Today’s Public Schools

By Sabrina Holcomb

In “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America,” Economic Policy Institute researcher Richard Rothstein vividly describes how segregated neighborhoods—from San Francisco to Boston—were deliberately created by widespread government policies that violated the constitutional rights of America’s black families. Rothstein, also the author of “Class and Schools,” talked with NEA Edjustice about how this history has shaped our nation and concentrated generations of black students in underfunded schools.

NEA: You’re known for your work on education policy. What compelled you to write a book on housing?

RR: The single biggest cause of the achievement gap is students with economic disadvantages concentrated in the same schools. If I wanted to be an advocate in narrowing the achievement gap, I had to understand residential segregation.

NEA: The revelations in this book are mind-blowing. How familiar are people with this history?

RR: Everybody’s stunned. People think that segregated neighborhoods outside of the South are the result of the private choices and prejudices of millions of people, the actions of private real estate agencies and mortgage lenders, and income disparities.

NEA: Didn’t they play a part?

RR: Yes, but they would have had far less opportunity for expression without laws and policy decisions at every level of government that forced segregation on American citizens. Segregation by intentional government action is what the courts call de jure—discrimination enacted by law and public policy.

NEA: What’s the most important factor that contributed to the segregation of black and white families?

RR: The 20th century federal government project that created a nationwide system of urban ghettos surrounded by white suburbs. The Federal Housing Administration subsidized white-only suburbs that prohibited builders from selling homes to African-Americans. Even the Veterans Administration refused to finance subdivisions for returning African-American war veterans. These two programs effectively created a pattern of segregation throughout the country.

NEA: What impact did this have on schools?

RR: Overcrowded neighborhoods meant overcrowded schools. City governments also permitted industrial zoning—commercial waste treatment facilities and other polluting industries—that degraded African-American neighborhoods and schools.

As white-owned properties appreciated, tax revenues that funded their schools increased, providing more resources for white students, even as African-American students were crowded into underfunded schools. Title I federal funding now gives poorly resourced schools more money but no matter how much you spend, it’s not enough to help an entire school of students coming from concentrated poverty.

NEA: Did schools play a role in segregated housing?

RR: In the early 20th century, segregated housing was often forced on people by destroying integrated neighborhoods in the north and south to create patterns of segregation that hadn’t previously existed. Local governments in the south used school siting as a tactic. In Houston, Texas, all of the city’s six wards were integrated, with segregated schools for black and white children sometimes on the same block. The city forced families to move and create newly segregated neighborhoods by closing down old schools in some areas and building new schools in others.”

NEA: How did housing segregation lead to a critical wealth gap that persists to this day?

RR: African-American families have 60 percent of the income of white families but only 7 percent of the wealth. The wealth gap is almost entirely due to federal housing policy. White families were sold affordable houses, often with no down payment required. Over the next few generations they gained hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity in their homes.

Black families desperate for housing had to pay high rents for deteriorating public housing, or buy single-family homes in segregated neighborhoods where they were charged inflated prices, forced to make huge down payments, and denied bank loans. As a result, many lost their houses to foreclosure. These toxic policies still determine today’s racial landscape and they’ve never been remedied.

NEA: How can something so complex be remedied?

RR: With the will to change our racial caste system, but that’s only practical if we develop a shared understanding of our common history. When we open our minds to aggressive policies to desegregate, we see the benefits of inclusionary zoning programs in places like Montgomery County, Md., where low-income African-American children have measurably higher achievement. But remedies are politically unrealistic unless all of us, including educators, do our work.

NEA: So, educators are part of the solution?

RR: Any remedy starts with creating awareness and knowledge. Our most commonly used textbooks include one paragraph about segregation in the North, with one sentence that says “African-Americans found themselves in segregated neighborhoods.” If we continue the myth that this all happened by accident, there’s no getting out of it.

We’re having more honest conversations about race than at any time in the history of our country. Educators can help to expand those conversations. Is it enough? No. But are we in a better place to advance than ever before? Yes! I find that hopeful. 

Vouchers: Five Key Facts

Education activists should understand the impact that private school voucher schemes have on students and our public schools. Here are some quick facts for those who may need a little help getting up to speed.

1. Vouchers are DeVos’ prime weapon against public schools. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to use private school vouchers to dismantle the U.S. public education system. She and President Donald Trump proposed a $1 billion national voucher program.
2. Vouchers rob public schools of already-scarce dollars! Even though more than 90 percent of the nation’s students attend our public schools, they are dramatically underfunded. Voucher schemes drain hundreds of millions of dollars away from public school students to pay the private school tuition of a select few.
3. Vouchers have many different names, but they’re still vouchers! Voucher proponents try to use these different names to make voucher schemes sound better than they actually are. Don’t be fooled! They’re still vouchers!
4. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have some sort of voucher scheme, and if Trump and DeVos get their way, that number could increase dramatically, which would further drain funding away from public schools.
5. Unlike public schools, the private schools on the receiving end of vouchers don’t accept all students. Hard to believe, but true. Under voucher schemes, private schools can take your tax dollars but turn away students as they see fit. This includes students with learning disabilities and those with special needs.