In an announcement heavy with criticism of the current incarnation of the state school board, Gov. Patrick Morrisey named a new member, James Paul, former executive director of the state board that oversees charter schools.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey
“The school board, a lot of the votes you’ve seen are nine‑zero. Well, this is my first pick for the school board. I’m going to tell you, Dr. Paul, I’m hopeful to see some more eight‑one votes. We’re beginning to change,” Morrisey said during a crowded appearance in the governor’s conference room.
James Paul
Paul will be taking a seat formerly held by Debra Sullivan, former principal of Charleston Catholic High School who was outspoken during her term that started in 2017.
For several years, Paul served as executive director of the West Virginia Professional Charter Schools Board. Now he is director of state education opportunity for America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded by former Trump administration officials. He has a doctorate in education policy from the University of Arkansas.
“James Paul is one of the nation’s leading experts in education policy,” said Adam Kissel, chairman of the West Virginia Professional Charter Schools Board.
“The state board will benefit immensely from his knowledge and experience facilitating education options for students and families. Administrative bloat and overregulation also need serious reform in West Virginia.”
In his introduction, Paul expressed commitment to improving the state’s education system, calling the appointment a big responsibility.
Paul said policymakers don’t have all the answers but must set a clear vision, build strong foundations for student learning, set high standards and then let educators do their work. He emphasized that families and parents know their children best, so they should have the power to choose among schooling options.
And Paul described the state board’s constitutional role as carrying out laws passed by the legislature through rulemaking while providing general supervision over the public school system.
“The State Board of Education has a role to play here, a very clear constitutional role, as you mentioned,” Paul told the governor.
“It carries out the law the legislature passes through rulemaking and provides general supervision over the public school system, and 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.”
State school board members are appointed to 9-year terms by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Governor Morrisey and the state board have been at odds over a number of matters, most notably whether religious exemptions should apply to the school vaccination law. Morrisey has regularly called state board members unelected bureaucrats.
Today, the governor was critical of the board on a range of matters, including overall education attainment, oversight of county board finances, communication gaps and the overall cost of education in West Virginia, which he described as inefficient.
“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,” Morrisey said. “I think it makes it harder for that body to be accountable when our students start to fall. We need to reform and change the system if we ever hope to improve.”
All of the current state board members were appointed or reappointed by Jim Justice over his two terms as governor, including his wife, Cathy.
Asked if his criticism is indicative of some inherent problem with Justice’s appointment philosophy, Morrisey said he would not provide a response to that framing.
“I can just talk about our pick and our picks. This is the first of a number of picks, right?” Morrisey said.
“And I want to make sure I have people like Dr. Paul, who have a great deal of expertise in this area, I think that their values are really focused on having accountability and making sure that we’re stretching the dollars to go as far as possible, and also they’re going to be willing to look at the creative programs.”
Beyond that, Morrisey said, “I think that we’re going to focus going forward. I’m not going to take the bait and do pot shots going back to it. So I’m looking full speed ahead, and I think we’ve got a home run pick in Dr. Paul, and I’m excited to see what he does, because I think that’s going to help strengthen the schools.”
Paul Hardesty
State school board President Paul Hardesty, who has a long and close relationship with former Governor Justice, today made public comments during a meeting today to acknowledge West Virginia’s education system has longstanding problems going back decades.
Hardesty said the state board has had to make difficult calls on taking over local school systems all over West Virginia because of mismanagement, financial emergencies or both.
Using phrasing that makes reference to the current governor, Hardesty said, “This board of unelected bureaucrats — we have to make tough decisions when elected bureaucrats choose not to. Pretty simple. It’s not real hard to digest.
“And the problem is that in the past 10 years social media has gotten so important, people that are brave, keyboard commandos run to social media and talk about stuff they know about 10 percent about and 90 percent of it is falsehood. And the sad part is, the public eats it up.”
