Lawmakers remain divided on how quickly to move legislation intended to assist Hancock County Schools as the district works through a fiscal crisis.
House members acted quickly to advance House Bill 4574, which would establish a condition-based emergency funding system for county school districts facing financial distress. Senate leaders, however, say there is no immediate need to fast-track the proposal.
“I don’t understand the need for taking a very complicated bill to change a process that we feel like works,” said Senate Education Committee Chair Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason.
Grady explained that earlier concerns about Hancock County Schools being unable to meet payroll have eased, giving lawmakers additional time to evaluate available options.
“When they passed it, they thought they couldn’t make payroll in February,” Grady said. “Now we know that payroll can be made through April. Legislative session ends in March. There’s really no urgency to get something passed today.”
House leaders maintain that the situation still requires prompt action. House Education Committee Chairman Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, said the House suspended its rules to move the bill through committee and onto the floor in a single day.
“We really felt the urgency at the time and still do,” Statler said. “We felt the urgency that it was worth suspending rules to allow it to move all three days in one day and get it up on a vote.”
The bill is currently stalled in the Senate Education Committee, where Grady said existing laws already allow the state to step in and assist school systems facing financial trouble.
“For instance, a few years back we had to handle that with Boone County, where we just give them a supplemental that is, ‘Here’s the amount of money that you need,’ and then the expectation of paying it back,” she said. “We already have that in place and that works pretty well.”
Statler said he understands the Senate’s concerns and agrees the issue affects more than just Hancock County.
“We have other systems across the state, unfortunately, that are in troubling situations also,” he said. “How much can we and when can we bail everybody out? So that is a concern. I appreciate that they’re looking at it.”
The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn in March, leaving lawmakers to decide whether existing measures are enough or if new emergency funding legislation is necessary to support struggling school districts.