West Virginia lawmakers prepare for special session

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - The West Virginia legislature is preparing for a special session to complete the redistricting process and allocate millions of dollars worth of federal funding.

The session is set to begin on Monday morning, but lawmakers met on Sunday afternoon for a number of interim committee meetings. Agenda items included how COVID-19 relief money has been used in schools and what’s being done to improve broadband service.

Gov. Justice calls for Special Session to discuss political redistricting

Delegates and Senators heard from education and technology leaders about what has been done with federal COVID-19 and other funding before even more is distributed this coming week.

The main topics of discussion focused on if school mask mandates should be tied to funding grants and what needs to be done going forward to help students make up for lost instructional time.

“There is still a lot of frustration out there with the teachers and parents and everybody else as to whether these students are getting the educational system that they need to get at this point and time,” Del. Joe Statler (R - Monongalia) said during the Education Committee meeting.

Department of Education federal program executive director Melanie Purkey said a major challenge that impacted education was internet access, and the state did see a significant drop in test scores during pandemic-impacted learning.

“They could pay that, and they have used some of those funds for that,” Purkey said about schools helping students get internet access. “And then there are just a group of people that live in places that it doesn’t matter what we could pay for or provide, there is no service that can get them that internet. Those are the ones we still have not been able to figure out.”

First West Virginia redistricting maps released

Members of the Technology Committee learned during Sunday’s meeting that there are currently more than 400,000 West Virginia homes that do not have access to broadband internet access. The state has committed to spending more than $1 billion over the next decade to solve the problem, but programs are waiting for funding.

“We’ve had calls with the Treasury Department and we anticipate getting those funds approved and into our coffers hopefully before the end of the year,” Department of Economic Development Sec. Mitch Carmichael said. “But long story short, we are going to put a lot of money into that program and help providers extend those networks to get to those homes very quickly that previously were just financially unviable to reach.”

Carmichael said these programs will focus on unserved areas, last mile service and areas with low socioeconomic development.

West Virginia Senate prepares for redistricting ahead of special session