Teachers to Walk Over Pay Raise Bill

Members of the West Virginia Education Association plan to stage a one-day walkout next week to protest what the Legislature has left on the table to raise their pay, The Associated Press' Tim Huber reports today.

WVEA county chapter presidents met in Charleston after polling their members about possible protest actions.

Hundreds of American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia members, meanwhile, rallied on the Capitol's north steps against the legislation.

(A statehouse reporter relays this anecdote from the ongoing tumult: when called on to rally at the state capital, at least one teacher in a particular region of the state thought that meant Annapolis...)

The bill passed to Gov. Joe Manchin would increase pay for both teachers and school service personnel by 3.5 percent. Manchin has sought to place this raise within the context of other funding approved in 2005 for both teacher salaries and pensions, as I reported earlier.