Legislature 2008: Higher Ed

The Senate Education Committee has launched legislation that carves a patch for West Virginia's higher education system for the next dozen years.

Senate Bill 595 would "establish a system of standards, expectations and accountability measures that ensures a seamless learning process from the public school system through post-secondary education," the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington reports.

Also focusing on the bill, The Journal of Martinsburg explains some of its benchmarks: "strategically raising the college-going rates of the counties sending the fewest students to higher education institutions; ensuring that 90 percent of ninth-graders graduate from high school; and using public higher education institutions to improve citizens’ employability and quality of life while increasing research, economic development and public service within the state."