Legislature 2010: School Calendar (Updated)

The House of Delegates could vote this hour on Gov. Joe Manchin's latest attempt to rework West Virginia's public school calendar, The Associated Press reports.

"Winter weather and other disruptions could no longer be blamed" for a county school system's failure to provide 180 days of instruction, the article said. The bill "also allows them to decide when their school year starts and ends."

AP explains that "state law now sets a calendar between late August and early June. Manchin had proposed changing the calendar last year. The effort failed after the House and Senate each heavily amended the proposal."

Update: The House passed the bill 92-1. Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, opposed that and the two other bills advanced to the Senate. He said afterward that the school calendar bill represented a centralizing mandate.

AP has details, and checks in with Senate leaders on their view of the bill.

Update II: The easy House passage comes as "lawmakers say they want to focus more on the state's larger education picture," AP reports. "Groups representing teachers, meanwhile, say the pending bill's approach shifts the burden to county school boards and administrators."