MORGANTOWN – The House of Delegates got rolling on Wednesday on the bill, announced before the session began, to put teaching assistants in first- and second-grade classrooms.
House Education took up HB 4467 and passed it with bipartisan support.
Pre-K and kindergarten classes already employ teaching assistants and the bill restates the requirement that a pre-K class may have no more than 20 students and one assistant; a kindergarten class must have no more than 20 students and one assistant in rooms with more than 10 students.
Under the new plan, first- and second-grade rooms would have no more than 25 students, and rooms with more than 12 students must have an assistant.
The bill spells out the authority of the assistants and requires local school boards to provide in-service training for the assistants and for teachers on how best to use their assistants.
House leaders said before the session began that the goal is to put 1,800 new assistants into classrooms.
House speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is lead sponsor; local Delegates Amy Summers, R-Taylor, and Buck Jennings, R-Preston, are among the cosponsors.
Committee counsel said a fiscal note has been requested but hadn’t arrived by the time of the meeting. The estimated cost is $68 million to put assistants in both grades, $34.7 million for just first grade.
The discussion didn’t go into the meat of the bill, focusing instead on classroom size caps and what-ifs.
But Delegate Cody Thompson. D-Randolph and a teacher, offered praise just before the vote.
“This is a very good bill,” he said. “This is something I think is going to have a very lasting impact.” The early grades build the foundation for a good education and an extra set of hands and eyes will help assure the best education possible.
It passed in a unanimous voice vote and goes next to Finance for a review of the fiscal impact.
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