EDUCATION REFORM PUSH Education Reform Push Puts WV Agencies In Spotlight
Reported by: Associated Press
Web Producer: Heath Harrison
Reported: Feb. 17, 2013 4:58 PM EST
Eyewitness News Photo
Charleston
, Kanawha County
, West Virginia
A network of West Virginia educational offices with a rocky history may play a major role in the ongoing push to improve public schools.
The Legislature created the Regional Education Service Agencies, or RESAs, in 1972. The eight offices were assigned to help the counties in their districts apply for grants and pool their purchasing power.
Their duties have also included training staff and keeping computers running.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is looking to the RESAs as he responds to an audit that found West Virginia's public schools stymied by state-level bureaucracy. The state Board of Education had previously endorsed the agencies as key for reforms.
But some in the education debate consider RESAs part of the problem. The new emphasis also follows previous attempts to abolish the agencies.
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