Talkline | Oct. 6, 2025

More conversation about public education in West Virginia. Senate Education Committe Chair Amy  Grady discusses issues impacting schools, including the funding formula. Later, Jason Huffman with Americans for Prosperity WV, shares his thoughts. Plus, a recap of the weekend that was in football with Joe Brocato. Fox News' Ryan Schmelz and Jared Halpern have the latest frrom DC. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Good Monday morning. It is Metro News talk Line. We
have a lot to get to today. More talk about
public education funding, the government shutdown drags on, and the
weekend that was in high school and college football.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's Metro News talk Line.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
We are underway radio turned off from the studios of
w v r C Media and the Metro News Radio
and Television Network.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
The Boys Up West Virginia comes the most powerful show
in West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
This it's Metro News talk Line.

Speaker 4 (00:51):
With Dave Wilson and t J. Meadows.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Activated switch networking churl from.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Charles Stay Bye to you, David DJ.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
You're on.

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Metro News talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance, encircling
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Speaker 1 (01:16):
Good morning, Welcome inside the Incovia Insurance studios Dave Wilson
in the Miller Building in Morgantown and TJ. Meadows at
the Radio Ranch in Charleston. Eight hundred seven sixty five.
Talk is the phone number. You can text the show
at three or four Talk three oh four. Zach Carol
Checkman of the People is handling the video stream on
Metro News Television Today, and Sophia Wasik is our audio producer.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
She is who you'll speak to if you call.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
That eight hundred number, eight hundred seven sixty five Talk
eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five five.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
You can text us as well.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Three o four Talk three oh four coming up, just
a couple of minutes, we'll talk to the Senate Education
Committee chair, aimed Nicole Grady. Going to join us a
little bit later. Joe Cauto stops by. We'll review the
week that was, weekend that was in football a million
nicely on loan from West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Watch later.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Jason Huffman and Americans for Prosperity will join us as well.
Got a full show. We'll have time for your calls,
text and tweets as well. Good morning, mister Meadows.

Speaker 6 (02:16):
Good morning sir. I hope you had a great weekend.
Five days, ten hours, eight minutes and nine seconds, Mark Dave,
since the government shut down.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
There you go. I'll tell you what I did.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Have a great weekend, and I'll tell you why because
I ignored everything.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Yes, very good.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Actually, I have my commentary. I write my commentary on
Tuesdays usually, and I'll write one for tomorrow. It's changed
about five times in the last three days. Okay, I've
sketched him out and go, oh, this is what I'm
gonna go with. And then you know, I mowed the
grass yesterday. I do a good thinking when I'm mowing
TJ very. You know, you're very isolated, the mower's humming,

(02:53):
and I came up with two other ideas. I don't
know what I'm going to write about, but I've got
to decide at some point later this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
But it was great. Got to get some chores done,
got the yard mode.

Speaker 6 (03:04):
Yeah, it's nice to unplug and do a little something
different and give your brain a rest. Although I will
say two or three commentaries back, I wrote that while
I was golfing the course was a little crowded.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I wrote it between holes. I do it on my phone.

Speaker 6 (03:17):
I swear I didn't think I could do that, and
it just there's an idea, and you know, when it
strikes you sometimes you're like, oh, there's an idea, and
it just kind of boom.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
The thumbs went crazy. Got it typed out there you go.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, I had a pretty good idea right before I
wanted to chuck my weed eater over the hill. Unrelated,
but that's when one of the ideas struck me yesterday.

Speaker 6 (03:36):
So sorry, I have to ask you. You still got
the steal the steel on weed eater and all that
good stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
It is not a steal.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
If I had a steel I wouldn't be wanting to
throw it over the hill.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Okay. Problem.

Speaker 6 (03:48):
My dad got me one when I got married, believe
it or not, bought our first house.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Sucker still works, Yeah, I believe it twenty years. That's
my problem.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I can't get this particular piece of machinery to die so.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
I can go get a new one. But I digress.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, lawmakers in Charleston for interim committee meetings the next
couple of days. A topic of discussion at the Capitol,
and not in a formal sense, but certainly an informal
sense has been the comments made last week by school
board President Paul Hardesty. We played in those comments. We
talked to Paul here on the show. He called for
a leveling of the playing field when it comes to

(04:23):
public education and put it back on lawmakers to address
the cumbersome state code governing public schools and the school
aid formula. Joining us on Metro News talk Line is
Mason County Senator, chair of the Senate Education Committee, and
teacher Amy Nicole Grady. Amy, good morning, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 7 (04:40):
Good morning, Dave, Good morning, Jay morning.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Appreciate you taking some time, so hey. If nothing else,
Paul Hardesty's comments certainly has people talking.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Is his assessment that.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Now the playing field is unleveled between school choice and
public schools? Is that a fair assessment?

Speaker 7 (04:58):
You know, I've had a lot of private coll versations
with mister Hardesty where he has expressed exactly what he
said in that meeting, so I wasn't surprised at all
by his comments. We've discussed this in depth, that the
playing field when you look at regulations and requirements, you know,
you could one could easily say that they are not level.
You know, we have a three hundred and forty seven

(05:19):
page book that has regulations and requirements for traditional public schools.
And I'm not saying we need to add more requirements
in homeschooling, or on private schools or even public charters,
but I think we definitely need to look at making
sure that we removed from requirements from public education. You know,
every year we have hundreds of bills that are introduced

(05:41):
for education related purposes. Hundreds of bills introduced and we
and we pass a lot of them. Very rarely do
we see anything that is repealing part of that code.
And I think we would benefit greatly. And I told
this mister hardesty On. We've talked last week on the phone,
and I told him, you know, I think it would
be great if we had in the legislature one year

(06:01):
all you could do was repeal bills. You could repel
laws instead of introducing new laws, and then the next
year you introduce you know, so that we would instead
of highing more and more on actually removing some things
that we know aren't working. So I'd like to challenge
my fellow legislators this year that for every bill that
you introduced that adds something to education and related law,

(06:22):
that we repeal at least two for every bill, and
try to see if we can, you know, kind of
loosen those requirements a little bit, give teachers and give
our schools a little more flexibility and untie their hands.
That's really what we want.

Speaker 6 (06:34):
So Amy, how would that work in theory. I'm calling
that book the big Blue book that Paul held up.
I mean, it's it's it's you can't miss it. I mean,
it's a large volume. To your point, should there be
a systematic look at that book and the regulations and
some effort to come up with what took her tail?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I mean, how do we go from here?

Speaker 7 (06:54):
You know, I've been I've been in the legislature for
five years, and I can tell you twice before being
Education Chair, the first two years of my time that
I started in the Senate, the prior Governor's administration Governor
Justice under he had some leadership where wanted us to
look under Chapter eighteen A. Our Senate leadership and our

(07:14):
House leadership also kind of formed a It wasn't really
a subcommittee, but it was kind of a committee throughout
the course of the year that we were supposed to
look into Chapter eighteen A. I remember taking that book
with me on vacation, reading it, trying to find things
that I thought needed to be you know, definitely be removed.
But it never went anywhere, and so it just you know,
we had a couple of meetings with the people that

(07:35):
were on board, and then the people that were leading
it just never went anywhere, and it was really frustrating,
and I think part of the problem is it's such
a tedious task. There's so much to it that a
lot of people just really don't know where to start.
And I think where we need to start is, let's
let's listen to our teachers and let's listen to what
they have to say that it's, you know, tying their
hands is making it more difficult for them. Let's listen

(07:55):
to our parents. What is happening in public education that's
making you choose their options? And I know I've talked
about this Tom Blue in the face guys, but I'll
tell you what the reason we are we are we
are losing students from our public schools is the behaviors.
It is the behaviors that they are their children are
having to deal with and see on a daily basis
in our school system. They don't want them exposed to that.

(08:18):
That is the number one reason people are pulling their
kids out of our public schools. And it's not going
to get any better until we can we can do
something about that.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Amy Nicole Grady joining us Mason County Center, Chair of
the Senate Education Committee.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
You're a teacher.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Can you give us an example of uh ways that
the public education system you as a teacher, are held
back by regulations and restrictions.

Speaker 7 (08:42):
Well know, I think we have this, we have this
notion and I think in general in America, but I'm
in education that you know, the more, the more there
is the better, right, So the more we are there
or you know, quantity over quality. So we have this
number of days that kids have to be in school
where nobody can tell us exactly why that number is
there and why that number is important. We have these

(09:03):
certain number of days that teachers have to be there,
yet a lot of the professional development days for teachers
are wasted on listening to presenters and speakers instead of
us actually being able to work in our classrooms. All
of those things are things that we need to look
at and say, you know, are these things that are
really truly helping our education system? You know, giving making
our kids have their busts in their seats for more

(09:23):
minutes or more days, is it really truly helping or
or can we look at how other places do it
and kind of you know, pull that back a little bit.
And you know, I have some friends who have some
exchange students from other countries that are living with them
right now, and they were there in high school and
they were talking to these girls about, you know, how
how has your experience so far been in you know,
being in high school, and they mentioned the fast pace

(09:46):
and how everything was so fast paced over here, and
they're overwhelmed and starting to feel overwhelmed with it because
in their country they have a little bit more it's
a little bit more laid back, and you know, comparing
our test results and our our education system to other countries,
we're we're at the bottom. So you know, maybe us
pushing more and more and more is actually to the

(10:07):
detriment of our students, and we need to reevaluate what
we're doing.

Speaker 6 (10:11):
Well to your point, last I checked, and I'll go
back and recheck this, but the Fins do I think
four four and a half hours a day and their
test scores kill hours. So there's ample evidence out there
that time in school doesn't necessarily correlate to success. With
that said, do we need to take a look at
our structure. We've been talking a lot about in West

(10:32):
Virginia what we can't afford, what we can't afford. Is
it time to get rid of fifty five county systems?
I mean, can we really continue that amy.

Speaker 7 (10:40):
You know, I think we need to look at every
option that could provide our students with a better education,
but also that can help us to afford a good
education system. I'm not against taking away definitely not against
you know, removing from fifty five county boards of education.
I think there's a lot of merit to looking at
those smaller counties that are struggling and having them, you know,

(11:01):
combine into a regional board. I think there's a lot
of merit to that, and I think that it could
truly help. I don't know that we could, you know,
make regional boards be really successful when it comes to
large counties such as Canaal County, you know, that has
a lot of students that I think they probably need
their own. But I think we need to really look
outside of the box and think what can we change.

(11:22):
Just because we've always done something doesn't mean that we
have to continue doing it that way, and obviously it's
not working right. So we're constantly looking at our test scores,
looking at our success rates or anti success rates, whatever
we want to say, and look at how we can
make changes. And some of them might be uncomfortable changes
that people won't really love, but you know, you have
to get out of your comfort zone sometimes to make

(11:43):
a positive impact. And I think that it's we're pastime.

Speaker 8 (11:46):
To do that sooner.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
The Education Convinny chair Amy Nicole Grady joining us here
on Metro News talk line. Let's talk about the school
aid formula for a moment. It's complicated, it's complex, but
I do know that student enrollment weighs heavily into it.
Is that where we need to start by taking a
look the school aid formula.

Speaker 7 (12:02):
You know, I think the school aid formula definitely needs
to be revamped. There are a lot of there are
a lot of states that are going more to a
student centered funding, and you know, they all do it differently.
And the problem though, is the fact that every state
is different. You know, in West Virginia is unique in very,
very many ways. I think one of our number one
problems is when we you know, we're talking about school

(12:23):
choice and the Hope Scholarship and all of those things.
That's not really taking the funding away. But what's what
the problem is is we are in public school systems.
We have students with disabilities that remain in our schools
because honestly, the Hope doesn't really help them because they
can't choose a private school. Very few private schools have
opportunities for students with disabilities. They don't have the resources
they need, and so those students stay in our in

(12:45):
our public schools, and we need to recognize the fact
that it costs more to educate those students. You know,
a traditional student who is on a normal learning pattern,
you know, that's what our basic funding number represents. But
when you have a student with your disabilities, it could
cost three, four, five, six times that amount to educate
that one student. And we have to really consider that

(13:07):
weighted part of the formula.

Speaker 6 (13:08):
You talked about committees of sorts going through the code,
and you talked about there being great efforts at the
beginning to revise the code.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
And then it fizzles out.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
Is that because these are tough decisions and there's a
lack of political will in the body to make these
tough decisions. Does that play a role at all?

Speaker 7 (13:29):
You know, I think a lot of it. Yes, When
you think about when you think about things, is there
anything else in this state that really affects everybody as
much as education? You know, everybody I always say this,
everybody thinks that they need to have their say and
how money is spent when it comes education, because either
they have a kid in the school system, or they
pay taxes, you know, or they had somebody in the
school system. And so it's something that everybody, everybody has

(13:52):
an interest in, but not only the fact that it's
kind of a hard decision because you're hearing it from
all angles. But it's a hard decision because it's really
it's not something you can just dive into and make
a change to and say, oh, this is what we're
going to do. There are so many small things that
can cause big things to happen, and there's it's it's
so confusing, and there's so much to it that I

(14:13):
think it takes it requires a lot of time, and
that might be part of it as well, is that
the time consuming part of it that a lot of
people don't have, and it's hard to figure out where
to start. You know, it's such a big issue you're
afraid to make a mistake because you don't want it
to cause the problem to be worse, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Paul Hartesty's comments from last week by some are being
construed as an attack on school choice. That this has
to be a one or the other type of conversation.
Can we both or can we have both a robust
school choice program here in West Virginia and a public
school program?

Speaker 7 (14:48):
I think we. I think we can, and I think
we should because I think that a parent, a parent's
right to choose the education they feel is best for
their child is really important for us to be able
to accommodate. However, or you know, I look at things
a lot of times, and I think that we need
to look at it in a way of competition is
a good thing, right. I'm a very competitive person, and
I know a good competition will push me harder than

(15:10):
anybody anything else. And that's how our public schools need
to look at it. You know, why are we losing students?
What is the what is the purpose? Because nobody wants
to pay money to send their kids somewhere. Nobody wants
to go through that process of you know, making things
that does make things a little harder on families whenever
they choose to go somewhere instead of a traditional public school.
Why are they choosing to do that? That's what we

(15:31):
really need to look at and say, you know, what
can we change to where people are choosing our public
schools because that's the best option for their child. There
are a lot of things that I think we need
to look at internally to do that, And like I
said before, behaviors, behaviors. Behaviors is the issue. It's a
huge issue. When I talk to administrators, I talk to teachers,
and I talk to parents that have pulled their kids

(15:52):
from public schools, it is because of trauma that their
child is experiencing in the school, because of behaviors from
other students, and that is the biggest issue we have.

Speaker 6 (16:02):
Let me finish with this. How confident are you we'll
get something done this year? It is confusing, it is tired, tiresome,
it can be tough. But how confident are you that
something will move and will actually change something in this
legislative session it's upcoming.

Speaker 7 (16:18):
One thing I can tell you, TJ is that I
know at least one person in this legislature that's going
to work hard to get it done. And I'm the
only person I can control, right But I do know
I've talked with several other members who are really interested
in making sure that we do something as well, So
I know there's a deep interest in making sure we
have something what that looks like coming out. I wish

(16:40):
I knew, you know, because that's the part that worries
me is as a teacher, and I don't want to
come across as that nobody else knows what they're talking about,
but the teachers in the legislature, and they're a handful
of us, you know, can truly see it from an
inside perspective, and those who aren't inside and who don't
live through that, you know, as a public school teacher,

(17:00):
can't see exactly what we are explaining when it comes
to the changes we think need to be made. And
that's the hardest part is we have to educate our
fellow legislators while trying to advocate for these major changes,
and a lot of times that takes more time than
we really want it to because the education of the
other legislators may take a session or two for them
to understand the need. And so, you know, it's frustrating sometimes,

(17:23):
but you know, we can't give up. We have to
keep moving forward and try to see what we can
figure out and get something past this. We're past the
time of we keep thinking about it. We have to act.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Mason County Senator Chair of the Senate Education Committee, Amy
Nicole Grady. I'm glad we could track it down during
the interims. Usually you know you're you're teaching during this
time of day, so glad we could catch up.

Speaker 7 (17:44):
Well, yes, sir, I do have teacher guilt often whenever
I have to I have to take off to do
legislative things because you know, both jobs are equally important,
and so today was a great day to be able
to reach out to you guys. But I would love
to eventually when we have time, we have more time,
I'd love to come back on and us just to
discuss in general all the things in public education that

(18:04):
need to be changed in order for us to be
more successful. So when you guys have time, you let
me know definitely.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Hey, we're here every day. We'll set something up.

Speaker 7 (18:11):
No problem, Okay, you I have a good day.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
You as well, aimed Nicole Grady, Mason County Center and
State Senate Education Committee Chair got to take a break
back invelment talk line from the Cove Insurance studios.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
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We are there to care for you plan.

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We are here.

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Speaker 4 (19:35):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
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Speaker 1 (19:45):
We will get to your comments at three oh four
Talk three oh four coming up. Joe Bricatto going to
join us Savilia nicely on loan from West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Watch. We'll stop by as well.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Speaker Mike Johnson just finishing up a news conference in Washington,
d SEE this morning.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
What was the count?

Speaker 1 (20:02):
I guess it's a count up clock now, TJ or
are we on five days, six days?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Whatever?

Speaker 11 (20:06):
It is?

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Five days, ten hours and some change and when you know,
they took it off the screen the second gaspy for
the update.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Yeah, they had to get Uh, let's see Senator Kennedy
on Fox News right now. CNN's got a you know,
some sort of prescription drug commercial here here in my studios.
I did see Chuck Schumer. He mentioned the Epstein Files.
So and I bring that up a little tongue in cheek, TJ.

(20:33):
But the first time I've heard Democrats start to move
the message. When you start to move the message, you're
probably losing at that point.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
Yeah, you're explaining as they say, which means you're losing.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
So we've gone from trying to protect healthcare to well,
he's just trying to protect the APS. This is a
distraction from the Epstein files. Yeah, you're moving. You're starting
to crack a little bit. So, uh, five hours, ten
five days, ten hours.

Speaker 6 (21:01):
Okay, Wick is gonna get close to run down the
money that's going to move people. Military families are not
going to get paid. That's going to move people. You
got a shelf life. And if you're already shifting your narrative,
yeah you're losing.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
To your point, we were going to talk to Ryan Schmels,
but he was in the aforementioned press conference, so he'll
get a pass on this one.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Today he'll get a pass.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
House speaker outranks Metro News talk Line by Smidgen. That's
all Amelia nicely. She would never turn us down for
a spot on the show just to talk to the
house speaker. She will join us coming up on the
other side of the break and a little bit later
on Joe Ricotto recap the weekend in high school and
college football. It's talk line on Metro News for forty years,

(21:42):
the voice of West Virginia. It is ten thirty times
to get a news update. Let's check in on the
Metro News radio network. Find out what's happening across the
great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 12 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins is somewhat under
the radar. Proclamation from President Donald Trump could have a
big impact on healthcare providers in West Virginia. The proposal
is to raise the annual feel on a visa program
used to recruit doctors from two hundred and fifteen dollars
a year to one hundred thousand dollars a year. Your sender,
Shelley Moore. Capitove says her office is talking with the
White House.

Speaker 7 (22:15):
We are bringing that case to the President as he
moves forward. It kind of caught us by surprise.

Speaker 12 (22:20):
The ww Medicine spokesperson tells Metro News to Health network
currently employs more than two hundred physicians on H one
B visas, and their hopeful doctors will ultimately be exempt
from paying the higher fee. Be back to the courtroom
later this week for all sides on the childhood vaccination
issue in West Virginia. Roley County Circle Jess Michael Froebole
scheduled to hear more testimony in Beckley Wednesday and Thursday.
Froebel was being asked by a few Roley County families

(22:42):
to issue a permanent injunction allowing their children to be
in score on a religious exemption to the state's vaccination
requirements at trough. New State wide correspondent Brad Michaelheeney has
more at our website this morning. Health departments across West
Virginia now have new respiratory guidelines from the state Department
of Health. Part of those guidelinescus on who should get
flu in COVID nineteen shots. Cable Huntington Health to part

(23:03):
of Physician Director Doctor Michael Cook. Kenney says, the guidelines
are a big help.

Speaker 13 (23:07):
The science behind the vaccine is backing that up from
the professional agencies that have done that best work, and
I think that these are trustworthy agencies that have been
working together for a long time.

Speaker 12 (23:20):
You're listening to Metro News for forty years. The Voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 14 (23:24):
October High school football continues Friday Night, presented by Gomard.
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(23:47):
the action live on Metro News Television. Download the free
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Speaker 15 (23:55):
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(24:17):
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Speaker 12 (24:26):
Several activities are scheduled this week on the w campus
as part of Global Healthweek. Former State Health Officer doctor Rolgupta,
who serves as the Director of the White House Office
of National Drug Control Policy under former President Biden, will
be the keynote speaker. He'll speak this afternoon. A large
crowd expected this afternoon of the State Supreme Court for
the investors ceremony of new Justice Thomas Ewing. This afternoon

(24:47):
ceremony is schedule for two o'clock Euring replaces Justice Beth Walker,
who retired from the Metro News anchor desk. I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Jason Huffmann, Americans for Prosperity West Virginia going to join
us top of the hour Joe Ricado. Before that, we'll
review the weekend in high school and college football. Eight
hundred and seven to sixty five. Talk the phone number
three or.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Four Talk three h four.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
The text line David Morgantown, TJ is in Charleston. If
you're watching the video stream, it looks like TJ's underwater
there he is literally coming into the camera.

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Just was a little bit out of focus. Looked like
you were underwater. Interesting, make me look better? No comments? Okay, comment?

Speaker 1 (25:53):
What did our friend Schmells just tweet out?

Speaker 6 (25:55):
By the way, Yeah, so it looks like Leader Jeffries
since are formerly challenging Speaker Johnson to a debate on
the House floor regarding the shutdown, to which Johnson justli
I can't talk, replied in that press or quote. When
the poll says that about thirteen percent of the people
approve of your messaging, then you make desperate please for attention,

(26:16):
and that's what Hakeem Jeffries has now done.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
How about we do you remember back in the day,
you remember when Spike was a network?

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Yeah, I remember that.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
It's probably been fifteen years ago, twenty years do you
remember the most extreme elimination challenge?

Speaker 2 (26:32):
It was?

Speaker 1 (26:33):
It was a Japanese game show that they, you know,
would dub over in English and it was just you know,
it was a crazy Japanese game show. So what I'm
thinking is most extreme elimination challenge between those two win
or take all.

Speaker 6 (26:48):
Yeah, well I could be down for that. Here's my
political analysis. However, on this, Jeffries doesn't want this anymore
than Johnson wants this. Jeffries puts something like this out
knowing it'll never happen. Johnson doesn't want it to happen
because you know what might happen. They might have to
be accountable to the American people. Both parties in their answer.
I think a debate would be good. But this is posturing,

(27:11):
folks at its finest. It will never happen. Neither side
wants it to happen.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Most extreme elimination challenge.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
That's what we should do.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Let's bring in Amelia Farrell nicely on long from West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Watch Amelia, good morning.

Speaker 16 (27:24):
Good morning, how are you all.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
I'm doing well. Yeah, you're a little bit younger than me.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
You probably don't remember the most extreme elimination challenge.

Speaker 16 (27:30):
Oh, I do, I do. I would really like to
see that in government right now. Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
I'm all for it.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Let's bring it to the state capitol. Whenever we have
a debate that needs to be settled, we do this.

Speaker 16 (27:42):
Yes, let's do it, all right.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Interim committee meetings are underway. Anything you're keeping an eye
on first.

Speaker 16 (27:49):
Yeah, a few things. Now. I will say I did
think we were maybe going to have a special session,
so kind of coming down off of that.

Speaker 17 (27:55):
Hi.

Speaker 16 (27:56):
But today, I know you all are having Jason Hoffman
on your show. Later, you've been talking about school Board
President Paul Hardesty's comments last week about school choice today
and this is kind of odd for interrooms, or at
least it's the first I've seen this the House Education
school Choice Subcommittee. The House started subcommittees last year or

(28:16):
earlier this year. State school Superintendent Michelle Blatt is going
to appear before them to talk about the school choice
portal and any of her office's recommendations for this committee.
So maybe some legislation we would see next year on
school choice. So I'm kind of watching that.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 16 (28:34):
I imagine this was scheduled before Hardesty's comments. I just
saw the agenda over the weekend, but it will be
interesting to see maybe how Superintendent blat, you know, if
she gets any interesting questions or kind of what her
posture is coming off of Hardesty's comments. So that's what
I'm watching today.

Speaker 6 (28:51):
So one bit of criticism Amelia I heard over the
weekend from a few legislators was that, hey, where's Hardesty's bill?
Bring us some legislation. They kind of said, he hasn't
done that. Is that a fair characterization or can he
even do that in his position?

Speaker 16 (29:07):
I don't think he can do that in his position.
It's bill drafting is starting, right, I mean some people
do it over the summer, but I think it's there's
still times. I don't know if that's a fair criticism.
If he has ideas, we still have until you know, gosh,
halfway through the session next year to introduce bills, so
there's still time, I think. So I was at the
Capitol yesterday for a couple of hours for an education meeting,

(29:30):
and this was the hardest. These comments were definitely what
the walls we're talking about?

Speaker 15 (29:35):
Right?

Speaker 16 (29:35):
And I would say the thing that I heard the
most was gosh, our school aid formula does need work.
I don't know how to do that. I mean, it's
a big undertaking, maybe something that is really difficult to
do in sixty days. So I had wondered if maybe
lawmakers had already been working on that in the offseason calllet,
but I haven't. I don't think they have. And so

(29:56):
I think that's a question I have going into next
session is let's say they do. I want to do
something about it. I've heard Republicans and leadership say they
want to How do they do that in sixty days?
It's a big undertaking.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Mallya pharaoh nicely joining us from West Virginia wants you
have a story posted over at West Virginia waunch dot
com actually posted it last week. States jails being used
to house immigrant detainees and the state Division of Corrections
is I guess charging rents question mark.

Speaker 16 (30:25):
Yes, So we are not the only one doing this.
County jails, date jails all over the country are renting
beds to ICE during President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, and
we have reserved forty eight beds for ICE. We did
have as of I believe last Wednesday or Tuesday. We
had one hundred and one ICE in mats detained in

(30:47):
three correctional facilities across the state or several correctional facilities.
And so we're charging ninety dollars a day for ICE detainees.
And from June twenty twenty four to July of this year,
we've built ice more than three hundred and thirty thousand
dollars for those detainees. And I did I mean, I
got this information directly from our Division of Corrections and

(31:08):
they told me that they are moving inmates to accommodate
ICE detainees. And I will also know these are not
just people who are arrested in West Virginia and documented immigrants.
These are people from all over the country and they're
moved around the country as they go through that next
process after they're arrested.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
Okay, so make that money. I get that philosophy. But
but how many times have we heard that we don't
have enough personnel in our jails and we can't police
and monitor the people that we have. If that was
a problem, then why isn't it a problem now? For
we're putting more people into our system.

Speaker 16 (31:44):
Yeah, and not just personnel, I mean, our jails are
regularly at capacity or over capacity. When I was putting
together the story last week, I came across a study
that was just released in the spring that we do
continue to still have the deadliest jail system in the country.
So yeah, yeah, there are concerns I think about Gosh,
I didn't realize we had room to add extra people,

(32:05):
but we are, and we're making room for undocumented immigrants.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Any data on how long they are being held in
West Virginia jails or how quickly I don't if turnover
is the right word, but how quickly the turnover is.

Speaker 16 (32:18):
Yeah, so it's usually up to twelve weeks. It can
be longer, could be shorter, but State police said that
it's usually about twelve weeks from when someone is put
into a jail for usually a civil crime. We don't
always know some of them are criminal and then till
they're moved to their next point and that process of
potentially being deported or whatever might happen to them.

Speaker 6 (32:40):
So it's not a ton of money, but that almost
four hundred thousand dollars that we've charged so far, will
that go back to helping us offset costs in the
jail system. There is any word on how we're using
those funds.

Speaker 16 (32:50):
No word on how we're using it. It does go
to DCR I one of the things I wanted to
do and Commissioner Jails Commissioner David Kelly, he did not
do an interview with me for this story. I did
work with his office on the story. But a question
I had for him was is this going to help
these jails offset jail bills? Now that's more an issue
we see at the county level, but we do have

(33:11):
multiple counties who cannot afford their jail bill and the
state has to step in and pay that difference. And
so I had wondered if maybe this money would be
used to cover that, But I don't know the answer
to that.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Talking to Amelia Farrell nicely, West Virginia Watch joining us
here on Metro News talk Line. Also last week it
was announced thirty seven on documented immigrants arrested in eleven
days are their targeted enforcement? Is this just over the
normal course of business? How did this come about?

Speaker 16 (33:37):
Well, they were the governor and state police were pretty
light on details. I think for confidentiality's sake, but in
safety's sake, they said. But it does seem I don't
know that they're doing they are doing some targeted crackdowns,
but the eleven people who were arrested were arrested during
DUI checkpoints and just regular traffic stops the turnpike and

(34:00):
in different parts of the state. So I had asked
the governor specifically, like what we see more of these,
and he didn't want to answer that. So I think
it's a little bit of both. And yeah, like you said,
thirty seven and documented immigrants arrested in eleven days through
this effort. And this is through a partnership that West
Virginia State Police and the National Guard have with ICE.

(34:22):
It's called the two eighty seven G Program, which allows
especially trained officers to carry out certain immigration enforcement duties
like asking your immigration status at a routine traffic stop,
which would was previously not something you were allowed to do,
but now we can through this partnership.

Speaker 6 (34:38):
I want to circle back for just a second. I
don't know if you had a chance to hear the
interview we did with aiming Nicole Grady but at ten,
but she was talking a little bit about it's tough
people come in with these ideas. There's leadership around changing education,
and I'm paraphrasing, but it seems too fizzle. She didn't
really have a reason for why it seems too fizzle.
You've followed the legislature for some time. I brought up

(35:02):
the whole idea of political will, because if you're going
to make big changes in education, Amelia, as you well know,
there could be political consequences that chills some people. So
do you think that's a big part of why we're
here with education and maybe why we haven't rolled back
some of these regulations that may need So it's just
people are afraid to do it.

Speaker 16 (35:22):
Fear could be a factor, but I would probably argue
priority as a factor. I mean, every session, the bills
that they want to pass, they're going to pass, not
always right, sometimes the train to reels, But every session
you go in, and especially having such a majority party,
something they're passionate about, they're going to put their time
and effort into really publicizing it, working with the media,

(35:43):
drumming up support for it. I mean, I think about
the Third Grade Success Act a couple of years ago.
That bill did struggle toward the end, but it got
across the finish line, and that was like a bill
that was really a Hallmark Education bill. We have to
get our reading and mass scores up, So for me,
it's less politics and more. We have a lot of
people in the legislature that are really all in on

(36:05):
school choice, all in on hope scholarship. Some of them
that's a political move because that's a big talking point
for the National Republican Party, and for others maybe, like
if you think about Senator Patricia Rucker, she has a
personal story with how the school system didn't work for
her family, and so they really bring a personal part
to it to say, I want kids in West Virginia
to have other options outside of the public school system.

(36:27):
So I think it's more priority than politics usually.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Amelia Farrell nicely.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
You can catch all of her work over at West
Virginia Watch dot com. Appreciate you stopping by. We'll see
at the capital soon enough.

Speaker 16 (36:39):
Bye, see y'all.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Joe Bricado joins us next to recap the weekend on
was in football Back in a Moment.

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So go ahead play today. Over at WV metro News
dot com. This morning, the updated Metro News high school
football power rankings presented by Tutor's Biscuit World. The top
teams have stayed the same this week. I just had
them and I lost them. That'd be Huntington, Bridgeport, Independence

(38:52):
and Wahama Holding Firm at the number one rankings in
each classification. You can see the entire rankings over at
the website WDV metro News dot com. Joining us on
Metro News talk line Metro News Sports Joe Riccando, Joe,
good morning.

Speaker 13 (39:06):
Guys.

Speaker 17 (39:06):
I didn't think we would hear a Spike TV reference
like we had in the previous segment this morning, but hey,
here we.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Are tell you most extreme elimination challenge. We can even
do that in house, Joe. We could have a whole
company retreat where.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
We do that.

Speaker 17 (39:20):
Interesting interesting theory, could be hazardous, but could be interesting.

Speaker 6 (39:25):
So Just for the record, Dave, I mean you need
your help getting bailed out here. I googled that because
I wanted to see the video. It tripped the firewall,
like I was bringing up something that I shouldn't be
bringing up on the company network.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
So I'm just throwing that out there if I could
get some backup. All right, Well, you can blame me.
That's OK.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
When HR calls, you can blame me, uh Joe. Takeaway
from provo.

Speaker 17 (39:50):
The bye week comes at a good time for West Virginia,
not only to try to get a couple of injured
players potentially back in the lineup, but I think that
the coaching staff will spend this week, now's the two
weeks to get ready for the UCF game, really doing
some more evaluations on how to find some answers maybe
further down the lineup, guys that may not be at

(40:11):
the top of the depth chart or a one or two,
but we could maybe potentially help this team. I think
it's it's a good time for the coaching stats kind
of taking a couple of steps and really assess what's
happened in the teams two and four start, you know,
But then the question is that the answers aren't in
the locker room right now. Where do you go as
you are looking ahead to twenty twenty six for how

(40:32):
this roster.

Speaker 13 (40:33):
Is going to shake out.

Speaker 6 (40:34):
So, Joe, looking at the stats, they killed us on
passing man, They attempted it more, they completed more, they
had more yards per pass, they threw one less interception.
I mean, they just killed us.

Speaker 17 (40:45):
Yeah, no question about it. And it's a been a
recurring theme throughout the first three conference games where West Virginia,
you know, as stout as they were defensively in the
first three games. And yes, you do have to consider
competition level ramping up as you get into big twelve player,
but you know Wes Virginia defense, which showed some proficiency
to flow some teams down and make those yards a

(41:07):
lot more difficult. When they've gotten into league play against
Kansas Utah and BYU, you know, teams have been able
to get chunk plays in mass over five hundred.

Speaker 8 (41:16):
Yards of BUYU the other night.

Speaker 17 (41:18):
And you know there have to be some answers. And
again maybe the some can be found during this open week.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Joe, that game at late Friday night into early Saturday morning.
It and this isn't exactly a glowing endorsement. At times,
it felt like the Mountaineers were not out of it,
but were never really in it either.

Speaker 17 (41:38):
I mean the score, the late score, the late touchdown
for West Virginia made the score line look a little
bit more respectable. Prior to that, it was probably right
on the points spread line, which I think was about
twenty entering the game. But you know, if you are
the West Virginia coaching staff and you're looking for positives
to take away, I think you have to look at
the play of Khalil Wilkins and Scottie Fox, the fact

(41:59):
that they were able to go in and both individually
lead touchdown drives and show some proficiency leading this offense.
I mean, you're at the point now where you know,
younger players are going to get great evaluations, and we're
going to see what some of these guys that you know,
maybe be whether they be freshman or sophomore. The question

(42:19):
is can they help this team going forward? And you know,
you don't want to make the statement the next year
starts now for this team because the coaching staff wants
to do everything they can to win as many games
as possible. But I think Fox and Wilkens are probably
two of the guys that will receive the biggest evaluations
going forward.

Speaker 6 (42:36):
I'm looking for something good to talk about. Seems like
BYU was a classy act. I saw they played our
fight song with their band beginning of the game, make
us Welcome, also passed out free ice creams.

Speaker 17 (42:45):
I guess there's that, without a question, the most polite
fan base in the Big Twelve, and I think that
that's what endears them to so many of the teams
in the league, and you know a lot of teams
around the conference. EYU is now in the third year
in the league. They're just getting their first look at
everything that BYU brings to the table. But no question
about it. From everything you hear, they're they're They're probably.

(43:08):
Although some great rivalries can form in the Big Twelve,
it's probably difficult to develop a true contempt for BYU
given the politeness of the administration, the classicness of their
head coach, and the fan base.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Joe High School Football.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Six weeks in the books, some of these teams are
starting to rise. Who are you keeping an eye on
as we go into week seven.

Speaker 17 (43:30):
It's interesting because obviously the best matchup on the board
as you go to week seven is undoubtedly Morgantown at Martinsburg.
You know, Morgantown off to a six and oh start.
And now we've talked about for a while the tough
tests that NHS has in the middle portion of their schedule.
They defeated Spring Mills, they defeated Wheeling Park last week.
Now they get the tests against the defending champions from

(43:53):
from Martinsburg. And if Morgantown is able to go there
and pick up a victory, I think that speaks very
well to what the Mohegans have. If you look at
the rankings, which we're just posted about an hour ago,
I think the class that is the deepest in terms
of teams that you know, really could be very much
in the mixes probably Class Double A. You have Independence
in Frankfurt leaving the way both of those teams have

(44:14):
unbeaten records. But you go down the list in Class
Double A and there's lots of teams that you could say,
all right, I can make an argument for this team
maybe winning a playoff game. I'm a playing deeper into
the playoffs. I think that's kind of the way things
have shaken out through the first six weeks. If you're
asking about the deepest class, it's probably class double Life.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Metro News Sports Joe Bricando. You can see the Metro
News high school football power rankings presented by Tutors bisc
world over at the website doubledv metro News dot com.
Joe belong with Fred and Dave Wednesday night for the
Mention News High School Sports line. Joe always appreciate it, buddy,
Thank you.

Speaker 8 (44:48):
Thanks guys.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Back to wrap up our number one in a moment.
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Speaker 2 (46:11):
Three or four Talk three or four.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
The text line the Tutor's fiscot World mentioned whose high
school football power ranking should include the names of the voters,
not their ballots. But fans deserve to know who makes
up this panel weekly Dave and TJ. Let's make it happen,
says the Texter. The panel, by the way, is made
up mostly of broadcasters from around the state who call
high school games each week, including yours truly three or

(46:36):
four Talk three oh four Dave and TJ. Wonderful plan
to house immigrants. We now can interview them, many of
whom are just good people. West Virginia workforces in deficit,
and maybe we can find some nurses, roofers, framed carpenters,
or drywallers, says the Texter. Best college game I saw
this weekend was Penn State.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Get beat by cow Yeah. I was watching that one.
That was a good game.

Speaker 1 (46:58):
I just found on my my cable provider provides a
multiview I can watch up to four games at the
same time.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
I didn't know this.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Existed, of course, I'm not homemost Saturdays anyway. I was
fascinated by it.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
Yeah, you can do that on YouTube TV. It's very nice.
I had no idea.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
This is what happens when you work most saturdays. All right,
Jason Huffman going to join us. Coming up six minutes
from now. Talk Line of Metro News, the voice of
West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
Metro News. Talk Line is presented by Incoba Insurance, encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line here on a
Monday morning. I hope you had a great weekend. Hope
your week is off to a great start. Eight hundred
and seven to sixty five Talk is the phone number.
Eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five five. You
can text the show at three or four Talk three
oh four. That is the text line.

Speaker 2 (48:01):
Say you what gonna call a quick audible here?

Speaker 8 (48:03):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Meadows is in Charleston, by the way, Hey TJ, good
morning sir. What's the autumn Schmells has called in so well? Okay,
you know he's in DC.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
He called in.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Nobody told him to, but uh, he's called in. So
we'll get to get to Ryan here directly. I know
we got Jason Huffman in studio in Charleston. We'll get
to him as well. So let's not dilly or dally,
let's bring in Ryan Smells, Fox News Radio, Washington, d C.

Speaker 8 (48:29):
Ryan, Good morning, Good morning, gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
So Speaker Johnson held a news conference this morning, the
shutdown continuing into a day number five or six, whatever
it is. What did the Speaker have to say.

Speaker 8 (48:41):
Today, Well, a speaker has said that he is not
going to bring the house back until Speaker john Orn
til Leader Schumer passes the clean bill that's on the
House floor. So it looks like they are keeping the
house away from Washington until something is done about the
government being reopened.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Jefferies wants a debate, tell us more.

Speaker 8 (49:04):
Yeah, the Speaker talks was actually just fast about that,
and his answer was quite interesting. So with Speaker Johnson's
oil and pull up the exact quote here. When the
poll says that about thirty percent of the people approve
of your messaging, then you make a desperate plea for
attention and that's what a King Jefferies has done. So
Speaker Johnson looks like that is not an acceptance of

(49:29):
the debate pledge from from a King Jefferies. And yeah,
like Speaker Jeffries that earlier sent out a letter asking
Johnson to debate him on the House floor, and looks
like Speaker Johnson's just gonna say no to that.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Any signs that either signed is cracking.

Speaker 8 (49:45):
You know, there have been talks about conversations ongoing amongst
the Senate, not members of leadership, some more rank and
file members, but it doesn't appear like anybody has really
been moved just yet, or at least it doesn't appear
that anything has been worked out. You know, at five
o'clock tonight when they have the vote, there could be
some people who maybe flip, but we'll have to wait

(50:05):
and see.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
How often should we expect those votes around because I
think at this point Republicans just want the vote in
order to re solidify the Democrat position. So how often
should we expect these every other day?

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Every day? What's the cadence?

Speaker 8 (50:20):
At least every other day? Probably at this point, I mean,
there's nothing else for them to do but to keep
voting on this thing. So until they work something out,
you know, I think the Nerthune's going to keep putting
us on the floor. Do if any Democrats flip or
also just put it out there and try to make
the argument that it's Democrats are ones who are shutting
the government down and refused them to reopen it.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
Ryan, before we let you go, layoffs have been mentioned
again as a very real possibility.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
How real is that possibility at this point?

Speaker 8 (50:48):
I think it's very real. Nothing's officially happened yet that
we know of, but the Trump administration has made it
clear that there could be thousands upon thousands of people
who get fired or laid off result of this shutdown
dragging on. So that's one of the other ways in
which they've tried to put pressure on Democrats. And whether
or not it's been successful or not, clearly it hasn't yet,

(51:09):
but it is something that that's on the minds of
some of the people who are who are out there.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Smells. Ryan, thanks for checking in
with us.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Appreciate it, of course, Thank you boys.

Speaker 8 (51:20):
Have a good one.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
You as will say what We'll take the break early
when we come back. I grabbed the wrong one. Hold
it down Air on the host.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
We'll take the early break.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
When I come back, Jason Huffman will join US State
Director Americans for Prosperity West Virginia back in the moment
talk line Metro News from the Encode Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 2 (52:54):
Not Taltos talk line.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Concini's joining us from the Charleston Studios this morning. Jason Huffmansay,
Director Americans for Prosperity West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Jason, thank you very much. Appreciate the patients there.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
As Ryan Schmels decided he was just going to call
in whenever he wants to. Now, you know, what do
you do with these big, high time reporters. I tell
you no worries. We've got to keep people informed on
the Schumer shutdown. Well, appreciate you stopping by this morning.
So you reacted last week to Paul Hardesty's comments during
the state school board meeting. You said on social media,
quote State school Board President Paul Hardesty just launched a

(53:27):
brazen attack on parents by calling for guardrails on eligibility
for school choice. He went on to say that Hardesty
wants to quote let government pick winners and losers when
it comes to who gets access for the right education
for their child. He also called for his resignation. So
how did Paul Hardesty launch a brazen attack on parents.

Speaker 20 (53:47):
Well, what I would say is, if you've advocated for
school choice as long as I have, your ears perk
up when you hear things like guardrails, because what that means,
what the intent behind that statement is you want to
put guardrails on the school choice. That means that you
want to kick families out. In a state that is
universal and eligibility for school choice right now, everybody can
be in the Hope Scholarship, they can enroll that is

(54:11):
going to expand to kids outside of the public school
system next year. And so what we see with that
statement is an admission that they want to put limits
on who can be eligible. We're fervently opposed to that.
We fought hard with activists all across the state to
have a universal school choice law, which, by the way,

(54:33):
that movement that we started in West Virginia has now
been passed in almost twelve states, so we were the first.
We don't want to go backwards, and I think that
coming from the school board president is disqualifying. Yes, that
is my opinion.

Speaker 6 (54:47):
So how would the school president do that though, because
I think the legislature has been fairly firm. I mean,
it's the law you can homeschool, you can use the
money for another private or parochial school. The board may
not lie, and I'm not saying that's their position, but
I don't see how they could do anything about it.

Speaker 20 (55:03):
Well, anytime you have a public official get up and
call for guardrails on school choice, you know, he's advocating
largely against the intent of lawmakers who put this law
in place and the advocates and parents who are utilizing it.
And so I think to some extent it just was
a gut punch to parents to really and I appreciated
what President Hardesty had to say in his interview with

(55:27):
you all, but we didn't get that level of I
guessed earnest conversation. He was a little bit heated in
his remarks, and had somebody not called him out, I
don't think we would have got to the source of
the problems. Source of the problem is not school choice.
It is not the fact that our state allows people,
is it. It is, to Hardesty's point in his trying

(55:47):
to backtrack on his attack on school choice, it is
a regulatory environment for public education. The government runs school
system that is not tenable. I mean, really, what we
need to do and I think he's exactly right, and
lawmakers need to look at this closely. Is to deregulate
in that space so that teachers can teach. You have
the flexibility that you need at the local level, especially

(56:08):
considering that we have a open enrollment law in this
state that is among the best in the nation. You
can send your kid to any public school that you
want to. There is a mechanism for accountability there when
parents get to choose where they send their kids to
public school. You're not assigned based on your zip code anymore.
You can go wherever you want, and so I think
deregulation with that piece in place makes a lot of sense. However,

(56:32):
what I would say is that this idea that we
need to change the funding formula for school aid to
stop the consolidation enclosure of schools is wrong. We have
too many schools. The occupancy usage rate of those schools
is less than fifty percent across the state. So what
we see is that we have too many school buildings.

(56:52):
We don't have enough political courage and local boards of
education to take their fiduciary responsibility seriously and right size
the school infrastructure. We have to do that.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
How did Paul Harsy backtrack in the same speech where
you say he made a brazen attack on school choice,
he said almost exactly the same things you are saying now,
there's too many regulations. Chapter eighteen A is too cumbersome
when it comes to trying to deal with personnel issues.
This all happened in the same speech. There was no
backtracking in the middle of it. He said the same

(57:23):
things he said during that speech. They said on talk
line the next day it wasn't wild tracking.

Speaker 20 (57:29):
I would disagree David that what he said was the
genesis of the issues with the government run school system.
Is school choice, the advent of school choice? That sentiment
I don't think belongs on the state school Board, certainly
not from the president of the state school Board. This
is an unelected person. This is an appointed position. There's

(57:49):
no really.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Firm by the Senate.

Speaker 20 (57:51):
Correct There's not a lot of recourse for folks to
take and hold that individual accountable, which is why we
called for his resignation in the first place.

Speaker 6 (58:00):
So calling for that because it sounds to me like
you guys have more in common than you don't. If
I'm being completely candid to Dave's point, I'm hearing a
lot of what hardest he had to say. You talked
about occupancy issues, He talked about looking at the formula,
you know, not punting consolidation down the road, facing what
we have in front of us. Sounds to me like
there's more that brings you together, the more that takes

(58:21):
you apart.

Speaker 20 (58:22):
Well, sure, when he when he got his handslapped for
saying it the wrong way the first time, So I mean,
you know, I give them credit where credit is due,
but to some extent, the animosity, it was a clear
case of an instance where an individual is not trying
to create unity or amity. It was discord and fear.
It was fear mongering. That's what he engaged in. And

(58:43):
again I think it's.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Hang on, hang on, you're doing the same thing, Jason.
You call this a brazen attackle and school choice and
call for the school board presidence resignation. That's not a
breeding unity and moving forward together. That's creating fear and animosity.

Speaker 20 (58:59):
I think I think that people should be afraid when
folks start calling for guardrails to be put on school choice,
because what you're going to do is kick parents out
of the opportunity to get the right education for their kids.

Speaker 6 (59:09):
Are any guardrails sensible, especially around homeschooling for instance, because
you know as well as I do, I think there's
some people out there to.

Speaker 2 (59:15):
Do homeschooling wonderfully.

Speaker 6 (59:16):
I've seen it in my own family, and I'm being
frank with you, I've also seen people that suck at it.
Should there be some level of guardrail or around homeschooling
when it comes to the Hope Scholarship.

Speaker 20 (59:28):
I think that there are adequate guardrails in place currently.
What I'm talking about specifically is enrollments. That's what Hardy's
what hardest. He was trying to get at you're taking
too many kids out of the government run education system.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
That was his.

Speaker 20 (59:39):
Point, We need guardrails. We fervently disagree with that. So
I think to some extent he was right to say
that we need to deregulate the public school system, the
government run school system. But it was almost like an
act of jealousy. It was a you know, we're really
upset that the school choice programs are not regulated as

(01:00:00):
as the government school system is. Sure, yeah, that's the
perfect fine take to have, But when you impune and
degrade parents as the problem, you say, you know, school
choice is the genesis of all the problems that we
have in the education system in West Virginia. I just
don't buy it. I think it's uncoming, and that's why
we called for his resignation.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Jason Huffman joining US State Director of Americans for Prosperity
West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
How do we pay for it? Jason?

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
That hope scholarship keeps getting more expensive, more expensive, more expensive.
And actually I think that's more where Paul Hardesty was
going with his comments on the guardrails is we've got
to figure out a new a way too fun this
year after year as a program gets more expensive and
it opens up to more and more students.

Speaker 20 (01:00:42):
Well, last time I checked, we have a surplus, and
to some extent.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
Say that about every problem the West Way. Everybody wants
a piece of that surplus.

Speaker 20 (01:00:50):
Jason, that's true. But this is this is dedicated spending
that's already in law. It's going to happen as long
as lawmakers don't pull the rug out from under families
an attempt to make it not happen. I don't see
that occurring. And what we saw this week was kind
of like an interesting you know educational freedom in West
Virginia is kind of the political third rail right now, right,
you don't really want to touch on to it too

(01:01:11):
much for fear of advocates and parents and folks getting
coming out of the woodwork to say that you're wrong.
And so I think it's probably helpful going into this session.
But when you're talking about what we need to do
to pay for this, A lot of talk and discussion
has gone into the Hope Scholarship and it's total cost,
it's around one hundred and ten million now that the

(01:01:33):
I think estimate is up to two hundred and fifty
million once it's fully expanded to all school aged children.
We spend more than two point five billion dollars every
year on the government run school system. It's a drop
in the bucket. The Hope Scholarship is a total drop
in the bucket when compared with what we spend. By
the way, we're thirtieth in the nation for per pupil

(01:01:56):
spending and we have a fourteen percent increase in spending
since twenty twenty two into the government run school system.
That's about two hundred and seventy million dollars more than
one thousand dollars per pupil, So we are putting more
money into the government run school system. My question is
why we have fewer and fewer students. We know that
the usage of the school infrastructure, of the buildings is

(01:02:18):
below fifty percent. So at what point are we going
to say we need to write size this system and
have the political courage to go and do that.

Speaker 6 (01:02:26):
Do public schools need perform, yes, but are you advocating
that we shouldn't have a public school system.

Speaker 20 (01:02:35):
Absolutely none. What I'm advocating for is a school system
that matches the enrollment level that we have. I would
like to see a moratorium on increased spending in government
run schools. Here's why, because we keep spending more and
more Over the last twenty years, we've lost tens of
thousands of students, but at the same time our spending

(01:02:56):
has gone up largely defunded administrative roles. How much of
that's in I mean, there's always an inflationary aspect, but
to some extent when you're allocating dollars in the general
revenue budget, that's I would say beyond the inflationary effect.
Inflationary effect is you know one percent plus population plus

(01:03:17):
will agree to disagree. Well, in this period, you're right,
but to some extent, I mean, what we're talking about
here is a very very real need, and I think
more and more lawmakers and citizens frankly are becoming cognizant
of it that we need to write size the system.
We can't keep spending more to get less.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
I'll be honest with you, Jason, I'm with TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
I think there's a lot more in common here than
there is different if you're talking about getting more money
to the classroom, more money to the to the actual
you know, boots on the ground, people taking off some
of these restrictions that have teachers and educators with trying
to do their job one hand tie behind their back.
I really think there's more common ground here than we,
you know, than a lot of people think there is.

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Am I am I crazy?

Speaker 20 (01:03:59):
Well, like I said, to some extent, yeah, I mean
when when he had to chose apple sauce, when he
had to choose apple sauce twice, when he got called
out for being very very I think, disrespectful to school
choice parents. Sure, there is a lot of ground and
cover there. I don't anticipate that Paul Harsty is going
to resign from his position, and I do appreciate that

(01:04:21):
he introvertently has created a conversation that we wanted to
have for a long time. We have long hauled for
a regulatory a deregulatory effort in the government run school system.
So we're happy to have that conversation with whomever.

Speaker 6 (01:04:34):
Whenever you and me play peacemaker, I'll take the two
of you out to lunch. By the end of lunch,
you'll shake hands, pat each other on the back. We
can get something done. I'm more of a cocktails kind
of guy. Well, I don't care cocktails, whatever dinner. I mean,
I'll you know, I'll be peace broker. Answer me this though, consolidation,
I agree with you. We have to look at it.
We can't have buildings running at thirty eight percent occupacy
like we've seen in the news. What do we do

(01:04:56):
though about bussing kids an hour away? I mean, how
are we going to tackle that one? I don't know,
but I get why people would not want their kid
on a bus for an hour.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
How do we do it?

Speaker 20 (01:05:08):
Well, I think to some extent, you have to do
it in some of these areas. Geographically speaking, what school
choice has done is to begin to create a more
robust industry of education, if you will, for folks to
seek different services. With the advent of new technologies, you're

(01:05:29):
having to not necessarily be in a space in order
to be educated a physical space. You can do a
lot of this digitally. Having said that, if you want
to go to the government run school system, I went
to Buchanan ups Your High School. It took a long
time to get from Lawrence, West Virginia to Buchanan ups
Your High School, pretty much on the other side of
the county, and so we sat on the bus for

(01:05:51):
quite a while. It's just a thing you have to do.
I think it's a tough sell to parents sometimes. But
the opposite side of that is we're going to continue
to spend billions on an education system with fewer and
fewer students. So somebody has to stand up and say
it's time to write size this education system and have

(01:06:12):
the fiduciary responsibility, the duty to taxpayers in mind. And
I mean local boards of education, I mean the state
board of Education. And I think lallmakers are right to
not bail out schools that no one goes to.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Is it worth it, though, for a community to have
to have a community school that might be smaller in size,
that might have fewer students, but you're not on a
bus for an hour. Kids have more opportunities to be
involved in different extracurricular activities because they're not traveling an
hour a war to get I mean, some things on paper,
number wise make sense, but is it worth it? Is
the increased cost worth it in this case?

Speaker 20 (01:06:50):
I think that Take the instance of Pickens, the school
in Pickens, West Virginia. Why don't we make that a
charter school? Why is the county board of Education so
concerned about keeping a school open where twenty six kids
go when the parents could come together and say, listen,
we're gonna Are.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
They willing to do that? I don't know. I think
that the parents expressed a desire to do that.

Speaker 20 (01:07:12):
Consider this me submitting it for their approval, their approval.
But I think we have more innovative approaches that we
can take, particularly if you take the guardrails off of
public education, off the government run school system, deregulate it,
let the schools do what they need to do, Let
teachers teach. Let's stop trying to tell people from Charleston

(01:07:35):
what they need to do in their communities.

Speaker 6 (01:07:37):
Maybe it's just a fact of where they're not the
county can pay for it. I mean, look, funding formula
is what it is. You only get so much if
you want to have low occupancy schools and your county
has enough tax base to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Amen.

Speaker 6 (01:07:48):
If not, sorry, you gotta do what you gotta do it.
What about that? I love that idea.

Speaker 20 (01:07:53):
The political courage that it's going to take for lawmakers
to go and do this, I think is significant. But
I think we can get there. I think we have
to get there. It cannot be the case that we
continue to spend more and more for less and less,
and so it's.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
Got to give.

Speaker 20 (01:08:09):
I think what you said the other day TJ was
app something's got to give somewhere, and we're looking forward
to that conversation. But again, those who would attack school choice,
who would try to make it out to be that
you know, it's not the economic headwinds that have caused
the enrollment decline. It is all this school choice happening

(01:08:32):
totally absurd.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Well, I mean he said that, he said population was
a factor. He did it on the show.

Speaker 20 (01:08:37):
Yeah, when he came on here to apologize, he said
it in the same speech. I don't think that he did.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
He did. He did.

Speaker 1 (01:08:44):
He listed several factors during that speech, and yes, he
did point to the Hope Scholarship and say they need
to be guardrails. But calling it a brazen attack on
school choice or a brazen attack on parents, I think
is a gross mischaracterization of what Paul Hardesty was trying
to say and the point he was trying to make
that day that exactly your point, we need to take
the ropes off and deregulate these schools.

Speaker 20 (01:09:03):
Well, I appreciate your perspective and I will respectfully disagree
with you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
TACOLEDTL Metro News the Voice of West Virginia. It is
eleven thirty and times Eat a news update. Let's check
in on the Metro News radio network. Find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
West Virginia Metro Neo News. I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 23 (01:09:21):
The power struggle over who controls education policy in West
Virginia is evidently headed to the Supreme Court. Attorneys for
the state school board and superintendent launching a high court
challenge and claiming the legislature has repeatedly attempted a quote
constitutional coup. House built twenty seven to fifty five is
the centerpiece of the case in which lawmakers can tend.

(01:09:42):
In the most recent legislative session, they have the elements
say on rules governing the state's education system. The state
Board contends they are allowed to work largely autonomously due
to the state constitution when it comes to carrying out
education laws passed by the legislature. The Board claims the
new law is unc institutional because it requires all legislative
rules enacted by the Board to first be authorized by

(01:10:05):
the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability or LECIA. The
West Virginia Coal Association's president, Chris Hamilton, says President Trump's
recent commitment to spend three hundred and fifty million dollars
in federal money modernizing coal plants to produce reliable power
and another one hundred and seventy five million committed to
projects that would bring more reliable and less costly energy

(01:10:26):
are important steps.

Speaker 11 (01:10:27):
This is all about the continuing based load generation that
runs through the night, runs through implement weather periods, and
provides that twenty four to seven power that people depend on.

Speaker 23 (01:10:42):
You're listening to Metro News for forty years, the voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 24 (01:10:47):
What's the biggest myth about interscholastic performing arts that you
have to be the most talented or experienced to participate.
The truth is anyone can be a part of their.

Speaker 21 (01:10:56):
School's performing arts.

Speaker 24 (01:10:58):
There are countless opportunities for students to participate, from theater,
choir and band to speech and debate. The bottom line,
if you want to perform, there's a place for you.

Speaker 20 (01:11:10):
This message presented by the NFHS and the WVSSAC.

Speaker 17 (01:11:17):
HI.

Speaker 25 (01:11:17):
I'm Eli Henthorne, Project server at CEC. Starting my career
at CEC was the best decision I ever made. I
wanted to explore new areas in land surveying, and CEC
offered just that. I've grown so much, serving diverse markets
and rapidly advancing my career, and it's more than just work.
CEC is like family, supporting me every step of the way.
CEC is where your career takes flight. At CEC, we

(01:11:38):
engineer progress in the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (01:11:41):
Find out what CEC can do for you. Visit CECI
NC dot com. A former member of the legislatorre Hast died.

Speaker 23 (01:11:48):
Marge Burke represented Gilmour County, was a member of the
House from nineteen seventy eight to nineteen ninety six. Burke,
a Democrat, served as the first chair of the West
Virginia Women's Legislative Caucus and was the majority Aready Whop
in the House during your time at the Capitol. Huntington, Bridgeport, Independence,
and Wahama high school football teams are number one in
the four classifications this week in the Tutor's Biscuit World

(01:12:10):
High School Football Power Poll from Metro News. From the
Metro News anchored Ask guy, I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
Your texts coming up at three or four Talk three
oh four, eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk eight
hundred seven sixty five eight two five five. Let's go
back to Washington d C. Fox News Radios. Jared Haubern
covers the White House.

Speaker 5 (01:12:47):
Jared, good morning, Good morning to you.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
President Trump wants to send troops to Oregon to restore
order in Portland, but a federal judge says, not so fast,
my friend.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Yeah, and not just once, but kind of twice here
over the weekend. The initial plan here from President Trump
was to use National Guard troops from Oregon to deploy
into this area of Portland that has seen a lot
of anti ice protest and demonstrations, some have grown violent.

(01:13:20):
A federal judge on a challenge from the state said
that what is happening in Portland does not rise to
the level of meeting federal intervention, that local law enforcement,
state law enforcement can handle it. And so the Trump
administration said, okay, we'll send in troops from California, and
in California filed suit, and in a late night emergency

(01:13:42):
hearing yesterday the same judge said, okay, you can't send
any troops, any National Guard troops into Portland for the
time being. This is a temporary restraining order, a pro
as it's called, but it does put the brakes on
that plan, at least as it relates to Portland. The
same time, you have other National Guard deployments in the

(01:14:04):
works for Chicago that would include a contingent of Texas
National Guard troops that is facing a court challenge as well.
So we'll see where all of this goes. But boy,
this is the latest kind of test of the president's
power and use of the military National Guard for some
of this civil unrest that President Trump says he's going

(01:14:26):
to put a quick end.

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
To Supreme Courts back today.

Speaker 6 (01:14:28):
Should we expect these issues to pop up in some
emergency capacity the other issues that the court has from
the Trump agenda as well.

Speaker 5 (01:14:36):
Yeah, well, listen, this is a court term that is
going to deal a lot with presidential power. There are
going to be arguments coming up on the president's ability
to unilaterally imposed herrfs. That is a major challenge. President
Trump has talked about this is maybe the most important
economic case ever in front of the US Supreme Courts,
as it would be a disaster if they don't rule

(01:14:57):
in his favor given how strongly he is applying caraffs
to create new revenue. But this was a really busy
kind of off term for the Supreme Court. It's sometimes
called the shadow docket. The summer months where the Supreme
Court isn't sitting and hearing arguments, they do take up

(01:15:18):
emergency appeals. And there have been a lot of those
petitions that have reached the court. So the Court has
already weighed in on a lot of these issues as
it relates to presidential power. Now, all of those were
in the very early stages. What could happen now over
this court term between today and the end of June

(01:15:39):
are kind of the merits that go not just on
kind of how you handle temporary restraining orders or temporary injunctions,
but the actual underlying arguments whether or not the president
is using his power appropriately. There are cases about the
firing of the Federal Reserve member who so far has

(01:16:01):
been able to stay in her office. There have been
questions about the president removing other members of independent agencies
in oversight boards. Those cases are going to reach the
Supreme Court, So this is going to be a big
term for the Court trying to kind of determine and
lay out how far presidents can go in overhauling some

(01:16:26):
of these executive branch agencies that are kind of quasi
independent but still require, you know, federal dollars in the
president being on board with their decisions.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
Fox Thing's Radios Jared Halpern joining us from Washington, d C.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Jared. In the midst of.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
All of this, there is the Gaza peace deal talks
going on.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
What's the latest with that?

Speaker 5 (01:16:50):
So those are underway now. They are meeting in Charmel Shaikh,
which is kind of a resort area on the Egyptian
coast that involves Hamas negotiators, Israeling negotiators. Steve Whitkoff is there,
obviously President Trump's envoy who has kind of been leading
this effort for the US side, as they are trying
really at this stage to implement just the first couple

(01:17:12):
of points on this twenty point plan. There was an
agreement by Israel on a twenty point plan. It is
comprehensive and involves a withdrawal of Gaza, the immediate release
of hostages. It starts taking steps to set up a
post Gaza government. Hamas As they are agreeing to port
portions of that, but want to negotiate and have clarity

(01:17:34):
on some of the other points. But what is immediate
is Hamas basically saying they will release all of the hostages,
but they want this withdrawal of Israeli forces and what
happens with Hamas kind of laying down their arms. That's
what's being discussed today. President Trump remains very optimistic that

(01:17:56):
this will lead not just to a ceasefire in Gaza,
but he believed will start to redraw the entire peace
process broadly in the Middle East. But given Israel's response,
President Trump kind of putting time pressures on both the
Israelis and Hamas. It seems as if maybe the next

(01:18:19):
two days are going to be pretty critical here and
whether or not this twenty point piece plan has legs.

Speaker 6 (01:18:25):
The President said yesterday, if anybody's laid off, that's because
of the Democrats. What's the feeling out of the White House.
Are we close to seeing anyone laid off? What's the
President saying in more detail about that possibility.

Speaker 5 (01:18:37):
Well, I think it's going to be a question of
whether or not they're laid off. During a shutdown, you
always have furloughs. You're going to have hundreds of thousands
of federal workers who are furloughed, who are asked not
to come to work and they are not paid. Generally,
they are brought back into the workforce once they shutdown
is over. This is different. This is a warning that
they're not going to be brought back in to the workforce.

Speaker 8 (01:18:58):
Now.

Speaker 5 (01:18:58):
Democrats say this is heavy handed, that this is just
trying to make a shutdown as painful as possible for
the American people. But President Trump has been clear that
he's used this as an opportunity to kind of make
good on some of the doze inspired cuts that they
have been looking to do to overhaul federal agencies. There
was always going to be an effort by the administration

(01:19:18):
to try and reduce the size and scope of so
many of these federal departments. It seems as if they
are serious about using this as a way to kind
of advance that goal. But so far there has not
been kind of a deliniation made, a demarcation made between
who is laid off and who is simply furloughed in

(01:19:39):
will return to work once the shutdown is over.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
Fox News Radios Jared Halpern from Washington, d C. Jared,
appreciate the update, and we'll continue to calling the latest developments.

Speaker 2 (01:19:48):
Thank you. Jared just hung up on us there. Man,
he had things to do. He is quick. I've noticed
that about him.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
I mean he has done it, barely reached over to
grab the pot.

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
Jared's out. He here, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:20:01):
Rest the show's yours, Your comments coming up? Three or
four Talk three or four is the text line. We
have neglected the text line. We'll get to as many
of those as we possibly can. Phone calls welcome as well.
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Speaker 15 (01:20:38):
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action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again America's
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Speaker 4 (01:22:19):
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Speaker 1 (01:22:30):
Three or four Talk three or four. The tax line
eight hundred and seven to sixty five eight two five
five is the phone number. Texter says the Eastern Panhandle
desperately needs teachers and schools built.

Speaker 2 (01:22:41):
Due to the extreme growth.

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
We cannot retain teachers because of the very high cost
of living. Cost of living may may pass, this may
must pass the ah I got sorry, grammatical thing. Cost
of living must pass this year or the exodus will
only get worse. Go to the phones. Robin and Charleston
would like to weigh in.

Speaker 27 (01:23:03):
Hey Robin, Yeah, thanks for taking my call. And I'm
responding to that last spokesperson for private or Choice. He's
really a spokesperson for Project twenty twenty five. And he
kind of was freudy and slipped in when he said
that he's more of a cocktail kind of guy. I
believe that coming from Project twenty twenty five. I want

(01:23:26):
to thank you guys for correcting him. I know what
Paul Hardnessty said. I was there. He did not at
any time attack parents or for choice. He was attacking
how this system is set up and all the regulations
that are imposed on public schools and next to none

(01:23:46):
on charter schools or homeschooling. And we've added the cycle.
In my family, my kids have been in secular school
and private school that is, and private religious school, mainly
public school. Public school is one of the backbones of
American democracy, not homeschool, not charter school, not private school,

(01:24:06):
and it needs to be fully supported. And the part
that he left out is any money that goes to Hope,
it's at the expense of the taxpayers and of the
public schools. It drains from the public schools. This is
not an accident, it's intentional. It is actually part of
Project twenty five. Secondly, they, of course these schools will

(01:24:27):
tend to cherry pick some of their students, and I
think that it's just critical that we support public schools
they be properly funded. And his whining about the costs
are going up, We've heard that one before. Some of
these costs are because they don't have the economist scale,
because the private schools are draining money from the public schools.

(01:24:49):
He left that part out, So thank you for letting
me clarify that.

Speaker 1 (01:24:52):
Robin appreciate the phone call. Thanks for listening. Eight hundred
and seven to sixty five talks. The phone number three
or four talk three h four is the text line?
All right, I told you the bunch of texta get too.
Lets se if we can get to some of them here.
Texter says, I've got siblings who are teachers. I'm being
told the parents are taking their kids out of school.
For the Hope scholarship and it isn't working out, so

(01:25:14):
they send them back to the school. Well, the school
already lost that money, but they have to take the
kids back. I will go back and yes, that's not
the first time I've heard that story or I've heard
that anecdote from either a text or a listener, you know,
somebody privately relaying that information. But I'll go back to
what Paul Harsty said ToJ and when he slapped down
that bit, would you call it the Big Blue Book

(01:25:35):
chapter eighteen and eighteen, eight thirteen hundred pages of regulations? Now,
wouldn't it make sense if a student would it makes
sense we have more flexibility in how how that funding
is allocated or when the funding is allocated if the
student comes back into.

Speaker 2 (01:25:52):
The school systems.

Speaker 1 (01:25:53):
Right now, everything's very rigid, right because it's government. And
that was this big point. I go back to this.
I think there's more common ground than difference. Is His
big point was there's rules for this. There's rules over here.
They're two different sets rules. Let's level the playing field
so they can compete against each other and they can
lift each other up.

Speaker 6 (01:26:12):
I talk to a veteran educator over the weekend up
noon for forty years, and he told me he realizes
it'd be tough to do, but the best thing would
be to throw that big blue book away and start
from scratch.

Speaker 2 (01:26:21):
I agree with him.

Speaker 6 (01:26:23):
Look, I also disagree with what Robin just said.

Speaker 2 (01:26:27):
Choice is a good thing.

Speaker 6 (01:26:29):
If choice is better for a certain student, let that
student take the money and go to whatever institution or homeschool,
as long as they're well educated. That's all I care.
It goes back to what you and I have said
throughout the last week. We have to do both. It
works better for some kids school choice. Some kids are
better off in public schools. That's not my decision, not
anyone else's. I have no problem with the Hope Scholarship.

(01:26:51):
I think whatever a parent decides is best for their child,
let them do it. I also think we need to
reform public schools and we have a duty to have
excellent public schools. We can do both, and that seems
to be missed on a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:27:05):
Texter says, TJ, quit being frank and don't call me Shirley.

Speaker 2 (01:27:10):
Well played touche.

Speaker 1 (01:27:12):
Texter says, I listened to mister Hardesty twice and he
was not bashing school choice. He was advocating four public schools.
This guy's grossly misrepresenting what mister Hardesty said and sounds
like he has a personal issue to grind. Thanks guys
for calling him out. I've never heard someone work quotes
the government run school system talking point so hard versus

(01:27:33):
calling it the public school system that it is. This
guy's hardcore fear mongering the public and his voter base
more than I've heard lately. Thank you for calling him
out on it. If the press doesn't hold these elected
bureaucrats responsible, then who's going to freedom of the press
at work? Well done, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:27:49):
There is a solution.

Speaker 1 (01:27:50):
Since West virgin is about going back to the good
olden days, Let's bring back the one room schoolhouse grades
K through twelve under one roof.

Speaker 2 (01:27:58):
Each one room.

Speaker 1 (01:27:58):
School services a few hollers, no hour rides on buses,
small groups, more attention. How about that, says the Texter.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
Just a thought.

Speaker 1 (01:28:08):
If your public school student is a behavior problem, you
are given five thousand dollars Hope scholarship and have to
homeschool your child. These are requirements regarding test results and others.
Proof of competency for homeschool students that are simply not
being enforced. It has simply become a way to take
kids out of school. The hope scholarship spending is out

(01:28:29):
of control and not properly evaluated. Parents had asked for
supplies for witchcraft and ammunition for weapons. How many other
crazy requests got through the system? Asks the Texter, Well
they turned them down. I mean, look, every little problem.
You can't just abolish the program. But the system worked, then,
a Dave, they turned that stuff down.

Speaker 2 (01:28:48):
Yeah, they turned it down.

Speaker 1 (01:28:49):
And some of the things I get it on the surface,
like there were like karate lessons, right, there's something along
those lines.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
I don't have a problem with that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:56):
Well, on the surface, you go, well, well they doing
that for karate physical education, Yeah, rather than have a
physic class you have. So, I know a lot of
things on the surface look skeptical. And some of the
things you're talking about, right, TJ. Ammunition, they they got
turned down for those things. You're right, Dave and TJ.
This Huffman guy seems too much. I'm a conservative and
do not like what I'm hearing from he and his group.

(01:29:18):
I don't think our dwindling state population slash tax base
can sustain this school choice ideology. All right, gotta take
a break. We'll get more of your text in coming up.
Three or four Talk three four, eight hundred and seven
to sixty five.

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
Talk.

Speaker 1 (01:29:30):
That's the phone number. It's talk line on Metro News
from the Incove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 26 (01:29:36):
Looking for a big new game to play, Well, there's
no game bigger than the new Dino sized Jurassic World
scratch off game from the West Virginia Lottery, which gives
you a chance to win up to fifty thousand instantly.
And if that weren't enough, you can enter in our
app for a chance to win a trip to Hawaii
where you could win up to one million dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:29:56):
So get down to your.

Speaker 26 (01:29:57):
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Speaker 1 (01:30:59):
Very before before the text line. Jackpots are growing in
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No fan text on the ww Utah game to read
or were they two exter or discouraging to read?

Speaker 2 (01:31:36):
We missed a letter in there.

Speaker 1 (01:31:37):
Mine was not see below. I watched the entire wv
Utah game. Our players need us most during these tough
and injured plague times. The least we can do is
stay up and root for them. Hang in there, says
the texter.

Speaker 3 (01:31:51):
Um.

Speaker 1 (01:31:53):
You guys really held that mister Huffman's feet to the fire.
You can't do that with all of your friends. Dave says,
missus Phil, that is true. That's true. You would have
to have feet for me to hold them to the fire.
That's okay, Phil knows. I think the point that Hardesty
is the president of the Western school Board of Education
needs to not be so blatantly biased against school choice,

(01:32:15):
but president of all school options. He stands in a
position of power and should be more careful when he speaks.
I think he I think he's pretty clear that he
said he was not against school choice. Set it in
that speech. It's fifteen minutes. I've listened to it a
half dozen times. Uh, Dave back over the weed eater

(01:32:36):
and comment on your home ork claim it, claim it
on your homeowners.

Speaker 6 (01:32:43):
Just for the record, I can't be party to anything illegal.
It's always the guy in my job that ends up
doing five years in minimum security prison.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
So just getting that out there.

Speaker 1 (01:32:52):
Uh, guys, they need to tighten up some of the
available funds for the scholarship and homeschool parents. I know
people who have purchased seven hundre dollar guitars and have
covered that under the Hope Scholarship.

Speaker 2 (01:33:03):
Says the text.

Speaker 1 (01:33:05):
If choice is great, why don't we have choice and
competition in public utilities, asks the Texter, Oh, dear, we bring.

Speaker 2 (01:33:12):
That up with less than two minutes to go.

Speaker 6 (01:33:14):
Easy answer, as Philly from The Sopranos would say, apples
and bowling Ballstney.

Speaker 1 (01:33:21):
Good morning, great show. I'm not sure about all your guests.
They just back up my opinion that the legislature is
basically doing nothing. All your guests keep talking about combining
school boards. Really, that's never going to happen. What legislator
will write that bill? Your last guest said, oh, if
towns have extra money or counties, let them put money
into that.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
I think I.

Speaker 1 (01:33:42):
Think copy Hoppy talked talked about Eastern panadand teachers not
being able to get location pay, and that was ruled illegal.
Can you imagine Mingo or Logan County what they would
say if Berkeley County and Jefferson County were able to
go ahead and put more money in?

Speaker 2 (01:33:57):
Says the text capital flows where an ROI. I mean,
it's that simple. We're trending that way if we don't
fix it, what's the alternative?

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
Texter says public schools have failed miserably. Any other distinction
is bull people. Aaron Kanawha County complained it wasn't fair.
Some schools got AstroTurf and their kids have to play
on grass, says The Texter. All right, good text. I
don't know if we got to all of them. I
do apologize if we did not get to yours. But
the good news is there's another show tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:34:29):
Met Your News.

Speaker 1 (01:34:30):
Middays coming up, Dave Allen and Amanda Baron will take
you over the next couple of hours Dave weekly. Later
on in the sports line, guys will be buy as
well for TJ, Zach and Sophia Dave Let's talk line
Metro News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia,