By Erin Beck, The Register-Herald of Beckley, W.Va.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sen. Stephen Baldwin, D-Greenbrier, was offering an amendment to ensure lawmakers adequately funded school psychologists, when a chorus of smartphone alarms wailed, signaling a tornado warning.
Baldwin paused and asked whether legislators should continue debate. Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, told him to keep going.
After Baldwin asked a second time, lawmakers took a brief recess, during a special legislative session focused on education Monday.
Then, in an 18-16 vote, the West Virginia Senate finally passed an education bill containing provisions for charter schools. The House of Delegates had already passed the bill last week. …
