| By Dianne Weaver
House of Delegates Speaker Bob Kiss says he won't comment on the future of
House Education Committee Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta, while Charleston
watchers say the Hampshire delegate is on a short leash.
Kiss says he will wait for a report from the Ethics Commission.
Mezzatesta is under investigation for taking it on himself to change the school
funding formula to benefit his home county, where he is also employed by the
Hampshire Board of Education.
State Education officials have indicated they let Mezzatesta have his way.
Opponents say he's notorious for squashing debate, and use words like
"outrageous" and "arrogant" to describe the delegates behavior.
During a presentation of Challenge WV by Linda Martin in front of the education
committee last winter, Mezzatesta called capitol security to have her removed
because he felt she threatened him.
Mezzatesta became angry after he questioned her what would happen if he
disagreed with her. She said voters could make the ultimate decision.
Mezzatesta has other ethics charges filed against him, while residents of
Hampshire County are expected to re-elect him because he brings home "Mezz
Money" to help the county.
The delegate reportedly diverted what was to have been education money to
other uses in Hampshire County, and some of the ethics charges indicate he may
have been "double dipping."
The Charleston Newspapers said Mezzatesta was hired as a grant writer by his
county school system, but he has not written any grants.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, legislators meeting in the interim committees,
have expressed displeasure toward the state's School Building Authority for
failing to provide an audit that would sustain the movement toward consolidating
hundreds of schools and building new facilities.
The SBA no longer claims school consolidation saves money, and a recent
Marshall University study indicates it has not improved academic
achievement.
Challenge West Virginia, in an independent study, says children's education in
West Virginia has not improved with consolidation.
A Kanawha County judge has declined to hear a lawsuit filed by Lincoln County
parents to stop the consolidation of several schools and construction of a new
$33 million high school at Hamlin. The case is expected to go to the Supreme
Court.
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