West Virginia State John Unger posted the following on his Facebook Page:

Senator Rucker’s Act for Student Success (ASS) legislation is unconstitutional.

Did he really say that? Maybe Senator Unger needs a remedial course in reading. Or maybe the Ordained Minister needs to get his head out of the gutter. The legislation is called the Student Success Act or SSA. It is therefore advisable to take the rest of his opinion about the bill with a grain of salt. He really does have it (ASS) backward.

He unilaterally declares the bill to be unconstitutional. His opinion as to the constitutionality of the bill is simply that. An opinion. As the saying goes, everyone has one. If you know what I mean. An opinion has been issued by the Attorney General’s office regarding the bill’s constitutionality. The legal opinion rendered (Senator Unger is not an attorney) is that it is constitutional.

Further, Senator Unger asserts that the teachers were promised a pay raise right before the election. My question to Senator Unger is: who promised that pay raise? Right before the election? If Senator Unger promised a pay raise right before the election in order to buy votes I would consider that unethical. Politicians should not be promising pay raises to buy votes. Senator Unger, was it you who made that promise?

Senator Unger should extricate his mind from his (ASS) misconception. He also needs to stop being an obstructionist. He should support education reform and innovation. He’s holding up progress. The children of West Virginia are depending on legislators to do the right thing and vote for the bill.

You can read his FB post here. I’ve also pasted the rest of it below:

1 - It is in violation of West Virginia Constitution 6-30: “Acts to embrace but one object: No act hereafter passed shall embrace more than one object, and that shall be expressed in the title…”

Therefore the multiple provisions of this Omnibus bill need to be separated to allow each to be voted on so they can each stand or fall on their own merits.

2 -Also, it is in violation of West Virginia Constitution 12-10 where charter school’s are defined by the Act for Student Success (ASS) as an “independent free school organization.” Since the state constitution prohibits the creation of an independent school organization without the consent of the school board of the county in which the charter school will operate, and a majority of the voters in the county, the procedure for the authorization of charter schools contained in the ASS is unconstitutional.

Once again, this is a maneuver to deny the teachers and service personnel a pay raise that was promised right before the election.

I will not suspend a constitutional rule that requires a bill to be read three separate days on a bill that violates the constitution!