Kanawha County school buses. (Lexi Browning | West Virginia Watch)
The state school board last week approved closing or consolidating six schools in Kanawha County because of dwindling student numbers.
The county has lost 5,000 students over the last 11 years, resulting in losing $30 million in state funding. According to an October headcount from the West Virginia Department of Education, Kanawha is down 320 students from October 2023.
This isn’t an isolated issue. WV MetroNews reported that 26 other schools statewide could close next year as the public school student population continues to decline.
What will our new governor and state Legislature do to help with this?
Likely nothing.
The Legislature keeps broadening requirements for the Hope Scholarship, which is a voucher program that gives roughly $4,400 per student in taxpayer money for a family to use toward private school tuition or homeschooling. It’s already one of the most broad school voucher programs in the nation, but in 2026, it will be available to all students in West Virginia.
This school year, more than 9,000 students were awarded a Hope Scholarship.
In December, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy released a report that said West Virginia Public Schools were likely to lose more than $21.6 million because of the Hope Scholarship. School funding is based on per pupil enrollment.
Lawmakers say it’s to promote school choice, but ultimately it’s only giving more to people who can already afford school choice. The Hope Scholarship does not cover full tuition at a private school, so parents still must pay thousands of dollars. And don’t forget uniforms, school supplies and lunches.
West Virginia has the fourth highest poverty rate in the nation at 16.7%. About 285,780 people lived in poverty in 2023 — nearly 70,000 of them children.
More than 90% of school age children in West Virginia attend public schools, according to Debra Sullivan, a state school board member.
Teacher unions do not support the Hope Scholarship, which sent more than $300,000 of taxpayers’ money to out-of-state schools in the 2022-2023 school year.
“We can’t expect better achievement from public school students by taking resources and investment away from them. Many of these students are among the most vulnerable of our state’s population and require even more resources to overcome their challenges,” said Fred Albert, president of American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia.
Not only is the Legislature not providing enough money to improve classroom education, they’re not doing enough to keep them safe either. During this month’s interim meetings, state education department officials said state funding isn’t enough to cover the costs of implementing needed security measures that were mandated by the state Legislature. Schools need an additional $258 million to cover the costs.
During the October special session of the Legislature, lawmakers passed a bill that would allow charter schools to apply for and access School Building Authority funds for costs associated with the renovating, remodeling, purchase or construction of a building to be used for a school.
When the bill passed, some House Democrats raised concerns about taking money from public schools while they are already struggling financially from declining student enrollment, the loss of COVID-19 funds and the Hope Scholarship. Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha called the bill “further privatization of public funds.”
House Education Committee Chairman Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, disagreed with Pushkin, telling House members that, “These are public charter schools, so they’re part of the public school system.”
Except in West Virginia, charter schools don’t require teachers to be fully certified by the state Department of Education like public school teachers are.
So what’s with all of the hate towards public schools? The Republican Party often talks about public schools indoctrinating children and yet this is the same party that passed a bill that allows teachers to discuss intelligent design — which a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled is not legitimate science — with students who ask questions about it. This could allow a teacher to indoctrinate students with Christian beliefs despite the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom.
Let’s go back to this school choice argument. When so many people can’t afford to send their children to child care while they work, how can they afford the tuition that the Hope Scholarship doesn’t cover?
Lawmakers during the October special session approved a Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which will give families who are eligible on average around $250. Day care costs most families around $600 to $700 per month.
Are West Virginia lawmakers going to allow more and more money to be taken from public schools? Let more schools close? Make children take longer and longer bus rides each morning and evening?
Advocates of vouchers say they create competition to make public schools work harder to keep students. This will be challenging as public schools will be left with the most vulnerable populations, including students who need individual education plans and require resources that the schools barely have now. Abandoning our public schools is not the answer.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.