The Hope Scholarship is a school voucher program that diverts taxpayer funds from public education and other public goods to cover the costs of private schooling and other non-public education options. The program is expected to cost West Virginia about $245 million in Fiscal Year 2027. When the program began in 2022, about $9 million was given to families across the state. Since then, the cost of the program has essentially doubled from year to year. Last year, the program cost nearly $50 million.
Unlike school voucher programs in other states, the Hope Scholarship operates with virtually no guidelines or guardrails. There is no limit to the number of students that can receive funding each year or a limit to the total amount of funding that will be awarded each year. There are also no requirements related to accreditation or location for schools (including private schools and microschools) or vendors that participate. This has allowed costs to skyrocket while diverting public funding to private schools and vendors in West Virginia and several other states including neighboring Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Georgia, California, Washington, and Arizona.
Despite rising costs and no evidence to support that the Hope Scholarship is positively affecting student outcomes, lawmakers choose to continue to invest hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into this program rather than the longstanding system of free, public schools across West Virginia that serve all students in their communities. If lawmakers instead chose to commit $245 million to our public schools, this would increase spending per pupil by $1,047 (7 percent) from the 2024 amount of $15,658 per pupil to $16,705. This would put West Virginia’s per pupil spending in line with the national average.
For a combined cost of $245 million, West Virginia could fund a five percent raise for classroom teachers and student support staff like nurses and school counselors, a seven percent raise for service staff like food service workers and bus operators, a 10 percent increase in funding for student transportation, a 100 percent increase in funding for special education, four to five additional student support staff and 10 additional classroom teachers for each school district (or shift the cost of four to five current student support staff and 10 current classroom teachers to state funding rather than district funding), and provide $50 million in additional funding for PEIA or other needs like parent and family support, community programs, tutoring, and after school or summer programs. Investing in these areas could have a wide range of benefits including improving student achievement and outcomes such as rates of graduation and employment in adulthood, addressing disparities in funding for students with disabilities, and increasing recruitment and retention of school staff.
Alternatively, if this investment is focused on our highest poverty school districts, this could fund a $3,338 (20 percent) increase in spending per pupil from an average of $16,821 to $20,159. West Virginia is one of only a handful of states that doesn’t account for poverty when distributing funds to schools, but research shows that students living in poverty require more resources to achieve the same outcomes as their peers.
The Hope Scholarship does not expand choice or opportunity. The program siphons away public dollars and weakens the public schools that serve more than 90 percent of children in our state. As the 2026 legislative session approaches, it is time for lawmakers to invest in what West Virginians value and recommit funding to the public schools that are promised to the children of our state.
