Overview Read the full fact sheet. In 2022, more than eight in ten schools surveyed nationwide reported increased behavioral and socioemotional challenges in their students following the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to behavioral issues and classroom disruptions, there has been a trend toward stricter student discipline policies in recent years across the country, including in…
Education
West Virginia Watch - The state school board last week approved closing or consolidating six schools in Kanawha County because of dwindling student numbers. Read the full article. 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…
Mountain State Spotlight - Dear West Virginia elected officials, the voters of our state selected you to represent them in the Legislature, in Congress and in the governor’s office. Read the full article. The campaign is over. Now it’s time to govern. Over the last year, hundreds of West Virginians have told Mountain State Spotlight the…
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Huntington Herald-Dispatch - One man posed next to a bulldog. Read the full article. The other man posed like one. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Gov. Jim Justice delivered two very different victory speeches Tuesday night after they won their races to become West Virginia’s next governor and U.S. senator, respectively.
WOWK - Just days before the election, the issue of school closures is becoming a political issue. Read the full article. Even though the State Supreme Court upheld the Hope scholarships, this is still a very divisive issue. In the past year, six schools in Kanawha County were designated for closure and consolidation and it’s…
West Virginia Watch - Craig Snyder, a biology teacher at Winfield High School, wants the state’s next governor to give teachers a pay raise. Read the full article. West Virginia’s teacher pay is the worst in the country. With proposed price increases to the Public Employees Insurance Agency — a monthly spousal surcharge for state employees would more than…
The Hope Scholarship Program was established in West Virginia in 2021 as an expanded school voucher-style program which diverts taxpayer funds from the public school system to families who can use them for private school or homeschool-related costs. Research shows that these programs primarily benefit families whose children were never enrolled in public schools. After…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Last month West Virginia Board of Education members learned the state has not received state-required assessments from many homeschooling families. Barely a third of the state’s homeschooled 11th graders submitted the paperwork last year. Assessments are required in 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th grades. Read the full article. At the board’s October…
Overview In 2021, the West Virginia Legislature established the Hope Scholarship Program, which proponents refer to as an “education savings account” (ESA), but is more accurately described as an expanded school voucher. Recipients of the scholarship can apply the funds toward a variety of costs including but not limited to tuition, fees, tutoring services, transportation,…
For Immediate Release: September 17, 2024 Contact: Jeff Biddle Jr., Executive Director, Midian Leadership Project, midianleadership@gmail.com, (304)-382-8288 Charleston, WV – West Virginia’s criminal legal system for children is at a crossroads. Juvenile reforms implemented in the 2010s led to decreases in the number of criminal cases filed against youth. But as West Virginia emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, the trend…