West Virginia Watch, Times West Virginian - West Virginia’s public schools are likely to lose more than $21.6 million with students who have left the system to use the Hope Scholarship for private schools, homeschooling and more. Read the full article. The data was included in a new report released Wednesday by the West Virginia Center on…
Education
For Immediate Release: December 13, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – The vast majority of school-age children in West Virginia attend and receive their education through the public school system, and West Virginia’s state constitution requires "a thorough and efficient system of free schools." But a growing Hope Scholarship voucher program is diverting public resources…
Overview Read the full brief here. West Virginia’s state constitution requires that, “the Legislature shall provide, by general law, for a thorough and efficient system of free schools.” But due to a confluence of factors, including a growing Hope Scholarship voucher program, declining state revenues due to sweeping tax cuts, and the end of federal…
Times West Virginian - With the Jan. 10 start date for West Virginia’s 60-day legislative session inching closer, state lawmakers representing Marion County and beyond convened in Fairmont Monday morning to discuss potential changes to state education policy. Read the full article. During the meeting, members of the Marion County Board of Education and local…
Center for Public Integrity - Several years ago, West Virginia parent Christy Black searched for an inclusive private school for her daughter Gracie, who has Down syndrome, but to no avail. “There wasn’t any in my area or a few counties over, even, that would accept my daughter,” Black recalled. Read the full article. So…
West Virginia Watch, Huntington News Network, Hampshire Review - Shepherd University, a small, public university in the Eastern Panhandle, is the latest West Virginia higher education institution to announce that it has made staff reductions and program changes in an effort to deal with its debt. Read the full article. The university is trying to…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - West Virginia University’s far-reaching plan of academic cuts follows years of challenges at the flagship school. Read the full article. On Friday, the university’s board of governors axed 28 majors and 143 faculty positions as officials attempt to mitigate a $45 million deficit that could swell to $75 million by 2028. Upon the cuts, WVU…
West Virginia lawmakers passed the Hope Scholarship, at the time one of the broadest school voucher programs in the nation, in 2021. Voucher programs like the Hope Scholarship, referred to as Education Savings Accounts, divert taxpayer funding from the public education system to unaccountable, sometimes unaccredited, private schools and education service providers. With no public…
WCHS - Student loan borrowers are preparing to readjust their budgets. More than 220,000 West Virginians have about two months before beginning to repay their student loans. Read the full article. Since 2020, interest and requirements on loan payments came to a halt. Kelly Allen with the West Virginia Budget and Policy Office spoke with…
Yahoo News, Dominion Post - The $45 million shortfall West Virginia University faces is still some of the biggest news around town. In the past week, we've discussed the issue in terms of what the university could have done and should do (or not do) in the future. But there are multiple factors at play,…