Charleston Gazette-Mail - In West Virginia and across the country, families are facing an affordability crisis, one where the costs of life’s necessities are rising faster than wages. This is impacting many households’ ability to create a better, or even similar, life to the one their parents had. Read the full op-ed. There are many…
Education
Martinsburg Journal-News - With personal income tax cuts going into effect for 2026 in neighboring Kentucky and Ohio, Gov. Patrick Morrisey wants to move faster than West Virginia’s current glidepath for reducing personal income tax rates during the legislative session starting next week. Read the full article. During his first press conference of the new…
West Virginia Watch - As the 2026 West Virginia legislative session nears, the West Virginia Watch team is gearing up to keep you informed over the 60-day law-making process. Read the full article. We’ll be watching everything from health care reforms and support for the state’s foster children to economic development plans and policies that…
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…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Coverage of the state’s involvement in private education invariably interests me. Read the full article. A recent op-ed by Kelly Allen of the West Virginia Budget and Policy Center provided a host of new and important data on the Hope Scholarship, the state’s school voucher program. The column is widely available and…
West Virginia Watch, Times West Virginian - When the Hope Scholarship, West Virginia’s school voucher program, was enacted, proponents framed the program as one of choice — a way to provide alternative education options to families who could not otherwise afford it. Now, on the eve of the program’s expansion — set to double or…
What is the Hope Scholarship? The Hope Scholarship is a school voucher program that diverts public taxpayer dollars to cover private school and other non-public school expenses like tuition and fees, uniforms, supplies, technology, and even extracurricular costs like dance lessons and zoo tickets. DOWNLOAD THIS BLOG POST AS A FACT SHEET HERE. The program…
K-12 Dive - Declining student enrollment is plaguing public schools at state and district levels nationwide, with the impact being felt from falling birthrates and expanding school choice programs. Read the full article. As preliminary enrollment data for the 2025-26 school year has begun rolling out, school leaders are being forced to plan ahead for…
Times West Virginian, Yahoo News - Marion County Schools doesn’t fear competition, but it doesn’t want to compete on an unfair playing field either. Read the full article. The school district released its HOPE Scholarship numbers for the 2025-26 academic year, which show a rise in the number of HOPE students this year. The numbers…
Exponent-Telegram - West Virginia has added more than 3,000 jobs since last August, and the state has seen a slight drop in its unemployment rate, bringing it below the national average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Read the full article. However, the state still trails the nation in terms of average job…