For Immediate Release: June 10, 2024 Contact: Sean O'Leary, (304)-400-8899 Charleston, WV – West Virginia improved its children’s health ranking compared with recent years, coming in at 35th among the states according to the 2024 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent data developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation analyzing how kids are faring in post-pandemic America. The…
News Releases
For Immediate Release: January 19, 2024 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy (WVCBP), an independent research and advocacy organization working to advance public policies that increase opportunity and eliminate inequities for children and families, announces that it will be serving as the KIDS COUNT® partner for the state of West…
Kelly Allen, the WVCBP's executive director, issued the following statement in response to Governor Justice's 2024 State of the State address. Kelly can be reached for further comment at kallen@wvpolicy.org "Unfortunately, the rosy picture Governor Justice painted tonight is not the reality for many West Virginians in counties all over the state who’ve seen too…
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…
For Immediate Release: October 12, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – West Virginia's child welfare system is in crisis. Currently, the Mountain State places four times as many children per capita in the foster care system as the United States as a whole. West Virginia permanently terminates parental rights faster and more often than any…
For Immediate Release: September 27, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Each year the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy releases its annual State of Working West Virginia report, which examines West Virginia's economy through the lens of its workers— the people who power our state and our economy. While each year's report has a slightly different…
For Immediate Release: September 14, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV – Nationally, the overall poverty rate and child poverty rate rose by the largest amount on record in more than 50 years, according to new US Census data released this week. The data also reveal that too many West Virginians—17.3 percent, or 308,825 residents, lived in…
For Immediate Release: September 12, 2023 Contact: Sara Whitaker, 304-610-6391 Charleston, WV – Since 2015, West Virginia prisons have sent more than $57.1 million out of state to pay for food served in its prisons. Privatizing prison food has resulted in poorer food quality and worse health outcomes. A 2022 class-action lawsuit filed against the Department of Corrections and…
New Report Examines the Fiscal and Opportunity Costs of Police Overtime in Charleston, West Virginia
For Immediate Release: August 31, 2023 Contact: Sara Whitaker, 304-610-6391 Charleston, WV – In March 2023, the Charleston City Council approved a $111.6 million budget for the 2024 fiscal year, with one-fifth, or $23.0 million, going to uniformed Charleston Police officers. Of that $23 million, $2.6 million was allocated for ballooning overtime pay. High overtime spending is not…
For Immediate Release: April 18, 2023 Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – During the 2023 West Virginia legislative session, lawmakers had the opportunity to use available revenues to address longstanding needs like ensuring PEIA and Medicaid solvency, filling crisis-level staffing vacancies across state agencies, or increasing investments in neglected areas like higher education and child care. But instead,…