The Hope Scholarship, West Virginia’s school vouchers’ program, is experiencing exponential growth in program costs. From FY 2024 to FY 2027, when the program is slated to become universal–meaning that public taxpayer dollars will go to families whose children are already in private school or being homeschooled–the cost is expected to increase more than ten-fold.
In recent years, there has been no similar commitment to increasing funding in West Virginia’s public education system, which educates the vast majority of the state’s school-aged children. Statewide, more than 20 schools could close over the next year due to school enrollment declines and funding challenges. The current school funding structure falls short of meeting the needs of our 241,000 public school students.
For the same cost as the Hope Scholarship in FY 2026 ($110 million), West Virginia lawmakers could fund raises for teachers, school nurses, and bus operators and hire more professional support personnel to support students and educators and improve outcomes.
