According to the state constitution, West Virginians are guaranteed “a thorough and efficient system of free schools” provided by the Legislature. However, the ability of our state to fulfill this guarantee for the nearly 90 percent of school-aged children in West Virginia who attend public schools is currently threatened by a variety of challenges. Increased disinvestment from public schools through the Hope Scholarship Program, declining state revenues due to tax cuts, and reduced resources from the expiration of federal pandemic-era funding have resulted in precarious financial circumstances for our public school system.
Read the full brief.
The Hope Scholarship Program has diverted significant funds from the public school system to private schools and other educational service providers within and outside of the state. West Virginia is one of many states offering school voucher programs, but unlike the programs in several other states, West Virginia’s operates without limits on enrollment, program costs, or the household income of participating families. The program also operates without required public reporting on key demographic and performance metrics related to the program, enrollees, and the non-public schools that participate. School voucher programs, particularly those without accountability measures or guardrails, are a growing concern for fiscal responsibility and transparency across the country. In the past three years, numerous states have either expanded their school voucher programs or implemented plans for expansion to the detriment of their public school systems. These include West Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansa, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Utah.[3] Extensive research evidences the harmful impact that school voucher programs have on public education while providing little to no increase in student opportunities or improvement in student outcomes.
Statewide, the loss of funding from the public school system to the Hope Scholarship is expected to total up to $52.1 million for the 2024-2025 school year, more than double the cost for the 2023-2024 school year. This total could grow throughout the year due to year-round open enrollment for the program. Even at the current award amount, this program could cost almost $250 million per year upon expansion. In addition to diverting funds from already underresourced public schools, voucher programs also contribute to broader disinvestment from the public school system. States with longer-running voucher programs provide relatively little funding per student in public schools even through per student spending is asoociated with positive long-term student outcomes in areas such as income, health, and educational attainment.
