School funding has been impacted by the state’s rapidly declining student population; an additional 5,000 students have left the school system since October
BY: AMELIA FERRELL KNISELY
The West Virginia Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography)
West Virginia school officials shared a grim outlook for the state’s public schools on Wednesday, warning multiple counties could be headed to insolvency if lawmakers and the governor don’t address funding shortfalls.
“What if I told you here today in 2026 that every county in the state has exhausted and already closed every school projected for a 10 year period six years into the cycle? I think it’s very telling,” West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty told reporters.
Eight to 10 schools could go through the school closure process this year.
Lawmakers don’t have “their arms around the gravity of the situation,” Hardesty said. “The boat’s getting ready to hit the rocks, and I can’t make anyone in two of the branches of government understand that.”
Jeff Kelley, associate superintendent for West Virginia Schools, warned that school districts becoming insolvent would “implode their economic construct” in the county.
“You’re talking about the number one, or number two, or number three employer in a county where all of a sudden they can’t put paychecks in the mailbox of their employees, and all of those employees fund the local gas stations and the local restaurants,” he said. “To recover from something of that magnitude economically, it will implode.”
Many counties are grappling with dire school financesspurred by the state’s declining student population and a decades-old funding formula that largely relies on student headcounts to provide funding for teachers, bus drivers and more. The state has seen a wave of school closures along with teacher and staff job cuts.
Hardesty said the state has lost an additional 5,000 students since October, when the official head count occurs to determine the following school year’s funding amounts.
“To put that in perspective, those 5,000 students, you could take all the kids combined in Calhoun, Gilmer, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Tucker, and Webster, six counties. Those six counties enrollments, 4,900,” Hardesty said. “We have basically lost the equivalent of six of our counties, additionally, and I’m sure there are people in the Legislature that don’t want to hear this, but the facts are what they are. It’s got to be dealt with.”
Leaders of the Hope Scholarship this week announced more than 26,000 students have applied for the education voucher, which can be used for private school tuition, homeschooling and more. The program is on track to double in participation from last year as it is now open to all West Virginia students for the first time.
Additionally, the number of public school special education students has soared, pushing some counties into millions of dollars of debt. The current student aid formula largely doesn’t account for increased funds needed for federally and state-level required special education accommodations, like one-on-one aids or technology.
Lawmakers didn’t address school funding formula
West Virginia uses a seven-step formula to determine how much state funding goes to county school systems based on factors including the number of students enrolled.
The legislative session concluded in March without lawmakers making any changes to the school funding formula after debate on multiple bills to deal with the issue, particularly special education funding. House of Delegates Education Chair Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, called it “the biggest failure of the session.”
Hardesty said, “I want to qualify that I have 100% respect for Joe Statler and (Senate Education Chair) Amy Grady.”
We have two fine, wonderful education chairs that are well-intentioned, but let’s just be realistic. I doubt either one of them has the ability to bring any type of substantive change to their respective chamber based on the composition of the members,” he said. “They’re kind of hamstrung, and I know that. I feel like, you know, the can’s been kicked down the road a little bit, but nothing’s being done, and again I’m 45 days away from starting a new school year.”
Ahead of the session, the House paid $114,000 for a study from the RAND Corporation that shared how the state could improve its funding strategy. Study recommendations included increasing overall funding levels for public education, putting some guardrails on the Hope Scholarship and giving more funding to districts with larger proportions of special education students.
Uriah Cummings, the state school financial operations officer, described the current school funding formula as “inadequate.”
“I’ll continue to say it until something’s done about the ratios that exist in state code surrounding the state funding formula that haven’t changed in 30-40 years,” Cummings said. “We look at special education numbers increasing as a percentage of the total population from 20% to over 25% over a 10-year period of time, that in itself tells me that it takes more personnel to be able to educate the students that we have in public education right now.”
Hardesty also said public schools, which he now refers to as one of the state’s school choice options, are over-regulated compared to other education options.
“We asked the Legislature to take a look at that, and there’s no money involved in going through 1,300 pages of a code book and doing away with old, outdated, antiquated rules and regulations, but they couldn’t even do that,” Hardesty said. “So, that’s where we’re at.”
Hardesty says lawsuit needed to force change
Hardesty believes that a parent will have to bring a lawsuit against the state over education funding issues to force a change.
He referenced what’s known as the “Recht decision,” where, in 1975, Janet Pauley filed a class-action lawsuit against the Lincoln County school system, alleging that her children and others attending schools in poor counties were not receiving educational opportunities equal to students in richer counties.
A decision by Judge Arthur Recht declared that the state’s public school funding system unconstitutional and forced an update to the funding formula in an effort to improve education equality.
“I’m afraid it’s going to take something as drastic as someone filing, like they did in Lincoln County back when Arthur Recht addressed this issue,” Hardesty said. “I think it’s the only way you’re going to see a substantive change. I hate to say that, but I’m now convinced to believe that.”
State lawmakers, under the leadership of Statler and Grady, have continued to work on possible changes to the state aid formula that the full Legislature could consider in the 2027 Legislative Session.
“We want to find the answer. This is an ongoing issue that we’re going to be working on well into the other interim meetings,” Statler said during lawmaker’s interim meetings in Canaan Valley last week. Members of the Joint Committee on Education heard a presentation from local school officials about needed changes to the school funding formula as enrollment declines.
“I’m telling you, as we’re exploring this – not only the funding formula, especially special needs – we’re going to turn every stone over,” Statler said.
