State Treasurer Riley Moore announced that the Hope Scholarship Program has met state law requirements for opening up to all school-age children residing in West Virginia beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year.
The scholarship provides financial support for students to pursue education options outside traditional public school systems. Until now, the scholarship has applied to students leaving the public school system or to kindergarten students entering school for the first time. So students already enrolled in private school, for example, have not been eligible.
When the change becomes active, any non-public school student could draw down state dollars for education spending, in compliance with Hope’s other requirements.
The Treasurer’s Office estimates that an additional 30,000 to 40,000 students will be eligible once the scholarship opens up further.
“I’m thrilled to announce that Hope Scholarship Program enrollment numbers have met the threshold established by the Legislature to expand this program to all West Virginia school children beginning in the fall of 2026,” Moore said in a statement distributed by the Treasurer’s Office.
“This will be a monumental leap forward for school choice, allowing tens of thousands of additional West Virginia families to access this program.”
The Hope Scholarship amount varies annually, depending on the amount of state aid funding per pupil provided to county boards of education for public school students. The scholarship amount for the most recent, 2023-24, academic year has been $4,488.82. The scholarship amount for the 2024-25 school year will be $4,921.39.
So it’s not yet certain what the per-student scholarship amount would be when the broader enrollment standards kick in a couple of years from now. If it’s in the ballpark of $5,000 — and if the Treasurer’s enrollment estimates are on target — that could result in an additional state expenditure of $150 million to $200 million.
The spending on newly eligible Hope Scholarship students would not come out of West Virginia’s school aid formula because those students have already left the public school system and are not counted in its current enrollment for funding purposes. The money would come from the state’s general revenue fund.
Nevertheless, that is a significant expense that state policymakers should take seriously, said Kelly Allen, executive director of the progressive West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy think tank.
“This expansion will explode the cost of the program, growing it by an additional $150 to $200 million per year in order to serve mostly higher income families who could already afford private school. While proponents have argued that the current structure of the Hope Scholarship does not cost the state new dollars when diverting existing public education dollars to the Hope Scholarship, an expansion to students currently in private school or home school inarguably represents significant new costs to an already shrinking state budget,” Allen said.
“Lawmakers are at a critical choice point where their efforts to reduce the income tax are coming into tension with their ability to dramatically expand the Hope Scholarship and simultaneously fulfill their constitutional obligation to fund public schools, which serve over 90 percent of our state’s children.”
Passed by the Legislature in 2021, the Hope Scholarship Act initially made the program available only to West Virginia children who were either entering kindergarten or enrolled in public school for a qualifying period of time. However, the Act expands eligibility for the program beginning in the 2026-2027 school year to all school-age children residing in West Virginia if certain enrollment figures are met as of July 1, 2024.
Under the law, if the total number of Hope Scholarship students and applicants is less than 5 percent of net public school enrollment for the previous school year as of July 1, 2024, the program will be open to all existing school age children in the state beginning on July 1, 2026.
Based on data provided to Hope Scholarship Board staff by the West Virginia Department of Education this week, the total number of Hope Scholarship students and applicants (9,980 as of Monday, July 1) is well below 5 percent of the net public school enrollment threshold for the previous school year (12,416).
“We believe, based on Department of Education estimates, that this will open up Hope Scholarship eligibility to an additional 30,000 to 40,000 West Virginia students in 2026,” Treasurer Moore said. “This expansion will allow all West Virginia families to use this program as they pursue the educational opportunities they believe work best for their children.”
Moore has sent letters to legislative leaders and Gov. Jim Justice notifying them that the statutory criteria have been achieved.
While the expanded eligibility is set to begin in the 2026-2027 school year, applicants must still meet the current eligibility criteria established by state code to receive the Hope Scholarship for the upcoming 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years.
Under the current criteria, to qualify for the Hope Scholarship, a student must be a West Virginia resident and be either:
- Eligible to be enrolled in a kindergarten program.
- Enrolled full-time in a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for the entire instructional term during the current academic year (2023-2024 for the upcoming school year) immediately preceding the academic year for which the student is applying to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program.
- Or, enrolled full-time and attending a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for at least 45 calendar days during an instructional term at the time of application and remain enrolled and attending public school until a decision is reached on the student’s Hope Scholarship application.