The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board is preparing for a recently-passed policy allowing charter schools to benefit from funding through the state School Building Authority.
House Bill 227 passed during special session earlier this year.
It added a line to state code to say: “A public charter school may, in its name and its sole discretion, submit application to the School Building Authority for funding for the purchase of a building to be used for public charter school purposes and for the cost of the project.”
Charter schools receive financial support from the state’s public education system and are given greater operational latitude in exchange for the possibility of losing their right to operate if they fail.
West Virginia had no charter schools until passing a state law allowing them in 2019. Still, there are just a few.
Several are in traditional school buildings: Clarksburg Classical Academy, Eastern Panhandle Preparatory Academy in Kearneysville, West Virginia Academy in Morgantown and Workforce Initiative Academy that focuses on high school students getting a jump on nursing degrees through BridgeValley Community and Technical College in South Charleston.
M.E.C.C.A. Business Learning Institute is authorized to open in fall of 2025 with a financial focus for middle- and high school students and headquartered in Berkeley County. Wisdom Academy in Morgantown has now gained approval as a new school for fall of 2025
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board, made up of appointees of the governor, is one of the ways charter schools are approved and overseen.
Members of the Professional Charter School Board have regularly discussed the challenging matter of startup costs for charter schools. The schools that have opened so far in West Virginia have typically sought homes in buildings — sometimes buildings that had previously housed schools — but they have to acquire them somehow, often without many resources in terms of initial cash flow.
On Thursday, members of the board discussed how to move forward during a meeting that included leaders of the School Building Authority.
“Senior officials at the School Building Authority have created temporary guidelines and are in the process of receiving applications from our charter schools in West Virginia,” said James Paul, executive director of the charter schools board.
Andy Neptune, executive director for the School Building Authority, described discussions that have been taking place to direct how requests by charter schools would be processed.
He described requests so far from M.E.C.C.A. Business Learning Institute, West Virginia Academy and Clarksburg Classical Academy.
“Those are the ones that I have received and our office has received so far concerning funding for projects,” Neptune said.
There’s a Jan. 17 deadline for funding requests with decisions expected shortly thereafter.