Officials overseeing West Virginia’s public charter school system plan to advise the schools to accept exemptions to mandatory vaccination policies on religious grounds if they’re approved by state health officials.
That is contrary to the position the state’s traditional public school system has taken but in line with Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s directives.
It’s another skirmish in an ongoing conflict over how individual religious views should affect vaccine policies meant to suppress the spread of communicable disease.
Members of the West Virginia Professional Charter Schools Board agreed during a meeting Thursday morning to have executive director James Paul communicate to individual schools in the system that they should accept state-issued vaccination waivers obtained by families.
“Our agency’s guidance to charter schools will remain that the only students who may be enrolled without evidence of full vaccinations are those who have an exemption letter from the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health,” Paul said after a meeting today.
“And if the student does have an exemption letter from BPH, he or she should be admitted.”
The governor has directed the health bureau to provide exemptions for families citing religious beliefs. Exemptions are also considered for medical reasons under state law.
The charter schools position was in line with a pitch by Sean Whelan, an attorney for Governor Morrisey, who made a presentation this morning. Morrisey has said the state’s mandatory vaccination law should be considered alongside a separate religious freedoms law.
“He’s looking for just support in this space,” Whelan said of the governor.
Whelan told charter school board members that if they’re taking a position that exemptions should be honored then “I think that counts as a partnership. That’s the kind of thing the governor is looking for, that you’re reading the law essentially in the same way that it does require the religious exemptions in this space.”
He continued, “You know, we asked similar partnership for the state Board of Education, and certainly what we got in response was not that. So I think a different direction from the charter school board would certainly be appreciated.”
West Virginia’s seven charter schools are considered part of the state public school system, but the Professional Charter Schools Board was established to approve and oversee their operations. Members of the charter schools board are appointed by the governor.
Morrisey’s administration, which supports religious exemptions to school vaccination requirements, is at odds with the state Board of Education, which has voted to maintain a strict interpretation of the requirements.
Court battles over the issue are taking place in multiple jurisdictions. A judge in Raleigh County recently allowed a preliminary injunction for three families seeking exemptions on religious grounds.
West Virginia students entering school for the first time must show proof of immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, and hepatitis B unless properly medically exempted.
The governor is citing West Virginia’s “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023.
The policy lays out the ability of individuals who believe their religious rights have been violated to seek a claim in court. The law says no state action may burden an individual’s exercise of religion unless it’s essential to furthering a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of achieving that.
“The governor is looking for partnership in this area and support in applying the equal protection of religion act that’s been on the books, frankly, since 2023 and wasn’t really enforced until certainly in this area of the compulsory vaccination area,” Whelan told charter schools board members.
“So he’s looking for partners, and he’s asking for your support in applying the law as written.”
Jack Willems, an assistant attorney general who actually advises the charter school board, spoke up and described prior advice to remain in line with the state Board of Education’s position to maintain a strict approach to the vaccine law as written.
“It’s not just standing with the State Board of Education. It’s also standing with the Legislature, which has rejected as carving out a religious exemption to the to the compulsory vaccination mandate,” Willems said.
He said the charter schools board should consider the consequences “if we let people who are not vaccinated into these schools and it causes an outbreak of measles or some other kind of of communicable disease to break out.
“So all things considered, we believe that it would be best for the the professional charter school board to follow the state Board of Education’s opinion on this matter and require that students be vaccinated and present proof of vaccination, without any kind of exception for religious or religious objection.”