CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Treasurer Larry Pack has released a revised maximum projected Hope Scholarship budget for next school year.
The Hope Scholarship gives state funds to students who pursue education outside of the traditional classroom.
Pack, who is also the chair of the Hope Scholarship Board, says the West Virginia Treasury is projecting $244,580,215 if 100 percent of newly eligible students participated in the Hope Scholarship for the 2026-2027 school year.
The updated projections would save the state over $70 million in comparison to the January projections, which came in at $315,013,760.
Pack says they will be looking through the numbers again.
“We expect to revise these numbers again around December. We’ll go back with the Department of Education and look at the information we have and they have and we’ll update these numbers, but don’t expect it to be this significant of a change next December,” Pack said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.”
According to Pack, putting a number on Hope’s budget is not an easy task.
“It’s a little bit of a hard thing to pin down because we really don’t know how many parents and students will take advantage of the program, but this is our best estimate today. We wanted to get it out to the legislature and to the governor’s budget team as soon as possible,” Pack said.
The program previously applied to children leaving the public school system, but at the start of the 2026-2027 academic year, any non-public school student will be eligible can apply for the funds.
“After next year, I think we’re going to get a lot more precision to it,” Pack said.
Award amounts for the Hope Scholarship vary each academic year. This depends on the amount of state aid funding per student provided to county boards of education for students in public schools. A release from Pack’s office states the projected scholarship amount for the 2026-2027 school year is $5,435.62.
Pack was asked about lawmakers that were concerned with the amount of money going towards Hope Scholarship and how it would potentially take away from public schools
Pack says there’s room in the budget to help both sides.
“There’s always concerns. People have different priorities as to what they think the money should be spent on,” Pack said. “I’m a big proponent of school choice, but I’m also a big proponent of public schools. We need to be able to do both, and we can do both. We have the money to do it.”