PHILIPPI, W.Va. — Barbour County is one of many across the state dealing with a loss of population that has forced the public school system to make difficult consolidation choices.
Barbour County Superintendent Eddie Vincent said their enrollment is down nearly 20 percent since 2016 to about 1,900 students. But, he said, post-pandemic the numbers have fallen at a much faster rate and are projected to continue their descent for the next decade.
The county plan would close Belington Middle School, Kasson Middle School, and Philippi Middle School and move those students to Philip Barbour High School, making that a grade 6 through 12 facility. Also, the Junior Elementary School would be merged with Belington Elementary School.
Public hearings on the plan will be held later this month and the Board of Education is expected to vote on it in November. If the plan is approved it will be forwarded to the state Board of Education for consideration.
“That (high school) building is built for 1,200 kids; we’re using about 38 percent of the building, and that’s very typical of all of our buildings right now,” Vincent said. “Not just our student enrollment, but the general population of Barbour County has declined.”
The Public School Support Program in the West Virginia funding formula is based on student density, and as head counts drop, so must the staff count. Vincent said the impact on their staffing plan would be two positions.
“We can get ourselves in a financial situation where we’re in a pretty good spot if we can get that number down so we’re not in debt for personnel by making these changes,” Vincent said.
Some students have left the county system for homeschooling, while others have selected private options. Others have taken advantage of the Hope Scholarship or charter options, but the new list of competitors to public education has grown significantly in the last five years.
“There are a lot more options for people right, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but we have to compete,” Vincent said. “We have to do better in public education of providing things that kids and families need.”
Co-president of Education West Virginia, Dale Lee, said lawmakers have done very little for the public education system over the last decade. The agenda in Charleston has created the competition while providing very little for state-funded options.
“The past few sessions, many of the lawmakers—I won’t say all, but many of the lawmakers—have been more concerned about charter schools, private schools, parochial schools, and the Hope Scholarship than they have been about public education,” Lee said.
Lee said the Republicans do have a supermajority, but he said there are factions within the GOP that can be persuaded. During the next legislative session, he expects more input from educators and public comments.
“There are the moderates who realize we have to have a strong public education system, and then there are those who are more supportive of the Hope Scholarship, the private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling,” Lee said.