The chief of the agency that administers the Hope Scholarship says that “school choice” option is not to blame for diminished student population in public schools.
Yet Treasurer Larry Pack acknowledged that West Virginia’s public school system faces significant pressure in terms of student population loss, financial support and closures.
Pack was responding to comments made this week by state board President Paul Hardesty, who said the state has gotten out of balance on “school choice” options, contributing to pressure on public schools.
Pack acknowledged the strain on public school systems and pointed toward demographic challenges for West Virginia.
“From a state board of education standpoint or if you’re in leadership in a county board of education, they’re in a tough situation,” Pack said.
“The reality is, that in many parts of our state — particularly in the southern West Virginia part of the state where I grew up — we’re continuing to lose population, number one. But in addition to that we’re having fewer children.”
But the treasurer said the Hope Scholarship that provides financial support for West Virginia families who choose options outside the public school system is not to blame.
“Hope is not the source of the drop in population,” he said. “We’ve had about 40,000 less K-12 public school students today than we had 10, 15 years ago.”
Hope Scholarship participation grew from 2,333 students during the 2022-2023 school year to 5,443 students during the 2023-2024 school year, and now more than 10,000 students in the current school year. The Hope Scholarship will open to all school-age children residing in West Virginia beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year.
There are currently 233 participating nonpublic schools and microschools in the Hope Scholarship Program, providing a variety of educational options for students.
“We think 20% to 25% of those might have been public school students,” Pack said. “Hope is not causing the drop in population in public schools.”
Pack, a former state legislator, acknowledged of student population loss, “But it’s a significant problem. They need help and flexibility. They need help in how they’re going to handle it. And it is a difficult problem. But again, Hope is not the cause of it.”
State board president sends up a flare
Hardesty commented about community school closures, student population loss and his perception of how “school choice” factors have contributed as he spoke for 15 minutes near the start of a regular state board meeting this week.
Hardesty said he does not object to “school choice” options generally, but his speech suggested the state has gone too far. “In the past decade, we have lost over 35,000 students in public education, all in the name of school choice,” he said.
West Virginia lawmakers within the past few years have voted to allow charter schools and the Hope Scholarship for families seeking education options outside the public school system.
Part of Hardesty’s message was that those have provided options for some families to exit public schools. He said that’s a factor in financial strain that resulted in historic levels of public school closures and consolidations in the past year, a trend he anticipates will continue.
Hardesty pointed toward the Legislature’s power to adjust the school aid formula that is largely based on student population. And he suggested the public school system is subject to more regulations originating through state law than charter schools or homeschool options must abide by.
“I’m not blaming school choice for everything, but it’s been a great acceleration in the last three years with with this model being in place,” Hardesty said today on MetroNews Talkline.
“But the problem remains, the public school system has to continue to operate in the format by this stifling code book, when we had the extra 38,000 kids just a decade ago.”
He suggested on Talkline that lawmakers have the power to decrease the amount of regulation that the public schools operate under. And he said the Legislature also could move to adjust the school aid formula.
“The people of West Virginia have got to know who can make the changes to accommodate that rural setting that’s geographically challenged, that’s got long bus routes. All I have to go by is a 1,300 page book of rules and regulations and guys, it’s tough. I’m going to tell you, it is tough, and getting tougher as we lose that population.”
Pushback about ‘school choice.’
His comments about “school choice” drew criticism from Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia, a libertarian-leaning organization.
“State school board President Paul Hardesty just launched a brazen attack on parents by calling for guardrails on eligibility for school choice,” Jason Huffman, state director for AFP-West Virginia, said in a social media message.
“Right now, every West Virginia family has access to school choice, but Hardesty wants to let government picks winners and losers when it comes to who gets the access for the right education for their child.”
Huffman suggested West Virginia has lost population in part because the public school system has not met educational standards.
“The fact is that government school system doesn’t need more money,” he said. “West Virginia already spends billions per year on government run schools. Even though enrollment has continued to decline for decades, taxpayers have been saddled with more and more education spending, not for classrooms but for administrative positions.”
Legislative look at school funding
Lawmakers are likely to continue discussion of how to best fund public schools, said House Education Committee vice chairman Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, in an interview on WAJR Radio.
Statler said his area has experienced the pain of school consolidation up close. Wetzel County, which is in part of the district Statler represents, has moved toward consolidating upper grade students onto one campus.
“They’ve already closed two high schools and consolidated them into two other schools nearby, so the process is happening all across the state,” Statler said WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
To explore options for school systems across the state, Statler said he has analyzed school funding formulas from several states, including Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. Statler said he will discuss the Tennessee system with fellow lawmakers during upcoming legislative interim meetings.
“I want to sit down and talk to our counterparts,” Statler said, “and hopefully on Sunday we can schedule a meeting with the speaker and leadership and bring them up to date where we’re at, looking at some of the ideas on the school aid funding formula.”
Statler is already warning that additional money could be required if West Virginia adjusts its school funding formula.
“Quite frankly, every state that I’ve looked at so far that has done the school aid formula type thing to recalculate how they do it, it has not saved the state money — it has actually cost more money,” Statler said.
Statler wants to know more about how “school choice” options affect a student exodus from public schools.
“I’m not against school choice. There’s a reason parents are choosing school choice,” Statler said.
“What I have a problem with is, the public education system is not looking at it as competition. They are looking at it as, basically, putting them out of business.”
He said officials need to do a better job of asking why increasing numbers of families are choosing options outside the public education system.
“They need to ask them, ‘Why are you choosing to do this?’ — and not in an adversarial way, in a way that’s ‘What are we not doing that we could do?’ That’s not happening, and it’s got to happen.”