CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State Treasurer Larry Pack has laid out his priorities for upcoming legislative session, and the top two focuses are related to education.
Pack held a press conference Monday morning where he addressed media members.
He says his first priority ‘without a doubt’ is defending the Hope Scholarship program. Up until now, the Hope Scholarship applied only to children leaving the public school system. At the start of the 2026-2027 academic year, any non-public school student will be eligible can apply for the funds.
“With the Hope Scholarship set to expand to universal eligibility for the 2026-2027 school year, we believe it is crucial that the legislature and the governor resist any temptation to roll back the universal eligibility,” Pack said.
Pack, the chair of the Hope Scholarship Board, says school choice has served West Virginia well.
“The school choice movement started in the Mountain State and since then, similar proposals have been passed in 20 different states. There has been a dynamic shift in our country where money is now falling to students, and it empowers the children and parents alike to find the right education that fits their needs. It’s been a great win for West Virginia,” he said.
Another top priority for Pack is giving pay raises to the state’s teachers. He is proposing a minimum salary for a teacher in West Virginia be $50,000, and if a teacher in the state already makes $50,000 or more, they would receive a $2,000 raise.
“If we want the best public schools, better outcomes and phenomenal teachers, we have to pay them a competitive salary,” Pack said. “As we control government costs, as we see the benefits of the Justice tax cuts, and see our economy grow and diversify, we can provide excellent education opportunities to public schools, and increasing teachers’ salaries is the way.”
Pack also wants to see an increase in local control of schools.
Pack, who has been the treasurer for 10 months now, would also like lawmakers to consider eliminating the state income tax on tips and overtime.
“This is a worker’s tax cut. We have done a lot of tax cuts in West Virginia for big businesspeople, but these are for workers. These are for nurses. These are for waiters. These are for the guys and gals working construction,” Pack said.
“It’s a small tax cut for the state of West Virginia’s budget, but it’s a big tax cut if you’re a waiter or waitress or you’re a construction worker,” he continued.
As part of President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a federal policy was enacted that would allow workers to deduct overtime and qualified tips from their federal tax return.
Pack thinks the state needs to get on board.
“We need to get this done. We need to follow the lead of President Donald Trump and pass that in West Virginia, and we also need to make it effective January 1 of 2025 to match what the feds have done,” he said.
Pack says that part of his job is to point lawmakers and the governor in the right direction.
“In the treasurer’s office, we take our responsibility as chief financial officer for the state of West Virginia very seriously. We think we have a duty to advise the governor, to advise the legislature, and really all of West Virginia taxpayers and citizens on conservative and sound policies for the state of West Virginia,” he said.