West Virginia’s state Board of Education approved consolidations and closures of more than a dozen schools, acknowledging the pain communities are going through but concluding that decreased student population has made the changes necessary.
Closures were approved across six counties: Barbour, Logan, Randolph, Roane, Upshur and Wetzel.
Board President Paul Hardesty addressed community members who had pleaded to keep schools open by revisiting comments he made a couple of months ago about school system population loss. Hardesty, as he did in October, said the board is obligated to comply with requirements in state code, including the school funding formula.
“You’re here because you care about your community, and rightfully so. We continue to hemorrhage enrollment. The last time the school funding formula was addressed was 1982 in the Recht decision, and it’s based solely on population,” Hardesty told families.
“Somebody, somehow, some way is going to have to factor in that we have rural counties with large square mileage but not a lot of kids. That has to become factored in somewhere in that formula, or these crowds will continue to grow, will continue to grow as we continue to lose students in other counties in the state.”
He pointed toward the possibility of legislative action with the 134 members of the Senate and House of Delegates soon gathering for an annual regular session that begins Jan. 14.
“Our population shrinks, but the way we’re counted, by head count, for funding remains the same. Not poking holes at 134 people, not trying to tell them how to do their job, but we have to stop the bleeding and find a way to address this formula,” Hardesty said.
Board member Debra Sullivan also said counties are having to make tough decisions.
“Surely no one would choose to close schools, causing heartaches and headaches for everyone involved,” Sullivan said. “How do we stop having to make such daunting decisions?”
Sullivan added, “I know that we can strengthen our public schools without continuing to close our community schools. It is shocking to realize that in the past eight years alone over 70 schools have closed or consolidated. Small schools are just that. They’re smaller, but their impact is often huge.”
West Virginia school enrollment plummeted by nearly 13% from 2012 to 2024, a period that overlapped with several factors including the covid-19 pandemic. More than 36,000 students left the public school system during that time.
The state experienced a wave of school consolidations last year, and that has continued.
The board’s approvals today included:
Barbour County: Closing Belington Middle School, Kasson Middle School and Philippi Middle School and moving the students to Philip Barbour High School.. Also closing Junior Elementary School and sending students to Belington Elementary School.
Also, fifth grade students from Philippi Middle School will be merged into Philippi Elementary School, and fifth grade students from Belington Middle School will be merged into Belington Elementary School.
And closing Junior Elementary School — merging all students from Junior Elementary School and Belington Elementary School into the vacated Belington Middle School building.
Logan County: Closure of Verdunville Elementary School and transferring students to Omar Elementary.
Randolph County: Closure of Harman K-12 School and North Elementary School and merger of students into Jennings Randolph Elementary School, Elkins Middle School, and Elkins High School.
Roane County: Closure of Geary Elementary/Middle School and Walton Elementary/Middle School with K-5 students moving into Spencer Elementary and grades 6-8 moving to Spencer Middle.
Upshur County: Closure of Rock Cave Elementary.
Wetzel County: Closing Magnolia High School, Valley High School, Short Line School (grades 6-8 only), New Martinsville School (grades 6-8 only), and Hundred Heritage School (grades 6-8 only), and consolidating them into a newly constructed school in Porter Falls.
Community members from several of the affected counties participated in a public comment portion of the state board meeting that lasted more than an hour.
For example, Upshur County resident Abigail Jeffries pleaded with the board to help find a way to keep Rock Cave Elementary open.
“I’ve received responses from multiple legislators, stating there are plans to address the school funding formula this session,” she said. “This could lead to additional funding being distributed to all counties.”
Jackie Higginbotham, the 2025 teacher of the year at Geary Elementary/Middle, asked for rejection of consolidation of the schools in Roane County.
“Gary and Walton elementary/middle schools are not under performing schools. They are just under populated, and we’re being targeted to bear an enormous burden in effort to realign a fiscal fiasco that we did not create,” she said. “It is not fair, equitable or acceptable to our teachers, our families, especially our students.”
Jeff Mace, president of the Roane County school board, said community members and leaders need better information about the potential effects of the school closures there.
“We implore your help to help us inform the Legislature so that we can go through and increase the knowledge of what is happening to not just Roane County, but all of these counties,” he said.
“We’re going to stand in judgment one day. And I hope that when we get there and we say, ‘Our reason for this is that we follow the West Virginia state aid formula and the direction of the West Virginia Department of Education’ that will be a sufficient response.”