West Virginia’s public school population dropped by 8,270 students compared to the prior year, and now the question is turning to why.
Overall, this year’s statewide enrollment number was 226,687 students, according to yearly certified enrollment figures made public this week by the state Department of Education.
Last year’s enrollment was 234,957.
The system has lost more than 23,000 students since the 2022-23 school year, and more than 46,000 students over the past 10 years – a 17% decline.
“My question is, where did these students go? I have asked this question before,” said House Education Chairman Joe Statler, R-Monongalia.
“They may not know where they all went, but they should have some of the information, we need answers to this to see what is needed to slow or stop the exits from the systems.”
Georgia Hughes-Webb, director of data analysis & research for the West Virginia Department of Education, spoke on MetroNews Talkline about West Virginia public-school enrollment losses and what the available information can — and cannot — explain.
She suggested population decline could be a factor in West Virginia’s public-school enrollment loss. Census estimates showed the state’s population of children ages 5–18 fell about 4.6% from 2020 to 2025, while public-school enrollment fell more—about 7.9% from 2019–20 through 2024–25, with further losses since then.
“I think some of the decline can certainly be attributed to overall population loss, but because the school enrollment loss is outpacing that overall population loss. We have to look to other explanations,” said Hughes-Webb.
“It could be that more families are choosing non-public options. We don’t quite have all the data we need to fully answer that question, but certainly, given the comparison between enrollment loss and population loss, there are bigger factors at play.”
Other factors could include families choosing private school, homeschooling or using the Hope Scholarships for non-public school options. More possibilities include students moving out of state or otherwise leaving public education.
The state can examine exit statuses for students who were previously enrolled, but it cannot fully account for families who choose non-public education from the start.
“We can look at those data that we have access to to answer part of that question, but we also the data we would need to fully answer that question — some parents may opt for non-public options from the get go, from pre-K or kindergarten, and in those cases, we wouldn’t necessarily be able to to pinpoint those numbers because we don’t always have all of those details,” she said.
She also noted that enrollment had been declining for years, but losses became steeper after the covid-19 pandemic, averaging about 2.4% annually over the past four years compared with about 1.2% before the pandemic.
“We have seen public school enrollment decline a little bit at a time for for probably the past decade as we’ve seen the enrollment or the overall population loss as well. Certainly over the last few years, the declines have been much steeper than we saw even before the covid pandemic,” she said.
“So since that time, we’ve seen just much sharper losses in enrollment in most years.”
This year’s public schools report showed that every single county in the state — along with two of West Virginia’s seven charter schools — experienced diminishing student numbers.
Roane County had the steepest decline with a 14.89% reduction, followed by the Virtual Preparatory Academy down 10.51%, Mingo County down 9.65%, Lewis County down 8.1%, Calhoun County down 7.74% and Randolph County down 7.19%.
Roane County Schools Superintendent Michelle Stellato said the district had expected to lose about 200 students after consolidating two rural schools, but the decline reflects a longer trend. The county has lost about 5% of its students per year, about 700 over eight years.
“So you know, it’s it’s definitely not surprising, but it’s not something that we we are happy about to see this actually happen,” Stellato said on Talkline.
She also described falling preschool enrollment. The program went from six classrooms five years ago to two this year, later opening a third.
Dale Lee, co-president of Education West Virginia, said the decline reflects both the state’s shrinking, aging population and increased use of the Hope Scholarship for students pursuing education options outside the public school system.
“It’s a combination of of both things: the loss of population, the declining population in the state, the loss of the potential students in the state, and you also have to factor in the increase in the number of people that are getting the Hope Scholarship,” Lee said on MetroNews Midday.
Last year about 15,000 students were enrolled in the Hope Scholarship program. More than 26,000 applied this year.
West Virginia schools are largely funded through a seven-step formula that is based largely on student population.
The state’s public schools face an ongoing wave of permanent closures and consolidations driven by declining student enrollment, financial deficits and underuse of the buildings.
State education officials have warned that between 8 and 20 schools could close or consolidate across the state in the coming year.
Kristie Skidmore, co-president of Education West Virginia, said she was sad to hear of another sharp decline of students.
“I know that we’ve been following school systems who have made tough decisions the last few years to deal with losses, deal with less, make tough decisions as far as consolidations and cuts,” Skidmore said on Midday. “So it’s just just really tragic.”