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Next year, West Virginia taxpayers will subsidize any parent who doesn’t want to send their kid to public school.
The price tag? $315 million.
House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, said he’s concerned about the state being able to afford the program’s ballooning cost.
“There’ll be some action necessary,” he said. “I don’t know what it will be.”
Republicans have not introduced legislation that would cap enrollment or limit eligibility for the program, known as the Hope Scholarship. When they created it in 2021, lawmakers built in some eligibility restrictions that will expire next year.
The Hope Scholarship is a priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey. In every other part of the budget, the governor has asked agencies to do more with less, but for this program he has committed “any necessary resource.”
The program’s rising cost is the largest increase in his requested budget.
Inside a packed House chamber last month, Morrisey laid out his legislative priorities. When he mentioned education, the governor told the story of a family whose son has dyslexia and was able to go to a private school in Huntington through the program.
As he talked about how the son’s reading scores had improved, Morrisey grinned and looked pleased.
He said the family is “a shining example of what we can provide when we open up opportunities and we give parents a choice.” Lawmakers and state officials rose from their chairs in applause.
Parents choosing private schools over public
In 2021, lawmakers told similar stories when creating the Hope Scholarship, a program that gives students the state tax dollars that would otherwise go to their local county schools.
At first, a student had to live in West Virginia and be actively enrolled in public school or entering kindergarten. After being approved, the money could go towards private school or homeschooling expenses.
The first year was delayed by a court battle that ended with the state Supreme Court ruling that the program could go ahead. That year, around 2,300 students were enrolled, according to an annual report.
Since then, enrollment has almost doubled each year, driven largely by students entering kindergarten. This year, state officials estimate that 19,000 students will use the program, each receiving $5,500.
The initial bill created a program making it more affordable for parents to pull their kids out of public school and put them in private school or homeschool them. But, lawmakers added a phased-in expansion.
Next year, any student who is not enrolled in the public school system will be eligible, regardless of where they currently attend classes.
Del. Adam Burkhammer, R-Lewis, said he proposed the program expansion after seeing that private school and homeschool parents were struggling to pay for the education that they feel is best for their kids.
“I felt that they should have been afforded the same opportunity as every child in the state,” he said.
If every eligible student enrolls in the program, it will cost the state around $315 million next year, according to state projections.
“The Hope Scholarship does see that price tag, but those kids deserve an affordable education opportunity,” Burkhammer said.
The cost could be lower, but still substantial. State Treasurer Larry Pack, whose office administers the program, said this projection represents the maximum cost.
“It’s more than a guesstimate, but we’re not sure,” Pack told a legislative committee last month.
The Hope Scholarship isn’t going away
Republican Del. Elliott Pritt, a public school teacher in Fayette County, said his daughter is excelling in Catholic school via the Hope Scholarship.
Pritt said he would support capping the program, but that there is no political will in the Legislature to get rid of it. And, as a teacher, he’s fighting for better pay, affordable health benefits and workplace rights.
“I’m not sticking my neck out to fight Hope or charter schools or any of that again,” he said. “We tried, we fought, and we lost.”
In the state budget, the Hope Scholarship now competes with every other financial need, including public schools.
“That money has got to be coming from somewhere,” said Del. Jeff Stephens, a Republican from Marshall County who teaches middle school social studies, “And sometimes, I see it as you’re double funding education.”
The money that will be spent on the Hope Scholarship this year could fund $2,000 raises for school employees, according to an analysis from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. It could also allow every county to hire more school psychologists, social workers and special education teachers.
“The Hope Scholarship primarily diverts these resources away from the public schools that could be used to improve public schools,” said Tamaya Browder, education policy fellow at the Center.
Democrats in both chambers have introduced bills that would prohibit money going to schools in other states — about 5% of the program. On Wednesday, House Democrats introduced a bill that would cap the program to exclude families with incomes at or above $100k.
How many homeschoolers?
The question that will drive the program’s cost next year: How many homeschoolers will use it?
Most homeschoolers in West Virginia can’t enroll in the program until next year when it expands. But not all of those students will use it.
“There is a large subset of the parents that don’t want any type of government interference whatsoever,” said Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, a Republican from Putnam County who is one of the Legislature’s top advocates for homeschoolers.
Homeschoolers, regardless of whether or not they get government money, have to complete an annual assessment — either a state-approved test or portfolio review by a certified teacher.
Most homeschoolers only have to submit this assessment to their county board of education in 3rd, 5th, 8th and 11th grades. Hope Scholarship recipients have to submit this every year.
The state Treasurer’s Office estimates around 30,000 homeschool students will be eligible for the Hope Scholarship program in August 2026.
“I’m going to be surprised if it hits 50%, okay?” Crouse said. “That’s just me though, there’s no scientific evidence behind that.”
Next year, applications will open near the end of the legislative session as thousands of private school students and homeschoolers become eligible.
And not until the application process closes in the summer will state officials know the number of students in the program — and how many millions of dollars it will divert from public schools.
Reach Duncan Slade at duncan@mountainstatespotlight.org
