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CHARLESTON -- With the deadline for applications for the state's public charter school pilot program next week, the new state board that will review those applications had its second meeting Friday.
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board met Friday morning over video live-chat to discuss hiring an executive director, how the agency will be funded, locating office space, and the application deadline Tuesday, Aug. 31, for public charter schools and virtual charter schools.
Two organizations have already expressed interest in applying for a charter. The West Virginia Academy wants to open a physical charter school by the fall of 2022 serving nursery, primary and secondary school students in Monongalia and Preston counties. Mountain State Learning Solutions, which had its first public meeting Thursday, wants to open one of two statewide virtual charter schools allowed in state code.
Adam Kissel, chairman of the Professional Charter School Board, said the board has received one application so far, but he knows of other groups considering applying for both physical charter schools and virtual charter schools
"We've had inquiries from, I'd say, about four, maybe five others," Kissel said. "It's hard to know because more than one from the same potential school might have inquired separately, but I would say potentially we could have, based on those inquiries, half a dozen applications … we'll have to see what we get by the 31st."
The Professional Charter School Board has 90 days to approve or reject a charter school application starting at the time they receive the application. Kissel said the goal is to provide board members with a checklist that compares the contents of the application to what is allowed under state law. The second goal is to provide summaries of the applications, which will likely be hundreds of pages.
"That'll be, I think, our quickest way to help the rest of the board make its determination about the quality and sufficiency of applications," Kissel said.
Non-voting board member and Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, recommended the board request counsel through the state Attorney General's Office to help review charter school applications. Rucker said Attorney General Patrick Morrisey would assign someone to assist the board until it can hire its own legal counsel.
"I think it's important that every application gets seen by a lawyer," Rucker said. "I did ask the Attorney General's Office if they were willing to help us basically until we have funds to hire our own. Now, they don't have any background in charter schools or anything like that, so they did point that out. But they would be happy to at least give us a legal opinion."
Kissel said the board would host public meetings in areas where charter schools would go to solicit public comment. Charter applicants would also have to submit to in-person interviews before the board. The results of both the public meeting and the in-person interviews would be included in a summary report for board members to review before making decisions.
In the case of statewide virtual charter schools, Kissel said it would be ideal to have multiple public meetings around the state and virtual public meetings to provide opportunities for feedback.
A potential lawsuit to block the state's public charter school pilot project and the Hope Scholarship education savings account program could halt action on charter school applications. Public interest law firm Mountain State Justice gave the state a 30-day notice on Aug. 11 of its intent to file a lawsuit to block implementation of both programs.
House Bill 2012, passed by the Legislature in 2021, expanded the maximum number of public charter schools in a three-year period from three to 10 schools, allowed for two statewide virtual charter schools, and county-level virtual charter schools.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.