Adam Kissel

CHARLESTON — Nearly two years after Republican lawmakers approved a pilot program, the first public charter schools in West Virginia were approved Wednesday while a lawsuit attempting to halt the program is pending.

The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board met Wednesday morning and approved all three applications for brick-and-mortar public charter schools, while action on as many as two out of three virtual charter school applications was delayed.

“All six of the applications that we may be discussing today were high quality and showed a lot of thought and concern,” said Adam Kissel, chairman and acting executive director of the Professional Charter School Board. “This is a great day for the children of West Virginia.”

Board members have until the end of November to approve or deny the applications, otherwise the applications would be considered automatically approved. State code set Aug. 31 as the annual deadline to submit charter school applications and the board has 90 days from the time they receive an application to approve or deny.

Six applicants applied for the pilot program, including three brick-and-mortar public charter schools: Nitro Preparatory Academy in Kanawha County, Panhandle Preparatory Academy in Jefferson County and West Virginia Academy in Monongalia County. All three programs were approved by the board.

“Those applications … I was very impressed with the amount of time that each applicant spent and the thought,” said board member Dewayne Duncan. “You can just really tell they are prepared, excited, and ready to what’s right for West Virginia students. I applaud each and every applicant.”

Statewide virtual charter school applicants were Preparatory Academy of West Virginia, West Virginia Connections Academy, and Mountain State Learning Solutions. Board members will have to choose no more than two out of the three applicants, but a decision was delayed until next week to allow an absent board member, Brian Helton, to participate.

The Professional Charter School Board held several public hearings across the state and virtually to seek public input regarding the charter school applicants. State law requires the board to send each applicant a “detailed analysis” of their applications.

The state’s public charter school pilot program was created in 2019 by House Bill 206, an education omnibus that came to be in a special session after lawmakers in the House of Delegates and state Senate came to blows over an earlier education reform bill that failed.

The only attempt in 2020 to start a public charter school, the West Virginia Academy that planned to serve students in Monongalia and Preston counties, failed after the school boards in those two counties rejected their application. A lawsuit brought by the academy against the state Board of Education also failed.

Lawmakers went back to the drawing board and passed House Bill 2012 in 2021. The bill expanded the maximum number of public charter schools in a three-year period from three to 10 schools, allows for two statewide virtual charter schools with an enrollment cap of 5 percent of statewide headcount enrollment each school year, and allows for county virtual charter schools with an enrollment cap of 10 percent of total county public school enrollment.

HB 2012 also created the Professional Charter School Board as one of four authorizers for charter school applications along with a county board of education, two county boards of education, and the state Board of Education under certain circumstances. Gov. Jim Justice appointed members to the new board in July, with the board holding its first meeting Aug. 18.

The board received seven charter school applications by the Aug. 31 deadline. Shepherd Aviation Academy, a proposed charter school for Jefferson and Berkeley counties focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, withdrew its application.

Non-voting board member Patricia Rucker, a Jefferson County Republican and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said she hopes the academy will re-submit its application for next year. She cited a recent lawsuit for scaring off the applicants.

“I am really looking forward to seeing them reapply at some future date,” Rucker said. “I think they’re making certain the have the very best application that they can put forward. I think it’s going to be an exciting thing for West Virginia and for the Eastern Panhandle to see them launch their charter school sometime in the future. It is unfortunate that because of some potential legal actions, we may be delaying opportunities for our kids in West Virginia.”

Two parents and teachers filed suit in Kanawha County Circuit Court against the law last month, challenging the legality of charters to form in counties without approval of either voters or elected county boards of education. The West Virginia Constitution prohibits the creation of independent school districts in a county without a majority vote of county residents.

Sam Brunett and Robert McCloud, both leaders in the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, are asking the court to allow for county residents to vote for proposed charter schools, block the Professional Charter School Board from approving charter schools, and declare the charter school law unconstitutional. They’re represented by public interest law firm Mountain State Justice.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com