CHARLESTON — Despite a scheduling order from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals last week, which set up possible arguments next year on an appeal of a lower court preliminary injunction that grafted a religious vaccine exemption onto the state’s compulsory immunization law, a hearing on a permanent injunction will continue.

After a telephone conference Monday with attorneys representing families who received a religious vaccine exemption through Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s January executive order and attorneys for the state Board of Education and Raleigh County Board of Education — which support the existing compulsory immunization law — 14th Judicial Circuit Judge Michael Froble denied a motion filed by both parties Friday to stay further proceedings.

Froble scheduled a hearing for Wednesday and Thursday on a permanent injunction for a lawsuit filed in June by Raleigh County parents Miranda Guzman, Amanda Tulley and Carley Hunter to prohibit state and local education officials from enforcing the state’s compulsory immunization law. But attorneys for the Raleigh County parents agreed with attorneys for the state/local education officials that the hearing should be paused.

“Given that all parties in the Guzman matter, including Plaintiffs, see no avenue for statewide relief in this Guzman matter and given that there is a preliminary injunction in place allowing Plaintiffs’ children to attend school, all parties respectfully join in a request to stay this Guzman matter pending a decision from the Supreme Court on Defendants’ appeal,” both parties’ attorneys wrote in their joint expedited motion.

In July, Froble granted a preliminary injunction to block implementation of the compulsory vaccine law without including a religious exemption as required by Morrisey’s Jan. 14 executive order. It also asked the court to declare that the law without a religious exemption violated the Equal Protection for Religion Act.

Froble’s preliminary injunction allows only the parents who are party to the lawsuit to continue to enroll their unvaccinated children in Raleigh County Schools for the school year that began in August. The ruling does not apply to parents in all 55 counties.

The state Supreme Court released a scheduling order last week, placing on its docket an appeal of that preliminary injunction filed in August by the West Virginia Board of Education, State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt, and the Raleigh County Board of Education. However, the Supreme Court declined to grant a motion seeking a stay of permanent injunction proceedings and a motion seeking an expedited review of the case.

The Supreme Court set a Dec. 12 deadline for attorneys for the education officials to perfect the appeal; a Jan. 26, 2026, deadline for attorneys for the parents to file a response; and a Feb. 16, 2026, deadline for school officials to file a reply. Oral arguments could be possible after the Feb. 16 deadline.

State code requires children attending school to show proof of immunization for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella and hepatitis B unless proof of a medical exemption can be shown. A bill to allow for a religious exemption failed during the 2025 legislative session.

While the governor’s office released additional guidance to parents in May on how to seek a religious exemption with the Department of Health, the state Board of Education issued guidance to county school systems to ignore the executive order and continue to follow the existing compulsory immunization law.

Morrisey had a bill introduced during the 2025 legislative session on his behalf that would have codified a religious and philosophical vaccine exemption in state code. It passed the state Senate, but an amended version of the bill in the House of Delegates was defeated in a narrow vote. West Virginia’s compulsory immunization law has been on the books since the 1930s.

According to the state Department of Health, which grants religious exemptions for parents and guardians, more than 500 religious exemptions have been granted for this school year.

With Froble’s permanent injunction hearing still scheduled, the state Board of Education canceled its regular monthly meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Charleston.

At the end of August, Froble also granted motions to consolidate a Kanawha County case challenging Morrisey’s religious exemption executive order with the Raleigh County case.