(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Most of us can identify with being so focused on trying to keep up with a rapid onslaught of changes and challenges that we fail to react in time to what seems like a less pressing challenge looming in the background. But that’s exactly what West Virginia’s public school officials are now facing, as they try to catch up to the damage done by dwindling enrollment — fueled in part by a growing slate of other school options.

Public charter schools and statewide virtual charter schools, private and parochial schools, home schooling with micro schools and learning pods, and the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program are drawing away students AND precious funding. They have been for years.

The “I Love West Virginia Public Schools” campaign is a reminder that 90% of students are still educated in public schools. And those schools are vital pillars of our communities.

“Despite the narrative out there, we have programs that have shown exponential, undeniable growth over the past five years,” said Jackson County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook, president of the West Virginia Association of School Administrators. “But our mission is distinct. We are tasked with educating all students. And we need to explain to the public exactly what that looks like. We must continue to value, support and grow what is already working.”

Hosaflook’s point was an important one. Public schools are required NOT to pick and choose which students they will educate — and rightly so.

That means special education students make up an increasing percentage of the total student population in public schools, from 20% to more than 25% over the past ten years. That has led to a $224 million deficit in special education funding.

“We don’t close our doors to a child because they have special needs, because they are experiencing poverty, or because they are dealing with trauma. We welcome them,” Hosaflook said.

If they’re doing their jobs, lawmakers will be making some hard decisions about school funding soon. It will be real work for them. They must do that work knowing their constituents DO love our public schools and want their lawmakers to fight for them, rather than work against them.

“Every day, our public schools prepare the next generation of leaders, innovators, skilled workers, and engaged citizens,” said Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell. “They are places where opportunities are created, challenges are overcome, and futures are shaped. That is a story worth telling and one we must continue telling together.”

Voters who understand that may need to remind their elected officials: It is also a story that deserves a strong next chapter.