Education: Wasting funds on indoctrination
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"Fraud, waste and abuse," was the mantra for so many who rode into Charleston proclaiming their desire to do better for West Virginia taxpayers and eliminate the agenda-based spending and indoctrination of which they were accusing those across the aisle.
Meanwhile, over the two years leading up to its opening, those same lawmakers have allocated $3 million to the "Washington Center for Civics, Culture and Statesmanship" they mandated at West Virginia University, according to a report by West Virginia Watch. Among the items being funded is the $300,000 annual salary for the center's director, Patrick Lee Miller, who was appointed because "Dr. Miller and the Washington Center are going to push back on the woke ideology that has infected our schools and help return higher education to its true purpose," according to Gov. Patrick Morrisey last year.
Fighting alleged indoctrination with more indoctrination, then, proposed course offerings for the center Miller directs have included "Woke," "Nation and Migration," and "The New Right," according to West Virginia Watch.
There are eighteen Washington Center courses on the Fall 2026 semester course listings. ONE -- yes, one -- student has signed up for three of them.
"I felt it was really creating more of a political statement," state Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, told West Virginia Watch. "To me, it's not the legislators' jobs to be mandating those things, and maybe putting one university at risk, because now they're gonna have to continue to fund this."
If this isn't waste, abuse and agenda-driven spending of taxpayer dollars, it's hard to imagine what is.
"I do think that it's important for the Legislature and for the governor to reflect on this ... there is a question about whether or not this is the best use of public funds," Erik Herron, professor of political science at WVU, told West Virginia Watch. "I think the Washington Center, ironically, seems to be exactly what it complains that higher education has become. It was created in Charleston, and it was imposed on the university, so it's a big government mandate."
Some lawmakers have suggested the solution is to ensure Washington Center classes are required for some majors -- forcing students to take courses nearly all of them demonstrated they have no desire to take on their own.
When it takes that level of meddling to achieve the results for which lawmakers had hoped, it's time for reflection.
For one student, taking three of the 18 available courses at the center, taxpayers are forced to pay for Miller AND the faculty that was hired. This immediately after heavy pressure caused the university to cut 28 academic majors and hundreds of jobs to make up for a $45 million budget shortfall.
That's not good for students, it's not good for WVU, it's not good for taxpayers, and -- given the mess they've made -- it's not good for lawmakers, either.
George Washington said "it is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes."
Lawmakers avoided their chance at the former. They'd better start working on the latter.