Statistics: Lawmakers obligated to tackle school funding, enrollment loss
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Worried about local school closures and consolidations? How about the Hope Scholarship, or development of a fair school funding formula?
It's all tied to an alarming trend in West Virginia that has resulted in an 18.3% drop in student enrollment in our public schools since 2015. There has been a decrease of 50,765 public school students over 11 years. In fact, there has been a 3.5% decrease (8,270 students) over the past year alone, according to West Virginia Department of Education data.
That is not purely a reflection of the overall population trend here.
In 2015, there were 1,843,332 West Virginians, according to World Population Review. In 2026, the population is estimated at 1,764,892. We have lost 78,440 residents, or nearly 4.3% of our population over that time.
It may be that a higher percentage of those leaving the state are younger people, who are choosing to move their families (or start them) somewhere else, rather than raise a family here. And, of course, one of the quality-of-life factors that helps young families decide where to put down roots is the quality of the education system.
It's easy to see how a vicious cycle gains momentum, in that case.
Add the hit our public schools have taken as a result of an unchecked Hope Scholarship program (more than 25,000 students are participating in the 2026-27 school year), and it's also easy to see why public school administrators are becoming desperate for lawmakers to uphold their responsibility to reform school funding in a way that meets the constitutional mandate for a "thorough and efficient" public school system.
Lawmakers will get at least one idea for a solution in the upcoming legislative session.
"There have been a lot of discussions over the past two to three years on the various pieces of the school aid funding formula," said State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt. "We started discussing with Uriah Cummings, our finance officer, what would it look like to put together a comprehensive piece of legislation that addressed all of the concerns, needs, accountability requirements, fiscally responsible kind of requirements in there for some of our smaller counties, our rural, our poverty, special (education) and all those components."
Lawmakers must not ignore this proposal (even if it is not perfect, it MUST start a discussion that results in reform), nor must they fail to put some restraints on the Hope Scholarship program. Further, whoever ends up in Charleston this winter must be determined to stay focused on what really matters to West Virginians desperate for an expanded and diversified economy that brings them actual hope, and helps improve quality of life enough that they -- and their children -- can stay.