(Reporter's Notebook by Steven Allen Adams - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

The West Virginia Constitution states that “the Legislature shall provide, by general law, for a thorough and efficient system of free schools.”

The education article in the state Constitution can cause some headaches, but it does serve as a firewall to ensure the state doesn’t go raiding dollars meant for education, and that all children have access to education. It helps give every student an equal footing and equality of opportunity.

But over the last few years there has been a movement by many on the right to focus on school choice, which is sort of a misnomer. Parents in the state have always had the choice to either enroll their children in public school, private schools or religious schools or to home school their children. But choice is not the same thing as ability. Private schooling is costly, and home schooling is time-intensive and involves someone staying at home with the children.

Lawmakers decided a few years ago to create a public charter school pilot project, allowing for a limited number of charter schools free from most state and county regulations. Charters allow for new and innovative approaches to education and can focus on students with additional educational needs.

The first version of the charter school pilot program allowed groups to apply to their county board of education to create a public charter school, which would be considered part of the public school system and receive state per-pupil funding and a certain amount of county funding/support, but free it from county oversight. But the first attempt to go through this process resulted in two counties saying no to a proposed charter.

So, the Legislature went back to the drawing board and created the Professional Charter School Board as a charter school authorizer, allowing those interested in creating public charter schools a way to skip seeking the approval of county boards of education. Every public charter school since has been approved by the PCSB.

There are now three physical public charter schools, two statewide virtual public charter schools, three other public charter schools slated to open in the fall of 2024 and two public charter school applicants awaiting approval by the PCSB in November. The physical charters currently open serve students in Berkeley, Kanawha, Monongalia and Preston counties.

Public charters can be funded several ways, but by law they cannot charge tuition. Part of their funding comes from the state school aid formula, with 99% of the per-pupil total basic foundation allowance following the student from a public school to a public charter school.

While the public school system would retain part of the funding, most of it would go with the student as they transfer to the charter. That means less funding in the regular public school system and hard choices, such as reducing the number of teachers and staff, cutting services or seeking tax increases in the forms of levies or bonds.

But that doesn’t seem to be enough for the PCSB. They want public charter schools to be able to receive funding through the Hope Scholarship, another tool created by the Legislature to give parents access to funding for school choice options.

The Hope Scholarship educational saving account and voucher program, managed by the State Treasurer’s Office, gives parents the option to use a portion, $4,300, of their per-pupil expenditure from the state school aid formula for educational expenses, such as private or religious school tuition, home school, tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses.

While the state Department of Education does not believe state law allows charters to participate in the Hope Scholarship as educational service providers and be able to get Hope dollars for specialty services they can charge for, attorneys for the State Treasurer believe they can and will accept public charters as educational service providers if they apply to participate.

Of course, the Hope Scholarship also impacts funding for public schools because public school funding from the state is based on enrollment. If students leave the public school system to take advantage of the Hope Scholarship for private options or home schooling, then county school systems receive less funding.

To make matters further unpredictable for county school system budgets, State Treasurer Riley Moore wants to do away with the Hope Scholarship application deadlines and accept and approve Hope Scholarship requests all year long. It makes it hard to budget for your local school system if you can’t count on a consistent number of students.

Unions representing teachers and school service personnel have argued the last several years that the public charter school pilot program and the Hope Scholarship are ways to divert taxpayer dollars away from the traditional public school system. I used to dismiss this argument, but I think one can make a case that they could be correct.

To show my biases, I have no issues with public charter schools even though I also don’t think they are a silver bullet to West Virginia’s educational attainment issues. I also don’t have an issue right off with a voucher program that allows parents to use the portion of tax dollars set aside for their child.

But our legislators also need to remember they are required by the state Constitution to provide a “thorough and efficient system of free schools.” And at some point, parents with children in public schools are going to begin to notice when their school systems begin to suffer due to lack of funding. Lawmakers need to find a way to access school choice AND keep public schools strong. It’s not an either-or situation.

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