In the end, the final argument will always come down for the benefit of students and learning, Eddie Campbell Jr. said Friday.
Campbell, who is superintendent of Monongalia County Schools, was talking about the state’s Hope Scholarship Program, and its funding of alternate forms of education for families that might not have the opportunity otherwise.
The state Supreme Court on Thursday reversed an earlier ruling from a lower court that derailed the measure, which will take state aid dollars and funnel them into the households of qualifying families.
That currently translates to $4,300, which is currently how much the state pays for each student enrolled in a public school across West Virginia’s 55 counties.
Parents will now have the choice to use those dollars for private school, a charter school or home schooling.
A total of 3,000 families had already qualified for the outlay when Kanawha County Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit shut it down – saying the scholarship violated the state’s Constitutional mandate to provide “thorough and efficient system of free schools” for all.
Campbell was pragmatic about the reversal of the reversal Friday.
“That’s a Supreme Court decision,” he said of the 3-2 vote. “It’s just one more option for families.”
It will, however, also ultimately mean money coming out of the local districts.
Over the summer before Tabit’s ruling, around $2 million in state aid funding was set to come out the budget of Mon’s schools as students and their families were considering those aforementioned options.
Some 350 county students at the time had left public school for the West Virginia Academy, the city and state’s first charter school.
Board of Education President L. Paul Hardesty echoed Campbell’s philosophy Friday.
In a statement, he called for “a seamless and timely implementation of the Hope Scholarship Program.”
Which was only part of the directive, he said.
“It is time for the West Virginia Department of Education to focus on the basics,” he said.
“Student achievement,” he added, “with a renewed focus on math, reading, writing and English language arts.”
Look for the advocacy on the other side to continue, though, Tamerlin Godley said.
Godley, who co-founded the outreach firm Public Funds Public Schools, argued against the scholarship before the High Court on Tuesday.
“Our clients and public school parents are right concerned about the negative impact this program – which lacks limits, standards and accountability – will have on their constitutionally guaranteed public education rights.”
In the meantime visit www.hopescholarshipwv.com to learn more about the program’s jump-start in the days ahead.
TWEET@DominionPostWV
