CHARLESTON — A couple of programs related to “school choice” policies could call for millions of dollars more in state spending in the coming year.
The state treasurer has told legislators that an additional $27 million will be necessary for the Hope Scholarship program, which provides financial support for students pursuing their education outside the public school system. The additional money is necessary because more students are lining up for the program than estimates had indicated.
And Gov. Jim Justice has advocated for $5 million in seed money to help charter schools with startup costs. Charter schools are considered public schools, but they are provided more flexibility in exchange for the risk that they could lose their charter if they fail.
Sen. Patricia Rucker, chair of that chamber’s School Choice Committee, said the money is justified.
“It’s not that we are asking for more money for the Hope Scholarship. Education gets funded automatically by the state of West Virginia. The students that choose to pursue the Hope Scholarship, the amount of money is the same education dollars, but it’s just following the students to where they’re getting that education,” said Rucker, R-Jefferson.
“So it looks like we’re appropriating money to that, but that’s because it’s part of the process and the way we wrote that language. It is part of the education funding.”
On the seed money for charter schools, the Legislature passed a bill last year to establish a fund for newly authorized schools that face startup costs, such as acquiring or renovating property, but it has not been funded to this point.
“So when you open up a new school, it’s going to take a little bit of money,” Rucker said. “And currently there is no money for facilities at all for charter schools, so this would help the charter schools with startup costs and it would be reasonable to put some funding in there for that.”
James Paul, the executive director of the West Virginia Professional Charter Schools Board, has pitched appropriating the startup fund. He spoke last week to the Senate School Choice Committee.
“One of the biggest financial challenges for starting a new charter school is that there’s no state support specifically for startup funding for those summer months before you open,” Paul told senators. “To start a new school is quite an entrepreneurial venture and to not have startup money before the fall is a real challenge.”
He asked for legislative help with start-up funding and funds for facilities. “The Legislature could put money into this fund, which currently has nothing so that my board can administer it appropriately to eligible applicants,” Paul said.
The Hope Scholarship, which provides support either for students leaving public schools or kindergarteners who start on a track outside the public school system, may need millions of dollars more next year.
During a presentation last week before the Senate Finance Committee, Treasurer Riley Moore said an additional $27 million would be necessary to fund the scholarship for the coming year, bringing the total funding to $54.5 million.
That’s because of increasing demand among students and their families. Moore said scholarships were awarded to 2,300 eligible students in the first year of the program. For the 2023-24 academic year, he said, the office has awarded more than 6,000 scholarships, “more than double the amount of last year.”
“Part of this is, the program continues to grow,” Moore said, “and as it grows, there’s more requirements to fund the program.”
Funding for the Hope Scholarship works as a bit of a dance. The state Department of Education annually produces an estimate for the number of awarded applicants. The Legislature then allocates money from the General Fund. The Treasurer’s Office then manages the funding for scholarship families.
“The appropriation’s based on prior year enrollment, but then each year you have more enrollment,” Moore told senators.
Sen. Ben Queen asked about an estimate of more than 10,000 students enrolled in the program next year. Moore agreed that estimate is realistic and said the highest level of year-over-year growth comes through kindergarteners whose families are choosing not to enter public school in the first place.
Queen, R-Harrison, followed up by asking about the program opening up to all students outside the public school system by 2026-27. In other words, students who have already been enrolled in private school or homeschool would be eligible no matter how long they had been outside the public school system. The Legislature will have to make budget plans for that next year.
“We are on track,” responded Moore, who said the cost estimate for that scenario is $134,519,707 annually if every eligible student drew down scholarship dollars.
