Revised October 9, 2025
West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty recently discussed school funding and related issues in remarks made to the state Board of Education at its October 2, 2025, regular meeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWxLwFigv54
Over the last several years, West Virginia’s persistent declines in student enrollments has been discussed in various ways, various formats and with various conclusions as to “causes” for declines in student enrollments and the aftermath of such when viewed within context of the state’s Public School Support Program - https://code.wvlegislature.gov/18-9A/ et seq. - as well lawmakers’ pronounced emphasis on educational choice – a point the WVBE President makes.
For more information regarding West Virginia student enrollment projections, please refer to the following studies the West Virginia School Board Association has conducted, including an inaugural study commissioned in 2012 and a follow up study presented to county boards of education members in 2020, and a “parallel” study conducted by the WVBE in 2014 for its Commission on School District Governance and Administration. Additional research has been conducted by the Bureau of Business & Economic Research / West Virginia University College of Business and Economics (2021).
Also refer to:
§ https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_CGA/coe_cga_2014_05.pdf
§ https://www.future-ed.org/k-12-public-school-enrollment-declines-explained/
§ https://reason.org/commentary/latest-k-12-public-school-enrollment-data-trends/
§ https://wvmetronews.com/2025/10/07/supporting-pubic-education-is-not-an-attack-on-school-choice/
§ https://wvmetronews.com/2025/10/02/looking-deeper-than-school-choice-and-the-funding-formula/
Contact West Virginia School Board Association (WVSBA) Executive Director Howard M. O’Cull, Ed.D. for more information – hocull@wvsba.org
West Virginia School Board Association October 6, 2025 / Revised October 9, 2025