Amidst Financial Crisis, State Board Of Education Votes To Intervene In Hancock County Schools 

The state’s Board of Education has declared a state of emergency in Hancock County Schools due to the district’s finances. 

Uriah Cummings, school finance officer for the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE), told an emergency meeting of the West Virginia Board of Education Friday that the district has been outspending its budget by millions of dollars for at least two years.

“The county was operating at about 140 positions over formula in both fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 26,” he said. “The cost of operating that many personnel over formula is approximately $10 million in each of those fiscal years.”

The school funding formula determines the cost of providing education based on the cost of resources and allocates funds based on a pre-determined number of staff members. 

In addition to being significantly overstaffed, Cummings reported Hancock County Schools had also undertaken numerous construction projects.

Most he said, were related to sports, “…including a turf lease that they now have obligations to pay those debts off annually, as well as the fact that they overspent on a construction project that was going on at Weir High by almost a little over a million dollars.”

“All of those lead to about an increase of approximately $8 million in expenditures from (fiscal year) 24 to (fiscal year) 25,” Cummings said.

Cummings said the financial mismanagement led to the district almost missing payroll in September and reaching out to WVDE for assistance.

“I believe we were three or four days out from them making a payroll which would not be enough time for us to do any sort of advance of state aid in order for them to meet that payroll,” he said. 

Cummings reported that Hancock County Schools ultimately shifted funds from their career and technical education program to cover payroll. A press release from the WVDE said the department is considering approval of an advancement of the county’s school aid formula.

Board president Paul Hardesty spoke directly to Hancock Schools employees after hearing WVDE’s findings.

“I’ve had a lot of people contact me where the employees are scared to death that they’re not going to receive their pay,” Hardesty said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. They will receive their pay. We have to pay them. We will find a way to pay them.”

Hardesty identified the use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds – emergency federal relief funds used to address the impact of COVID-19 on schools – to fund permanent positions as part of the district’s financial issues.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Hancock County and the malfeasance of the administration is a direct reflection on what has happened with regards to people that continue to use ESSER funding when ESSER funding had run out. I don’t know any other way to put it,” he said.

The board voted to declare a state of emergency and fire the Hancock County Schools superintendent and assistant superintendent. 

State Superintendent of Schools Michele L. Blatt appointed Walter Saunders as the Hancock County Superintendent of Schools.

Saunders has served as the director of Federal Programs and Assessment for Ohio County Schools for the past 10 years. He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics education from West Liberty University and a graduate degree in educational leadership from West Virginia University. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a role he served before his education career which includes experience as a classroom teacher, assistant principal and principal.

Saunders’ new appointment begins at the close of business Friday.