As School Starts, School Vaccines Still Undecided; Good News Out On Test Scores

The latest development in the state’s school vaccine debate is putting charter schools at odds with the state Board of Education. 

The West Virginia Board of Education (BOE) voted at its monthly meeting Wednesday to send a letter to the Professional Charter School Board (PCSB), asking it to comply with existing state vaccine laws. 

The PCSB announced at its meeting Aug. 7 that it will advise schools to follow Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s executive order and accept religious and philosophical vaccine exemptions certified by the state Board of Health.

The PCSB is separate from the West Virginia Department of Education (DOE) but it, and the charter schools it authorizes, are subject to the general supervision of the BOE. However, the organization’s website states that supervision is “solely for the purposes of accountability for meeting the standards for student performance required of other public school students in West Virginia.”

The BOE has spent months this summer in a political tug of war over vaccine requirements with the governor who issued an executive order to allow religious and philosophical exemptions to the state’s school vaccination requirements as one of his first actions in office.

A bill to add exemptions to state code failed to pass the state legislature this year, but Morrisey has maintained his executive order is valid. 

The BOE voted unanimously in June to direct Superintendent Michele Blatt to advise schools to follow current vaccination guidelines without religious exemption. Shortly after, Morrisey publicly expressed support for a Raleigh County mother suing the state Board of Education over school vaccine policies. In July, the suit resulted in a court ruling that Raleigh County schools must accept vaccine exemptions while the case is decided.

At the start of Wednesday’s meeting, board president Paul Hardesty took issue with Morrisey calling board members “unelected bureaucrats” and said they were simply adhering to state law.

“We are appointed by a governor,” Hardesty said. “We are confirmed through the advice and consent of the Senate, two branches of government, a checks and balances system that vets each one of us before we take these seats.”

Hardesty expressed dismay for West Virginia families that the issue had not been resolved in time for the start of the new school year this week. He said the question of vaccine requirements is now in the court’s hands and the board will comply with its decision.

“Who’s right, who’s wrong? I don’t know, ladies and gentlemen, I really don’t at this point, but I can tell you this with 100% certainty, the chief executive does not have the right or the ability to perform the judicial branch of government’s function,” Hardesty said. “Let’s be professional. Let’s stop the name calling and let the proper branch of government decide the issue.”

State Student Assessment Results

The BOE also received results from the 2024-2025 student assessments, including the West Virginia General Summative Assessment (WVGSA) for Grades 3-8, the SAT School Day for Grade 11, and the West Virginia Alternative Summative Assessment for Grades 3-8 and 11. They show 48 of the 55 counties improved in mathematics and 52 counties improved in English language arts.

Vaughn Rhudy, director of assessments for the DOE, said the results show some improvement in every content area across the board.

“When you look at all of the results altogether, we did not see any decreases, except for that one percentage point in grade three,” he said.

Rhudy said the dip in grade three is coming on the heels of a major gain the year before.

“I want to point out that last year we saw a big jump, from (2023) up to (2024) of about six percentage points,” he said. “So even though we’re at 45 percentage points this year in grade three, and that’s a one percentage point drop, we’re still five percentage points ahead of where we were in 2023.”

A more detailed breakdown of the test results can be found on the DOE’s data portal WV Zoom.