Board Of Education Reviews Draft School Funding Legislation And, Agrees Current System Is Inadequate

State educational leaders are taking action on school funding issues.  

The West Virginia Board of Education got its first look Wednesday at the Department of Education’s proposal to update school funding in West Virginia.  

State Superintendent Michele Blatt says the draft document was only completed Tuesday, and is intended to be a working document to take on feedback before the start of the legislative session in January.  

“What would it look like to put together a comprehensive piece of legislation that addressed all of the concerns, needs, accountability requirements, fiscally responsible kind of requirements in there for some of our smaller counties, our rural, our poverty, special ed, all those components.,” she said. “If we put that into one draft piece of legislation, then the idea was that we would have a document that we could work on from there with all the various stakeholders and groups.” 

Uriah Cummings, school financial operations officer for the Department, presented the particulars of the draft legislation. He told the board that enrollment in West Virginia public schools has dropped by roughly 50,000 students over the past decade, significantly hampering school districts in a funding system based primarily on enrollment.  

“One of the highlights of proposed legislation here would encompass a smoothing methodology that would take a three-year average of the school district, their enrollment, and would look to the higher of that three-year average in comparison than most recent years net enrollment,” Cummings said. “The higher of those two numbers would be what the state aid funding formula would be-that base funding amount that would drive funding for the students of that individual school district.”   

Cummings told the House Education Committee in May that the number of students in special education has risen 16% over the past 10 years, even as overall enrollment has declined 14%. He said in Fiscal Year 2025, $560 million dollars were spent on special education in West Virginia, almost a quarter of the state’s appropriation for public education that year. State and federal funds only covered $380 million – about two thirds of that amount – leaving a $180 million shortfall for local districts to cover.   

A report analyzing the school aid funding formula produced by RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization at the request of the West Virginia Legislature and Department of Education recommended the state implement a weight for special education students and impoverished students. 

“That’s what this proposed legislation does,” Cummings said. “This measure in itself would apply a weight of a half FTE (full time employee) for level one students, in which we have over 46,000 of in the state of West Virginia, a weight of one FTE for level two students, in which we have over three 500 of in the state of West Virginia, as well as a weight of two FTE for level three students in which we have over 750 of in the state of West Virginia.” 

Cummings said those considerations should provide roughly $190 million for special education students across all school districts.  

He also singled out funding for operational employees like district treasurers that are required by code, as well as for English learners. 

“Currently, there’s only $96,000 within our formula provided to be able to support those students,” Cummings said. “If you divide the $96,000 amongst the 2,500 English learners in our in our state equates to like $40 per kid.” 

The draft legislation was also sent to Gov. Patrick Morrisey and legislative leaders including the chairs of both finance committees. 

The board and department are both named in a lawsuit brought by a Lincoln County student with the help of ACLU-WV that claims the state’s persistent underfunding of public schools violates the state constitution. Near the end of the meeting, the board voted on its position in the suit. 

“I move that the board direct our council to advance the board’s position in that case, and that the school funding formula, as it stands, is inadequate and does not provide a thorough and efficient system of education to the students in the public schools in our state,” Scott Rotruck, board secretary said reading the motion. 

The board voted to approve Rotruck’s motion 7-1, with one member absent, citing in part their intention to support the superintendent’s proposed reforms to the funding formula.  

The next West Virginia Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Dec. 9. The board previously announced in August they would be meeting every other month temporarily.