Lawmakers Look To Simplify Submission Of School Choice Documents 

Sonya White, deputy state superintendent, told the House Educational Choice Subcommittee Monday afternoon that the Department of Education is proposing the creation of a state Office of School Choice. 

The office would cover the implementation of public charters, home schools, micro schools and learning pods.

“They usually have questions that are unique to them,” White said. “So we would like to have an office that can answer their questions without them, you know, having to ask multiple people.”

White estimated that the new office would cost $500,000 to pay for a manager and four program assistants to work around the state and would require new appropriation from the legislature.

White also gave an update on the creation of an online school choice portal that would allow parents to submit required documentation for homeschooling, including applications, notice of intent and student test scores.

She said the portal should be ready for initial review and testing in the coming days, but the department is already looking ahead to expanding the portal. 

“We are in discussions with the treasurer’s office to, if possible, connect the Hope Scholarship application with the home school application as appropriate, but that’s in the very early stages at this point,” she said.

The portal was originally proposed in House Bill 3422 that passed the House of Delegates last year but ultimately stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. 

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, asked how the portal was advancing if the requisite legislation had failed to pass.

“I went to them over the summer and we discussed it, and they were able to create it outside of legislation,” Subcommittee Chair Del. Kathie Hess Crouse, R-Putnam, said.