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Updated: June 14, 2025 @ 2:25 pm
State Treasurer Larry Pack is seen in this January 2024 file photo. Pack, then-interim revenue secretary, reviewed a proposed budget with the Senate Finance Committee.
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State Treasurer Larry Pack is seen in this January 2024 file photo. Pack, then-interim revenue secretary, reviewed a proposed budget with the Senate Finance Committee.
HUNTINGTON — As the deadline for homeschooled and private students to receive the Hope Scholarship’s full funding comes to a close Sunday, West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack has encouraged parents to enroll.
In a news release Thursday, Pack said, ”I am encouraging families to apply online by June 15 to receive the full funding amount for the upcoming school year. My Office is excited to welcome new students to the program, and we expect the number of participants to increase this fall.”
Although Sunday is the deadline to apply for 100% of the Hope Scholarship, portions of the award amount may be given out depending on when a child is registered. More information on participating in the Hope Scholarship may be found at hopescholarshipwv.gov.
According to data provided by Pack’s office, participation in the Hope Scholarship grew from 5,443 students during the 2023-24 school year to more than 10,000 during the 2024-25 school year. The data showed there are also currently 263 students participating in non-public and microschools, and there are 850 non-public school providers within the program.
In order to qualify for the Hope Scholarship, students must have been enrolled full-time in a public elementary or secondary school program for the entire academic year immediately preceding the student’s application to receive full-funding for a new school year. If applying to enroll during the academic year, a student must be enrolled full-time for 45 days during the instruction time of the application and remain enrolled until a decision is reached.
Angela Blankenship, executive secretary of student support, said in an email Friday there are currently 622 Hope scholarship participants in Cabell County who were formerly enrolled in public school. She said 152 of those students have enrolled since March 1.
Blankenship said last year, within the first two years of the Hope Scholarship, Cabell County Schools lost 118 kindergarten students, mainly to private schools. In October 2023, she said the county had 235 Hope applicants, and in February 2024, she said there were 370.
By June 2024, she said 489 notices of intent for the Hope Scholarship were processed through Cabell County Schools.
As enrollment in public schools in West Virginia decreases — with at least 2,000 fewer students in Cabell County alone in the past decade — and funding for public schools decreases alongside headcount, it remains unclear if the Hope Scholarship is to blame.
A report published by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy in May 2024 showed 53 of the state’s 55 school districts experienced enrollment loss between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. The report also found about 51.9% of enrollment decline statewide was attributable to the Hope Scholarship, varying district to district.
A newer WVCBP report from January, presented by education policy fellow Tamaya Browder during a public forum in Huntington earlier this month, showed almost $17.3 million in taxpayer dollars went to non-public schools during the 2023-24 school year.
Additionally, the report showed $6 million went to unaccredited schools and $1 million went to out-of-state education service providers.
In the meantime, school districts like Cabell County are also losing state funding as a result of having fewer students.
The WVCBP report shows Cabell County Schools lost 150 students between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school year, resulting in an approximate $885,000 reduction in annual state aid, according to the state aid formula.
The Hope Scholarship amount has now increased from $4,488.82 for the 2023-24 school year to $5,267.38 for the 2025-26 school year and is set to expand to all school-aged children in 2026. The scholarship has only been available to West Virginia children who were either entering kindergarten or enrolled in public school for a qualifying period of time.
Browder said in the report, as the scholarship increases, and costs are expected to reach $300 million by 2027, there are no enrollment caps, income limits, public reporting requirements or requirements for schools receiving funding to be based in West Virginia or state-accredited. This limits the ability of oversight by taxpayers.
Upon reaching out to Pack’s office, Assistant Treasurer and Communications Director Carrie Hodousek responded in an email by saying that the main contributors to lower public school enrollment are lower birth rates and people not moving to West Virginia.
According to data provided by Hodousek, enrollment has been declining in West Virginia public schools since before the West Virginia Hope Scholarship launched applications in 2022. Statewide, the number of total births declined by more than 12% from 2015-20, she said in the email using data from the West Virginia Department of Education.
Hodousek also said, as many residents live on the border of the state, “it would make sense a small portion of these dollars would be spent out-of-state. Opponents of the program focus a lot of their energy on this talking point while little scurrility is given to the other hundreds of millions of tax dollars that is spent out-of-state across the varying state agencies and programs.”
Overall, Hodousek said the treasurer’s office disagrees with “the notion that the Hope Scholarship is contributing to the decline of the public school system.”
She said population decline and the absence of COVID-19 dollars are the cause of school districts losing funding.
“At the same time, West Virginia continues to spend more and more dollars to the tune of $2.5 billion on education. To better educational outcomes, we should continue to ensure dollars are flowing directly to student achievement,” Hodousek said.
But Ashley Stephens, director of communications and family engagement for Cabell County Schools, said although she understands that birth rates are dropping, this argument does not “paint the whole picture.”
“In addition to fewer births, we have fewer students who are entering into the school system, so it exacerbates that,” she said. “So it’s the second piece of that puzzle that affects funding.”
Keith Thomas, director of health, wellness and student support services at Cabell County Schools, pointed out that as students enroll in public school for only 45 days to then apply for the Hope Scholarship, the county receives no funding for the time period they’re in school.
Beyond funding, he said, while he believes the Hope Scholarship does have benefits, he also has seen a lack of accountability in how it’s been used by some families since it started.
“I think, intentionally, it does have some really good benefits. There’s some really good homeschool families. There’s some really good private schools out there that really have a great education system behind them,” he said.
“We see kids coming back from the Hope Scholarship … that are two or three grade levels behind or behind in reading. What we’re seeing is it’s a hideaway … for families who are running from legalities such as truancy and discipline within the school system. So you can’t hold families that need to be held accountable, accountable.”
Stephens said, “In a lot of situations … families are able to leverage this opportunity for things that are good for their children, and we respect everybody’s opportunity or every parent’s choice to do that.”
Katelyn Aluise is an education and court reporter.
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