Jul 12, 2025
(A News and Sentinel Op-Ed – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)
With the Hope Scholarship application period underway, we at the Treasurer’s Office expect the number of participating students to increase this fall. Currently, we have about 10,500 students enrolled within the program and expect that number to nearly double for the 2025-2026 school year. That means about 7% of school-aged children in West Virginia will be participating in the program. Nearly 15,000 applied for full funding of the scholarship for the 2025-2026 school year. For those who support options in education, this is huge news. But numbers alone can’t tell the whole story. It is the impact on families that my team and I have seen first-hand that really makes supporting this program worthwhile.
In Williamstown, we met with the executive director of the Wood County Christian School. The school has been around for over 30 years but has seen growth due to the Hope Scholarship. They even have families who have moved from Ohio to take advantage of the program. Anything that entices families to move to our state is a good thing.
In Princeton, we saw the expansion of a school at the Summit Christian Academy. The leadership team there plans to add an elementary school in addition to their already existing 5-12 grade program. What touched our hearts the most was hearing from a grandmother who had enrolled her granddaughter to school. She said she begged the leadership at the Summit Christian Academy to see if her granddaughter could attend and even offered to make payments. But when the principal shared information about the Hope Scholarship, tears flowed from her eyes.
Providing more educational opportunities like this is the foundation of this program. In South Charleston, the first ever micro-school in the Mountain State, Vandalia Community School, is reimagining schooling much differently than the traditional environment to meet the needs of their students. Their staff has focused learning around smaller group settings which help those children flourish, especially for those with dyslexia. This shows when we let innovation rein, we put control back into the hands of families by focusing on individualized learning.
As a father of six children, I know first-hand how important it is for parents to have options when it comes to education. My children all had different needs when they went to school. One size does not fit all. But I can tell you expanding school choice is not enough. We must continue to tailor education towards the child especially for those who remain in the public school system.
That is why as lawmakers discuss potential innovations for our public schools, we must focus those conversations on a few things.
First, we have to deregulate teachers by giving them more control of their classrooms. By removing the restrictions that hold teachers back and allowing them to determine the best way to meet the needs of their students, we can provide greater flexibility that leads to better results for children, as well as our ability to retain and attract new teachers.
Second, we must return authority back to local decision makers. Over the last several decades, government has grown out-of-control, becoming too big and too centralized. President Donald Trump is already doing his part by getting rid of the U.S. Department of Education and sending authority back to the states. At the state level, we must do something similar by pushing control of public schools to our local districts. We must examine the extensive statutory provisions that currently regulate public education and limit the ability of local districts to decide how to best serve students. For years I have heard the term “local control” when it comes to public education, but now is the time for the Legislature to actually make meaningful reforms that permit local districts to make impactful decisions.
If we succeed in steps one and two, then we can focus on education innovation that tailors to the needs of the student. This will further empower parents, educators and students to find the right education for every child. Parents are the primary educators of their children for all things. They should be the ones who are allowed to make choices.
It’s obvious people all over the state have a passion for educating children. It now falls to lawmakers to harness that passion by continuing to free up rules and regulations leading to an education revolution. Because at the end of the day, this is all about ensuring we put students first.
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