On average, West Virginia high schools graduate 99% of their students. Yet, our literacy rates are among the worst in the nation and have been for many years. This is a clear disconnect that demands answers.
Since 2020, West Virginia has received over $1.2 billion in federal relief funding. We have little to show for it. Our most recent performance on the Nation’s Report Card was deeply concerning. Despite early warnings from the federal government not to spend COVID relief money on salaries – the funding was guaranteed to sunset – only seven West Virginia districts heeded that warning. Now, with those federal dollars gone, local taxpayers are being asked to pick up the tab for positions that never should have been created with short-term money.
Even worse, multiple districts have come under investigation for fraud and financial misconduct. District officials checked themselves into the Stonewall Resort, a four-star hotel in Roanoke, WV, awarded themselves bonuses, and used the funds for unallowable athletic and band expenses, all triggering a federal investigation. Not to mention that Nicholas, Tyler, and Mingo counties are all currently under a state takeover due to governance and transparency issues.
Meanwhile, headlines obsess over Hope Scholarship restrictions, fixating on what families are not allowed to spend education savings account (the technical term for the Hope Scholarship) money on. Never mind that many of the items are items that public school districts purchase with regularity, yet have been used to generate outrage or discomfort with Hope. Public schools have kitchen equipment for culinary courses, rugs and bean bag chairs for ‘wellness spaces,’ and even therapy dogs. What do these things cost? Do we ever think to question it? What about athletic equipment? High school sports, cherished as they are, still come at great expense to the taxpayer, while our 11th-grade mathematics proficiency is 18%. You read that correctly – fewer than one-in-five students are proficient in mathematics in this state.
Millions in federal education dollars were wasted by public school districts, but the only coverage we see – a few hundred dollars in rejected Hope Scholarship expenses that were appropriately rejected by the Treasurer’s Office.
Why?
There is a scandal happening, but it’s not the Hope Scholarship, and the news media isn’t asking the right questions. Why are students graduating when they can’t read at grade level? Why is West Virginia’s academic performance so low despite increased funding? Why do we have counties that have been taken over by the state? Why is Hope held to a higher standard than the system that has failed for decades?
Media outlets must take a more critical look at public education and begin asking questions that matter. While fantastical headlines are great for clicks, they do little to accurately inform readers, families, and taxpayers about the slow-motion crisis that’s befallen West Virginia’s students over the last several decades. We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of students in our great state to ask the right questions and get the real answers. Until then, we are falling short.
