West Virginia
U.S.
Rank
- Opportunity
- Innovation
- Policy Environment
The country’s newest charter school law is the equivalent of a big “do not disturb” sign, and unlikely to yield much fruit for students traditionally plagued by failing schools for most students.
Law passed: 2019
Most recently amended: N/A
Number of charter schools: No charter schools yet: The first schools will not open until Fall 2021 at the earliest
Number of charter students: 0
Cap on the number of schools allowed:? Yes. Three pilot charters only until 2023. An additional three schools can be authorized every three years, beginning July 2023.
Virtual charters allowed? No
AUTHORIZERS: County school boards, two or more county school boards in partnership, and the West Virginia Board of Education if the district in which the charter plans to operate has had board authority limited by the the State Board of Education, or if the local board asks the State Board of Education to serve in an authorizer role.
There is no appeals process for denied applications.
GROWTH: The likelihood of charters opening and growing given the cap is very small. Three are permitted over the next three years, and after that only one a year for three years. It’s a disincentive to applicants.
OPERATIONS: Charter schools receive some limited freedoms but rather than be open to all, they are required to designate a primary recruitment area in their application. They are permitted to establish enrollment preferences for children within the primary recruitment area, students enrolled in the school the previous year and siblings of currently enrolled students, students with special needs, and children of governing board members and employee and they are encouraged to specialize their focus on students with special needs including at-risk students, English language learners, students with severe disciplinary problems, or students involved in the juvenile justice system.
EQUITY: The law stipulates that 90 percent of the per pupil basic foundation funding follows the student to the charter school, based on the net enrollment for the previous school year. The state board must determine which school district is required to transfer funding to pay for student attendance. The state education agency is required to ensure that federal funds follow the student to charter schools.
There is no direct funding for facilities, but county boards of education are required to make unused facilities available to charter schools for use. The county board may not charge over market value for the lease, but may charge less than market value.
There are no choice programs in this state.
Links teacher evaluation to professional development policies…”that specifically targets the area(s) identified for professional growth.”; but does not have any policies in place that support performance pay.
In 2017, West Virginia passed legislation creating the Virtual Instruction Program Policy, which allows full time virtual learning options for students in the state, differing between counties. The state also receives grant money for online learning from the US Department of Education funded E-Learning for Educators Initiative. More information found here.
The West Virginia Virtual School opened in 2000, and is a supplementary program for West Virginia students. Students in public, private, and homeschool can enroll in online courses ranging from core content, credit recovery, technology, and world languages. There are approximately 6,000 students enrolled in courses.
Bandwidth: “100% of students in West Virginia can access the Internet at speeds of 100 kbps per student, and many students are connected at higher speeds.”
Well not entirely intended for personalized learning there is hope under the Innovation in Education Act, which gives public schools an opportunity to become Innovation in Education schools and gain autonomy and flexibility in shaping their learning environments, teaching strategies, curriculum and school structure around the student and their interests. Innovation in Education schools focus their core curriculum on five areas: STEM; community school partnership; entrepreneurship; career pathways; and art. In 2019, they amended the act to add mastery-based learning as one of the core areas, so students could advance based on content mastery, not seat time.
On March 16, schools were closed for the remainder of the school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 15, the West Virginia Remote Learning Framework for the COVID-19 Emergency was released by the WDOE. Instead of ensuring that all students had access to devices and the internet, the state wrote “Keep in mind that many families have limited, if any, data or internet and one device that must be shared among multiple people. To ensure equal access, educators can provide activities that do not require internet access”. With little regard for good remote learning, educators of elementary students were counseled to make regular contact once a week minimally through handwritten letters, email, local news, phones, etc. “Focus on children’s progress and learning, not assignment completion and due dates. Being flexible. Keep in mind that children may have other familial responsibilities to prioritize or may have limited access to resources. This process may include documentation of learning and giving feedback rather than assigning grades.”
For high school teachers, the state ed officials said that “the combined daily instructional task(s) for students in grades 6-12 not exceed 2-3 hours a day in total.”
Resources were provided, though minimal. https://wvde.us/covid19/
Reopening guidelines for the 2020-21 school year were more thorough, but varied by region of the state. Regions with high rates of the coronavirus were not permitted to reopen for in-person instruction. Transmission rates are reviewed weekly to determine when schools can reopen. The school year began September 8 for students, whether in person or virtually. https://wvde.us/school-system-re-entry/
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Jim Justice (R)
1st Term (Term Began in 2019)
Governor Jim Justice is a colorful personality who switched from Democrat to Republican at an event on stage with President Trump in August 2017. He supports charter schools, but not enough to guarantee that the state would adopt a law that would truly provide families the power they need to dig out of the majority of failing schools in the state. So while he signed West Virginia’s first charter school bill into law in 2019 it is one of the nation’s worst.
Both chambers are Republican-controlled and heavily influenced by union representatives who opposed the bill. They failed to pass an ESA bill in 2019, which would have been the first private choice program in the state. We’re hoping their ability to finally pass a charter law emboldens them to do more to give West Virginia families expanded choices in education.
“West Virginia does not have a Blaine Amendment, but it does have a Compelled Support Clause. The West Virginia Supreme Court has generally interpreted its Compelled Support Clause in a parallel fashion to the First Amendment, and there is no indication in its case law that it would not uphold a state voucher program.”
https://ij.org/report/school-choice-and-state-constitutions/west-virginia/
School report cards are easily accessible by clicking the Education Data tab on the main page of the West Virginia Department of Education website. Report cards are easy to understand and navigate by school districts, including a “scorecard explained” tab which is helpful for parents.
Educational options are not easily accessible.
School board elections are not held during the general election cycle, which usually means lower voter turnout.