The deadline for the legislature’s school funding bill has passed; Additional staffing cuts announced for WV teachers and staff

Cate Phillips, whose children attend public school in St. Albans, can see how tighter school budgets have impacted her children’s education, such as fewer field trips and extracurricular activities.

School funding in West Virginia is tied to student enrollment. While the number of students has declined, districts are struggling with shrinking budgets. Advance layoffs and school closures. Nineteen school closures and consolidations were suggested in the 2025-2026 school year.

Members of the Republican supermajority introduced several bills Update the school funding formula, including increasing funding for high-priced special education services. When they announced their decision in March, none of these measures made it to the governor’s desk; The last evening the clock ran out on one of the bills.

Phillips, 41, said current funding for public schools is “not sustainable.” She questioned the lawmakers’ priorities.

“How many of them are in the seats they hold today because of public education, and you are pulling up the ladder behind you in the name of your party loyalty?” she asked. “Are you really doing what your voters want you to do or are you joining a party?”

Joe Statler, Chairman of the House Education CommitteeR-Monongalia said: “I don’t think anyone slacked off on special needs education. I really think we all really thought we had the time and would get it done. It just didn’t happen. That was the biggest failure of the session for me.”

“These counties desperately need this funding. This will result in many more counties going into a deficit,” he said.

Upshur County Schools recently cut 67 teachers and service staff citing an enrollment crisis. Superintendent Christine Miller said she expects to lose another 400 students over the next two years.

She had hoped lawmakers would address the funding formula.

“We were disappointed, like everyone else across the state, so we had already started making ourselves as lean as possible,” Miller said.

“The situation in our district is very, very tense,” she continued. “Unlike 43 other counties, we do not have a surplus levy to help cover additional expenses incurred, so we must rely solely on the state aid formula and the local share of property taxes.”

West Virginia uses a seven-step formula to determine how much state funding goes to the county’s school systems based on factors such as the number of students enrolled. The state’s population is withering while the number of special education students is increasing. This has led to tight budgets for districts.

What happened to school funding bills?

Lawmakers had bold ideas for revising the formula Simplifying the financing formula by providing flat-rate grants of $6,100 per enrolled student. The original bill would have cost $214 million, but the price tag was a stunner for lawmakers.

The cost of special education is a burden on districts in debts worth millionsand lawmakers also proposed plans Strengthen special education Financing. The current funding formula does not take into account the number of special education students, which in some counties make up nearly a quarter of children enrolled in public schools. A study The House-funded program proposed that the state allocate more money to these services to improve school budgets.

Miller said her district has had to contract with outside companies to provide special education services because of staffing issues.

“These are additional resources made available to support our students in the way they deserve,” she said.

Some legislative measures were ignored, the only remaining bill was slimmed down Increase funding for special education by $8 million in 2027. Paul Hardesty, president of the West Virginia School Board, said that wasn’t nearly enough while counties reported $224 million in debt, calling it “putting lipstick on a pig.”

The lonely school funding The invoice never made it to the governor’s podium, although he passed the Senate and House of Representatives. The last hour in the House of Representatives was cluttered and took time with a dispute over Raylee’s law, and they did not agree to the Senate’s changes to the school funding law.

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, R-Mason, was vocal that this was the most disappointing session she had ever seen, in part because lawmakers failed to address public school funding issues. She had driven change.

“I thought it was a priority for everyone, and apparently it wasn’t as important as I thought it was,” Grady said.

“I feel like there have been a lot of obstacles this year when it comes to different factions, different groups, different people’s needs. I know it’s an election year, so this is even more so,” she continued, noting that Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office had influence on the legislation. “I felt like there was a lot of feedback from below that wouldn’t normally be taken into consideration.”

House Minority Leader Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, praised Grady for her efforts but said the GOP supermajority has set its priorities elsewhere than public school funding problems.

“If we cannot afford a thorough and efficient public education system, our state will go nowhere,” Hornbuckle said. “It doesn’t matter how many businesses they try to attract, how many taxes they try to cut. If our people are not educated and able to be productive members of our workforce … then we are simply dying from within. Our legislative priority in West Virginia is long overdue.”

More teacher and teaching job cuts this year

According to the state Department of Education, West Virginia schools have 2,685.92 school staff positions above the formula. Some counties will operate local funding to avoid job losses.

Cabell County School Board President Josh Pauley followed the legislative session closely.

“It’s definitely disappointing that nothing happened,” he said, adding, “I still feel like we’re providing a quality education to anyone who wants it.”

The The district has cut 107 school positions and transferred 135 employees last year due to a lack of funding, impacted by the county’s population decline and student exodus to take advantage of the Hope Scholarship. Last week, the Cabell County Board of Education 37 positions cut.

The district has an $8 million deficit in providing mandated special education services, Pauley said.

“With local funds we were able to cover the amount above what we actually have available for special education,” he said, adding that there is a local levy to support fund schools. “We need a new way to figure out how best to fund our schools, and the complicated funding formula that we have that most people don’t understand needs to be addressed, and that hasn’t been addressed.”

Kanawha County Schools, the state’s largest school district, cuts 126 positionsincluding teachers, carers and early childhood education staff. Student enrollment fell by over 1,000 students in 2025, resulting in a loss of state and federal funding.

The district has the largest proportion of students in the state Use of the Hope Scholarship for private school lessons, homeschooling and more. During the School year 2024-251,293 Kanawha County students utilized the education voucher program.

The Departments of Education plan to address school financing in 2027

When Grady returned to the public school where she teaches fourth grade after the session, she said most of her colleagues were not surprised that lawmakers had done nothing to address the problem while dozens of schools have closed over the past two years.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking because I feel like maybe they’ve lost faith in the whole system,” Grady said.

She and Statler both aim to develop a cohesive plan to address the school funding formula before the 2027 legislative session in January.

“I think the most important thing is to get us both on the same page so that if something goes through one chamber, it goes through the other,” Grady said.

Statler hopes relief for schools will come more quickly with Morrisey calling a special session on education funding.

“I’m still not completely hopeless that the governor may call us into a special session at some point in one of the interim sessions to take care of this issue. That’s critically important,” Statler said.

It is now election year in West Virginia. All 100 seats in the House of Representatives and several seats in the Senate are up for election.

Phillips believes the failure to address school funding will have an impact on election results.

“I don’t even look at party lines. I look at ‘Where do you stand on public education?'” she said.