WV school board presidents calls on legislators to address school closures, consolidation

by Lori Kersey, West Virginia Watch
October 1, 2025

West Virginia School Board President Paul Hardesty said Wednesday that lawmakers — not education officials — are responsible for addressing the school closures and consolidations that are increasing across the state. School choice, he said, has led to tens of thousands of students leaving public schools over the past decade. 

“Where does that relief need to and have to come from? Right across the way,” Hardesty said. “There’s 134 members of the Legislature. They have the oversight. They have the ability to change the school aid formula, to recognize these rurally challenged, geographically challenged areas that we speak of. They have that ability. I and this board and this department do not.”

Hardesty’s comments came during the regular board of education meeting Wednesday morning. 

School closures have become more common as the state’s population declines and more students leave public schools for private and home schools. 

According to the state Department of Education, 16 public schools closed in 2024, up from 9 in 2023 and five in 2022. The 2025 numbers have not been finalized, but five public schools have closed so far, said Christy Day, director of the West Virginia Department of Education Office of Communication

Hardesty said the public has a “severe” misconception about who sets the state’s laws and rules concerning the state’s education system. He said he decided to make the comments after reading an opinion column about a school closure in Randolph County. The board of education can offer limited relief when it comes to school closures and consolidation, he said. 

Hardesty said he’s seen a “fundamental change” in the legislative process over the past decade – all in the name of school choice. He attributed the change to the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators that have advocated for expanding school choice. 

“They are the ones that proposed the school choice model and playbook for West Virginia and other states throughout the land, and they make no bones about what they’re trying to accomplish,” Hardesty said. “…on public education, I think they played a little heavy handed, and they’ve got some unintended consequences from their actions.”

Hardesty said the public school system has lost more than 35,000 students over the past decade “in the name of school choice.” While the Legislature has changed school law to incorporate school choice, it’s made no changes to the funding model, he said.

“The financial instability of the system continues to grow and continues to grow and gets worse and worse,” Hardesty said. 

Under the current school funding formula, counties receive state funding based on the number of students.  

The state’s Hope Scholarship gives families around $5,200 per student to use for private school or  homeschooling.The state’s school voucher program will need around $245 million next year, an increase of $144 million from the current year’s funding, according to the West Virginia treasurer’s office. 

Del. Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, chairman of the House Education committee, said through a House spokeswoman Wednesday that “it’s too early to say” if lawmakers will address the school funding formula during the next legislative session.

“But we have spent a good deal of time looking at the formula, and it’s possible the Public Education Subcommittee may have some discussions about it before the regular legislative session,” Ellington said. 

Because private schools can’t often accommodate students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), Hardesty said the Hope Scholarship has taken the state’s “best and brightest” and left the public schools with the responsibility of educating children with social, developmental and economic challenges.

“It’s left us the toughest to try to educate,” Hardesty said. “And we’ll take that challenge head on, but it’s hard. It’s very expensive to provide the services for those children.”

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