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Comeback

During his first State of the State address Wednesday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey painted West Virginia as being at the start of a “comeback.” If that is the case, it is a resurgence long overdue. Our challenge now is to engineer that comeback with a focus so strong it is not slowed by those elected officials whose mission extends no further than pushing the Mountain State backward at any chance presented. To that end, Morrisey was right to understand our obligation to build a West Virginia in which young people want to stay, raise families and thrive. In fact, Morrisey hit on ...

Financial Aid

It would be hard to blame high school seniors and their parents for being uncertain about the financial aid landscape for post-secondary education right now. But it still might come as a surprise to know that now — and for years — fewer students are applying for available college scholarships. The National College Attainment Network examined the number of completed Free Applications for Federal Student Aid as of June 30 before each academic year, as a percentage of the number of high school seniors in each year. Back in 2018-19 (the high school class of 2018), 54% of seniors ...

Education

In one of his first actions as West Virginia’s new governor, Patrick Morrisey ordered an economic “Backyard Brawl” with our neighboring states. That’s a great goal, as the least we can do is be competitive with our border states — Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and Virginia — when it comes to both retaining and attracting residents and businesses. But perhaps the place to start if we want meaningful comparisons with our border states would be in public education. According to the 2024 Nation’s Report Card, as administered by the National Assessment of Educational ...

Education

As our state’s population decreases, so does the number of students in our schools. Declining enrollment, in turn, is creating challenges for our school districts. Some boards of education are facing the bitter reality that it is time to close facilities. But the Thomas B. Fordham Institute put together a study that may offer guidance on that front. According to a report by West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the study suggests schools that have been identified by the state as low-performing should be considered first for closure. “We know from research that if you close a ...

Demographics

With plenty of talk at the federal level recently about demographics, a recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington shows us maybe we should be talking just as much about how those demographics affect our ability to live long, healthy lives. The Ohio Capital Journal reports the study showed Native Americans living in Western and Midwestern states have the shortest life expectancy, at 63.4 years. At the other end of the spectrum are Asian Americans nationwide, at 84 years. Whites living in Appalachia and some Southern states, and Black ...

Child Advocacy

On Feb. 3, the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network released its annual statewide data report for the 2024 fiscal year. Though most of us have some idea of the damage being done to Mountain State children, the report is eye-opening and horrifying. The network’s child advocacy centers provide services in 47 of our 55 counties — safe facilities where children can interact with child protection, criminal justice and child treatment professionals. The work is done both to further investigations AND to help our kids heal. Horrifyingly, the need for such services is only growing. Back ...