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CHARLESTON -- On day two of the 60-day legislative session, members of the House Education Committee wasted no time wading into two high-profile education bills.
The committee adopted House Bill 2012, making changes to the state's public charter school pilot program; and House Bill 2013, creating the Hope Scholarship education savings account program.
HB 2012 would amend the pilot charter school program created by House Bill 206 during a special session in 2019 dedicated to education reform. The committee substitute for HB 2012 would change the maximum number of public charter schools in a three-year period from three to 10. Approved charter schools would need an audit after two years of operation.
The bill creates a new West Virginia Professional Charter School Board to act as an authorizer for charter school applications. Virtual charter schools would be allowed under the bill's provision and give charter school applicants 30 days to appeal a decision by a local authorizer -- such as a county board of education -- to the state Board of Education.
A high school teacher, Del. Cody Thompson, D-Randolph, raised concerns about the fairness of charter schools and whether all students -- regardless of geographic location -- could truly benefit.
"I have major concerns with the virtual charter schools," Thompson said. "I'm generally opposed to them anyway. I think funding should stay with public schools. But if we're going to offer them virtually, we're just going to be leaving out a whole group of children who are lower income and if their parents can't afford it, tough. They're trying to rationalize it and say they can use these other schools, but that's not always available in rural counties."
Since the program was created in 2019, only one charter school has been attempted. A group of parents in the Monongalia County area applied to the Monongalia County and Preston County boards of education to create a public charter school serving students and parents in those two counties.
The application was denied by both counties last fall, but a lawsuit was filed by the proposed academy Thursday with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals accusing the two counties of not properly following state code and rules adopted by the state Board of Education laying out the procedures for approving charter school applications
The House Education Committee easily adopted HB 2012 and HB 2013, which creates the Hope Scholarship -- West Virginia's first education savings account (ESA) program. An education savings account, a form of voucher, gives parents the option to use their tax dollars for educational expenses, such as private school tuition, home tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses. If passed, West Virginia would become the seventh state with an ESA program.
Qualifying expenses under the Hope Scholarship include tuition and fees at participating private schools, tutoring, standardized testing and advanced placement exam fees, and ongoing services provided by a public school. The bill creates the Board of Hope Scholarship, which can remove recipients for failure to comply with agreement terms.
The amount of money available from the scholarship to eligible applicants would be no less than 2 percent of the net public school enrollment or the total number of eligible Hope Scholarship applicants received by the State Treasurer's Office, whichever is greater. Potentially the program could receive $23 million in state funding.
Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson, expressed concerns about the possibility of discrimination based on religion and sexual orientation, though the program would have to follow federal non-discrimination laws public schools already follow. Doyle was also concerned about improper use of the ESA funds by parents.
"I think it lacks accountability in terms of how this public money is going to be spent," Doyle said. "I know a significant attempt was made in writing the bill to come up with that accountability, but I don't think we got there."
Teachers' unions have traditionally been opponents of charter school expansion and education savings accounts, with both the West Virginia Education Association and the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers going on a work stoppage in 2019 in part because of similar proposals. But with Republicans taking supermajorities in both the House and Senate in the November elections, WVEA President Dale Lee said there is not much to stop these bills from moving.
"It's just retribution in taking money away from public education," Lee said. "It's just another example of wanting to get at the big piece of the pie of public education money. Elections have consequences."