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CHARLESTON -- The board that oversees West Virginia's young public charter school program awarded two sub-grants Thursday during its weekly virtual briefing.
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board was awarded $12.2 million last year over five years through the U.S. Department of Education's Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools program. Four out of six public charter schools have applied for sub-grants through this program.
PCSB Assistant Director Dusty Hurley said Thursday morning that out of the four applications, only three applicants were eligible for sub-grants after the applications were reviewed by a three-person peer review panel.
"We've had a very great initial grant cycle. We're very pleased with how it has gone," she said. "The peer reviewers provided quality evaluations to inform the board's funding decisions. ... After today's meeting, (Executive Director) James (Paul) and I will work closely with the funded applicants to finalize their grant awards."
The peer review team based their decisions on 12 evaluation criteria --including ambitiousness, innovation, academic programming, educational philosophies and curriculum, financial need, staff quality, leadership, governance, risk demand, universal access and facilities. There were two different application cycles: one for new schools and one for expanding schools.
"Please remember, in our competitions, peer reviewer recommendations inform but do not necessarily determine the board's sub-grant award decisions," Hurley said.
The Clarksburg Classical Academy was the only school that qualified for the new school category. The board voted to award a sub-grant of $905,000 for a three-year period
"They are proposing a regular, rigorous classical education this fall," Hurley said. "In their first year, they will be serving kindergarten through fifth grade and plan to serve K-7 by the end of the grant project period."
For the expanding schools category, two schools were deemed eligible for sub-grants: the West Virginia Academy in Morgantown and the Workforce Initiative (WIN) Academy in South Charleston.
The West Virginia Academy, which has served students in kindergarten through 10th grade, is expanding to 11th grade this school year and 12th grade in 2025-26. Their goal is to increase enrollment by 20% or an increase of 100 students during the sub-grant reporting period. The school was awarded a sub-grant of $1.59 million spread out over the next three years.
The WIN Academy, a charter school affiliated with BridgeValley Community and Technical College focused on training juniors and seniors in nursing and advanced manufacturing careers, plans to expand the kinds of degrees it offers and dual enrollment options.
The board voted not to approve the sub-grant application for the WIN Academy after board staff raised issues with how the school might use the funds.
"Their proposed budget includes mostly costs for funding a dean in years two and three and in developing communication and outreach strategies across the grant period," Hurley said. "We have concerns about the allowability of these costs because the CSP statute and federal regulations limit funding for sustained personnel costs and promotional advertising. ... We will work closely with the academy to make sure that we finalize a budget that ensures expenses are allowable and support the proposed project."
Paul said he believes the board staff can work with WIN Academy "to make them better prepared for future opportunities.
"I think with targeted technical assistance and with everything that (Hurley) and I have learned about managing this program, WIN Academy can have a very competitive application in the near future," he said.
Other physical public charter schools include Eastern Panhandle Preparatory Academy in Kearneysville and M.E.C.C.A. Business Learning Institute in Charles Town, which will begin this fall. Statewide virtual public charter schools include Virtual Preparatory Academy of West Virginia and West Virginia Virtual Academy.