CHARLESTON – A Kanawha Circuit judge has ruled a scholarship program that provides state funding to students who leave the public school system is unconstitutional.
Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit issued her ruling July 6 during a hearing on the Hope Scholarship Program. Tabit granted preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to keep the state from implementing the law. Tabit said the program would violate a provision of the state Constitution that requires the state to provide a complete and free public school system.
The state Department of Education and the state Superintendent of Schools, both of whom were named as defendants in the case, previously issued a statement agreeing with the plaintiffs that the program wrongly diverts money from the public school system.
Tabit
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
“I am disappointed with this ruling,” Morrisey said in a press release. “We will appeal because this is an important law that provides parents greater freedom to choose how they educate their children.
“Our kids deserve the best educational options — we will fight for our kids and the hard working families of our state to retain this law and uphold its constitutionality.”
State Treasurer Riley Moore also expressed disappointment in Tabit’s ruling.
“I am deeply disappointed that a judge has decided to halt this Program which would help so many families in West Virginia,” said Moore, who also is chairman of the Hope Scholarship Board. “More than 3,100 West Virginia students were relying on having this funding in the fall, and now – at the last minute – they may not be able to get the educational services they want and need.
“This program was authorized by the Legislature and we firmly believe it is constitutional. We will vigorously defend our implementation of this program, which the people of West Virginia have clearly demonstrated they want, so that West Virginia families can choose the educational opportunities best suited for their children.”
The Hope Scholarship Program was passed and signed into law in 2021. The purpose was to provide money for students leaving the public schools system and allow families to use the funding for a variety of expenses, including tuition and fees at participating private schools and other extracurricular activities.
More than 3,000 students have been awarded the scholarship to use this fall.
The plaintiffs in the case were parents of public school students. They claimed the program isn’t valid because the Legislature can’t “exceed this mandate by publicly funding private education outside the system of free schools.”
“A publicly funded system of private education separate from public education is exactly what the Legislature is attempting to establish here — with a separate board, no academic requirements, and fewer antidiscrimination requirement,” their complaint states. “This separate program is unconstitutional.”
They also said the program gives “a monetary incentive for students to leave the public school system, depleting public school budgets that are significantly based on enrollment.”