WV: Enrollment down; 25% of students have special needs, $224M SPED deficit
CHARLESTON – West Virginia has lost the enrollment equivalent of six full counties in a single year, a crisis that state Board of Education President Paul Hardesty warns will lead to financial disaster unless state leaders modernize the school aid formula.
In a conference call Wednesday morning, West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty said continuing declines in student enrollment, an antiquated school aid formula providing less funding to county school systems, and an increase in number and costs of special education students has accelerated the closure of schools and other hard financial decisions in counties.
Hardesty said if the Legislature and the Governor’s Office continue to kick the can down the road, the possibility of another state lawsuit, similar to the 1982 Recht decision, could mandate needed changes in how the state funds county school systems. . . .
According to this year’s October headcount report, which is used by county school systems to develop budgets for the following school year, there were 234,957 students enrolled in the state’s 55 county school systems, a 2.52% decrease from fall enrollment this time last school year of 241,024 and a 15.32% decrease from the 277,452 fall enrollment number in 2015.
According to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Education, county school systems have seen an additional reduction of approximately 5,000 students as of the end of the 2025-26 school year earlier this month. Hardesty said that loss is the equivalent of losing all the students in Calhoun, Gilmer, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Tucker, and Webster counties combined.
“Those six counties’ enrollment is 4,900,” Hardesty said. ” So, since the (October) enrollment, we have basically lost the equivalent of six of our counties.” . . .
While county school systems receive local funding through property tax revenue, bonds and levies, the school aid formula plays a large role in setting their budgets. However, the school aid formula is reliant, in part, on student enrollment data.
The school aid formula was borne out of a 1982 decision by former Ohio County Circuit Court Judge Arthur Recht after a parent brought a class action lawsuit against Lincoln County Schools arguing that poorer rural counties were being disadvantaged over larger, wealthier counties.
The state Department of Education finalizes student enrollment numbers every October, which then determines how much money county school systems get from the formula the next school year. Enrollment numbers also factor into the county’s CEFP.
“Most counties have already seen their enrollment projection that they had for 2030 already occur,” said Michah Whitlow, director of school facilities for the Department of Education.
“Just talking to (county school officials), people are kind of looking forward and thinking, ‘what am I going to have to do to maintain that budget? Am I going to have to close a school or two schools?’ As I’m out and about and talking to people, those wheels are turning.” . . .
According to a RAND Corporation study commissioned by the Legislature and released prior to the start of the 2026 legislative session, while overall state education spending is near the national average, the system fails to adequately account for the higher costs associated with low-income students and those with disabilities.
The Legislature attempted to move a bill – House Bill 5453 – which would have introduced weighted funding for special education, providing additional financial resources for students who require intensive instructional support or assistive technology. The House bill was amended by the Senate but died without the House concurring with the Senate’s changes.
But Uriah Cummings, school financial officer for the Department of Education said the bill, as amended, would not have been helpful. According to the department, special education numbers increased as a percentage of the total student population from 20% to more than 25% over a 10-year period, creating a $224 million deficit in special education funding. . . .
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