W.Va.’s Hope Scholarship Offers Hope to Students, Families

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore has announced his office approved more than 5,000 Hope Scholarship applications for the 2023-24 school year, with another 1,000 pending applications in the pipeline.

Supporters of educational choice celebrate this as an opportunity for those Hope Scholarship recipients to access a learning environment that best meets their needs via this robust education savings account program. For families who utilize these scholarships — which are publicly funded, government authorized savings accounts that may be used on multiple, but restricted, education-related expenses — the opportunities are endless.

For some, the Hope Scholarship provides access to alternative curriculum for students with niche interests, or to a learning philosophy and environment that more closely aligns with the family’s values. For others, it is a lifeline away from a school or classroom where they are being bullied, or connects them to enhanced access to specialized services for students with extraordinary needs.

Opponents, however, routinely claim that choice programs drain resources from public schools and therefore harm the public school system. In West Virginia, opponents are expressing concerns about $22 million allocated to fund ESAs for 5,000 students.

Those 5,000 students in the ESA program represent just 2% of total enrollment in West Virginia K-12 public schools. Hardly a death knell for public schools, which remain the dominant provider of K-12 education.

The $22 million cost for ESAs represents just 0.6% of the $4 billion funding for the state’s public schools. A small price tag and just a sliver of the funding pie devoted to providing families with more educational opportunities to find the best setting that meets children’s needs.

That fiscal arrangement — 2% of publicly funded students receiving less than 1% of public funding for K-12 — suggests significant fiscal benefits for taxpayers from the ESA program.

Students who participate in the ESA program next year would receive accounts worth $4,489. Those same students would generate more than $15,000 for public school districts if they enrolled in them instead — more than three times the per-student ESA amount. Thus, funding for students in the ESA program is akin to a 71% markdown for families to educate them.

Because of how public school funding works, where not every dollar follows the student when he or she moves from one public school to another setting, public schools retain more than 98% of their budgets when enrollment declines by 2%.

But what about the students who remain in public schools? Fortunately, 29 studies examine how choice programs affect public school students’ test scores. Of these, 26 found that public school students experienced modest gains in math and reading achievement after their schools faced increased competitive pressure from a choice program. Numerous other systematic reviews conclude that choice programs induce small improvements for public school students.

One study found that when Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program expanded funding and eligibility, students who remained in public school districts experienced academic improvements, less absenteeism, and decreased suspension rates. For those skeptical of how those results translate to the West Virginia context, a 2017 study found that increases in non-public school enrollment in the Mountain State are associated with improvements in public school district test scores well prior to the Hope Scholarship’s passage and implementation.

Taken together, the abundance of evidence reflects positively on educational choice programs; they’re good for students, families, and taxpayers. The Hope Scholarship has the potential to be life-changing for the 5,000 students already approved, and every other student in West Virginia stands to benefit, as well.

Choice is not about defunding, dismantling, or destroying public schools. Rather, choice is about increasing educational opportunities for all children while strengthening and providing a true system of public education where all kids have access to a high-quality education that is publicly supported.

Marty Lueken is director of the Fiscal Research and Education Center at EdChoice, which works to advance educational freedom and choice for all students. Jessi Troyan is director of Policy and Research at the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy.