West Virginia

Overview

The COVID crisis has highlighted the disparities and challenges that are faced by so many students in West Virginia (WV). Access to reliable broadband and food insecurity exacerbated by schools moving online are identified as acute challenges. In addition to poverty, geography also hinders access due to WV's mountainous terrain. As students left school during the spring and educators ramped up online education programs to take the place of classroom instruction, it became apparent to many in the state that WV was underprepared for most of its education system to function online. Officially, WV is listed as having the 44th worst high-speed internet state with 82.2 percent of the population having access (WVBBEC, 2018) and is number one in school breakfast participation (WVDE, 2019).

Funding priority for p-12

In 2018 West Virginia teacher pay ranked 50^th (NEA, 2020) among the states and Washington D.C. In 2019, teachers received a five percent salary increase, on average, due in part to an increased willingness of the republican controlled legislature to negotiate salary, in light of proposed charter school legislation that passed in an extraordinary summer legislative session (Ferris, 2019). As a result, teacher salaries have risen above an average $50,000 per year for the first time. The National average salary exceeds $60,000 per year, negatively impacting teacher recruitment (Kercheval, 2020).

Social and emotional support were identified as priorities. In response, the Department of Education published a report on social and emotional support that outlines the state's resources and highlights programs that are showing progress. The report suggests WV is making strides with its Communities In Schools initiative (CIS). Through increased support from the legislature, the CIS "model recognizes that traditional education reform strategies fail to address what kids are dealing with every day: poverty, lack of adult role models, and the absence of such basic needs as food, shelter and health care." (WVDE, 2020b, p.7).

Changes to funding formula for p-12

The 2021 fiscal year budget that was enacted by the legislature during the 2020 legislative session contained very few changes to West Virginia's education budget. The FY 2020 education appropriation was 2.02 billion dollars, or 46 percent, of the state budget, and the number remains essentially unchanged for the FY 2021 budget (WVSBO, 2019; 2020). There were two notable exceptions: the state increased the CIS initiative to address, in-part, the need for additional social and emotional support by $500,000; and the legislature also increased the State Aid to Schools by $36,000,000; about $654 thousand dollars per county (WVSBO, 2019).

Pressing state issues affecting p-12

Pressing state issues include broadband and nutritional access to children during the pandemic. As the COVID crisis took hold and many students were forced from the classroom to online education it became increasingly apparent that WV did not have the broadband infrastructure to support students in this transition. Many students simply did not have internet access at home, due to financial issues, as well as physical access issues. American Community Survey (2020) data documented that only 81.8 percent of residents have access to a computer in the home and that just 72.9 percent have a broadband internet subscription. Furthermore, data (WVBBEC, 2018) show only slightly more have physical access suggesting that almost all rural access points are subscribed to.

In WV, 40 counties provide free breakfast and lunch (WVDE, 2019). When the pandemic hit, food insecurity became a major problem within the state. The department of education reports that "County boards of education have worked hard to make plans to distribute meals in new ways." (WVDE, 2020a, para. 3). 27 percent of WV's children live in poverty and more than 72 percent of counties provide free breakfast and lunch at school (WVDE, 2019). When children do not go to school their food supply is interrupted. The state is creatively trying to fill the void, but it remains to be seen what the effects of this disruption in basic needs will be.

Diversion of state funds

Public charter school legislation was enacted by the West Virginia...