MCA seeing influx of students from Hope Scholarship program

Oct. 11—PRINCETON — With the Hope Scholarship program back up and running after the state Supreme Court of Appeals' decision last week, Mercer Christian Academy (MCA) is hopeful applicants to the private school who were approved for the scholarship will see the money soon.

"We had 53 new applications (after students were approved for the scholarship earlier this year)," said Sarah Watson, secretary of the Princeton-based private K4-12 school.

The scholarship program, passed by the West Virginia Legislature last year, announced in May more than 3,000 students statewide were approved to receive $4,300 this year to be used by parents for a private school, certain homeschooling or a service provider.

But the program was shot down temporarily by a Kanawha County Circuit Court judge in July.

Judge Joanna Tabit granted an injunction against implementing the Hope Scholarship Act because, she said, it violated the state's Constitution, which requires the state to provide "for a thorough and efficient system of free schools."

Tabit agreed with the West Virginia Department of Education that the millions of dollars for the program drains money from public schools and incentivizes parents to take their children out of public schools.

The program will cost $13 million this year and is expected to grow each year.

However, the state Supreme Court of Appeals last week overruled Tabit's decision, dissolving the injunction.

But Watson said it is unclear when the money will be available to parents who applied and were approved for the scholarship.

"We just have to wait for them to know when it is going into effect," she said, adding that "some parents enrolled their children anyway."

State Treasurer Riley Moore, who is chair of the Hope Scholarship Board, said last week the board will "meet as soon as possible to resolve various implementation issues to resume all program operations."

"It is important to understand that Hope Scholarship families will not immediately be able to access program funds, and likely will not be able to use Hope Scholarship accounts until the spring semester of the current school year," he said in a statement after the Supreme Court decision. "This delay is beyond the control of the Hope Scholarship Board and the Treasurer's Office. Unfortunately, the July injunction prevented all state agencies from working on or transferring any funds for the Hope Scholarship Program. Rest assured that the Hope Scholarship Board is working as quickly as possible to make program funds available to Hope Scholarship students and to resume the education service provider registration process."

Jamie Buckland, founder and CEO of West Virginia Families United for Education (WVFUE), which has pushed for the Hope Scholarship program, said Moore told her Monday the money is coming and he is planning for it to be available in early 2023.

Buckland, who has homeschooled for 15 years and will continue to do so for another 12 years, said "traditional" homeschoolers are not eligible for the scholarship because of different requirements.

In the traditional model, for example, an assessment of progress must be submitted to the state in third, eighth and 11th grades, but the Hope Scholarship program requires them to be assessed every year.

She said it is also not a "voucher" system, which is more restrictive on how and where the money is spent.

With the scholarship, families can "unbundle" and have leeway on what works best for their child.

"They can choose the best math program that works for their child," she said as an example, rather than be tied to a particular materials providers as a voucher system requires.

Buckland said it's all about providing the best educational options for children.

"We fund children, not systems," she said. "The funding should be to educate the child. We don't want to hold a child captive in a public school who could be better served in a different learning environment. The Hope Scholarship allows the parents to decide."

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's office briefed the Supreme Court before its decision, saying the Act "did not purport to touch our state's public schools." and it "did not draw a cent from the School Fund or take anything from appropriations reserved for public education."

"The state is providing a thorough and efficient system of free schools for West Virginia's children, and has discretion to supplement that system through the Hope Scholarship Act," according to the state's brief filed in the case.

"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," Morrisey said.

However, former state Board of Education President Miller Hall said after Tabit's decision that when the state starts taking "money from the public schools and giving it out, it makes a major difference in how you educate and anything with the facilities and things of that nature."

"This is about public tax dollars paying for that choice, and our Constitution says we are to provide a free and thorough and efficient education system, not a private education system," Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, said. "This is an incentive to take your child out of the public schools, which takes the dollars out of our public schools, which harms our schools ... While I'm not a lawyer, I believe that it is clear what our founding fathers meant by that."

"This is a victory for West Virginia families over the out-of-state trial lawyers and liberal activists who are trying to block educational freedom and school choice for the children of our state," Moore said after the Supreme Court decision. "The Hope Scholarship will provide families — particularly those with low incomes — the ability to pursue educational opportunities that best suit their children."

Any public school student can apply for the program, but If a West Virginia student is currently enrolled in a private school or was enrolled full time in a private school the previous academic year, the student is not eligible.

According to WVMetroNews, scholarships were approved for 122 Mercer County students, nine in Monroe County and three in McDowell County.

Buckland said the WVFUE exists "to ensure all families have quality K12 options, know about them, and have access to an expert to navigate them." The organization's website is wvfue.org.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com