The House Finance Committee is considering some significant changes to West Virginia’s education voucher program, the Hope Scholarship, as the cost has ballooned to an estimated $230 million.
The school voucher program is one of the state’s biggest budget pressures for the coming fiscal year as lawmakers work on the state budget.
“We were watching the numbers in the previous three or four years that we’ve had the program, that we were seeing an increase in dollars involved, but without anything I call bumpers or parameters or covenants or whatever you want to call them out there,” said House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood.
“We were seeing a lot of expanded expenses on a lot of different things out there that didn’t have anything necessary to do the education process as if you were in public school,” he continued. “So, we wanted to narrow that down.”
The Hope Scholarship gives students roughly $5,200 to use for private school tuition, homeschooling supplies and more.
A GOP-backed bill that originated in the House Finance Committee Wednesday morning included changes to the Hope Scholarship like the voucher amount would be a fixed $5,250, compared to the $5,435.62 planned for next school year. The money could no longer be used at out-of-state public or private schools, according to the measure.
The changes are estimated to knock about $20 million off the estimated price tag while also changing when the state disperses money to the program.
Criss said the state cannot afford Gov. Patrick Morrisey proposed $230 million to fund the Hope Scholarship upfront for a year and a half. Other budget requests from Morrisey — like a 10% tax cut — will cost money.
“We’re not doing it, we’re simply not going to do it,” Criss told reporters. “(We) cannot do when you do pay raises, and you do the increases in Medicaid funding … and he wants these tax cuts. When you put them all together, they don’t work.”
Criss continued, “His numbers don’t work in the long term. We are interested in making sure that we’re here for the long haul. He’s not … We want to be responsible.”
More than $1.7 million dollars in Hope Scholarship funds, a tax-payer funded program, were spent out-of-state at non-public schools and microschools.
“One of the alarming things that we found out was that we’re actually paying the public school system in Maryland for kids to go to school there, so that really was a concern,” Criss said.
The Senate Finance Committee already proposed their changes to Hope Scholarship funding earlier this week in their budget bill, proposing that the state pay for it exclusively with surplus funds instead of general revenue dollars.
“We are disappointed in the actions of the West Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates this week regarding the Hope Scholarship Program. Both bodies have infused uncertainty into the program as we are about to welcome nearly 25,000 new students and families to partake,” State Treasurer Larry Pack said in a statement. The Treasurer’s Office oversees the Hope Scholarship.
The Hope Scholarship opens up to all West Virginia students for the first time next school year. Right now, it is restricted to children either entering kindergarten or enrolled in public school for a qualifying period of time. Nearly 15,000 students are using the Hope Scholarship this school year.
“These policy decisions will only produce negative effects for our Hope families, and we are urging lawmakers to reconsider,” Pack said. “Actions within both bodies are especially troubling because we are seeing these changes less than two weeks out from universal expansion. We believe it is inappropriate, at this time, to push for such drastic deviations and welcome additional discussions down the road on the future of the program.”
Proposed changes to how students can use the Hope Scholarship
The House Finance bill would also eliminate some qualifying expenses like tutoring services, fees for examinations related to college admissions, fees for after school and summer programs and instruments required as part of a music education course.
It would also require students using the Hope Scholarship to participate in statewide student growth assessments, like what is required in public schools. These tests could be administered online, according to the state education department.
“I think it would be impressive,” Criss said. “We want people to know that this is working, and as long as we can see the results for the tax dollars being used, that’s what we want to do.”
Criss also has concerns about students using the Hope Scholarship to purchase new laptops every year; the bill would require that the Hope Scholarship board have a policy in place that restricts technology purchase. The board currently has a policy in place that limits new technology purchases to every two years.
The measure would also change how the state pays for the program, changing the payment disbursements to four times a year instead of two. Criss explained that this would help the state from “a cashflow standpoint.”
In response to the GOP-sponsored measure, Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, had hoped for a measure that would result in more cost cutting for the program.
“The cost of the HOPE program is completely out of control,” said Williams, who serves on the House Finance Committee. “It’s going to put us in the hole. We all know that. I was more hopeful that the fix that they would come up with would have more of an impact than what’s being reported.”
Williams would like to see a program to include an income-based requirement.
“The fact that we’re just reducing the amount for everyone, versus making it so that you can only get the benefit if you’re a middle class working family, I think that that’s really unfortunate,” he said. “I still have more questions. We’ll talk about it more in committee later.”
The House Finance Committee didn’t take action on the bill Tuesday. Criss said they expect to consider it again on Friday.
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