CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s expansive educational voucher program is expected to double in the number of children benefiting beginning in the next fiscal and school year, but not without the costs doubling as the program prepares to roll out to all school-age children in fiscal year 2027.

State Treasurer Larry Pack gave a presentation on West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship program Wednesday afternoon to the educational choice subcommittee of the House Education Committee.

The Hope Scholarship – passed by the Legislature in 2021 – gives parents the option to use an equivalent portion of the per-pupil expenditure for their children from the state School Aid Formula – approximately $4,921 for the 2024-2025 school year – for educational expenses, such as private or religious school tuition, home school, tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses.

“It’s all about really giving the parents the choice as to how to educate their children and where to educate your children,” Pack said. “The money flows to the parents, flows to the children, so they can have the opportunities that they desire.”

The program officially went into effect at the beginning of 2023 following a legal fight and a West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decision in its favor. During the program’s first year during the 2022-2023 school year, the Hope Scholarship had 2,300 students participating. During the 2023-2024 school year, participation increased to 5,400 children.

By the end of the current school year, the program could exceed 10,000 participants. The State Treasurer’s Office estimates there could be 19,000 children in the Hope Scholarship program by the fall of the 2025-2026 school year, and could receive as much as $5,500 per child.

In July, the Hope Scholarship met an enrollment figure benchmark it was required to meet in order to open up eligibility beginning in fiscal year 2027. For now, the program is limited to children who are eligible to be enrolled in a county school system’s kindergarten program the year the parents are applying, public school students who were enrolled full-time during the school year prior to applying for the scholarship, or public school students enrolled for at least 45 days during the current school year.

“Most of the people that are participating are the folks coming into the school system,” Pack said. “That’s where we’re seeing most of the growth. That’s where we see most of the people that are participating today.”

Gov. Patrick Morrisey campaigned on expanding school choice options in West Virginia, including supporting the Hope Scholarship. He signed an executive order on Jan. 14 – one day after taking office – ordering the Governor’s Office to collaborate with legislative leaders to create the broadest and most effective school choice laws in the U.S., and to dedicate all necessary resources towards that goal.

On the first day of the 2025 legislative session on Feb. 12, Morrisey presented lawmakers his bill for a balanced general revenue budget with a revenue estimate of $5.323 billion for fiscal year 2026 beginning in July. The cost of the Hope Scholarship in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget is $110 million, up from $45 million in the current fiscal year.

According to a review of the budget bill by West Virginia Watch, the Hope Scholarship program has a line item of nearly $29 million. Pack said available surplus monies within the state’s lottery and excess lottery budget – as well as mid-year supplemental appropriations – will help fund the full $110 million price tag for the next fiscal year.

“It’s roughly a hundred-million-dollar program for next year,” Pack said. “Part of it was in the general fund budget. Part of it was to come out of the lottery funds and then there were two supplementals.”

When all West Virginia students become eligible for the Hope Scholarship in fiscal year 2027, the program’s cost is expected to balloon to more than $300 million annually.

While the program is directly funded by the general revenue budget and does not pull funding from the state Department of Education, opponents of the Hope Scholarship say the program harms public schools by pulling children from the public school system, with decreased enrollment rates affecting how much county school systems receive through the school aid funding formula. And opening up the program to all children in the state in fiscal year 2027 will cause a significant financial drain on the state.

While the State Treasurer’s Office is unable to predict how many children will participate in the program after fiscal year 2027, Pack said the doubling of participants year after year shows a clear demand for the program.

“Again, we’re trying to get away from only one choice; particularly one choice where you know that choice is dependent upon your zip code,” Pack said. “We’re just trying to get a lot of alternatives to students. Some of it is online, some of it’s in a seat. There are a lot of different alternatives and a lot of different options out there for parents. It’s very interesting to see how parents are approaching this program in different ways.”