Mingo County parents sue to stop universal expansion of the Hope Scholarship
Parents sue to stop universal expansion of the Hope Scholarship
Robert Fields | WVOW News
CHARLESTON Mingo County parents are suing to stop the universal expansion of West Virginia’s Hope Scholarship program.
Eleven parents filed the lawsuit Sept. 4 in Kanawha County Circuit Court against the State Treasurer’s Office, the Hope Scholarship Board and West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt.
The parents’ children attend Dingess Elementary, which is scheduled to close after the upcoming school year. They argue the Hope Scholarship’s expansion, combined with the Legislature’s failure to update the state’s school funding formula, violates West Virginia’s constitutional obligation to maintain a “thorough and efficient system of free schools.”
The parents say their children cannot realistically use the scholarship because there is no participating private school within a reasonable commuting distance. They are asking the judge to stop payments to new students who became eligible through the universal expansion.
More than 25,000 students are participating in the Hope Scholarship this school year, with awards of about $5,400. The state has spent about $155 million on the program so far, while lawmakers allocated $277 million for the 2026-27 school year.
West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack says the parents’ anger is “misdirected” and that the state will aggressively oppose any attempt to reverse the universal expansion.
The parents also point to a RAND Corporation study that recommended against universal expansion and say lawmakers failed to address the state’s school funding formula.
Mingo County Schools has been under state control since March 2025.
PHOTO | WIX, File
