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West Virginia schools continue to lose students, a continuing problem that has contributed to a wave of proposed school closures and consolidations around the state. 

State Schools Superintendent Michele Blatt said schools have lost 2.5% of their students in the past year.

The state鈥檚 enrollment is now 234,957 students for this current school year, Blatt shared on Wednesday during a state Board of Education meeting.

鈥淔ifty-three of 55 of our districts did decrease in enrollment this year,鈥� Blatt said, noting only Tyler and Doddridge counties had an increase in student population.

A new West Virginia enrollment showed a 6.5% decline from when the state had 250,899 students in the 2021-22 school year.

School officials have pointed to the state鈥檚 ongoing population decline as a major reason for the enrollment drop.

鈥淭here鈥檚 declining enrollment in our state as a whole and that鈥檚 affecting our school systems,鈥� Blatt said.

West Virginia experienced decline in the nation from 2020 to 2024, a time period that included the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Multiple school districts school closures or consolidations this year. Last week, the Roane County Board of Education two elementary and middle schools at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The county plans to consolidate students into other nearby schools. The state Board of Education will have to approve the plan. 

Roane County School Board President Jeff Mace said funding was part of the problem, MetroNews . He said the state鈥檚 school funding formula needs to be modernized and should focus more on the needs of students rather than student enrollment.

鈥淚 believe if we don鈥檛 invest in our education, we鈥檙e just going to continue to drive all of our young people and our young talent out of the state and we鈥檙e going to prevent people from coming in,鈥� Mace said. 

State school board President Paul Hardesty has already to fix the school funding formula during the next legislative session to prevent more school closures in the rural state. 

According to the state Department of Education, 16 public schools closed in 2024.

Micah Whitlow, director of the West Virginia Department of Education鈥檚 Office of School Facilities, said that counties are making these decisions 鈥渂ased on real problems.鈥�

鈥淭hese things aren鈥檛 done on a whim or they just woke up one day thinking about this. Some of them are staff shortages, finances, deteriorating facilities. Some of these it鈥檚 all those things together,鈥� he said.

Expired pandemic relief funding and students opting out of public schools to use the state鈥檚 broad school voucher program 鈥� 鈥� have also put a financial strain on public schools. Around 19,000 students are using the voucher program this school year, typically at private religious schools. 

The enrollment report showed that public schools served 477 students using the Hope Scholarship; students using the Hope program can pay to take public school classes. Public schools also served 1,336 Hope Scholarship students that were not funded, according to the report. 

More than 4,000 children are attending virtual schools, which are considered public schools in West Virginia. Most of those students are enrolled in virtual charter schools. The state鈥檚 number of charter students has increased since the 2023-24 school year when 2,270 were enrolled.

Overall, most West Virginia students continue to be served in public schools as leaders grapple with financial issues, which can lead to .

鈥淲e can say that 98.2% of our students are still served in our public schools,鈥� Blatt said. 

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: [email protected].

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