State officials ask WV Supreme Court for more time on school funding lawsuit, cite upcoming session
West Virginia officials are asking the state Supreme Court to wait until next spring to consider a lawsuit that alleges inadequate public school funding.
The time gap could give the state Legislature time to rework the state’s school funding formula, which is the crux of the lawsuit.
The state’s seven-step school funding formula, which hasn’t been updated for years, largely relies on headcount to determine funding. West Virginia is dealing with a population loss and a wave of school closures; school officials point to the funding formula’s outdated method.
A new filing by the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office on behalf of leaders in the legislative and executive branches asks for delay in the school funding lawsuit until next April.
Lawmakers’ next 60-Day session will begin Jan. 13, 2027.
“Petitioner asks this Court to order the political branches to rewrite West Virginia’s school aid formula. But the political branches are already engaged in discussions. The Department of Education has delivered an overhaul of the formula to the Governor and legislative leadership. The Joint Standing Committee on Education plans to hear the Department out on Nov. 9,” said the attorney general’s filing.
Consideration of the school funding formula is expected during the session, the attorney general’s office added.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey has already said that public school funding issues will “dominate the next legislative session” in January.
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“THE CHALKBOARD MAFIA.” Coleman Hughes and Bill Maher take on teachers unions protecting failure instead of students.
Hughes says the Brooklyn school they’re discussing spent $50,000 per pupil: “The problem isn’t the funding, it’s that you can’t fire anyone bad.”
Maher to MS NOW’s Ali Vitali: “I think this is the kind of thing I will never hear on MS Now.”
Her response, and Hughes’s case for rewarding good teachers, follow.
