CHARLESTON – Despite greater access to school choice options than at any point in state history, a portion of West Virginia parents are not happy with the performance of their public schools and want access to additional options.

The Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy, a center-right organization that promotes greater access to public and private school choice options, teamed up with Edge Research and 50CAN to conduct a survey of West Virginia parents and guardians of school-age children as part of a nationwide effort that reached more than 20,000 respondents.

In West Virginia, the survey included 402 respondents conducted between July 8 and Aug. 22. Respondents were recruited using online non-probability samples through national opt-in consumer research panels, with respondents participating either by computer or a mobile device.

Of West Virginia respondents, 93% identified as white, 52% identified as low income and 44% identified as middle income. Most of the respondents, 75%, said their children are in a local traditional public school, with 7% with children in homeschool, 6% with children in private school, 4% in statewide virtual charter schools, 3% in religious schools, and 1% in a public charter school.

According to the survey results, 36% of respondents said they were very satisfied with their child’s school, the 7th lowest number out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The national average was 45%. When it comes to whether a parent would send their child to the same school they attend today, 52% of West Virginia respondents said they would make the same choice. Only 51% of state respondents said they feel like they have a choice in what school their child attends.

“This polling represents, perhaps, the most comprehensive look into West Virginians’ opinions and perspectives in, at least, the last five years on the state of education in our state,” said Garrett Ballengee, president and CEO of the Cardinal Institute, in a statement Tuesday. “Across all income and parental education levels, there is an understanding that we can and must do better for future generations.”

West Virginia had already provided parents with the freedom to transfer children into private schools, religious/Christian schools, or home school. But the Republican-led West Virginia Legislature has greatly expanded additional school choice options.

West Virginia’s public charter school pilot program was created in 2019 by the Legislature and updated in 2021. The pilot program allows for the approval of 10 public charter schools every three years and a limit of two statewide virtual charter schools. There are five public charter schools near larger cities and two statewide virtual charter schools.

An application for an additional public charter school, Morgantown’s second school, is under consideration by the Professional Charter School Board. The Professional Charter School Board is also working to contract with a company to encourage the creation of public charter schools in other parts of the state.

The Hope Scholarship — passed by the Legislature in 2021 and which went into effect at the beginning of 2023 following a legal fight and West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals decision in its favor — 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 educational expenses, such as private or religious school tuition, homeschool, tutoring, learning aids and other acceptable expenses.

The Legislature budgeted $18 million to the Department of Education for the Hope Scholarship program for the current fiscal year. Lawmakers appropriated another $27.3 million for the Hope Scholarship during a May special session to address increasing demand for the program. Between 30,000 and 40,000 West Virginia children will be eligible for the program by the fall of 2026.

State Code allows for homeschool families to combine into learning pods and micro schools. Learning pods are defined as a voluntary association of parents choosing to group their children together to participate in K-12 instruction as an alternative to enrolling in public schools, private schools and homeschool. A micro school is a tuition-charging school initiated by one or more teachers.

And in 2023, the Legislature expanded upon a 2019 law allowing open enrollment between public schools. The law requires county school boards to allow eligible students to transfer between schools in the county as long as the school being transferred to has capacity and has programs not already offered in a student’s attendance zone.

The law also allows for student transfers between counties. According to data from the West Virginia Department of Education, for the 2023-2024 school year, 6,135 students transferred with their home counties, and 1,425 transferred to public schools outside their home counties.

All of these school choice options have had financial effects on county public school systems, as county school aid formula funding from the state is tied to student attendance. Many families are pulling their students from standard public schools in favor of the new statewide virtual public schools or home schooling paid for in part by the Hope Scholarship. Several counties across the state are considering school closures and consolidations due to student population losses.

In other survey results, 13% of respondents said their children received academic tutoring in the past school year, 28% of respondents said their children participated in a supervised summer program, and 28% said they were satisfied with how their school supports their child’s mental health needs.

When it comes to college and career readiness, 29% said they were extremely confident their child will be well equipped to enter the workforce and 28% said they were extremely confident their child will be well prepared for college. When it comes to information and engagement, 25% said they reviewed information about their school’s performance compared to other schools, 16% said they were very familiar with school system budget decisions, and 27% said they attended meetings of parent organizations at their schools.

“These results underscore the urgent need for action,” Ballengee said. “Parents want choice in their school options, greater academic transparency, and an increased focus on accountability within our schools.”