There are plenty of words that can be used to describe the revelation of major financial issues that led to the West Virginia Department of Education’s takeover of Hancock County Schools.

Alarming. Disturbing. Embarrassing.

According to the department’s investigations, the school district’s finances were in such disarray that district officials were contacting the state department for help just to make payroll.

When was the last time a public school district in West Virginia needed help to simply pay its teachers and staff? Has it ever happened? According to Delegate Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock, the West Virginia Board of Education told him that “they’ve never seen anything like it.”

So how does a school district’s finances fall that quickly off a cliff? There’s a $5 million cash shortfall. There’s also a number of capital projects, such as turfing athletic fields, in the pipeline. The main culprit is that Hancock County Schools has been operating at 143 positions over what the county school aid formula calls for. Those positions had been paid for by COVID relief funds. But, when those funds expired, rather than eliminating the positions, district officials moved them to county funds.

Even more distressing was the state education department’s discovery that county officials had bypassed the required West Virginia Educational Information System in filing its financial statements.

“We have since uncovered … that the county was not using the WVEIS balance sheet, WVEIS cash reconciliation modules, or the WVEIA fixed asset modules,” said Elijah Cummings, the WVDE’s school financial operations officer. “All of this was taking place in Excel spreadsheets and then the data would then be dumped into the system when requested and so forth. So, the lack of use of the financial system certainly played a major factor in that.”

Add that together, and it equals the WVDE removing Dan Enich as Hancock superintendent — longtime Ohio County administrator Walt Saunders was appointed in his place — and the Hancock County Board of Education being stripped of its decision-making authority. Those decisions will now be made by the state department of education.

Is it an extreme move? Yes. Is it much better for county school districts to be able to make their own decisions? Absolutely.

Was it necessary? Also yes. The combination of financial disarray and the apparently purposeful moves to hide it is proof that no one in that district office, from administration to the board, was capable of effectively running the district. Hopefully, with the state department’s help, Hancock County Schools will climb out of this chasm and be able to operate independently sooner than later. The teachers, staff, parents and students of Hancock County Schools deserve that.

Yet this extreme move is becoming more common in West Virginia in recent years. With the state’s takeover of Hancock County Schools, there are now 10 county school districts out of the state’s 55 that are under some form of state control, whether that’s a complete take over or a state of emergency, where the county and state are working together to stave off that full takeover.

So nearly one-fifth of all West Virginia school districts are in such peril that the state is either monitoring their decisions or just making the decisions for them. There are words to describe that situation, too.

Alarming. Disturbing. Embarrassing.

And there’s no guarantee that other county school districts couldn’t suffer the same fate. West Virginia Board of Education President Paul Hardesty told lawmakers this past week that he could see other school districts face the same financial problems as Hancock County.

West Virginia public education is reaching a crisis point. The state department of education can’t keep adding school districts to its list of those under its full control. A drastic move could be in order.

A bill sponsored by Del. Phil Mallow, R-Marion, has been sent to the West Virginia House of Delegates’ Education Committee that would require the state to consolidate from 55 school districts to no more than 27. The bill cites challenges related to accessibility, funding, population and topography as the catalysts.

Combining districts should eliminate bureaucracy, as well as allow those districts to cast a wider net to find school board candidates with the background and experience to effectively oversee those districts.

That’s one possible answer. There could be plenty of others out there. One of them could work. A combination of them could work. It must be state government’s priority to find and implement an answer. Kicking this can down the road another year will only make it worse.

Again, the more local control a community has over its schools, the better. But far too many school districts in West Virginia are showing an inability to govern themselves. If the problem persists — or, even worse, grows — a bold move will need to be made to turn around those fortunes.

Everyone involved must remember that, in the end, school districts are there to support teachers, staff, parents and students. Those districts need put in the best positions to succeed, even if hard decisions need made to get there.