6 days ago
Hope Scholarship board says voucher can't be used on ammunition, witchcraft herbs, animals and more
The Hope Scholarship is clarifying how students can use the money for education expenses after parents asked to purchase ammunition, live animals, witchcraft herbs and a cauldron. (Aristide Economopoulos for NJ Monitor)
West Virginia's school voucher program, the Hope Scholarship, is clarifying how students can use the money for education expenses after parents asked to purchase ammunition, gaming consoles, live animals, witchcraft herbs and more through the program.
'We had the request for witchcraft herbs and a cauldron,' said Amy Willard, assistant treasurer for the Hope Scholarship Program, at a May 16 scholarship board meeting. The request was denied.
The Hope Scholarship, which launched four years ago, provides roughly $4,900 per student in tax-payer funds to be used for private schooling tuition, homeschooling, microschools and more. Around 11,000 students used the program during the 2024-25 school year.
Parents who utilize the Hope Scholarship for homeschooling use a portal to purchase a wide range of educational materials, like curriculums, iPads, water tables, bee keeping materials under $200 and more from vendors. Parents are permitted to use the money for horseback riding lessons and dance studio fees. Hope Scholarship funds are not sent to the parents.
Carrie Hodousek, communications director for the State Treasure's Office, said some items are pre-approved and don't require a manual review by the board. Other items are reviewed by an individual or multiple individuals either in the Treasurer's Office and/or the Office's contracted program manager, she explained.
'These items are brought to the board for approval or disapproval,' she said.
On May 16, the Hope Scholarship Board issued an updated list of unallowable expenses based on parents' requests. Along with witchcraft herbs, live animals and ammunition, the board said the funds may not be used on these additional items and more: travel sports fees; household furniture, including desks and couches; virtual reality equipment; athletic equipment in excess of $500; medications and supplements; chicken brooders; heat lamps and chicken coops in excess of $400.
'In none of these instances were these items successfully purchased without authorization from the board,' Hodousek said.
'If items are placed on the non-qualifying expense list, it means that the Treasurer's Office did not allow those purchases to go through and then requested guidance from the Hope board as to whether they should be permissible expenses,' she added.
The Hope Scholarship program is expected to grow to 50,000 students by 2026, and the price tag has already raised concerns among the GOP-led Legislature, who largely back the program as part of their school choice push.
Lawmakers recently approved $97 million for the Hope Scholarship for the upcoming school year — up from this year's $58 million in funding for the program. It was the largest funding increase requested by Gov. Patrick Morrisey in his first budget proposal.
In 2027, its price tag is expected to skyrocket to around $300 million, when the program will open up to all students in the state.
'We are leaving other vitally necessary programs underfunded because of an increase in this line item,' Del. Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, said in April as the House debated bills that funded the program. Pritt, a public school teacher, noted the state's public employee's insurance program, which insures teachers, continues to struggle.
Democratic lawmakers in the House proposed a bill banning the use of Hope Scholarship funds at out-of-state schools, but the measure wasn't taken up for consideration during the legislative session. More than $122,000 in Hope funds were used at out of state schools last school year.
Public school leaders have said the growing number of students using the program has continued to financial issues as the state is facing a wave of school closures. Under the current school funding formula, counties receive state funding based on the number of students. West Virginia is also experiencing an overall population decline.
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