Hope Scholarship Report: $68.5 Million Spent as Nearly 15,000 West Virginia Students Took Part

West Virginia's Hope Scholarship keeps growing, and a new annual report shows just how much money moved through the education savings program last school year. The report, released Monday by State Treasurer Larry Pack, who chairs the Hope Scholarship Board, puts 2025-26 spending at about $68.5 million, up from roughly $43.8 million the year before.

For families across the Mountain State weighing their options, and for the public schools that serve most of our kids, the numbers are already stirring up plenty of conversation.

By the Numbers

A total of 14,486 students received some level of Hope Scholarship funding during the 2025-26 school year. When the program launched four years ago, about 2,300 students received an award, meaning participation has grown more than sixfold.

Students who received the full scholarship got $5,267.38 each, up from $4,921.39 the previous year. Families whose applications came in after the June deadline received prorated amounts ranging from 75% down to 25%, depending on when they applied.

The state moved about $75 million into student accounts last year, but roughly $11.3 million was still unspent when the school year ended. Unused money can roll over if a student stays in the program and remains eligible; otherwise it goes back to the state.

About six in ten recipients attended a private school, while nearly four in ten used an individualized instructional plan, which can include homeschooling and other approved education options. The scholarship saw its heaviest use in higher-population counties such as Kanawha, Berkeley and Jefferson.

Growth Expected to Level Off

Pack said the program has grown to roughly 25,000 to 26,000 students now and that he expects enrollment to level out somewhere around 30,000. He said he believes the state can afford the program's cost, which he put at around $160 million to $170 million, but acknowledged West Virginia also needs to do more to help its public school system.

Questions About Fairness and Oversight

Not everyone reads the report the same way. Dale Lee, co-president of the teachers' union Education West Virginia, said the state's public school funding formula needs to change and that the Hope Scholarship needs guardrails.

State enrollment figures show public schools lost 8,270 students this year, though neither those numbers nor the treasurer's report spell out how many of those students left for the Hope Scholarship. Lee pointed to county-level examples, saying about 500 students left Berkeley County schools for the program and about 230 left in Marion County, while Roane County lost 230 students, roughly 100 of whom were identified with the scholarship.

Lee also questioned what kinds of expenses taxpayers should be covering, noting that cheerleading and gymnastics schools received nearly $63,000 in scholarship money, while many public school families pay for those same activities out of their own pockets.

What Families Are Saying

Among the nearly 900 families who answered a survey included in the report, 96% said they were satisfied with the Hope Scholarship. That survey measures how families feel about their experience with the program; it does not show whether Hope students are outperforming their public school peers.

With the program now open to far more families and the price tag climbing, expect the debate over how to balance school choice with support for our hometown public schools to stay front and center in Charleston. We'll keep you posted as it unfolds.