Bill > HB4670

This bill establishes the "West Virginia Educational Freedom Pilot Act of 2026," a pilot program allowing any county to participate and receive a block grant equivalent to its share of the state's "School Aid Formula," which is the current, complex system for distributing education funds. Participating counties would be exempt from certain provisions of the Education Code, such as staffing ratios, service personnel quotas, and central salary schedules, though exemptions required by federal law would still apply. These counties would gain autonomy over salaries, benefits, class sizes, and school calendars, and could opt out of state-mandated SAT or ACT tests, instead implementing their own assessments or trade school admission tests, and could also set their own graduation requirements. The bill notes that counties taken over by the State Board of Education or those deemed financially distressed are ineligible, and requires a report on the pilot program to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA) by July 1, 2028.

Education

http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=4670&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill