yes. every kid. is urging policymakers to oppose efforts to undermine the education funding, freedom, and flexibility in West Virginia. New legislation would deny families access to their own tax dollars for their child’s education, limit their choices, and impose new restrictions on innovative and private schools.
Why it matters:
- West Virginia revolutionized education funding by becoming the first state to enact a universal education savings account program, known as the HOPE Scholarship.
- West Virginia families to fund their child’s K-12 education in one of three ways: enroll in a traditional public school, pay entirely out of pocket, or use a “HOPE Scholarship” to personalize their child’s education.
- Nearly 15,000 students currently use HOPE Scholarships to pay for private or microschool tuition, tutoring, and other customized education services.
- As the first universal ESA program in the nation, HOPE helped education freedom efforts across the country and became a model for other states
- National polling shows Americans support giving families more authority, flexibility, and options in education.
What’s working:
- Strong family participation: Nearly 15,000 West Virginia students are participating in HOPE this school year.
- HOPE Scholarships help close the “customization gap”: 77% of parents, nationally, want a great deal of customization, but only 39% believe that level of customization exists.
- Parents want accountability and know portability delivers it: 77% of parents say schools need to be more accountable to parents, and 69% say funding portability, like HOPE Scholarships, increases accountability.
- ESAs have broad support: 63% support giving families access to ESAs, and among supporters, 70% favor universal eligibility.
The concern:
- The proposed changes would restrict the education providers and schools that parents can choose.
- The legislation would impose new standardized testing mandates on students who leave traditional public schools and add regulatory burdens on private and innovative schools.
What we’re saying:
“Tens of thousands of families depend on HOPE because it’s delivering what they have been asking for: flexibility, customization, and real accountability,” said Meaghan O’Brien, government affairs director at yes. every kid. “Families, not bureaucrats, are best positioned to define success for their children. HOPE works because it trusts families and allows funding to follow the child to the learning options that fit them best. Proposals that deny families full access to their own tax dollars and add new constraints will only weaken West Virginia’s education system.”
The bottom line: HOPE is working, and the nation is watching. Now is not the time to add red tape or roll back parental freedom. Lawmakers should reject this legislation and protect a program that thousands of West Virginia families rely on.
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