West Virginia legislation · 2026 Regular Session
West Virginia HB5346: Creating the school aid formula study commission
Status: Introduced, February 9, 2026
What the bill says
A bill amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §18-2L-1, §18-2L-2, and §18-2L-3, relating to creating the school aid formula study commission; providing legislative findings; and providing for the commission membership; allowing expense reimbursements; and requiring reporting to the Legislature of the commission's findings. ARTICLE 2L. SCHOOL AID FORMULA STUDY COMMISSION §18-2L-1. School Aid Formula Study Commission. This article shall be known as the "School Aid Formula Study Commission." §18-2L-2. Legislative Findings. The public schools in our.
From the introduced text, February 9, 2026:
A BILL amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §18-2L-1, §18-2L-2, and §18-2L-3, relating to creating the school aid formula study commission; providing legislative findings; and providing for the commission membership; allowing expense reimbursements; and requiring reporting to the Legislature of the commission's findings. ARTICLE 2L. SCHOOL AID FORMULA STUDY COMMISSION §18-2L-1. School Aid Formula Study Commission. This article shall be known as the "School Aid Formula Study Commission." §18-2L-2. Legislative Findings. The public schools in our state are an essential resource for West Virginians. Almost 90 percent of all children in this state attend our free public schools. The school aid formula was devised to assure that all students across all counties were entitled to an equal and free public school education. In recent years public education has faced severe challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, declining enrollment, and a divestment of funding and resources to private schools and home schooling. The loss of thousands of students from the public school system has reduced the available money to support our public schools forcing school closures, consolidations, program reductions and teacher and service personnel layoffs. As our state is predominately rural, as more schools close and programs are cut, the risk grows that the quality of the education will decline, and students will …