Public Comments

I know bills are mostly still in committees, but have opinions on some education bills. HB5249- this is a no brainer.  Money should NEVER have been going to out of state schools with the voucher program.  This shows there are not enough guardrails on this voucher program. HB 4817- charter school startup fund.  Between this and the vouchers, there is not going to be money left for public schools.  Public schools keep getting defunded in favor of private schools and homeschooling.  We need to fix and improve our public schools.  So I hope you vote in favor of the public schools. SB 388- when it comes to the house, I hope you vote to keep separation of church and state and keep the Bible out of classrooms.  

As a former homeschooling parent and a licensed psychologist, I strongly support this bill. While homeschooling can be a positive and effective educational choice for many families, I have also witnessed situations where it has been misused — sometimes to avoid truancy accountability, to lower expectations for children, or to circumvent involvement from schools and child protective services. Recent tragedies here in West Virginia have only deepened my belief that thoughtful oversight is necessary to help protect vulnerable children. Reasonable safeguards are not about limiting parental rights; they are about ensuring that every child is safe, supported, and given a real opportunity to succeed. This is not a criticism of responsible homeschooling families who are deeply committed to their children’s education and well-being. Rather, it is an acknowledgment that without appropriate structure and accountability, some children can fall through the cracks. I support stronger protections because the well-being of children must come first.

What happened to Baylee Bower was a tragedy in Boone County. I sign this today, after the pathetic sentencing of Destiny Lester. This needs to be mandatory for all counties in the state. The judge also needs to reconsider his ruling. If he cannot follow the 3-15 year sentence, he needs to follow one that doubles the sentence. The sentencing in Raleigh County should be enough to pass this law.

Three years ago, I was finishing my last year of college.

In what feels like a blink of an eye, three years have passed. Life moved forward. Seasons changed. Milestones happened.

For Baylea, time stopped.

Under current West Virginia law, the minimum sentence for DUI resulting in death is three years.

Three years.

No one who takes a life because they chose to drive impaired should view three years as a brief chapter that “went by fast.”

When a family receives a lifetime sentence of loss, accountability should reflect that permanence.

That is why “Baylea’s Law” matters.

This would be amazing for staff. We could hire more mothers and then get reliable staff due to their childcare needs being met.

I support HB 5479 because transparency and accountability are essential to public trust. Law enforcement officers exercise significant authority, and the public has a right to know who is exercising that authority. Allowing officers to conceal their identity with masks or by covering badge numbers makes accountability difficult and weakens confidence in the system.

This bill does not undermine law enforcement — it supports professionalism and protects both citizens and officers who serve honorably. Clear identification helps build trust between West Virginians and those sworn to protect them.

I agree to this bill.

I am writing in support of HB 5345, bipartisan legislation requiring enrollment-based childcare subsidy payments.

Childcare providers operate with fixed costs that do not change hour by hour. Staffing ratios must be maintained, employees must be paid, and facilities must remain open and operational whether a child attends two hours or a full day. The current attendance-based reimbursement structure relies on an outdated hourly conversion model that does not reflect the true cost of delivering care.

Enrollment-based payments provide stability and predictability, allowing providers to budget responsibly, retain qualified staff, and continue serving working families. Codifying this structure in state law also protects providers and families in the event federal policy changes in the future.

A sustainable childcare system is essential to supporting West Virginia’s workforce and economic growth. HB 5345 is a practical and necessary step toward strengthening childcare access and provider stability across our state.

I am writing in support of HB 5345, bipartisan legislation requiring enrollment-based childcare subsidy payments.

Childcare providers operate with fixed costs that do not change hour by hour. Staffing ratios must be maintained, employees must be paid, and facilities must remain open and operational whether a child attends two hours or a full day. The current attendance-based reimbursement structure relies on an outdated hourly conversion model that does not reflect the true cost of delivering care.

Enrollment-based payments provide stability and predictability, allowing providers to budget responsibly, retain qualified staff, and continue serving working families. Codifying this structure in state law also protects providers and families in the event federal policy changes in the future.

A sustainable childcare system is essential to supporting West Virginia’s workforce and economic growth. HB 5345 is a practical and necessary step toward strengthening childcare access and provider stability across our state.

I oppose this bill and urge a No vote on this bill for these and many other reasons.

The bill is based on a false premise. For their own well-being, many students (some of which may have had several absences) NEED to leave the public school system quickly.

• This bill is based on a FALSE PREMISE that ALL families who file an NOI to homeschool while involved in a truancy process are simply looking for an “easy out”, and it omits safeguards for the students who have a LEGITIMATE NEED to exit a public school system in an immediate timeframe.
• There can be compelling reasons for a student’s absence from school: severe bullying, personal conflict or bullying from a teacher, mental health issues, etc.  Assuming they are looking for an “easy out” and requiring such students to keep attending school could indeed cause harm to them.
• According to the National Household Education Survey, the number one reason parents choose to homeschool is concern about school environment including classroom safety, drugs, bullying, or negative peer pressure. In other words, they withdraw from public school for their children’s safety. Unfortunately, the threat of injury is not an excuse for missing school under West Virginia law.
• Lacking reasonable safeguards for such situations, this bill essentially prohibits well intended parents from acting in the best interest of their child.

Existing law already provides the best solution.

• The existing law provides a mechanism for superintendents to seek to deny the homeschooling option by filing a petition in court. This is the best solution for whatever problem exists. It maintains due process, enables parents to act in the best interest of the child, and gives superintendents a directive to act whenever the parent is not acting in the best interest of the child.
• Rather than using the existing authority and maintaining due process, this bill creates an “easy out” for the school system by enacting a blanket prohibition that has a high likelihood of negative impact on some children’s well-being.
• Even if a majority of truants did not have legitimate reasons to withdraw to homeschool, some students do have a very real need to leave the school system quickly. Provisions must be made to preserve their well-being!

The bill raises equal protection concernsby unfairly targeting a single category of public school alternatives – those seeking to homeschool.

• There is no mention of, or impact on, students schooling under other exemptions, like Hope or microschools.

The bill is poorly written:

• It doesn’t define when the “pre-petition process” begins. It is possible that this process could start as soon as the student has three unexcused absences. The bill is susceptible to subjective and inconsistent application, i.e. overreach and misuse.
• The factual findings in the bill are neither “factual” nor “findings.” They are merelynegative assumptions about homeschooling without citations to objective evidence to support the need for the legislation in the first place. The “findings” seem based on negative assumptions rather than objective facts.
• Finding (2) is not at all germane to the bill’s stated purpose or the provisions to be enacted in section (b). Rather it seems placed there to simply cast aspersion toward homeschoolers, generally.
• The directive for the Department of Education to survey families who leave the public school to homeschool is not germane to the stated purpose of the bill.  Further, the survey again only targets one group of non-public school alternatives (homeschooling, and no others). Once again, this raises equal protection concerns regarding the constitutionality of the directive.
• The language for the survey is broad and invites the State to invade the privacy of families. If the goal of a survey is to collect accurate data that can be used to better identify the drivers of the decision to file an NOI to homeschool, that research is currently available.
  • • COE – Homeschooled Children and Reasons for Homeschooling by the National Center for Educational Statistics
    • How many US students are homeschooled, and for what reasons?| Pew Research Center