MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After quite a bit of time of feeling frustrated, the Marion County Board of Education made the executive decision to dispatch a letter to the state legislature, addressing specific concerns that they have observed and voicing a need for additional support.
Addressed first in the letter, the Marion County Board of Education would like the state legislature to review the research and data pertaining to the Hope Scholarship. The Hope Scholarship is an educational savings account that provides taxpayer-funded scholarships for eligible students to use for private school tuition, homeschooling, tutoring, and other approved educational expenses.
In addition, addressed secondly in the letter, the Marion County Board of Education requested that the state legislature makes an effort to focus on ideals that drive students to be prepared for an educated workforce. They asked the state legislature to look at previous research and findings from their own economic development advisors to aid in constructing plans to make students feel more motivated and inspired to partake in local careers.
“We asked the legislatures as a second priority in that letter to focus on not draining funds from public education, but actually putting funds into public education, so that we can build and attract students that are interested in careers that are right in their backdoor,” Donna Heston, Superintendent of Marion County Schools, said.
To help promote local careers in the state of West Virginia, the Marion County Board of Education has decided to host an aviation and aeronautics summit at East Fairmont High School. This event will be in partnership with West Virginia University, Pierpont Community and Technical College, and Marshall University. Individuals across the state from multiple career fields will be in attendance, and will discuss with students why careers that are just outside of their backyard are crucial to partake in and disclose some of the opportunities at hand for these young students.
In addition to the aviation and aeronautics summit, the Marion County Board of Education built an aviation classroom in one of their middle schools, promoting local career paths from a young age.
George Boyles, President of the Marion County Board of Education, discussed how there was a lack of workforce in the healthcare environment in various hospitals in West Virginia, and felt as if those career paths should be enhanced, as well.
The final concern voiced in the letter was the money being put into the Hope Scholarship, and where exactly this money is going toward.
Heston mentioned that the Marion County School District lost 200 students between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, which equated to over a million dollars in funding, due to the Hope Scholarship. Thinking beyond her district, Heston added that the Hope Scholarship caused for a loss of 11,000 students in West Virginia overall from 2020-2025, which sparked a loss of state aid for those public school systems.
“When they leave us, and they homeschool or they go into Hope Scholarship opportunities, we are deeply concerned about the programming, child nutrition, special needs support, and mental health support,” Heston stated. “Really, we’re asking the legislators to consider that again. Who’s checking in on those students?”
Along with that, Heston and other members of the Marion County Board of Education were puzzled as to why a total of $17.3 million dollars went to non-public schools solely in 2024 from the Hope Scholarship.
“That’s a concern to us,” Heston said. “When you are facing those numbers just in Marion County, think of what that impact is throughout the state.”
Although her concern runs deep, Heston just wants what’s best for the young students attending public schools in West Virginia, and, with the support from the state legislature, she aspires to lead students to careers right outside their backyard, staying relatively local.
“We really are just emploring the legislators to focus on economic development for the state, keep the money in West Virginia, and support your public schools, so that we can enhance the programming to build pipelines to drive economic development in West Virginia,” Heston concluded.