By Stephen Smoot
In the formulas used to fund school systems across the state, some counties have student populations that fall beneath the capacity of both the state aid formula and local tax revenues to support. Many aspects of State of West Virginia aid to schools rely on funding certain numbers of personnel per thousand students, as well as taking into account local tax revenues and other adjustments.
Certain basic costs form a part of every school system’s budget and impose budgetary burdens. Differing economies of scale between more and less populated counties create larger relative burdens for systems in less populated or sparsely populated counties that put smaller counties at a disadvantage.
In 2008, the West Virginia State Legislature passed a bill highlighting an innovation crafted to address those issues and create balances that addressed smaller systems’ disadvantages.
Prior to this, according to a 2012 Pendleton Times article, support for such schools came piecemeal through appropriations from the former Budget Digest. No longer in use, the Budget Digest was assembled behind closed doors by the Legislature. It mimicked the “earmark” process followed by the United States Congress until that was discontinued, then resurrected as the more transparent “congressionally delegated spending.”
The Legislature also allows funds to each state senator or delegate to direct as desired to district needs.
That said, officials saw a need for a permanent solution rather than stopgap help. From that came the “1,400 floor” which currently benefits 12 school systems in the state: Pendleton, Pocahontas, Tucker, Webster, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler, and Wirt.
In the final meeting of the Pendleton County Board of Education for 2025, J. P. Mowery, treasurer, explained how Pendleton County’s support through that would change. In doing so, he also illustrated how the system works as well.
Mowery also shares credit with former State Senator Walt Helmick and Delegate Harold Michael for its creation and also its passage. Mowery created the policy and, as the Times described in 2012, “did the heavy lifting in Charleston.” Helmick and Michael, chairs of the finance committees in their respective chambers, carried the argument into the Legislature.
Michael praised Pendleton County Schools at the time for having “been great stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Initially, seven counties benefited.
“It’s a little bit convoluted, but once you look at it, it makes more sense,” Mowery shared with attendees at the recent school board meeting. The funding mechanism begins with the notion of creating the 1,400 floor, providing added funding schools with less than that amount with ratios based upon that amount.
“Everything is tied to Pocahontas County,” he started. Pocahontas County serves as the school system in the state with the fewest students per square mile. It also faces the challenge of serving low numbers of students in a geographically expansive area, much like Pendleton and Webster.
Until this year, Pendleton and Pocahontas occupied the same tier of funding with approximately the same number of students per square mile even with differing numbers of students. Pocahontas County in the past year lost enough students, going from 918 to 848 (while obviously keeping the same number of square miles) that it “pushed” Pendleton off the benchmark of 1,400. Pendleton County’s nine charter school student numbers, while not counted for funding, do get included in the 1,400 floor tally.
Pendleton has a similar number of students, but fewer square miles. Pocahontas fell under one student per square mile while Pendleton remained above it. The difference between the two was enough to result in a loss of funding from that program.
Pendleton County currently is 551 students under 1,400. The formula multiplies that 551 by the ratio of Pocahontas County set 73.95 percent. Mowery explains that would put Pendleton at funding for 1,256 students, but that in 2019, the West Virginia State Legislature allowed counties to add 10 percent at this stage in the formula, (Mowery said at the time that it was “a pleasant surprise”) totaling 125, which raises the funding level from there to 1,382 students.
“That’s the first year since 2019-2020 that we will be below 1,400 students in the calculation because the multiplier of what we need to get to 1,400 is 73 percent,” stated Mowery. He then went on to add that the school system will face “a potential negative impact of $148,772.39.”
Mowery reassured attendees, saying, “Obviously this is not ideal. It still allows us to maintain our system pretty consistently.” As per usual, however, he emphasized that such developments illustrate a need for the board of education to “be proactive” in monitoring such funding sources and their potential impact on the overall budget.
With the Legislature examining the overall state aid funding formula in next year’s session, those using the 1,400 floor may have concerns about its future. As to the future of the policy, however, Mowery told the board, “Tt’s been there. I don’t see it going anywhere. (Pendleton County Schools superintendent) Nicole (Hevener) has emphasized keeping that in place.”
