Homeschooling Trend in West Virginia

More West Virginia families are turning to homeschooling.

 The state’s Home Educators Association now estimates over 25,000 students are homeschooled, up from about 10,000 when many current families started.

This trend is driven partly by a desire for more flexibility than traditional schools offer and partly by expanded Hope Scholarship funding (over 26,000 students applied for the full $5,435.62-per-student award for 2026-27). 

This shift coincides with falling public school enrollment (down more than 6,000 students in one year, to 234,957 in 2025-26), which is raising concerns about the state’s funding formula since enrollment determines staffing dollars, though the homeschool association’s president argued the system should simply “right size” to the smaller population.

Source: https://wchstv.com/news/local/more-west-virginia-families-are-choosing-homeschooling