Half of WV homeless students suspended during school year, state data shows

Half of West Virginia’s homeless students were suspended as a result of behavior last school year, according to new data from the state education department. 

There were 4,962 students identified homeless under federal reporting requirements, which includes students living in shelter, cars, tents, hotels or doubled up with friends. 

State data showed that there were more than 16,000 disciplinary incidents and actions like suspensions involving the state’s homeless students during the 2025-26 school year.

The West Virginia Department of Education said 2,473 homeless students were suspended after around 4,000 referrals for suspension in that population. 

“It’s eye-opening and surprising,” said Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, who chairs the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability. “But when you think dig into it, it’s not really surprising because those kids are the ones who are living through situations that they’re not getting what they need at home.”

The commission reviewed a new school discipline report Tuesday at the state Capitol.

“Over half of the children who are homeless have been suspended. Wow,” said Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, as he looked over the data. 

Garcia said these are children “that need extra help.”

“We need to have active measures to try to fix it,” he said. 

Drew McClanahan, the Department of Education’s legislative and policy officer, said the data brings up questions about what support was lacking for these students. He noted the high number of foster children referred for disciplinary action.

“It begs the question of … are students who are in some of the most dire consequences really struggling without the support at home?” he said. “Maybe the grandparents aren’t equipped to handle the situation or the needs of the grandchildren that they have.”

There’s no dedicated line-item funding for homeless students in West Virginia’s budget.

Counties split the state’s allocation of federal McKinney-Vento funds, which target homeless students, to help them access needed services and items.

For multiple years, Senate Minority Leader Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, has sponsored a bill to place full-time, dedicated homeless education coordinator in the state’s more urban counties to recognize and help homeless students. Woelfel is retiring at the end of this year. 

“Sen. Woelfel has done tremendous work … and brought it into the spotlight so that the light shined on it,” Garcia said. “I plan to continue that work and try to hopefully get something to accomplish something that can take the numbers that we saw today and make specific improvements.”

Grady said that rather than adding another administrative role, she plans to push legislation that will delegate homeless student support to someone already in the school system.

“I like the idea of school counselors being a part of that role because they do that already in their schools,” Grady said. “They’re already in contact with those homeless families and the homeless children … They know what they need.”

More than 26,000 West Virginia students were suspended for disciplinary incidents last school year, and males were suspended at a much higher rate. Students with Individualized Education Plans facing disciplinary action have met the threshold of it not meeting their diagnosis, McClanahan explained. 

Expulsions are a very serious and rarely used consequence for the most significant disciplinary incidents, according to the Department of Education. During the 2025-26 school year, 474 students were expelled, and 67 of those were homeless students. 

Lawmakers review data following new school discipline requirements  

Lawmakers also reviewed for the first time student discipline data related to their 2025 landmark school discipline bill. It was implemented in school districts for the first time this past school year.

Senate Bill 199, years in the making, was meant to address the growing classroom discipline crisis in West Virginia. Teachers asked lawmakers for help addressing an uptick in violent and disruptive student behavior like punching, kicking and classroom destruction while police often left them with limited options to remove children. 

WVDE data showed 477 students — 366 males and 81 females — were referred under those bill’s requirements as educators use a state-specific code to track this discipline referral. 

Lawmakers tried to craft a bill that protected teachers and staff while supporting students in a state with limited mental health resources. Child trauma connected to the state’s high child poverty rate and substance use crisis has regularly impacted classrooms across the state. 

“A large part of what our office of leadership and support did this past year was for the principals and superintendents on the appropriate implementation of Senate Bill 199,” McClanahan said, noting that there may be some work to do in clarifying how schools handle a kindergartener who commits battery on a teacher versus a teenager. 

Not every county has an alternative learning center for students removed from their schools due to disciplinary reasons.

“We grant funded support for 10 elementary alternative education pilots throughout the state,” McClahanah said. 

Grady, a public school teacher and sponsor of Senate Bill 199, said school districts’ mixed interpretations of the bill could have impacted the data.

“There was a little disconnect there, so I wonder if this data will change significantly,” Grady said. “I think we might see something different. Whether that’s more or less, I don’t know.”