Kanawha County Schools disagrees with AG’s letter, says Hope Scholarship policy follows the law

Kanawha County Schools issued a defense in response to Attorney General JB McCuskey’s stern letter about the county’s protocol regarding the Hope Scholarship and students with disabilities. The school system argued they’re operating in accordance with federal and state law.

McCuskey has taken issue with a letter from KCS to parents that said students with disabilities would have to be reevaluated if they choose to reenter public schools after leaving to use the Hope Scholarship. 

The Hope Scholarship is West Virginia’s education voucher program, and it gives students around $5,400 each school year to pay for education outside of public schools.

McCuskey recently sent a letter to state school officials saying that the KCS decision did not square with state and federal disabilities laws. He worried local school officials might try to withhold disability-related services or subject the child to disciplinary action without their disability protections. 

The AG’s letter was not sent to KCS.

Chris Williams, KCS director of communications, said that they’re now reviewing the letter that they sent out to parents who file a notice of intent to leave public education and making necessary changes to the wording.

“However, the purpose of the letter will remain the same, which is to alert parents of students with (Individualized Education Plans) that at the time of their withdrawal from public school, they will no longer have an IEP. This is a required notice and in accordance with federal and state law,” Williams said.

“Furthermore, the letter does and will continue to state that should the student return to public education, their student’s IEP will not automatically be reinstated as it was at the time of the withdrawal. This is also in accordance with Federal and State law,” he continued.

KCS does not have specific policy addressing this issue, according to Williams.

“We developed this letter to accompany the required Prior Written Notice sent to parents who are withdrawing from public school, based on guidance that the WVDE issued in 2018, long before the HOPE Scholarship existed,” Williams explained. “This letter has accompanied the required PWNs since 2024 and was written due to parent confusion regarding the status of their students’ prior IEP upon re-enrollment. Further, the information is consistent with information contained on the State Treasurer’s website that is publicly available.”

Williams concludes the statement by saying, “McCuskey’s letter to the WVDE does appear thorough, however, it leaves out pivotal points of the law that make the difference in the legal analysis and that is unfortunate.”

Local school leaders have reported that their counties are millions of dollars in debt due to special education costs; in some counties, special education students account for a quarter of all students enrolled. The current school funding model mostly doesn’t account for the high cost of providing special education services.

McCuskey has asked State School Board President Paul Hardesty to intervene in the situation at KCS and identify students who were denied services or reentry because of the county’s decision.

Blatt and Hardesty were also asked to respond to several questions, including if any other county had issued similar letters to parents of students with disabilities. 

There are more than 25,000 students using the Hope Scholarship this school year. The education voucher has opened up to all West Virginia students for the first time since it launched five years ago.