As tax dollars go to trampoline park, WV lawmakers should jump at chance to rein in Hope Scholarship

A controversy unfolded on Facebook last week when a trampoline park posted that it was now an “official Hope Scholarship provider.” Parents across the political spectrum — including Hope Scholarship families — expressed outrage (not necessarily at the business, which I won’t name here), but at taxpayer dollars budgeted for education going to a trampoline park when they see so many needs in their schools and communities going unaddressed.

And it isn’t just trampoline parks: Approved Hope Scholarship vendors include 24-hour gyms, dance schools, providers of golf lessons, professional photographers and companies that sell virtual reality (VR) headsets. All while the public schools that serve 85% of our children statewide are losing art and music programs, eliminating bus routes and extracurricular activities, or closing their doors altogether as public school funding needs remain unaddressed while the Hope Scholarship’s costs skyrocket.

This egregious use of taxpayer dollars has not gone unnoticed. Leaders of the House Finance committee sought to address the issue during the 2026 legislative session with legislation that, among other things, would have narrowed the list of eligible purchases for the Hope Scholarship to tuition and fees, educational curriculum, transportation and technology costs, and educational services and therapies. Their legislation ended the catchall category of “any other qualifying expenses” that has allowed 24-hour gyms, horse trainers, and elite gymnastics and dance academies all over the country to collect West Virginia taxpayer dollars for services with a questionable link to education.

The other provisions in their bill would have capped the per student Hope Scholarship at $5,250 per year to make the cost predictable in the state budget; required that participating schools and microschools be located in West Virginia; and had Hope students take an annual assessment to track the development of students and the overall effectiveness of the program in a comparable way with the public school system. Legislators making tweaks to large new programs after they’ve been implemented is a common practice, and each provision included in the House Finance committee’s proposal was a common-sense update to address issues that have been identified since the Hope Scholarship went into effect.

At the time, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy said the bill was a good start but that it should include stronger transparency requirements and guardrails, as it failed to address the complete lack of regulation in microschools or the tens of millions of dollars going to unaccredited schools each year.

Meanwhile, special interest groups lost their minds, accusing lawmakers of trying to destroy and “shutter” the Hope Scholarship and saying the bill was “designed to hurt families.” Though nothing could be further from the truth, their inflammatory and hyperbolic statements misled many homeschool parents about the impacts of the proposed legislation and shut down any opportunities for compromise. They ultimately killed the meaningful improvements in the bill and sought to oust any lawmakers associated with it in May’s primary elections, pouring hundreds of thousands of out-of-state dollars into local races.

But those groups are misaligned with everyday West Virginians, most of whom choose to educate their children in our state’s public schools. They are even out of step with many Hope Scholarship families, who at the very least want to ensure the program is sustainable. And they are surely at odds with the countless families and individuals who don’t support taxpayer dollars earmarked for education going to trampoline parks while public school teachers are paying out of their own pockets for art supplies and musical instruments.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey and lawmakers have said they want to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars — to identify wasteful and inefficient uses of taxpayer dollars to ensure we can fund and sustain the programs that truly serve children and families. A clear opportunity is before us now and it is one the vast majority of West Virginians would agree with: put guardrails on the Hope Scholarship to ensure our public education dollars are spent on reasonable educational expenditures that are improving outcomes for our state’s children.

To do the right thing, lawmakers will have to listen to our people rather than out-of-touch special interests who oppose and misrepresent even the most basic transparency and accountability mechanisms.