Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s team laid out his office’s ideas for revamping West Virginia’s school funding formula, a decades-old equation that has been linked to public schools’ dire financial situation.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s team laid out his office’s ideas for revamping West Virginia’s school funding formula, a decades-old equation that has been linked to public schools’ dire financial situation.
West Virginia is using nearly $8 million in federal anti-poverty dollars to pay for its long-troubled and broken online database system.
Senate Majority Whip Ben Queen, father of a young child, stood on the Senate floor in March to celebrate the Legislature’s first-ever hallmark childcare bill. “If we want people to go to work in this state, then we have to make sure they have somewhere safe and reliable for their kids to go …
An unusual proclamation was made Monday as part of a normal three-day interim session of the West Virginia Legislature, which began Sunday in .
The executive committee of the West Virginia Republican Party is moving to disavow Del. Elliott Pritt from the party following his arrest for enticing a child and having a sexual relationship with the minor.
West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw hand delivered a letter to Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office Friday morning requesting a special session for members to vote on expelling Delegate Elliott Pritt.
The state Republican Party likely can’t replace Delegate Elliott Pritt, R-Fayette, on the ballot in Fayette County even if he resigns from his seat following his arrest for seducing a 15-year-old girl.
Delegate Elliott Pritt, a Republican member of the House of Delegates, has been charged with enticing a minor after an investigation found that he communicated with a girl through Roblox and Snapchat.
West Virginia’s childcare assistance program is funded by federal anti-poverty dollars, which are under review in the Morrisey administration
HUNDRED — Every day, Austin Hayes drives with his mom through the mountains of West Virginia’s northern corridor heading east to school. A once-proud Hundred High School Hornet, Hayes is now an incoming junior at North Marion High School in Farmington.
With 14 public schools closed during the past academic year and up to 20 more at risk of closing in the 2026-27 school year, West Virginia House Democrats on Thursday announced they were asking Gov. Patrick Morrisey to call a special session “dedicated to alleviating the financial crisis our…
Daniel Linville, the Republican delegate representing the Milton and Culloden areas of Cabell County, resigned from his position Friday via a letter to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay.
More than 26,000 students have applied for full funding of the Hope Scholarship for the upcoming school year, costing the state of West Virginia an estimated $155 million so far.
DAVIS — Federal funding for West Virginia’s Family Support Centers, which provide food and child abuse prevention services to children and families, will be available next month to keep the centers open this summer. However, it’s not clear if long-term funding will continue under Gov. Patric…
Most voters in West Virginia support keeping school vaccination requirements, according to a poll released last week.
West Virginia’s Family Support Centers, which provide a multitude of services to needy families across the state, face uncertain budgets and possible job and services cuts next month.
Homelessness grew by more than 8% in West Virginia from 2024 to 2025, but decreased in the rest of the country, according to estimates released by the federal government.
A coalition of families, educators and community members has called for an immediate pause on school closures in West Virginia so lawmakers have time to address the state’s antiquated school funding formula.
About a week after Mountain State Spotlight wrote about Clay County’s only childcare center in April, House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, visited Taylor Tots Daycare to hear firsthand about challenges faced by the childcare provider in his district.
Cuts could be coming to West Virginia’s childcare assistance and a voucher program that helps low-income families afford school clothes.
The primary cycle was particularly turbulent in the Republican-heavy state Senate, and fallout will continue in the coming months leading up to a Senate president election.
Tuesday’s election night shook up the West Virginia House of Delegates with a projection of 14 Republican incumbents losing their primary races, including House Finance Chair Vernon Criss. Criss, a veteran lawmaker from Parkersburg, was a top target of Gov. Patrick Morrisey after the pair pu…
Ace Parsi, an Iranian immigrant and Morgantown community organizer, has narrowly won the Democratic primary for U.S. House District 2.
West Virginia House Democrats say they have a plan and legislation to lower gas prices in West Virginia.
School choice is driving the avalanche of money spent this primary election season to impact West Virginia Statehouse races. Much of the money is coming from out-of-state donors.
The West Virginia Department of Health has started to accept applications for the first $28.5 million in federal Rural Health Transformation program funding, Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office said.
WALLBACK — When her husband worked in another state, Autumn Mays had to give up her job at the nearby Family Dollar. There was no one to watch their son, Oliver, and nowhere in Clay County to take him.
After multiple counties reported a school financial crisis largely driven by West Virginia’s declining population, the House of Delegates commissioned a study on how to improve the state’s school funding strategy.
Groups with ties to billionaire Republican mega-donors are spending thousands of dollars to unseat two high-ranking Republicans who suggested changes to the Hope Scholarship.
Cate Phillips, whose children attend public school in St. Albans, can see how tightened school budgets have impacted her kids’ education, like decreased field trips and extracurricular activities. West Virginia’s school funding is tied to student enrollment. While the number of students has decreased, counties have grappled with shrunken budgets, spurring layoffs and school closures. […]
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, on Friday, traveled to Keyser, Mineral County, to participate in a town hall event focusing on the work done during the recent legislative session.
Years in the making, a bill aimed at improving West Virginia’s drastic shortage of child care will become law without Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s signature.
Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, is speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, which is known as the “People’s House.”
Since taking office on Jan. 13, 2025, Gov. Patrick Morrisey has repeatedly stated his goal to “shrink the size and scope” of state government. The governor’s pursuit of that goal continued with the recently concluded legislative session.
A GOP-backed bill meant to make changes to West Virginia's ban on certain colorful artificial dyes failed to make it to the governor’s desk this year. For now, the food dye ban – one of the first of its kind in the country – remains temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
West Virginians told the state government they wanted less of a threat of data centers pervading their neighborhoods and more control over their backyards. Instead, the legislative session that ended March 14 has left them with a surge in data center development and less control over their b…
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the 2026 legislative session was the second session of the 87th Legislature.
Child abuse and neglect cases continue to overwhelm West Virginia’s court system, and lawmakers hope adding additional people in the judicial process to focus on these cases will improve outcomes for children.
The Legislature signed off on giving $8 million to Hancock County Schools, a district in the middle of a financial catastrophe. However, a separate measure to set up a crisis-level emergency fund for public schools, spurred by the Hancock County situation, didn’t make it to the finish line by Saturday’s legislative deadline. House Majority Leader […]
Gov. Patrick Morrisey is set to sign into law legislation he requested to strip civil service status and access to grievance procedures from thousands of state employees.
In the middle of West Virginia’s legislative session came news that a game-changer for the world’s energy future could be powered by a West Virginia operation that lawmakers previously supported.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Gov. Patrick Morrisey has five days from passage to veto bills or sign them into law. While this is correct during the legislative session, with the session adjourned, Morrisey now has 15 days. A change was also made c…
Lawmakers’ key child care measure is headed to the governor’s desk after receiving strong support in the Senate. Republican members noted the role it could play in helping reverse the state’s very low workforce participation rate.
The penultimate day of the 2026 legislative session saw delegates debate whether or not to concur with Gov. Patrick Morrisey and the Senate on additional tax cuts.
In a span of less than half an hour Thursday, the West Virginia House of Delegates made three moves undermining the state’s already poor drinking water quality.
Despite continued calls for larger reductions in personal income tax, Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Thursday signed into law the $5.5 billion fiscal year 2027 budget, including a dozen line-item vetoes.
During a Dec. 9 news conference in the lower chamber of the West Virginia Capitol, House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, promised the 2026 legislative session would be built around what he called a “jobs first, opportunity everywhere” agenda. And with just two days remaining befo…
The Senate Finance Committee advanced a proposal Thursday to modify the school aid formula, as lawmakers continued their final push toward the end of the legislative session.
Tax relief legislation for the fossil fuel industry — generated quickly in recent days by West Virginia lawmakers — was on the verge of passing as of press time Thursday. If approved, the law is projected to decrease state revenue by more than $350 million through 2031 via sweeping new sever…
West Virginia teachers could see a pay bump based on where they live after the Senate Finance Committee inserted locality pay requirements into the governor’s hallmark teacher pay raise bill. Teachers’ potential pay bump would be determined by a calculation that takes into account local and regional median incomes, according to an amendment approved by […]
A bill in the West Virginia Legislature that would allow pregnancy-health organizations to use state funds for expenses associated with reversing the effects of the “abortion pill” continued its push toward the finish line this week.
Representatives of West Virginia’s gas and oil industry have claimed the industry is a trustworthy steward of aboveground storage tanks as they’ve pushed state lawmakers this legislative session to significantly roll back regulations designed to protect water intakes from tank spills.
Walt’s day begins with a reading from the Bible, John 14:2:
