Historical public education information in West Virginia, 2011-2013

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Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

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Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on West Virginia's public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view West Virginia's public education page.

The West Virginia public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 West Virginia had 282,870 students enrolled in a total of 759 schools in 57 school districts. While the national ratio of teachers to students was 1:16, in West Virginia there were 20,247 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 14 students. There was roughly one administrator for every 251 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average West Virginia spent $11,846 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it 15th highest in the nation. The state's graduation rate was 79 percent in 2012. This was the Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate reported to the United States Department of Education for all students in 2011-2012.

State agencies

See also: West Virginia Department of Education

The West Virginia Department of Education is led by the West Virginia Superintendent of Schools. Charles K. Heinlein was appointed the interim superintendent in July 2014.

The West Virginia Board of Education was established by the West Virginia Constitution. The Board of Education supervises the state's public elementary and secondary schools. It is composed of 12 members. Nine are voting members who are appointed by the governor, and three are nonvoting members, including the West Virginia Superintendent of Schools, the chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the chancellor of Community and Technical College Education Commission.

The mission statement of the West Virginia Board of Education reads

“

The West Virginia Board of Education establishes policies and rules to assure implementation of West Virginia's Education goals and to ensure the general supervision, oversight and monitoring of a thorough and efficient educational system.

”

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how West Virginia compared to three neighboring states in 2011-2012 with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons between these states with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
West Virginia	759	57	282,870	20,247	1:14	1:250.5	$11,846
Kentucky	1,565	194	681,987	41,860	1:16.3	1:215.9	$9,309
Ohio	1,261	221	568,208	26,791	1:21.2	1:364.8	$9,682
Virginia	2,170	221	1,257,883	90,832	1:13.8	1:313.2	$10,364
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in West Virginia as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for West Virginia's K-12 public school system
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	327	0.12%	1.10%
Asian	2,000	0.71%	4.68%
African American	14,266	5.04%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	100	0.04%	0.42%
Hispanic	3,368	1.19%	24.37%
White	259,435	91.72%	51.21%
Two or More	3,374	1.19%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Enrollments by region type

See also: Student distribution by region type in the United States

A plurality of students in West Virginia attended rural schools during school year 2011-2012. Approximately 71 percent of the state's students attended rural or town schools, compared to approximately 29 percent who attended city or suburban schools.

Student distribution by region type, 2011-2012 (as percents)
State	City schools	Suburban schools	Town schools	Rural schools
West Virginia	13.0%	15.5%	21.0%	50.4%
Kentucky	19.6%	14.6%	22.8%	43.1%
Ohio	19.7%	39.6%	13.5%	27.3%
Virginia	23.0%	38.8%	6.9%	31.3%
U.S. average	28.9%	34.0%	11.6%	25.4%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Compared to three neighboring states (Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia), West Virginia had the lowest percentage of students score at or above proficient in math and reading in fourth grade and eighth grade in school year 2012-2013.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
West Virginia	35%	24%	27%	25%
Kentucky	41%	30%	36%	38%
Ohio	48%	40%	37%	39%
Virginia	47%	38%	43%	36%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for West Virginia and surrounding states in 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
West Virginia	79%	Third	20.6	68%	1513	15%
Kentucky	78%	Fifth	19.8	100%	1741	5%
Ohio	81%	Third	21.8	71%	1635	17%
Virginia	83%	Second	22.4	25%	1528	71%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for West Virginia was higher than the national average at 3.4 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and lower than the national average at 2.7 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in West Virginia

As of June 2015, school choice options in West Virginia included homeschooling, online learning, private schools and two voluntary public school open enrollment policies.

Education funding and expenditures

See also: West Virginia state budget and finances

Breakdown of expenditures by function in fiscal year 2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers

According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), West Virginia spent approximately 10.8 percent of its fiscal year 2012 budget on elementary and secondary education. This was down 12.3 percentage points, a 53.2 percent decrease in the share of the budget from fiscal year 2008, when the state spent 23.1 percent of its budget on elementary and secondary education. Over half of West Virginia's education revenue comes from state funding. Local funding accounts for nearly 30 percent, and federal funding accounts for about 15 percent.

Comparison of financial figures for school systems
State	Percent of budget (2012)	Per pupil spending (2011)	Revenue sources (2011)
			Percent federal funds	Percent state funds	Percent local funds
West Virginia	10.8%	$11,846	14.73%	55.64%	29.63%
Kentucky	19.8%	$9,309	16.4%	52.15%	31.46%
Ohio	20.6%	$11,223	11.65%	44.31%	44.04%
Virginia	16%	$10,364	9.9%	37.11%	52.99%
Sources: NASBO, "State Expenditure Report," Table 8: Elementary and Secondary Education Expenditures As a Percent of Total Expenditures U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in West Virginia totaled approximately $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including revenue sources, for West Virginia and surrounding states.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
West Virginia	$510,256	$1,927,726	$1,026,593	$3,464,575
Kentucky	$1,164,688	$3,704,126	$2,234,478	$7,103,292
Ohio	$2,762,051	$10,510,451	$10,446,108	$23,718,610
Virginia	$1,427,301	$5,351,177	$7,639,550	$14,418,028
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=650x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Federal revenue,State revenue,Local revenue West Virginia,14.73,55.64,29.63 Kentucky,16.40,52.15,31.46 Ohio,11.65,44.31,44.04 Virginia,9.90,37.11,52.99 U.S. total,12.34,44.09,43.56 </pbars>

Public school revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in West Virginia totaled approximately $3.7 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including expenditure types, for West Virginia and surrounding states.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
West Virginia	$3,342,238	$269,242	$56,907	$3,668,387
Kentucky	$6,264,504	$733,357	$254,031	$7,251,892
Ohio	$19,673,291	$2,516,739	$1,068,376	$23,258,406
Virginia	$12,964,134	$1,075,067	$425,378	$14,464,579
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=500x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Current expenditures,Capital outlay,Other West Virginia,91.11,7.34,1.55 Kentucky,86.38,10.11,3.50 Ohio,84.59,10.82,4.59 Virginia,89.63,7.43,2.94 U.S. total,86.31,8.78,4.90 </pbars>

Public school expenditures, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

Note: Salaries given are averages for the state. Salaries may vary between a state's urban, suburban, and rural districts and should be adjusted for cost of living. For example, a MacIver Institute study of average teacher salaries in 60 metropolitan areas found that salaries in New York City were the third-highest in absolute figures but 59th-highest when adjusted for the cost of living.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in West Virginia, the average salary decreased by three percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
West Virginia	$47,843	$49,059	$46,074	$46,405	-3.0%
Kentucky	$49,717	$52,884	$50,558	$50,326	1.2%
Ohio	$56,626	$59,732	$57,659	$58,092	2.6%
Virginia	$52,947	$53,388	$49,514	$49,869	-5.8%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012, the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. West Virginia ranked 13th overall, or strong, which was in the second tier of five.

The main unions related to the West Virginia school system are the West Virginia Education Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association, and the West Virginia Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.

List of local West Virginia school unions:

• West Virginia Education Association
• West Virginia Federation of Teachers
• West Virginia Professional Educators

Government sector lobbying

See also: West Virginia government sector lobbying

The main education government sector lobbying organization is the West Virginia School Boards Association.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in West Virginia
• West Virginia
• Education Policy in the U.S.