W.Va. School Board Seeks Local Spending Flexibility

The West Virginia Board of Education says county school districts should have more control over how their state funding is spent.
 
A decades-old funding formula determines how much state funding each county system gets annually. The formula also determines how this funding is spent.
 

The Charleston Gazette reports that the state board voted last week to ask the Legislature to consider allowing counties to use up to 10 percent of their state school funding however they choose.
 
Board member Tom Campbell says the proposal wouldn’t change the state formula. He says the goal is to use the formula to use the money more efficiently.
 
Board member Lloyd Jackson says he’s concerned that counties would take money allocated for teachers and use it to hire more administrators.