AFPF-WV Letter Urges Stronger Oversight of No More Lines Law

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF-WV) sent a letter to the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) urging the agency to take stronger action to ensure county school boards are complying with the No More Lines Law. The letter details AFPF-WV’s investigation which found county school boards were using improper reasons to deny open enrollment requests and failing to fulfill transparency requirements.

Read the letter.

“By passing the No More Lines Law, state lawmakers have helped to ensure every child has access to the school that is right for them. But the law must be properly implemented for children to benefit, and our investigation uncovered numerous areas for improvement for county school boards and the WVDE,” said AFPF-WV State Director Jason Huffman.

The findings are based on data obtained from the WVDE through a Freedom of Information Act request filed on July 9, 2024. AFPF-WV filed the FOIA due to concern about the implementation of the No More Lines law, which ensures that every child has access to the school of their choice regardless of their income level or ZIP code.  

“Based on our findings, we recommend the WVDE write to county school districts to remind them of their requirements under the No More Lines Law, including the statutory basis for denials and the publicization of the open enrollment data and process. Specifically, we are asking the WVDE to do more to ensure every student has access to the education that best fits their unique needs,” Huffman said. “We thank the WVDE for its assistance in our investigation and hope to work together to ensure compliance.”

West Virginia’s open enrollment law went into effect on May 23, 2023. The law states students in West Virginia are no longer forced to attend public schools based on their residence, parents can choose to enroll their student in any public school and county school boards can only deny applicants due under limited circumstances. The law also included transparency requirements such as county school boards submitting open enrollment data to the WVDE and posting information on their county board websites.  

Findings

• Around 7,000 students have taken advantage of West Virginia’s No More Lines law.
• Only a handful of counties have zero resident or non-resident student transfers.
• Some school boards were able to fully comply with the transparency requirements, both publishing their open enrollment data and clearly publicizing the process.
• Only 5 of the 56 county school districts in the state published their open enrollment data on their website as required under the statute.
• In some instances, counties listed reasons for transfer denials that are likely not grounds for denial under the letter of the law, including academic performance, attendance, tardies, behavior not specified as Level 3 or Level 4 infractions, and parent conduct. We urge WVDE to investigate these instances and ensure the law is being applied properly.
• There was a wide disparity between school districts in terms of complying with the requirement to clearly publicize the process for enrollment, including dates and timelines, on board websites. Some board websites only included policy documents buried in the documents section of their respective websites.

Read the letter.

For more information, please contact Jason Huffman, jhuffman@afphq.org, or Kevin Schmidt, kschmidt@afphq.org.