ACLU notifies state officials of intent to file lawsuit over ‘unconstitutional underfunding’ of Lincoln County Schools

By Matthew Young

“It is no secret that school closures, teacher shortages, limited resources, and insufficient special education and remedial services plague West Virginia schools, but the effects of the State’s persistent, and unconstitutional, underfunding are particularly dire in Lincoln County.”

That statement was released Monday by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of West Virginia, as part of a larger lawsuit notification provided to no less than 25 state and county officials. According to that same notification, the ACLU intends to request “injunctive relief” on behalf of Lincoln County residents.

“Nearly fifty years ago, the school system was deemed unconstitutionally inadequate,” The notification goes on to state. “Yet Lincoln County students today receive a worse education, across many metrics, than their parents and grandparents did before them.” 

As explained by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, West Virginia’s 50-year-old “Public School Support Program, also known as the school funding formula, determines the cost of providing education based on the cost of resources (e.g., staffing, transportation, operations and maintenance, instructional programs and technology, professional growth) and according to the number of students enrolled in the school district.”

According to the ACLU’s claims, however, “The current state funding formula results in basic state aid that is wholly insufficient to provide an adequate education.”

The ACLU further notes that special education is funded at such a miniscule level that the current amounts are “far less than the amounts previously deemed unconstitutional,” before adding that these conditions have had an “outsized effect” on Lincoln County. This “outsized effect,” the ACLU argues, has resulted in “Lincoln County shouldering a substantial burden of the school funding obligation, despite its limited tax base.”

At present, Lincoln County Schools (as well as many other counties throughout West Virginia), are reportedly experiencing “shortages of certified teachers, and difficulty hiring and retaining teachers with significant experience, insufficient funding to support special education programs, aging facilities; and unnecessary school closures, among a host of other negative consequences.”

In conclusion, the ACLU WV states that, “Lincoln County students deserve the best possible education that can be provided for them, and they are constitutionally entitled to the funding that permits them a thorough and efficient education.”

“In failing to provide this education, the parties identified in the service list below have violated, and continue to violate, Article XII, Section 1 and Article III, Sections 10 and 17 of the West Virginia Constitution,” the ACLU WV added.

The notice was delivered to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay; Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston; State Auditor Mark Hunt; Tax Commissioner Matthew Irby; State Treasurer Larry Pack; State Superintendent Michele Blatt; BOE President Paul Hardesty, as well as the remaining State BOE members. Lincoln County School Superintendent Frank Barnett and the Lincoln County BOE members, and all members of the Lincoln County Commission also received notice. 

Black By God will provide updates regarding the ACLU WV’s lawsuit as additional information is made available.