West Virginia public-school enrollment tumbles in ‘biggest decrease’ year over year, report finds 

The West Virginia Department of Education has released its 2025 certified enrollment numbers, which will help determine future staffing and funding – and the findings represent “a major shift,” warned State Superintendent Michelle Blatt.

“We’ve been trending down for a number of years, but in much smaller increments,” she told WV News about the numbers, which report 234,937 enrolled students compared to 241,024 the year before – a steep plunge of 6,087.

“For example, from the 2021-2022 school year to the 2022-2023 school year, we only lost 850 students, so those were the number we were used to. … This past year is the biggest decrease we’ve seen from one year to the next.”

Fifty-one out of 55 counties reported a decrease in enrollment, while the overall loss of more than 6,000 students may spur “possible closures or consolidations,” according to WV News. 

“There are some areas hit harder than others,” Blatt explained. “But we’re not losing those 6,000 students from one or two counties where you can consolidate, maybe close a school or rearrange staff. We end up in situations like we’ve seen in our smaller counties here in the last few weeks where there are really tough discussions around some of our smaller schools. …  

“It really impacts the amount of schools we’re able to operate across the state.” 

‘COVID had an impact’ 

Blatt underscored several factors contributing to the decline, describing it as “the perfect storm.” 

“We came out of (the COVID-19 pandemic), we lost pandemic funding and at the same time we implemented school choice,” she observed. “We also have a declining population overall in West Virginia.” 

In one example of lower enrollment, Upshur County Schools in Buckhannon recently announced it planned to close Rock Cave Elementary School and consolidate it with French Creek Elementary School. 

“Public education has been losing students at a large rate since prior to COVID,” said Christy Miller, the district’s superintendent. “I think COVID had an impact and many families felt that they did not want their children to return to public schools when we went back.” 

Like Blatt, Miller cited school choice and access to private schools as other components influencing public education’s numbers. 

“We are learning to work with it,” she said. “We also have a large population that has chosen to home school. Those students, when they leave us, take their funding with them. It has really cut into the budgets for all of us across West Virginia. Just this last year, Upshur County lost an additional 183 students.” 

The district enrolls about 3,600 students from pre-K to high school. 

Declining enrollment presents an opportunity for West Virginia to re-evaluate its educational offerings and work to draw more residents, Blatt argued. 

“We have to really start thinking about the state as a whole. What’s the economic development plan and what are the jobs we need to create? We’re losing population in our state, not just our school system. Finding a way to work together with businesses and outside groups to bring people to West Virginia is what’s going to make the biggest impact.”