All clear: West Virginia receives waiver over U.S. Department of Education funding; none of the $465 million will need returned

“As I said all along, I knew this was not going to be a problem,” he said in a press release. “So, while we are all pleased the U.S. Department of Education accepted our waiver because we made it clear that education is a top priority in West Virginia, this announcement came as no surprise and was never a real issue.”

The state increased spending on education over the past few years, but the percentage of increase didn’t match the overall increase in the state’s total budget, causing the Justice administration to need to request a waiver.

As has been reported in the past, the U.S. Department of Education has never “clawed back” funding from states that haven’t met the guidelines in regards to increased percentage of education spending.

Last year, the state’s previous waiver request was approved following a detailed explanation of education spending.

That spending included salary increases for teachers, funding for the Communities In Schools West Virginia program and a $50 million allocation to the School Building Authority, Justice said.

“Given this precedent, my administration remained very confident this year’s waiver would again be approved because we only increased our educational commitments, implementing another pay raise for teachers and school personnel, furthering support for Communities In Schools West Virginia and allocating a historic $150 million to the School Building Authority,” Justice said.

“We’ve made substantial improvements to our education system. These investments are exactly what the U.S. Department of Education was looking for during their review, and I’m genuinely thankful these funds are directly benefiting our schools, teachers and students instead of going back to Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Still, concern over the need for a waiver led lawmakers to eliminate funding from the governor’s original budget proposal during this year’s legislative session.

At the time, Justice and lawmakers said that a special session would be called once the waiver was granted to restore that funding in the general budget.

Justice has said that he wanted to call the session as soon as possible, but seemed consigned to lawmakers’ wishes of waiting until after the May 14 primary election.

Justice made clear in Friday’s release that West Virginia’s investment in education has made a positive difference, while boosting the economy.

“... these investments have also sparked hundreds of construction jobs across our state as we work on building and repairing schools. All in all, we’re creating jobs, nurturing our students, and supporting our educators,” Justice said.

“However, I have one more point. The potential of a ‘clawback’ should never have been used to scare anyone. That narrative only distracts from the positive progress we have made as a state. Let us put this issue to bed and continue making West Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”

This story was compiled from staff reports and those of our media partners the Parkersburg News & Sentinel and the Associated Press.