By Stephen Smoot
A basic maxim of receiving a large amount of funding one time lies in not using such funds for ongoing expenses, but for single time needs. American Rescue Plan Act and related COVID funds were best used for maintenance, vehicle acquisition, or purchases of technology. Many systems, however, applied the funding to spending on hiring personnel and other decisions that would require finding more funds when ARPA ran out.
A number of local government entities, including county school systems, did not achieve an appropriate level of fiscal self-discipline. Some now find themselves in serious financial trouble as a result. County school systems affected by poor decision-making find themselves forced to close schools in remote regions, lay off personnel, or even going hat in hand to the State of West Virginia for assistance to just meet payroll.
As Pendleton County Schools Treasurer J. P. Mowery pointed out in a meeting last week, however, most school systems in the State of West Virginia are performing financially well. His county achieved this through careful spending strategies and husbanding of resources for the proverbial “rainy day.” Others, on the other hand, mismanaged or just wasted millions put into their hands.
“Most counties have done a pretty good job,” he noted.
The Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy spotlighted “Special Circumstance Reviews” of both school systems and individual schools by the State of West Virginia. According to the report, “The West Virginia Department of Education’s Special Circumstance Review represents an accountability framework designed to address significant failures of county-level school systems through a structured, multi-phase investigation and intervention process.”
It adds that stakeholders may request “formal assessments” that can investigate anything from academic issues to criminal malfeasance. “Following issuance of the final findings,” it states “districts receive formal reports outlining deficiencies and are traditionally granted six months to implement corrective action, though the West Virginia Board of Education retains authority to declare a state of emergency.” These represent some of the strongest levers of accountability in State government.
The report’s opening section starts with the nine county school systems currently under review for a number of serious problems, including financial and personnel choices. It delves also into individual schools in crisis before going on to explaining overall problems and suggesting solutions.
Randolph County Schools received strong criticism in a May 2025 Special Circumstance Review of Randolph County Schools. It “found the district on the brink of fiscal collapse, driven largely by weak governance and an unwillingness to make difficult, but necessary, corrective decisions.” The Cardinal Institute criticized the school district for reversing “previously approved personnel reductions intended to control spending, reflecting a failure to exercise basic budgetary discipline.” These led to a $2.8 million budget deficit and created substantial pressures to close down schools in Harman and Pickens, despite their extremely remote locations.
Also problematic was the relationship between the Superintendent and Board, where the report “cited poor collaboration between the board and superintendent, with communication described as inconsistent and, at times, retaliatory. Board members frequently could not articulate the rationale for their votes and appeared to operate without a coherent fiscal strategy.”
The West Virginia Board of Education in response declared a “State of Emergency and required the district to submit a comprehensive recovery plan, including mandatory board training, school consolidation proposals, and a balanced budget, by the end of 2025.”
Even worse came the report on Upshur County Schools, which seemed to regard COVID related funds as a perquisite of power rather than a financial tool. The Special Circumstance Review for Upshur “revealed one of the most sweeping examples of fiscal mismanagement and ethical violations. Investigators uncovered widespread misuse ii of federal ESSER funds, including unallowable expenditures on state retreats, meals, and employee stipends that went far beyond legal allowances.”
These included $34,000 for those not employed by the school system to join personnel for a teaching conference in Chicago. Also, “Federal nutrition funds, strictly designated for meal programs, were improperly spent purchasing iPads and MacBooks, while gas cards were issued in direct violation of federal funding restrictions.”
Furthermore, Upshur engaged in highly questionable personnel decisions which included “employment of the superintendent’s immediate family member, who lacked a bachelor’s degree or teacher” as well as “unauthorized summer wages to teachers, bonuses and stipends to the superintendent, not Board approved, and misrepresented the superintendent’s total compensation in official financial disclosures.”
Alleged malfeasance by a superintendent also brought attention to Nicholas County Schools. A “Nicholas County School review identified deeply concerning personnel practices that compromised student safety, violated state policy, and undermined public trust.” The report detailed that “Central to the findings was the employment of a close relative of the superintendent who was a registered sex o ender, a fact disclosed on the individual’s job application. The individual began working prior to the completion of the required background check, and the superintendent later acknowledged deliberately avoiding review of the results, stating he ‘knew something would come back and didn’t want to know what it was.’”
Individual schools came under close scrutiny as well. These included the notorious conditions at Martinsburg North Middle School where even when State investigators arrived, they found students in control of the facility, not administrators or faculty. The state of emergency declared for the school in June 2024 recognized “an alarming combination of unsafe school conditions, academic stagnation, and leadership disintegration.”
Even worse, “both students and staff were subject to unsafe or unhealthy environments, including inconsistent behavior management, weak administrative oversight, and inadequate supervision throughout the building.”
A year ago, Pocahontas County High School was placed under a state of emergency that alleged severely compromised academic standards. “Among the most alarming findings were instances of grade falsification and transcript manipulation, including pressure from administrators to change student grades, particularly during credit recovery.” Credit recovery systems were “abused” and grades even changed in response to parental pressure.”
The report noted “a disturbing lack of data security” with student information and also that “discipline protocols were misunderstood and inconsistently applied.”
These examples illustrate the deeper problems within the State system of public schools in which it appears that too many local officials in different parts of the state lack the understanding and capability to perform their jobs. Others, allegedly, treated positions of power as perquisites instead of public trusts.
Next week, part two will examine the suggested solutions for these systems and education statewide.
