WV HB4670

Establishes the West Virginia Educational Freedom Pilot Act of 2026, allowing any county to voluntarily opt out of most state Education Code provisions (§18-1-1 et seq. and §18A-1-1 et seq.)

Participating counties receive block grants equal to their school aid funding formula allocation while gaining full control over salaries, benefits, class sizes, staffing ratios, and school calendars

Counties in the pilot program may set their own graduation requirements and testing standards, including eliminating SAT/ACT requirements in favor of trade school admission tests or locally-determined assessments

Counties taken over by the State Board of Education within the past two years or deemed financially distressed under §18-9D-4d are ineligible to participate

A report on the pilot program must be submitted to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA) by July 1, 2028