The Hope Scholarship Program is an education savings account (ESA) program that will allow parents and families to utilize the state portion of their education funding to tailor an individualized learning experience that works best for them.

The Hope Scholarship amount will vary annually depending on the amount of state aid funding per pupil provided to county boards of education for public school students. The scholarship amount is expected to be $5,267.38 for the 2025-2026 school year.

New applications for the Hope Scholarship Program can be submitted from March 1 to June 15 annually to be eligible for 100% of scholarship funds. The application windows for new applicants for the 2025-2026 school year and the corresponding funding amounts are outlined in the chart below.

If your child decides to return to public school, he or she can no longer participate in the Hope Scholarship Program. You will need to notify us at hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov that you have returned to public school and include the name of the county board of education or charter school in which your child will be enrolled. Any remaining funds in your child’s Hope Scholarship account within the Hope Scholarship online portal will be returned to the state. Your child would be ineligible to return to the Hope Scholarship program during the same school year but could apply for the Hope Scholarship again for future school years.

No, if your child is no longer a resident of West Virginia, he or she can no longer participate in the Hope Scholarship Program because they no longer meet the statutory eligibility requirements. If you move out of the state, please notify us in writing at hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov so that we can take the necessary steps to close your child’s account in the Hope Scholarship portal. Failure to report moving out of state could be considered fraud.

Yes, your child may participate in the Hope Scholarship Program. However, it is important to understand that the student’s participation in the Hope Scholarship Program is a parental placement under 20 U.S.C. §1412 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and participation in the Program releases the public school system of the County from its obligation to provide the student with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). For more information about the rights of parentally placed students under IDEA and applicable state laws and regulations, please refer to the information contained in West Virginia Board of Education Policy 2419: Regulations for the Education of Students with Exceptionalities and the corresponding Procedural Safeguards Brochure found at Policy 2419 - West Virginia Department of Education (wvde.us).

For more information about IDEA and public school special education services for students with disabilities in West Virginia, please visit Special Education - West Virginia Department of Education (wvde.us) for more information. Parent resources for students with disabilities can be found at Parent Resources - West Virginia Department of Education (wvde.us).

To qualify for the Hope Scholarship, a student must be a West Virginia resident and be either:

• Eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten for the year for which they are applying for the Hope Scholarship
• Enrolled full-time in a West Virginia public elementary or secondary school for the entire instructional term of the academic year preceding the academic year for which the student is applying to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program.
• Enrolled full-time and attending a public elementary or secondary school in West Virginia for at least 45 consecutive calendar days during the current instructional term at the time of application. The student must remain enrolled and attending the public-school program until a decision is reached on the Hope Scholarship application.

A child cannot remain enrolled full-time in a public elementary or secondary school program and receive the Hope Scholarship at the same time. If a child is accepted into the Hope Scholarship Program, they can no longer be enrolled full-time in West Virginia public school. A child can, however, utilize their scholarship funds to purchase part-time services from a West Virginia public school.

If a student is currently enrolled in a private school or was enrolled full time in a private school the previous academic year, the student is not eligible to apply as a new applicant for the Hope Scholarship Program. However, the student could become eligible by enrolling full time and attending a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for at least 45 calendar days at the time of application. The student must remain enrolled and attending the public school until a decision letter is issued regarding participation in the program, which could take up to an additional 45 calendar days.

The Hope Scholarship program will open to existing private school students for the 2026-2027 school year.

If a student is currently being home schooled, the student is not eligible to apply as a new applicant for the Hope Scholarship Program. However, the student could become eligible by enrolling full time and attending a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for at least 45 calendar days at the time of application. The student must remain enrolled and attending the public school until a decision letter is issued regarding participation in the program, which could take up to an additional 45 calendar days.

The Hope Scholarship program will open to existing home school students for the 2026-2027 school year.

Because the participation rate of the combined number of students in the Hope Scholarship Program and students eligible who applied to participate in the Hope Scholarship program as of July 1, 2024, was less than five percent of net public school enrollment adjusted for state aid purposes for the previous school year, effective July 1, 2026, all West Virginia students will be eligible to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program. Participation can begin in the 2026-2027 school year.

No, once a student graduates from a high school program, he or she is not eligible for the Hope Scholarship. The program is intended for students in grades K-12 only.

An appeal for ineligibility may be submitted directly in the online Hope Scholarship portal within 45 days of being found ineligible for the Program. Please reference the How to Submit an Application Appeal guide for assistance. Pursuant to W. Va. Code R. §112-19-11, the Board appointed a three-member appeal committee to be the arbiter of all appeals submitted to the Board.

Once you have received the notice finding your child eligible for the Hope Scholarship, you may withdraw your child from public school. However, it is important to note that your Hope Scholarship exemption from compulsory attendance does not go into effect until the start of the 2025-26 school year. If you withdraw from public school for the remainder of the 2024-25 school year, your child must fall under another exemption from the State’s compulsory attendance requirements, such as traditional homeschool or private school, for the rest of the 2024-25 year. If your child will be doing traditional homeschool for the rest of the 2024-25 school year, you must submit a traditional homeschool notice of intent (NOI) to the county board of education to cover the rest of the school year and comply with all traditional homeschool exemption requirements. You should then submit your 2025-26 Hope Scholarship NOI to the county board of education upon the conclusion of the 2024-25 school year.

Yes, if you received an email indicating that your student’s application has been found eligible for the Hope Scholarship, this means that they have been awarded the Hope Scholarship for the year indicated in the email. Your student’s application will remain in the status of “Eligible” in the Hope Scholarship online portal until the Hope Scholarship Board staff have confirmed your student’s statutorily required Notice of Intent is on file with the county board of education. Checks for compliance with the Notice of Intent requirement will be performed monthly and student application statuses will be updated to Approved in batches throughout the summer, starting in July. “Approved” is an administrative status in the Hope Scholarship online portal that indicates that an application is available to be funded for the scholarship since the program rules require the student the student’s NOI to be on file with the county board of education before the student’s account can be funded for the school year.

No, the fact that your child attended a private Pre-K program does not impact Hope Scholarship eligibility. All incoming kindergarten students who meet the July 1st deadline are eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program regardless of where they attended Pre-K.

Students who turn five years old on or after July 1st can become eligible for the Hope Scholarship if the student successfully enrolls in a West Virginia public kindergarten program through the program’s regularly established early entrance process that determines your child meets the criteria to start kindergarten a year early.

County boards of education are authorized but not required by W. Va. Code to have an early kindergarten entrance process. If your county of residence does not have an early entrance process, under the State’s open enrollment laws, you may seek to have your child admitted through the early entrance process of another West Virginia county board of education.

Your child is not eligible for the Hope Scholarship until a county board of education has determined that your child qualifies for early entrance under the county’s early kindergarten entrance process. Please wait until you have documentation from the public school indicating that your child has been deemed eligible for early kindergarten entrance before submitting a Hope Scholarship application. When submitting your application, please include the early entrance documentation when uploading the other required application documentation. The early entrance documentation will be needed to override the standard eligibility determination based on your child’s date of birth being after the July 1st cutoff for kindergarten. If the determination from the county is made after the June 15th deadline to receive 100% of the scholarship, your child will unfortunately fall into the next application window for 75% of the scholarship funding for the initial year of eligibility.

No, your child is not currently eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program. Because your child will have already completed a kindergarten program, they will be entering first grade and no longer eligible for kindergarten.

No, if your child completes a private or homeschool kindergarten program, they will be treated as an existing private or homeschool student and will not thereafter be eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program as a kindergartener.

If your child has attended a public pre-kindergarten program or received special education services from the public school system, they will already have an existing WVEIS ID#. If you are unsure of that number, please contact the county board of education and ask them to help look up the existing number for you. If your child has never attended or received services from the public school system, you will obtain a WVEIS ID# for them by submitting the Hope Scholarship Notice of Intent to the county board of education. Simply mark “Incoming Kindergarten” on the Notice of Intent form and the county will assign a WVEIS ID# to the student for your Hope Scholarship application. If you reside in Kanawha County, please see the additional guidance specific to that county regarding how to obtain a WVEIS ID# for your incoming kindergarten student. You can submit your Notice of Intent via email to your county board of education using the email address list found here.

Hope Scholarship funds cannot be spent on Pre-K programs. At the point your child was moved back to a Pre-K program, your child was no longer statutorily eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program for the current school year. Any Hope Scholarship funds spent for services rendered after that date must be returned to the State. Your child is eligible to apply as an incoming kindergarten student again for next school year since they have not yet completed a kindergarten program.

No, transitional kindergarten is considered a Pre-K program and Hope Scholarship funds cannot be spent on Pre-K. Hope Scholarship funds are only eligible to be spent on qualifying expenses for grades Kindergarten through Twelve. Other common names for transitional kindergarten programs are junior kindergarten or early kindergarten, but all such programs are considered a type of Pre-K program regardless of the name used by the school.

Yes, pursuant to an interpretation by the West Virginia Attorney General (which can be found here), your child may also pursue nonpublic and/or homeschool educational options at the same time they are enrolled full-time in a West Virginia public education program. This practice is commonly referred to as dual enrollment. The Attorney General’s opinion makes it clear that WV county boards of education and other WV public schools, such as charter schools, cannot prohibit a student from simultaneous participation in both a public school program and a nonpublic education. Please keep in mind that to be eligible for the Hope Scholarship, the student must meet all public school enrollment requirements, must maintain at least a 90% attendance rate during their public school enrollment period, and must remain enrolled and attending the public school program until they receive a final decision on their Hope Scholarship application. Dual enrollment while attending an in-person public school educational program may be difficult. Accordingly, dual enrollment is most commonly pursued through a virtual WV public school education option.

No, the 45 consecutive days enrolled and attending public school must take place during the regular 180-day instructional term.

No, we are unable to pause counting the 45-days when the current instructional term ends. To become eligible under the 45-day rule, a student would have to remain enrolled in public school when school resumes in the fall for an additional 45-days.

Yes, the 45-days are consecutive calendar days, which would include any weekends, holidays, OSE days, or other school breaks that take place before the last day of the current instructional term.

Yes, during the public enrollment period, students cannot have unexcused absences that exceed the threshold to be considered chronically absent, which is ten percent of the calendar days enrolled in the public school. This 90% attendance rate must be maintained during the entire period that the student is enrolled in public school – the original 45-days to meet the minimum requirement and the period of time while the student’s Hope Scholarship application is being processed. For example, if the total calendar days before a decision is reached on a Hope Scholarship application is 60 days, a student could have no more than 6 unexcused absences during that period of time. If you unenroll your student from their public school option prior to receiving an award notice, your student will not be eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program.

Students who become eligible for the Hope Scholarship under the 45-day rule should apply in the online portal after they have completed all 45 days in public school. Parents should not submit the application until they are confident the 45 days have been completed, as early submission will result in a denial of the application since the student won’t yet have met the eligibility criteria for the Hope Scholarship Program. Applications are accepted year-round and the scholarship funding amount will depend on the timing of submission of the application once the student has established their Hope eligibility by completing the 45 days in public school.

To withdraw from the public charter school to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program, you must submit a copy of the Notice of Intent form to the public charter school in addition to the county superintendent of your county of residence. The Notice of Intent serves as the official request for the public charter school to withdraw your child in WVEIS.

Yes, enrollment in a virtual program offered by a West Virginia public school, including the new statewide virtual charter schools, is treated the same as in-person enrollment in a public-school program.

No, to be eligible for the 2025-26 school year, a student must have been enrolled in public school for the full 2024-25 school year, as that is the academic year immediately preceding the year for which the student is applying to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program.

If you wish to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program, you will only need to submit a Notice of Intent to participate in Hope Scholarship to your local county superintendent. A sample Hope Scholarship NOI form can be found here. On that form, you should indicate that you are selecting an Individualized Instructional Program for your child so that the county superintendent is aware of which Hope Scholarship pathway you are choosing for your child. This notifies them that you will annually be submitting your child’s test results or determination that your child is making academic progress commensurate with his or her age and ability by June 8 to remain eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program. Although students with Individualized Instructional Programs under Hope Scholarship may share many common traits with traditional homeschool students, there is a distinction between the two under West Virginia Code and a traditional homeschool NOI is not required.

Parents of incoming kindergarten students need to send their Notice of Intent to participate in Hope Scholarship to the county superintendent before applying for the Hope Scholarship. If the parent of an incoming kindergarten student needs to obtain a WVEIS ID# for their child, simply mark “Incoming Kindergarten” on the Notice of Intent form and the county will assign a WVEIS ID# to the student for your Hope Scholarship application. If an incoming kindergarten student has attended public pre-kindergarten or received special education services from the public school system, the student will already have a WVEIS ID# to include on the Notice of Intent form. If you reside in Kanawha County, please see the additional guidance specific to that county regarding how to obtain a WVEIS ID# for your incoming kindergarten student.

Parents of existing public-school students in other grades should submit their Notice of Intent to Participate in Hope Scholarship to their local county board of education after they receive their Hope Scholarship eligibility determination letter. A valid Hope Scholarship NOI is required to be provided in accordance with W. Va. Code §18-8-1(m). Hope Scholarship rules state that funding may be withheld or delayed to a Hope Scholarship student’s account if a notice of intent has not been submitted (see W. Va. Code of State Rules §112-18-3, Section 3.4).

Please put the most likely option for your child on the Notice of Intent form. If you end up ultimately selecting a different option for your child, please send a revised Notice of Intent form to the county superintendent so that they can update the WVEIS Hope Scholarship module to reflect the appropriate type of records to expect for your child annually.

Submission of the Notice of Intent to the county board of education is a one-time requirement. It does not need to be sent annually. Families will need to submit revised Notice of Intent forms if they move or have a change in Hope Scholarship pathway.

Yes, if your family moves, you will need to submit a revised Notice of Intent. If your new residence is in the same county, you would submit the revised version to the same county where your original submission was sent. However, if your new residence is in a new county, you will need to send the updated Notice of Intent form to the county superintendent of the new county. Please include a note that indicates you have moved from another county (include the county name) who had been tracking your children for Hope Scholarship purposes. You will also need to send a letter to your previous county board of education notifying them that you are moving out of the county and have sent a Notice of Intent to Participate in the Hope Scholarship to the county superintendent of your new county of residence.

Yes, if you change to a different Hope pathway option for your child, please send a revised Notice of Intent form to the county superintendent so that they can update the WVEIS Hope Scholarship module to reflect the appropriate type of records to expect for your child annually.

Students attending a microschool should be marked as Individualized Instructional Program (IIP) students on the Notice of Intent Form.

If you are attending a West Virginia public charter school, you must submit your Notice of Intent to both the county superintendent of your county of residence and to the public charter school. Sending the Notice of Intent to the public charter school serves as the official request for the public charter school to withdraw your child in WVEIS. Sending the Notice of Intent to the county board of education lets the county know they will need to begin tracking your child as a Hope Scholarship student moving forward.

Yes, you must submit a new Notice of Intent to your county. The original Notice of Intent was deactivated when you decided not to participate in the Hope Scholarship program in a prior year.

No, incoming kindergarten students only need to submit their Hope Scholarship NOI to the county board of education one time prior to applying for the Hope Scholarship. Parents/guardians do not need to send the NOI a second time upon receiving the email from the online portal indicating that the kindergarten student has been found eligible for the scholarship.

Yes, you must submit a continued participation confirmation for your child annually so that we know you intend to continue participation in the Hope Scholarship Program.

The continued participation confirmation window will be open from January 3rd to June 15th each year. Students who fail to submit a continued participation confirmation by the deadline can apply as a new applicant, but will be subject to the eligibility requirements for new applicants.

Yes, all continued participation confirmations must be submitted by June 15 annually. The year-round application windows are for new applicants only. Continued proof of West Virginia residency is required annually with the continued participation confirmation, but the birth certificate is only required with new applications.

Yes, if you received an email indicating that your student’s application has been found conditionally eligible for the Hope Scholarship, this means that they have been awarded the Hope Scholarship for the year indicated in the email. Your student’s application will remain in the status of “Conditionally Eligible” in the Hope Scholarship online portal until the Hope Scholarship Board staff have confirmed your student’s statutorily required Academic/Attendance Reporting Requirements for the current school year is on file with the county board of education. Checks for compliance with the Academic/Attendance Reporting Requirements will be performed at the beginning of July and student application statuses will be updated to Approved once this July analysis has been completed. “Approved” is an administrative status in the Hope Scholarship online portal that indicates that an application is available to be funded for the scholarship and that all continuing participation requirements have been met. Failure to meet Academic/Attendance Reporting Requirements or other Program requirements will prohibit the Hope Scholarship team from funding a Student and could lead to termination of Program participation and the Student’s Account.

Yes, there are annual continuing eligibility requirements that students must fulfill to continue with the Hope Scholarship Program. All eligible students must have submitted a Notice of Intent to the county board of education for their first year of participation in the Program. For students attending a participating school under the Hope Scholarship Program, the participating school must send an annual notice of your child’s attendance at their school to the county superintendent of your county of residence by no later than June 8th. For students in the Individualized Instructional Plan (IIP) pathway, there are two options to demonstrate appropriate academic progress to the county superintendent of the county of residence by no later than June 8th annually.

• Nationally normed standardized achievement test of academic achievement in accordance with West Virginia Code §18-31-8(a)(4)(A); or
• A certified teacher conducts a review of the student’s academic work annually.

Hope Scholarship staff created a sample academic progress review form that can be found here. As long as the form used by the certified teacher contains all of the necessary language to meet the statutory requirements, they can use an alternative form.

Yes; however, that teacher must submit a copy of their teaching license/certificate with their attestation of student academic progress. West Virginia county boards of education have no other way to verify the credentials of the certified teacher if they are licensed by another state.

Yes, you may use any certified teacher to complete your child’s academic portfolio review. However, if that certified teacher is not registered to participate in the program, there is no mechanism to pay them for their services using Hope Scholarship funds. This would not be an extenuating circumstance that would allow you to submit the amount paid out-of-pocket for the services for reimbursement.

Pursuant to W. Va. Code §18-31-8(a)(4)(A)(i), the child must be tested in reading, language, mathematics, and when available for the student’s grade level, science and social studies

There is no specific test or test provider that must be used to meet the nationally normed standardized testing requirements. The testing provider must have documentation to support that the test was nationally normed.

If there are no nationally normed tests available for purchase using TheoPay and you wish to pursue this option for your child, the Board has now added the nationally normed tests used to satisfy the statutory requirements to the Board’s Reimbursement Policy found here.

Effective June 7, 2024 with the passage of HB 4945 during the 2024 legislative session, science and social studies are only required when available for the student’s grade level. If no nationally normed standardized tests exists for your child’s grade level with those subjects, your child would only need to test in the subjects of reading, language, and mathematics.

No, your child cannot use West Virginia General Summative Assessment scores to meet the statutory requirements. The WV Department of Education has clarified that this test is not nationally normed so it does not meet the requirements.

The WVDE has clarified that the SAT may be accepted as the 11th grade assessment if the Hope Scholarship student scores in the fourth stanine, which requires an overall SAT score of 860 or above. If the student does not have a score of 860 on the SAT, the ability to show improvement from the previous year may be satisfied if the student took the PSAT and improvement is demonstrated. If the student did not previously take the PSAT and does not score in the fourth stanine on the SAT, the SAT would not be an acceptable assessment under the statutory requirements and the Hope Scholarship student may want to consider utilizing a portfolio review by a certified teacher to meet the annual academic progress requirements.

The WVDE has clarified that the PSAT may be accepted as the 10th grade assessment if the Hope Scholarship student scores in the fourth stanine, which requires an overall PSAT score of 860 or above. If the student does not achieve at least an 860 on the PSAT, the score cannot be used to satisfy the academic reporting requirements and the Hope Scholarship student may want to consider utilizing a portfolio review by a certified teacher to meet the annual academic progress requirements.

No, your child cannot use ACT scores to satisfy the requirements. The WVDE has clarified that the ACT is not accepted as a nationally normed assessment at this time.

The Treasurer’s Office has contracted with a third party to administer Hope Scholarship accounts electronically through the Hope Scholarship online portal. Each family will have access to an online portal account for each eligible student in their household. All purchases will be made via an ACH transaction and will be pre-approved by the Treasurer’s Office. The annual Hope Scholarship amount will be split into two distributions, with the first half being placed into the student accounts by August 15 and the second half being placed into the student accounts by January 15.

Deposits of prorated Hope Scholarship funds will be made under the assumption that any proration will be assigned to the first semester of participation. For students who are awarded a prorated amount of Hope Scholarship funds after one of the two primary funding dates (August 15 and January 15), the Board will deposit the prorated funds as soon as feasible. Funding is generally processed once per month outside of the two main funding windows set forth in statute. The list of unfunded students is pulled around the 15th of each month with funds deposited into student accounts a few weeks later. Please see the chart below for funding and distribution amounts.

**Some people applying in the 25% range may be funded in November or December, and would have their payment split between the two semesters. Some applications will be submitted late enough that they will be fully funded in the second semester and would receive one payment instead of two.

Families will spend their Hope Scholarship funds directly through the Hope Scholarship online portal with participating schools, education service providers, and vendors for qualifying educational expenses listed below (noncomprehensive list – the full list can be found in the Parent Handbook). Hope Scholarship funds are not sent to the parents. Reimbursements for payments made out-of-pocket with non-Hope Scholarship funds will only be considered in limited circumstances as defined in the Hope Scholarship Reimbursement Policy.

• Tuition and fees for private school, non-public online programs, or alternative education programs
• Services provided by a public school (extracurricular, individual courses)
• Tutoring services
• Fees for standardized or advanced placement exams
• Fees for preparation courses
• Educational services and therapies
• Supplemental materials (supplies, textbooks)
• Student transportation for services by an approved fee-for-service transportation provider
• Any other qualifying expense as approved by the Hope Scholarship Board

The Hope Scholarship Board has also published a list of non-qualifying/unallowable expenses that can be found here.

Yes, Hope Scholarship funds can be used to pay tuition at private schools in surrounding states if those private schools have signed up to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program.

No, remaining Hope Scholarship funds will rollover into the new school year as long as your student remains eligible for the Program, and you submit the required continued participation confirmation by the June 15th deadline.

Education Service Providers must sign up for participation in the Hope Scholarship Program through the Hope Scholarship online portal. The online portal registration process will ask a series of question to help ensure the provider falls into the proper category in the portal once their account is established – school, microschool, service provider, or supplier.

Hope Scholarship students will direct their funds electronically to participating Education Service Providers through the Hope Scholarship online portal. The funds will then be sent directly from the online portal to the Education Service Providers via ACH transactions. Hope Scholarship funds will be available to students in the online portal accounts twice a year – half of the funds will be available by August 15 and half of the funds will be available by January 15. Any refunds of Hope Scholarship funds by an Education Service Provider must be electronically deposited back to the student’s online portal account – the funds cannot be refunded, rebated, or shared with a parent or student in any other manner.

Although microschools do not meet the statutory definition of participating school under the Hope Scholar Program, effective July 31, 2024, microschools will be provided access to the "school" module in the online portal. New microschools will be prompted accordingly in the registration process.

New nonpublic schools from other states will register directly in the Hope Scholarship online portal.

New West Virginia Exemption (b) and (k) schools will register directly in the Hope Scholarship online portal.

Reimbursements under the Hope Scholarship Program are limited to those authorized under the Board’s Reimbursement Policy found at Microsoft Word - Hope Reimbursement Policy (hopescholarshipwv.gov). Outside of the limited circumstances authorized by the Board for reimbursement, such as the purchase of off-the shelf curriculum, all purchases made by Hope Scholarship families should be made directly using the Hope Scholarship online portal. Reimbursement requests for out-of-pocket purchases that do not meet the specific circumstances authorized by the Board’s Reimbursement Policy will be denied by Board staff.

All reimbursement requests submitted in the Hope Scholarship online portal must include a detailed invoice that clearly indicates the items that were purchased so that Hope Scholarship staff can determine if the item is a qualified expense authorized by statute or the Hope Scholarship Board. Reimbursement requests must also be accompanied by proof of payment of the invoice, such as a zero-balance receipt.

A denied reimbursement request may be appealed by completing the reimbursement appeal form found here and submitting it by email to hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov. Pursuant to W. Va. Code R. §112-19-11, the Board appointed a three-member appeal subcommittee to be the arbiter of all appeals submitted to the Board.

No, your purchase is not eligible for reimbursement under the Board’s Reimbursement Policy. The Board’s policy specifically states that reimbursements will be denied if the account holder purchases the item prior to the Hope Scholarship funds being available in the student’s online portal account, even if the item would have otherwise been considered for approval.

The Military Service Member Policy ensures that families of military service members are not forced to choose between serving their country and ensuring their child(ren) have access to educational options that work best for them.

The Military Service Member Policy applies to both families that want to ensure their children retain their eligibility to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program when the family returns to West Virginia and to families that wish to utilize the Hope Scholarship during their relocation in another state.

Families that do not wish to participate in Hope during their relocation are concerned that by not participating in the Hope Scholarship Program during their relocation, their child will be required to meet the 45 day public school requirement when they return to West Virginia. The Military Service Member Policy permits us to freeze their eligibility while they are in another state and then permit them to apply for the Scholarship without going back to public school for 45 days when they return to West Virginia.

Note: Provided the Hope Scholarship Act remains unchanged, the Program will open to all students in the 2026-2027 academic year. At that time, the policy for students who want their eligibility frozen and do not wish to participate in Hope during their relocation will become obsolete because individuals moving to West Virginia will no longer be required to fulfill the forty-five (45) calendar day public school enrollment to become eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program.

Hope Scholarship students who are temporarily relocated to another state due to active military orders will be treated just like all other Hope Scholarship students. They must adhere to all of the same rules and requirements as other Hope students. Additionally, the students will be required to maintain West Virginia as their State of Legal Residency (SLR) and certify that they will not participate in any full time public school program. The affidavit to certify that they will not participate in a public school program can be found here. This document can be uploaded in the online portal with the residency documentation required for the application.

Yes, the Hope Scholarship Board will need a copy of the active military orders as part of the application process. Please upload a copy of the active military orders with the residency documentation on the application.

No, all Hope scholarship students must meet the basic statutory eligibility requirements for the Program. Existing homeschool and nonpublic school students are not currently eligible for the Hope Scholarship until the Program’s eligibility expands during the 2026-2027 academic year.

Repeating a grade in nonpublic school will not jeopardize your student’s Hope Scholarship funds. The Hope Scholarship online platform will automatically roll the grade level to one grade higher than the previous year on a CPC. The student’s nonpublic school will need to submit a letter on school letterhead with the recommendation and reason for the child’s retention to hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov. Upon receipt of the documentation from the school, Hope Scholarship Board staff will update the grade level on the CPC. Please be sure to submit your child’s CPC by the June 15th deadline even if the grade level has not yet been corrected since late CPCs are not accepted. The grade level can be updated after the fact and is not a reason to delay submission in the online platform. Please submit an updated Notice of Intent form to the county board of education notifying them that the student will be repeating a grade to help ensure that the grade level is updated in the WVEIS system as well.

Although annual academic progress through either a certified teacher portfolio review or through nationally normed academic achievement tests is a statutory requirement for the Hope Scholarship program, we understand that achieving the minimum levels for academic achievement may not mean your child has mastered all of the content for a particular grade level. If you believe that your child needs to repeat a grade level, please email hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov and outline the reason for that request. Please submit any supporting documentation that may help support your request for your child to repeat a grade. Examples of supporting documentation would include but are not limited to a detailed letter from the certified teacher who did the portfolio review outlining needed areas of remediation, a letter from a tutor or other educational specialist who works with your child outlining any areas where a student may be behind, grade printouts from a virtual education program showing your child has not mastered a subject, etc.

Your child’s CPC will automatically advance one grade level in the online platform. Once Hope Scholarship Board staff have received and reviewed your request, they will update the grade level on the CPC as appropriate. Please be sure to submit your child’s CPC by the June 15th deadline even if the grade level has not yet been corrected since late CPCs are not accepted. The grade level can be updated after the fact and is not a reason to delay submission in the online platform.

Please submit an updated Notice of Intent form to the county board of education notifying them that the student will be repeating a grade to help ensure that the grade level is updated in the WVEIS system as well.

Please note that you need to request for your child to repeat a grade level prior to or at the start of the school year. If you fail to get the grade level change properly updated and documented, there will be issues with your student’s academic progress at the end of the school year. The county board of education will be expecting annual academic progress information for the higher grade level and your child won’t make the statutorily required academic progress. A failure to make the statutorily required annual academic progress will result in closure of your child’s Hope Scholarship account.

For new Hope Scholarship applicants currently attending public school, the reviewer will be expecting to see one grade level higher than the current grade level currently reflected in the WVEIS system. If the student will be repeating the current grade level for some reason, the parent will be asked for documentation to support the lower grade level. Examples of documentation could include but are not limited to a report card from the current year to demonstrate that a child is performing poorly in public school, a letter from the student’s public school teacher or administrator indicating the student needs additional support and they recommend repeating a grade level, or a letter from the student’s new nonpublic school or microschool indicating the student would need to repeat a grade level based on the new school’s assessment of the student. Be sure to include the appropriate grade level on your student’s original Notice of Intent submitted to the county board of education upon acceptance into the Hope Scholarship Program.

The Hope Scholarship legislative rules specifically indicate that the Board may require a student who has already participated in a high school program for four years or longer to demonstrate that the student has an educational need to repeat a grade in secondary school prior to permitting the student to renew his or her Hope Scholarship account for another school year. Demonstration of the educational need can be accomplished through documented proof of a student’s disability or other documented educational issue which would necessitate additional time for the student to meet all graduation requirements. The legislative rules indicate that a parent may not unnecessarily delay awarding a student a diploma for the purpose of utilizing Hope Scholarship funds to pay for the student’s college-level education.

Yes, Hope Scholarship students with disabilities are able to remain in the Hope Scholarship Program until they turn age 21 if the parent/guardian does not issue a high school diploma to the student. After the student has been in a high-school program for four years, the proof of the student’s disability will be required to allow the student to remain in the Hope Scholarship Program. A parent may not unnecessarily delay awarding a student a diploma for the purpose of utilizing Hope Scholarship funds to pay for a student’s college-level education.

Yes, you should notify the county board of education that your child will be repeating a grade level so they can update the student’s grade level in the WVEIS system where the annual academic progress is stored. You can notify the county of the change through submission of an updated Notice of Intent form.

If your student is progressing an additional grade level beyond the expected one level annual progression, please contact the Hope Scholarship Board at hopescholarshipwv@wvsto.gov to notify them of the advancement. Board staff will need to manually update the grade level on your child’s current year application and also assist with manually updating your child’s Continued Participation Confirmation grade level if it has already been submitted. Please notify the county board of education of this additional grade level advancement through submission of an updated Notice of Intent that reflects the higher grade level. This will help ensure the county board of education has updated your child’s grade level.

If your child has completed two years of academic progress since their last submission of academic progress data to the county, submission of academic progress data for the highest grade level is all that would be required for submission to the county board of education. In this example, submission of a sixth grade portfolio review or nationally normed academic test results which show acceptable progress at the higher grade level would also demonstrate that the student had sufficiently mastered the fifth grade content. Please be sure to also submit an updated Notice of Intent with the higher grade level to the county board of education as well.