Relating to state board intervention into county school systems

School boards disclose spending or lose funding

Beginning July 1, 2026, West Virginia's Taxpayer Transparency in Education Act ties school financial reporting to discretionary state funding. County school boards must prepare an annual financial statement within 120 days after each fiscal year starts. It must show the prior year's income and spending, with clear headings. It must identify each recipient paid more than $250 across all funds, the total paid, and the purpose. It must also list all debts, their purposes, due dates, and how much interest has been paid. Boards can publish the statement as a legal newspaper ad or on their website. Newspaper statements exclude names of school personnel covered by the specified employment contracts. Boards pay newspaper publication costs from their maintenance fund. Website statements must include those personnel's names and pay, budget estimates, and recipients paid less than $250 from any fund. Those smaller payments must include amounts and purposes. Website statements must stay available until the next annual statement is published. The website option retains transition rules tied to the 2021 amendments. These require a public hearing before the first website publication to consider newspaper versus website publication. After that initial posting, a qualified local newspaper must announce its availability once weekly for two successive weeks. Boards must file the published statement with the State Auditor and State Superintendent within 90 days after fiscal year-end. The Auditor must notify boards that miss this deadline. Boards that remain noncompliant for more than 60 days cannot receive discretionary state funding until they comply. County residents can request a published statement for a chosen fiscal year. The copy must include all school personnel's names and pay, plus smaller-payment recipients, amounts, and purposes.