School Funding Reform Must Include School Utilization
Oct 15, 2026 · 7 min · 7 segments
Oct 15, 2026 · 7 min · 7 segments
West Virginia lawmakers are preparing to take another look at how we fund public education.
But as that conversation gets underway, there's another issue lawmakers cannot afford to ignore.
A new report from Americans for Prosperity West Virginia puts the average school building utilization rate at roughly 55%.
Hardesty has repeatedly admonished local school boards for their unwillingness to make difficult financial decisions, including closing and consolidating schools.
State School Financial Operations Officer Uriah Cummings has the data to back him up.
He maintains a spreadsheet, and yes, I love a good spreadsheet, showing utilization rates for every county.
And Boone County, where the state recently approved additional school closures, is operating at roughly 44% capacity.
We can agree that operating school buildings substantially below capacity is not financially sustainable, especially when county school systems are struggling to pay their bills.
School systems facing financial insolvency while maintaining buildings they simply cannot afford.
West Virginia lawmakers are preparing to take another look at how we fund public education.
But as that conversation gets underway, there's another issue lawmakers cannot afford to ignore.
A new report from Americans for Prosperity West Virginia puts the average school building utilization rate at roughly 55%.
Hardesty has repeatedly admonished local school boards for their unwillingness to make difficult financial decisions, including closing and consolidating schools.
State School Financial Operations Officer Uriah Cummings has the data to back him up.
He maintains a spreadsheet, and yes, I love a good spreadsheet, showing utilization rates for every county.
And Boone County, where the state recently approved additional school closures, is operating at roughly 44% capacity.
We can agree that operating school buildings substantially below capacity is not financially sustainable, especially when county school systems are struggling to pay their bills.
School systems facing financial insolvency while maintaining buildings they simply cannot afford.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
