School districts across the nation are facing budget cuts due to the loss of federal pandemic relief money, declining student enrollment numbers and rising operating costs.
It has been more than 40 years since a state Supreme Court order mandated West Virginia properly fund its schools.
Now, the state’s ACLU chapters are arguing the learning environment in the Lincoln County School District is unconstitutional.
Aubrey Sparks, legal director for the ACLU of West Virginia, said teacher shortages, reliance on unqualified educators, underfunded special education programs and aging facilities are at the heart of the issue. She argued the state’s persistent underfunding of public schools is worsening the problem in rural, low-income areas with shrinking populations.
“Which means that the amount that the state is providing is not enough to bridge the gap and have it be an operational and sufficient school system,” Sparks explained.
The ACLU of West Virginia says it intends to sue the state over noncompliance with the 1982 West Virginia Supreme Court ruling, which found students in Lincoln County were being denied a “thorough and efficient education,” a fundamental constitutional right.
According to the group, the lawsuit will seek to order the state to meet its funding duties. Sparks added Lincoln County schools offer a stark example of what happens when a school system has been underfunded for decades. In addition to declining test results and other measures of student proficiency, she noted school buildings have literally crumbled.
“The number of school closures. They’ve recently had a school that had been condemned for structural issues, and students have instead been having to have all of their classes in a board of education building,” Sparks observed.
Sparks stressed reduced federal funding has only exacerbated the issue. According to the Learning Policy Institute, Trump administration policies are due to slash billions of dollars in K-12 education spending throughout 2026 and 2027.
