More than 7,500 public school students in West Virginia transferred from their zoned schools to other schools both in and out of their county during the 2023-24 school year.

Over the last few years, state lawmakers have expanded students’ ability to transfer for education and sports, giving schools limited reasons to deny requests.

West Virginia Department of Education showed that 6,135 students transferred to a school in their county (known as intracounty transfers), and 1,425 students transferred to a public school out of their county.

Parents accessing child care and after school care was a major driver for transfers in elementary school, where the bulk of the transfers occurred, according to the state education department.

“A vast majority of it is because of the parents and where they’re working and what’s available with day care and things like that at the elementary level,” Sonya White, deputy superintendent of the West Virginia Department of Education, told lawmakers while sharing the data.

High school transfers were less common, White said, and many were due to athletics. A 2023 West Virginia permits student athletes to change schools one time during their high school career without having to change residency. The law to and athlete injuries.

During the 2023-24 school year, 432 athletes to high schools in West Virginia — tripling the number from the number of transfers from the previous year-and-a-half. The West Virginia Secondary Schools and Activities Commission did not return a request for updated numbers for the current school year.

Students transferring within the county do not impact state aid funding unless the student is transferring from a county board of education to a public charter school, according to the WVDE.

Cabell County Schools, one of the state’s largest school districts, had the state’s highest rate of transfers, with 788 students approved to transfers within the county and 136 students transferring out of county.

Keith Thomas, Cabell County Schools’ director of health, wellness and student support services, explained that accessing after-school care or schools closer to parents’ jobs often drove the transfers in his county.

“Not all schools have after-school programs and many of our parents work until five or six,” Thomas said, adding that only some programs accept the state’s .

He added, “A lot of our transfers are that we have parents who are teachers, and they want their kids to go to school with them,” he said.

Accessing special education services also spurred transfers, Thomas said. And some schools are better equipped and certified to teach students with autism.

In Lewis County, Samantha Ribeiro Matos has transferred her six- and seven-year-old boys, who need special education services, to three schools in three years in search of the right academic fit.

One transfer happened after Matos said she found out three days before school started that her zoned elementary school didn’t offer a self-contained classroom, which one of her sons needed. School leaders asked her to transfer the largest elementary school in the county, she said.

“We felt like that was a good option as it was presented to us, but we also did not have a choice,” she said.

State can deny transfers for limited reasons

West Virginia lawmakers expanded students transfer eligibility in 2023 amid the Republican-led Legislature’s . The , signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice, was expansion of 2019 . It allows a county board to permit any eligible student to apply for enrollment in any school in the county as long as the school has the grade-level capacity and certain programs and services that aren’t available in the students’ attendance zone.

The law also allows for open enrollment for public school students between counties without requiring the approval of the county the student resides in prior to transfer.

Denials are permitted for limited reasons, including classroom size limits and student discipline history.

The state education department’s data showed that 483 students were denied transfers last school year. The majority of the denials were students looking to transfer to another school within their county.

White said that a lack of classroom space was the leading reason behind denials.

“The denials are mostly elementary because we have a cap on class sizes in [kindergarten] through five, and we don’t in seventh grade and beyond,” she said.

Jason Huffman, state director for conservative grassroots organization Americans For Prosperity, reviewed county-level denials through information he received through the Freedom of Information Act.

Counties denied student transfers for reasons not permitted under the law, he said, including academic performance, tardies and parent conduct.

“I think particularly with things like absences or tardies, perhaps it is a case that the child is being bullied or or the child is unhappy in their learning situation,” Huffman said. “I don’t think that’s a viable reason to deny a transfer. It kind of disregards the individuality of the student.”

Huffman also noted that only five of the county school districts in the state published their open enrollment data on their website as required under the 2023 law.

He raised these concerns in a letter to education committee leaders in the Legislature, and he wanted the West Virginia Department of Education to remind counties about the appropriate reasons for transfer denials and publishing open enrollment data.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, chair of the Senate’s School Choice Committee, said she had heard from a few parents whose transfers were denied. “When they appealed to the superintendent, transfers were approved,” she said in an email.

“I was actually pleased when seeing the letter from AFP and felt the numbers demonstrate there are hundreds of parents seeking and getting the education they need for their children. And staying in the public education system,” Rucker, R-Berkeley, continued.

Christy Day, spokesperson for the education department, said the department will continue to work with county school systems to assist them with compliance with the resident and non-resident transfer statute.

Huffman said his organization plans to continue the implementation of the law.

“We want to make sure that the intent that lawmakers wanted to give to parents — the power of choice — is being followed to the full fruition of the law,” he said. “It’s for the future of the children in our state.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com. Follow West Virginia Watch on and .

Across Virginia, local governments are launching speed camera enforcement programs in school and work zones in an effort to slow an increase in accidents seen during the pandemic. 

While recent data shows crashes have fallen to pre-pandemic levels, some local leaders are questioning whether the programs, which not only record when drivers are moving above the speed limit but issue them tickets for the infraction, infringe on people’s privacy rights.

“There should never be a time when a locality tries to simply put something in effect to make money from someone else’s misdoing,” said Shawn Graber, a member of the Board of Supervisors for Frederick County, which is in school zones.

In 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation that authorized state and local law enforcement agencies to install speed cameras in work and school zones. The legislation was intended to help reduce traffic fatalities and encourage drivers to drive slower around children and construction workers.

Traffic fatalities have spiked in recent years across the country, including in Virginia. A of National Highway Traffic Administration data found that between 2019 and 2022, traffic fatalities increased by 20% in Virginia.

Since passage of the 2020 law, several localities have already started using speed cameras to enforce limits, with what appear to be neutral or positive results.

According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, work zone crashes have reached pre-pandemic levels. Virginia recorded 3,849 crashes in work zones in 2019 and 4,741 crashes in 2022. Preliminary data, which officials note is subject to change, shows that there have been 3,541 work zone crashes this year.

At the same time, crashes in school zones remain relatively flat. In 2019, Virginia recorded 1,756 crashes in school zones compared to the 1,714 crashes in 2022. Preliminary data for the current year shows 1,416 crashes in school zones.

Adoption

Local governments that have already rolled out speed cameras in school and work zones include the town of Altavista, Fairfax County and the city of Harrisonburg.

Altavista was to install cameras in its school zones, which it did in the summer of 2021.

According to Altavista Police Chief Tommy Merricks, the town has issued over 700 citations, with penalties going into the town’s general fund. He said one of the cameras’ advantages is assisting smaller departments with enforcement.

“I think it’s made a difference,” Merricks said. “I think it’s slowing people down.”

The program was paused briefly last year due to the absence of flashing yellow lights in school zones to warn drivers to yield to oncoming traffic, pedestrians or bicyclists. As a result, the town refunded violation fees for any motorists hit with citations in those areas and retrofitted the zones with flashing lights before resuming the program last November.

“We wanted to get this program right,” Merricks said.

In Harrisonburg, city officials installed speed cameras in a work zone on East Market Street near Interstate 81 in June, according to The .

After a one-week study, the city found that thousands of drivers had violated the 25 mph speed limit in the zone, including more than 22,000 drivers going 37 to 49 mph, nearly 600 going more than 50 mph and a dozen traveling at over 60 mph.

“It’s very clear following this speed study that steps have to be taken to improve safety while crews are working in this corridor,” said Harrisonburg Public Works Director Tom Hartman . “Installation of these cameras has proven to reduce speeds in other communities where additional safety measures have been needed, so we are eager to see them lead, hopefully, to a reduction in speeds and an increase in safety on East Market Street.”

In Northern Virginia, Fairfax County officials implemented a speed camera program in both school and work zones in May after launching last winter at nine schools and a work zone on Route 28.

According to the Fairfax County Police Department, 17,903 violations have been issued through the program since May. The county has collected $601,211 from fines and deposited them into the general county fund.

Other local governments are also eyeing cameras as a solution. In the Piedmont region, Albemarle County officials announced in August that they would begin installing cameras, with county supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley telling they would help “keep our children, their parents, and everyone that’s on the road safe.” Frederick County too is considering adding new cameras, the has reported. And the Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia State Police are planning to roll out their own program this fall after delays due to COVID-19 and personnel shortages, according to a .

Concerns

Nevertheless, some local officials have voiced concerns about how the cameras will impact motorists’ privacy, the risk of residents perceiving such programs as primarily intended to generate revenue and whether camera programs are actually effective.

“There’s a lot of privacy issues here that these governments need to get squared away before they ever even consider going down this route,” Graber, the Frederick County supervisor, said, citing concerns over the sharing of license plate information with camera companies and law enforcement.

Additionally, he noted it could be a challenge for a vehicle owner to prove they are not responsible for a violation if a friend or family member is driving the vehicle.

limits the use of information from speed camera devices used in school and work zones. Information from the cameras must be protected in a database and “used only for enforcement against individuals” who are in violation.

However, the broader use of traffic cameras, particularly license plate readers, have for many years spurred debates between Virginia privacy advocates and law enforcement. In 2021, that would have prohibited law enforcement and regulatory agencies from using license plate readers to collect and store personal information without a warrant died in the House. that would have codified a 2020 Virginia Supreme Court decision allowing law enforcement agencies to use and store data from such readers while limiting most data storage to 30 days.

In Nelson County, an hour south of Altavista, officials fretted that the cameras might appear to the public as simply a “revenue generator” and could lead to fees some drivers could not afford to pay.

“For an affluent individual who’s just driving [from] D.C. — they are going to throw that $100 in that letter, send it to you and call it a day,” said Nelson County Board of Supervisors Chair Jesse Rutherford. “They do not care, but it means a lot to a Nelsonian who might be on the way to work and the last 10 feet pushed the gas a little bit too hard.”

Meanwhile, the National Motorists Association, which , has questioned whether the devices help reduce speeds or crashes, arguing there has been no independent verification that photo enforcement devices improve safety or reduce overall accidents.

“With properly posted speed limits and properly installed traffic-control devices, there is no need for ticket cameras,” said the association in a statement. “They can actually make our roads less safe.”

Merricks, the Altavista police chief, said he believes speed cameras are effective but understands they are not popular, particularly because they can lead to financial penalties against registered vehicle owners.

“I think studies have shown that slowing the speed down through school zones exponentially makes it safer if there is an accident,” Merricks said.

In July, Nelson County Sheriff David Hill encouraged supervisors to consider the proposal on the grounds that it would improve safety.

“Y’all have heard me gripe and moan about funding and about getting people to work here to serve our citizens,” he said. “This would be a service for our citizens and our youth — our future.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on and .