State of the State, Governor’s Budget in West Virginia

Blog post

In his 2015 State of the State Address, the governor highlighted his tenure accomplishments, including reducing taxes and enacting educational reforms. He called for streamlining the process for individuals from non-teaching backgrounds with expertise in critical subject areas to join the teaching profession. He also highlighted his recommendation to establish a network to review current STEM education offerings in the state and help revise and expand those programs.

Under his budget proposal for 2015-16, the statewide general fund budget would increase 1.6 percent to $4.3 billion but, due to projected revenue shortfalls, most budget areas would see targeted reductions. K-12 education funding would decline 1 percent to just over $2 billion; however, this includes new funding of $5.7 million for the statewide early literacy program approved by the Legislature in 2014 and $2 million for school-based truancy prevention. Higher education general funding would decline 2.9 percent to $402.9 million.