Berkeley
West Virginia Has Lost Enrollment for 13 Straight Years
> Correction: An earlier version used stale enrollment values. This version uses the current West Virginia Department of Education enrollment release and re-runs the full 2011-2026 panel.
Only Two of 55 WV Counties Have Recovered from COVID
In the fall of 2019, West Virginia enrolled 265,344 public school students across 55 county systems. Seven years later, the state enrolls 229,646, a loss of 35,698 students, or 13.5%. Of the 55 counti...
Berkeley County: West Virginia's lone bright spot
Of West Virginia's 55 county school districts, 52 had fewer students in 2025-26 than they did in 2011. The state as a whole has lost 52,484 students over that span, an 18.6% decline that ranks among t...
A 13,000-Student Gap Shrinks to 726
In 2011, seven coal counties in southern West Virginia enrolled 42,554 students. Three Eastern Panhandle counties, tucked against the Maryland border 250 miles away, enrolled 29,182. The gap between t...
West Virginia Kindergarten Enrollment Fell 25.7% Since 2011
> Correction: An earlier version used stale kindergarten, grade-level and county values and included unsupported projections. This version uses the current published 2011-2026 panel and limits the int...
One in Five WV Students Now Receives Special Education
West Virginia has lost 52,484 students since the 2010-11 school year, an 18.6% decline that has shuttered schools and strained budgets across all 55 counties. Special education enrollment moved in the...
Three West Virginia Districts Grew Since 2011. Forty-Eight Are at Historical Lows.
> Correction: An earlier version used an outdated enrollment panel. This version uses the current published 2011-2026 panel and updates the statewide and county-system figures.
Kanawha County hits all-time low after losing 6,326 students
Every year since 2014, Kanawha County has started the school year with fewer students than the year before. Thirteen consecutive years of decline have carried West Virginia's largest district from 28,...
West Virginia's Enrollment Loss Is the Largest Since COVID
The current West Virginia enrollment panel shows 234,957 public school students in 2025-26, down 6,067 from 2024-25 — a 2.5% decline. The 2021 loss was larger, at 9,276 students; the 2025-26 loss is t...
The Hope Scholarship Shadow: 21,000 Fewer Students in Four Years
West Virginia's public schools lost 7,693 students in 2025-26, a 3.2% drop that ranks as the second-largest single-year loss in the state's recorded history. Only the pandemic year of 2020-21, when 8,...