Summary#

HB 5694, “Supplemental appropriation to Department of Education, fund 0313,” amends West Virginia’s 2025 budget law, as amended by H.B. 4575, for fiscal year 2026. It appropriates money from the state’s unappropriated General Revenue surplus to the State Board of Education and State Department of Education; its stated purpose is to change those budget appropriations.

• The amended schedule lists $146,237,440 across education appropriations. The materials do not show how much of that total is newly added by HB 5694.
• The schedule includes $24,610,523 for the Hope Scholarship Program, $13,653,041 for Increased Enrollment, $9,256,714 for technology network tools and support, and $8 million for a Hancock County Board of Education financial stability loan program.
• The bill directs $2 million from Current Expenses to the Department of Education’s non-traditional child hunger solutions, and $2.9 million from Safe Schools to school mapping.
• It directs $39,831,000 for Teachers’ Retirement Savings Realized to be transferred to the Employee Pension and Health Care Benefit Fund.
• It carries forward certain unspent fiscal-year-2025 balances for spending in fiscal year 2026, and sets aside named amounts for particular schools and other purposes.

What it means for you#

• State education agencies: The State Board and Department of Education receive appropriation authority under the amended schedule. The text says the appropriations also include funding for the Board and its executive office.
• Schools and school boards: The schedule includes money for enrollment, school safety, technology, literacy, truancy prevention, and other education programs. It names specific school allocations, including $100,000 for Paw Paw Schools and $250,000 for Pickens School.
• Low-income students: $120,000 from the Unclassified appropriation must be used to help low-income students pay AP and CLEP exam fees.
• Taxpayers: The bill uses an unappropriated General Revenue surplus. It does not impose a new tax or fee.
• Other rules: The bill changes appropriations; it does not itself set out new eligibility rules for the listed programs or require students or schools to apply for funding.

Money#

The amended appropriation schedule totals $146,237,440, but the available material does not state the amount newly appropriated above existing law.

• The bill draws on the unappropriated surplus in the State Fund, General Revenue.
• The $39,831,000 retirement-related amount must be transferred to the Employee Pension and Health Care Benefit Fund.
• The bill does not provide a cost estimate for administering the appropriations or say how much will ultimately be spent.
• I could not verify the change against the existing budget: the 2025 budget law and H.B. 4575 are not included in the supplied material.

What is unclear#

• How much each line item changes from the amount already authorized under existing law.
• How the appropriations will be distributed or administered where the bill does not name a specific recipient or use.
• How much of the authorized money will actually be spent, and what results the programs will achieve.
• How much unappropriated surplus remains after these appropriations.

Case for#

• A possible argument for the bill is that it directs surplus funds to education-related needs, including school mapping, child hunger solutions, technology, and early literacy.
• Naming specific amounts and recipients for some purposes can make those allocations clearer.
• Carrying forward unspent balances can keep previously authorized funds available for the specified fiscal-year-2026 purposes.

Case against#

• The bill uses surplus money that could otherwise remain unappropriated or be considered for other purposes; the supplied material does not show the remaining balance or competing needs.
• Because the prior budget text is not supplied, readers cannot tell which allocations are increases, which are unchanged, or how much new spending the bill authorizes.
• The bill provides limited detail on how many programs will distribute funds or measure results.