House 4063

WEST virginia legislature

2026 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4063

By Delegates Crouse and White.

[Introduced; referred

 to the Committee on]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §18-36-1, relating to the creation of a school choice portal; and requiring the Board of Education to adopt a school choice portal.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 36.  School choice Portal.

§18-36-1. Requiring the Board of Education to adopt a School Choice Portal.

(a) A School Choice Portal: By August 1, 2026, the State Board of Education shall deploy an internet-based reporting portal, which shall be called the "School Choice Portal." This portal shall be maintained as an option for those required to file a notice of intent, notice of termination, and any additional paperwork required by law for exemption §18-8-1c2, §18-8-1m, and §18-8-1n of this code.

(b) The School Choice Portal must meet the following minimum requirements:

(1) It shall be secure, have role-based user access, and provide information privacy;

(2) It shall be designed and tested prior to deployment;

(3) It shall be deployed and operational for use by the 2026–2027 school year;

(4) It shall provide a way for families that choose not to publicly school their children to:

(A) Identify children that will participate in a school choice option through a Notice of Intent

(B) Submit and archive all required reports: Provided, That the board may request, but not require, parents to provide any information that they are not legally required to provide: Provided further, That information the board requests that is not legally required shall be clearly labeled "optional" or "not required";

(C) It shall include "Dashboards" for both family and school board use;

(D) It shall have an acknowledgement capability for families and school boards to be notified that their submissions have been received, and as appropriate, acted upon. This information shall be easily found on the user's dashboard, and it shall permit users to opt into push notifications to users to alert them of actions they need to take.

(E) It shall be designed in a manner that fulfills the needs of all 55 counties with a single, common solution.

(F) In developing the School Choice Portal, the board shall include and consult with key stakeholders, including, at a minimum, at least one representative each from the board, the homeschool community, Microschools, and Hope Scholarship. The implementation and continued use shall be overseen by LOCEA and/or the Joint Committee on Education.

(G) The State Board shall report back to the county where the board has the child listed in the School Choice Portal.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a school choice portal. The bill also requires the Board of Education to adopt a school choice portal.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.