AFP-WV Key Vote Alert: Oppose Amendment to HB 4945 HFA Hornbuckle 2-27
Dear lawmaker,
On behalf of over 6,000 Hope Scholarship students and AFP activists across the state, I urge you to strongly oppose amendment to HB 4945 HFA Hornbuckle 2-27. This vote may be recorded in our 2024 session legislative scorecard.
This amendment is one of many attacks on the Hope Scholarship Program to come from the radical left to undermine the transformational effect this program has had for West Virginia students and parents.
When enacted in 2021, the Hope Scholarship law was the first universal education savings account in the nation, representing the gold standard for education freedom in America and cementing West Virginia as a leader in education. Since then, similar groundbreaking legislation has swept the nation as policymakers in other states seek to follow the leadership of the Mountain State by providing students and families access to the education that best suits their unique needs. HFA Hornbuckle 2-27 takes West Virginia backwards by diluting the uses of Hope and sets West Virginia families back. West Virginia should not limit educational options for families when it is abundantly clear that families across the nation are looking at West Virginia as the example they want to replicate in their state.
We oppose Del. Hornbuckle’s amendment for the following reasons:
- Families – not government officials – should decide which educational service providers best serve their children’s needs.
- By limiting families to the options that currently exist in West Virginia, we are hurting the potential for new kinds of educational options to move into the state, bringing more business and a greater educational marketplace to the state.
- West Virginia should continue to set the gold standard for educational choice. Taking steps to thwart access to educational service providers will encourage families to move to neighboring states that do not limit the educational options they can access.
- Taking away essential therapies and educational service providers harms children and takes away the freedom to secure the right education for their child from families.
HFA Hornbuckle 2-27 is a slap in the face to families who are either currently utilizing or eventually plan to participate in the Hope Scholarship because it limits the availability of education service providers, taking much needed options away from students and families.
It is for these reasons that we ask you to oppose Del. Hornbuckle’s amendment and any effort to limit the uses of the Hope Scholarship program. As always, Americans for Prosperity stands ready to celebrate principled policy champions who stand up against these special interests attacks on freedom and to hold accountable lawmakers who kowtow to the failed status quo.
Respectfully,
Jason Huffman
State Director
Americans for Prosperity-West Virginia
