State Treasurer Larry Pack
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — State Treasurer Larry Pack was in the Eastern Panhandle this week. He toured a variety of businesses along I-81’s busy corridor:
A guest on Friday’s Panhandle Live, Pack is touring schools statewide to promote the Hope Scholarship and encourage participation, since the application period just opened for new students for the 2025-26 school year.
Program participation grew from 2,333 students during the 2022-23 school year to 5,443 students during the 2023-24 school year, and now more than 10,000 students in the current school year.
There are currently 233 participating nonpublic schools and microschools in the Hope Scholarship Program.
Some of the expenses that can qualify for the allotment, which proponents say is money that would have been spent on the student in the public schools includes extracurricular activities, specialized help with learning disabilities or even music lessons:
The Hope Scholarship gives families the opportunity to choose the educational pathway that works best for their child, according to Treasurer Pack:
The scholarship amount for the 2025-26 school year is $5,267.38.
The Hope Scholarship Act, passed by the Legislature in 2021, is an education savings account program available for kindergarten through 12th grade students. It is designed to allow parents and families to receive an amount equal to the state portion of their child’s education funding to tailor an individualized learning experience that works best for their child.
To qualify for the Hope Scholarship: A student must be a West Virginia resident and be either eligible to be enrolled in a kindergarten program, enrolled full time and attending a public elementary or secondary school program in the state for at least 45 calendar days.
Applications are available online.
Treasurer Pack chaired his first Board of Treasury Investments meeting last week (February 25th) where the Board approved a policy he recommended that would prohibit funds from being invested in Chinese-owned companies. The Board of Treasury Investments (BTI) manages more than $10.5 billion in short-term state and local government operating funds:
If the Board determines that a direct holding in a Chinese company exists, the Board will establish a plan to divest the investment and complete the divestment as soon as financially prudent, according to the policy.
In April 2024, the West Virginia College and Jumpstart Savings Program Board of Trustees approved a proposal from former State Treasurer Riley Moore to cease any China investments from the SMART529 Select Plan, a direct-sold qualified tuition plan open to residents across the United States.
Treasurer Pack also plans on proposing a similar policy as Chairman of the West Virginia Investment Management Board (IMB) later this year to ensure the state’s long-term investments and pensions of the citizens of West Virginia are not invested with the People’s Republic of China.
