West Virginia saw some of the sharpest drops in enrollment in the entire country from 2020-24 in a state where school financial support is largely based on the number of students. The drop translates into consolidation along with school closings. West Virginia Department of Education director of school facilities Micah Witlow told Eyewitness News. 21 last year and looking back five years, there was about 50 that closed in a five-year-period. Just in the past year, we almost doubled that amount,” More than 16,000 students were gone within four years and each carries a price tag for the county lost in state aid. Uriah Cummings with DOE school financial operation said “State aid per pupil in this state currently as a ballpark figure would be – around $6,000,”