Education reform meets Opportunity Zones

As federal agencies continue leveraging their resources to support economic development in Opportunity Zones, this past week the US Department of Education also joined in to prioritize more than 80 grant programs, totaling some $700 million in education funding, for use in these low income areas.

As reported in US News and World Report, if approved, this funding priority would have a big impact on where federal education dollars are spent as the DoE attempts to solve workforce education issues in the same communities that are seeing new investment flow in. 

How does this fit in to West Virginia?

Many of the federal government's grant programs provide assistance to communities that are developing charter schools. As West Virginia considers its path forward after allowing as many as three charter schools to be formed by the 2021 school year, and potentially more after that, the prioritization of these federal charter school funds toward Opportunity Zones should help indicate where charter schools in West Virginia could be located to maximize available resources.