WV Board of Education President Paul Hardesty provided a glimpse into why the State Board of Education did not report years of financial non-compliance by former CFO Joe Campanelli to the Hancock Board of Education. After all, the State Board’s mission displayed on their website is “general supervision, oversight and management” of the State’s school districts.
But that didn’t happen in Hancock County’s case. It seems the State Board’s Financial staff were aware of the non-compliance in financial reporting, but did not provide the Hancock Board with a heads up.
At the State Board’s February 11, 2026 monthly meeting, President Hardesty congratulated Wayne County for making difficult decisions which were necessary so that they not end up like Hancock County, Seems President Hardesty is making Hancock County a poster child of mismanagement.
But his remarks about Hancock County didn’t stop there.
“The legislature has pushed local control for 10 years,” said Hardesty. “We don’t want Charleston. We don’t want unelected bureaucrats telling people what to do in Charleston. So we let Hancock County do what they wanted to do. Well, they ran the car in the ditch and then the legislature calls me and (Superintendent Michele Blatt) and says ‘Hey take them over.’ Gotta stop”
Last I checked, the State Board of Education is autonomous by design. Members are appointed by the Governor and in no way report to the Legislature.
So what exactly is going on? Why did Legislative influence cause the State Board from alerting Hancock County of Campinelli’s non-response for 3 years to the monthly e-mails on his reports? Why did a call from a legislator cause the Board to vote to take the school district over?
And, the legislature? Hardesty paints all 134 with a broad stroke not identifying which legislator(s) told them to let Hancock do “what they wanted” and which Legislator(s) gave the order to take us over.
All this time, we as citizens of Hancock County thought the State Board was doing its job. Little did we know, they had acquiesced their authority to legislator(s).
Consider Hancock County’s actions, any one of which should have prompted a heads up to Hancock County’s Board from the State Board:
**Three years of e-mails from the State Financial personnel to our then CFO went with no response;;
**Financial reports and audits were consistently late.. The 2024 audit was nine months late;
**The staff members above the State formula was 143 resulting in a $10 million deficit;
**Yet the audit shows us with $2.5 million going into 2025;
**On June 26, 2024 , the County took out a $3 million lease from Country Roads Leasing in Bridgeport, WV to finance the lights and turf for the Softball & Baseball Fields at Oak Glen. A fixed monthly payment amounted to $500,000.00 per year
**It should be noted that the The State Board didn’t call Hancock County to alert them. Then Superintendent Dan Enich made the phone call to the State Board to advise them Hancock County was in danger of not making payroll…
I reached out to Hardesty via telephone and e-mail to get comment on his remarks. The response from Communication’s Director Christy Day was “President Hardesty is not available and has no comment at this time..”
Hardesty not only made scathing comments about the Hancock County Board, he opened the door to questions about the Legislature’s role in the State Board’s inaction until it took us over and the Legislature’s role in the decision to take us over.
The regional representative of the union representing teachers and staff was very clear with her remarks at the first Board meeting after the takeover “Transparency is not an option.”
And, that transparency extends to the State Board of Education and President Hardesty.
