CHARLESTON – Paul Hardesty, the president of the West Virginia Board of Education, has a blunt message for lawmakers: if they care about competition in the education space, then untie the hands of public educators and county school systems.

“We have the best option. Ours is free,” Hardesty said Wednesday morning during the state Board of Education’s regular meeting at the Department of Education offices on the campus of the State Capitol Complex. “We try every day to make it more competitive. But you’ve got to level the playing field. This assault on public education…has got to stop.”

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