In a swift and decisive move Friday, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey defended parental rights and religious liberty from bureaucratic overreach, stopping a misguided directive from the state’s top education official that would have trampled on personal freedom.
State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt set off a political firestorm with an unannounced memo to all 55 county school systems. In it, she ordered a ban on religious exemptions for school-required childhood immunizations starting with the 2025–2026 school year. Her directive cited state law — West Virginia Code § 16-3-4 — arguing that because the Legislature had not acted to explicitly permit exemptions, schools must deny them.
She even advised school systems to begin notifying parents that unvaccinated children relying on religious waivers would not be permitted to attend public school. That memo, delivered on a Friday morning, blindsided many and sparked immediate backlash.
But by that same afternoon, the overreach was undone.
At the Governor’s request, Blatt formally rescinded the directive. In her follow-up communication, she noted that she was now working with the Governor’s Office on clearer guidance and confirmed that the West Virginia Department of Health would continue granting religious exemptions.
This is what leadership looks like.
Governor Morrisey’s intervention wasn’t just timely — it was vital. At stake were not only the educational futures of countless children but the fundamental rights of West Virginia families to make personal medical decisions informed by their conscience and faith, not by unelected bureaucrats.
Despite Superintendent Blatt’s reference to the Legislature’s failure to pass an exemption bill this session, the attempt to impose sweeping policy changes through executive fiat undermines democratic process. The law has not changed, yet her memo sought to interpret it in a way that would limit longstanding liberties — and impose those limits without public debate.
Governor Morrisey rightly put the brakes on that kind of unilateral decision-making. His administration signaled that religious exemptions, however contentious, remain a matter of constitutional significance and deserve serious deliberation — not quiet erasure by administrative memo.
This incident exposed the growing divide between elected leadership that answers to the people and bureaucratic forces that too often answer only to themselves. Conservatives across the state should take note: this is why elections matter. We need leaders who don’t just speak about limited government, but act when overreach threatens our homes and families.
By standing firm for parental rights, religious freedom, and medical choice, Governor Morrisey has once again proven himself a steadfast defender of West Virginia values. And for that, he deserves our thanks.
