Judge blocks schools from enforcing vaccination requirement for exempt families

A circuit judge in Raleigh County has ruled that public schools across West Virginia cannot deny enrollment to students whose families have submitted religious vaccination exemptions to the state health department.

What happened

  • On November 26, 2025, Circuit Judge Michael Froble issued a final order granting permanent injunctive and declaratory relief to families — including more than 570 currently-exempted households — allowing their children to attend public school despite lacking the required immunizations.

  • The decision arose after several Raleigh County families asked courts to force local schools to accept their religious vaccine exemptions, which state law does not explicitly provide.

Why the ruling matters

  • The judge certified a class action, meaning the order applies not just to the original plaintiffs, but to all current and future West Virginia families who seek religious exemptions through the state health department.

  • Under state law, children must be immunized before entering public school — covering diseases including polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B and others — unless medically exempted. Schools had refused exemptions based solely on religious objection.

Legal reasoning

Froble found that the blanket refusal by the school system imposed a substantial burden on families’ religious exercise — effectively forcing parents to choose between their faith and their children’s access to public education, a constitutionally protected right.

While acknowledging the state’s interest in protecting public health, the judge concluded that allowing roughly 0.2% of the student population to remain unvaccinated would not significantly threaten herd immunity. He also noted that 45 other U.S. states allow religious exemptions and employ outbreak-response strategies such as quarantines when needed.

What the order does

  • The state’s education authorities — including the West Virginia Board of Education and local school boards — are barred from enforcing vaccination requirements against the class members.

  • Schools may not prevent these children from enrolling, attending classes, or participating in extracurricular or sports activities solely because of their vaccination status.

What’s next

The state and local school boards have signaled that they plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Still, until that appeal is resolved, this order applies statewide — potentially allowing hundreds of unvaccinated children to attend public schools under religious exemptions.