Voucher shell games

School voucher advocates, such as Darrell Allison, need to ensure parents know the facts about private schools. Private schools don’t have to admit your child or even allow your child to stay enrolled.

According to the N.C. Department of Non-Public Education, current enrollment in registered private schools is 96,000. If private schools kicked out every enrolled child to make room for the 360,000 students Allison targets for vouchers, that would leave 264,000 students without a space to use their voucher! Is Allison proposing that taxpayers fund a new network of private schools across N.C.? That is simply taxation without representation.

I am a mom with two kids. I understand parents are struggling to ensure their child and everyone’s children get the opportunities they need. But you get what you pay for, and N.C. is not funding our schools at the level our kids deserve! N.C. now ranks 48th in per pupil funding, much lower than every state that borders us.

Residents should not be distracted by the school voucher shell game. We must keep focused on what will make our state and our schools strong: investing in our kids, our public schools and their teachers.

Kate Fellman. Durham