‘Great day’ for NC? GOP lawmakers set to allow universal private school vouchers
Republican lawmakers have agreed on a plan that will allow any North Carolina family to receive taxpayer funding to attend a private school.
At a news conference Wednesday, state House and Senate GOP leaders said they will approve an expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program that eliminates income eligibility limits for voucher recipients. Vouchers would be awarded based on a sliding scale with lower-income families getting the most money.
The “Choose Your School, Choose Your Future Act” cleared its first hurdle Wednesday when it was approved in the Senate Education Committee. The legislation is expected to become law this year because Republicans now have large enough majorities to override vetoes from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
“This is a great day in North Carolina,” said Rep. Tricia Cotham, whose defection to the Republican Party gave the GOP a supermajority in the House. “We have solid support from both chambers.
“This is a movement we’re seeing all across the country and especially in North Carolina, where families want opportunities because they want the best for their child.”
Critics of the bill charge it will hurt traditional public schools and allow wealthy families to get taxpayer support to attend private schools.
“They have essentially said they’re going to take billions, billions of North Carolina tax money and give it to people making any income and use it for private school vouchers ....” Cooper told reporters on Wednesday.
“You’re going to end up with poor, middle class children who potentially could have a small amount for a voucher to go to a school that’s not even as good as a public school. This is wrong. It’s the wrong use of taxpayer money, and we’ve got to keep fighting.”
Originally for poor families only
The Opportunity Scholarship program was initially promoted, when it was created in 2014, as a way to help low-income families escape failing public schools.
The program has grown to serve 25,246 students. Last school year, it helped fuel the largest expansion in North Carolina private school enrollment since 1971.
Over time, both the income-eligibility limits and the amount of the voucher have been raised.
The program was expanded this school year so that a family making 200% of the amount needed to qualify for federally subsidized meals could get funding. That’s an income of $111,000 for a family of four.
Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican, said that it’s the government’s role to help all children.
Under Senate Bill 406, the income eligibility limits would change to:
▪ A family of four making up to 100% of the amount needed to qualify for a free or reduced lunch would get full voucher funding, which is equivalent to the average amount the state spends per student in public schools. That would be the equivalent of a family of four making less than $55,500 a year.
▪ A family making between 100% and 200% of the amount for a subsidized meal would get 90% of the voucher amount. That’s equal to a family of four making between $55,500 and $111,000 a year.
▪ A family making 200% to 450% of the income needed for a subsidized meal would get 60% of the voucher amount. That’s a family of four making between $111,000 and $249,750 a year.
▪ A family making more than 450% of the income needed for a subsidized meal would get 45% of the average amount given per child in public schools. That’s equal to a family of four making more than $249,750 a year.
The bill was revised Wednesday to postpone the change in the income requirements to the 2024-25 school year. But if it did go into effect this fall, the Senate GOP estimated that families would receive vouchers of between $3,246 and $7,213 per child.
The legislation also eliminates any requirements that recipients had to have previously attended public schools.
Millionaires get vouchers?
Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, a Wake County Democrat, asked Lee what the logic was allowing a person making $1 million a year to get an Opportunity Scholarship.
Lee said it’s part of an approach called “backpack funding” where each student is given a certain amount of funding regardless of where they go to school.
“Backpack funding for families is where we’re headed with respect to all students,” Lee said.
Sen. Michael Lazzara, an Onslow County Republican, said lawmakers need to remember that it’s taxpayer money and not public money.
“This is money that belongs to parents to decide how they want to educate their children,” Lazzara said. “It’s not our money. It is their money.”
Funding expansion
The Opportunity Scholarship Grant Fund would come close to doubling in future years.
This fiscal year, there is $94.8 million allocated to the fund, with $176.5 million for the upcoming year and $191.5 million for the 2024-25 school year.
Under the revised bill, instead of $206.5 million for 2025-26, the fund would receive $415.4 million. And in 2026-27, instead of $221.5 million, it would get $430.5 million.
It would reach $520.5 million in the 2032-33 school year.
It’s the only education program with guaranteed funding increases, Kris Nordstrom, a senior policy analyst with the N.C. Justice Center’s Education & Law Project, noted in a column Tuesday.
“In sum, the bill dramatically accelerates the privatization of North Carolina’s school system,” Nordstrom wrote. “Voucher expansion at this scale will exacerbate budget pressures in our already underfunded inclusive public schools, increase segregation (which of course was the original purpose of vouchers), and undermine the shared societal benefits of a strong public school system.”
The legislation comes at the same time that Republican lawmakers have balked at funding a plan to improve public schools that came out of the long-running Leandro lawsuit. The new GOP majority on the state Supreme Court put on hold an order requiring the funds to be transferred.
“To rely on a static plan based upon a lawsuit that was initiated almost 30 years ago is kind of laughable,” Lee said.
Religious schools get most funding
Historically, most families have used their vouchers to attend religious schools
Tamika Walker Kelly, the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, had been among the plaintiffs who recently dismissed a lawsuit against the Opportunity Scholarship program. They had argued that the program should be unconstitutional because some schools bar students who support LGBTQ+ rights or who don’t follow the school’s religious beliefs.
“Public schools have to take all kids no matter disability, no matter religion, no matter LGBTQ status,” said Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat. “I think that needs to be the same for private schools if they’re going to take public money.”
Lee said he’s not aware of any private schools that are excluding students. But he also said the focus needs to remain on parents picking the school that best fits their child’s needs.
“What this is going to provide is that children will have the choice and we’re not funding schools,” Lee said.
‘Changed our life’
During the news conference and committee meeting, multiple parents and students talked about how the Opportunity Scholarship program has helped them.
“This scholarship has changed our life,” said Rosie Mayberry, an Asheboro mother who is receiving voucher funding for two of her three children. “For our children, they are thriving in their school.”
Delicia Hare’s son has been receiving an Opportunity Scholarship for nearly a decade since the single mother from Rolesville pulled him out of public school.
“We want our children to have a choice,” Hare said. “We want as parents to have a choice for our children.”
Sofie Sadowski told lawmakers that the Opportunity Scholarship has allowed her to attend a good school in Cornerstone Christian Academy in Statesville.
“If it wasn’t for the Opportunity Scholarship, my family wouldn’t be in a school that I love,” Sadowski said. “The school that supports my beliefs. The school that allows me to follow my passions and dreams.”
Early high school graduation
Another part of the bill would require the State Board of Education to create a track in which high school students could graduate in as few as three years. Those early graduates would be able to get a scholarship to attend college.
Lee said the change is needed because current requirements make it nearly impossible for high school students to graduate in anything less than 3 1/2 years.
“All children should have the opportunity, if they have the motivation, to graduate after the 11th grade,” Lee said.
Staff writer Adam Wagner contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 26, 2023 at 11:43 AM.
