NC shouldn’t force more public support of private schools

If you’re a parent of public school-age children, you’ve had a lot to worry about this last year. Are your kids making academic progress under these difficult circumstances? Do you have the resources you need to help your kids cope and thrive?

One thing you shouldn’t have to worry about is how North Carolina’s public schools will get the funding they need to educate your kids. But that funding is at risk, from cynical attempts by special interests to force taxpayer support of religious education. And although our kids learn in school that the U.S. Constitution is clear that keeping government out of religion safeguards our democracy and religious freedom, too many state legislators are determined to use taxpayer dollars to violate the separation between church and state.

They may be called “education savings accounts” and “scholarship” programs, but they are just other names for private school voucher programs that fund private, primarily religious schools with public dollars. HB 32, filed this legislative session in North Carolina, would expand funding and student eligibility for these voucher programs. And although the legislature passed a massive expansion of these programs just last year, HB 32 would cost the state another $160 million over the next nine years.

It’s not like North Carolina public schools can spare the money. Ranked 37th out of 50 states in 2019 for the quality of its public education, the state’s low ranking directly stems from how little it spends per student. Meanwhile, private schools funded through the voucher programs are subject to almost no meaningful requirements. They are not required to provide instruction on any academic subjects, can be operated by entities with no educational experience, can hire unqualified teachers, and have no obligation to improve student performance in any measurable way.

Public schools are open to and must serve all students. Private schools accepting vouchers, however, even when receiving taxpayer funding, can and too often do discriminate. It’s not just that religious schools normally restrict admission to children of their own denomination; it’s that they do not have to abide by federal civil rights laws that apply to public schools. They can turn away or expel children with disabilities, LGBTQ students or children of unmarried parents.

Let’s also not forget that some voucher programs were first developed to fund private religious schools attempting to perpetuate segregation after Brown v. Board of Education’s integration orders – schools that were founded to keep Black and white children apart. Even now, national data show that private schools tend to be more segregated than similarly situated public schools and enroll higher populations of white students compared to public schools.

At a time when public schools are facing unprecedented challenges to serve students in the midst of a pandemic, it is unjust and unfair to divert much-needed funding to private schools. Public schools play a unique role in teaching common values and curricula to a diverse, multicultural population, while admitting all students regardless of their religion, race, or ability. And asking taxpayers to support religious education negates one of the most important principles of church-state separation: No one should be forced to fund a religion they do not share.

Supporting the separation of church and state does not make you anti-religion. It is about ensuring the law does not favor any particular religion or religion in general, not about interfering with anyone’s private beliefs. The well-funded pro-voucher lobby ignores this violation of taxpayers’ religious freedom and talks all it can about “choice” for underprivileged children, but vouchers generally do not provide nearly enough money for poor children to go to private schools, while depriving their public schools of badly needed funding.

At its core, the separation of church and state is about equality. It ensures that all people, whether they practice a specific religion or not, are treated the same, regardless of their beliefs. North Carolinians must let their legislators know that they want their taxes to fund the one educational system that is free and open to every child – the public schools.

This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 12:00 AM with the headline "NC shouldn’t force more public support of private schools."