Outrageous

Western North Carolina faces $53 billion in damage from Hurricane Helene. Yet state legislators voted this week to send $655 million in tax dollars to private schools this year and $6.5 billion through 2032-33.¹

That’s outrageous. To think it won’t divert funds from public schools – especially schools in rural and Western North Carolina – is foolhardy.

Yet, safe after election in their gerrymandered districts, legislators voted this week to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of HB 10, a muddled mash-up requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE and providing K-12 and community-college enrollment funds, Medicaid dollars and a massiveexpansion of private school vouchers.

Cooper has called private school vouchers “the biggest threat to public schools in decades.”²

“Helene was the most devastating storm our state has ever seen, and there is a long and expensive road of recovery ahead for Western North Carolina,” Cooper said this week. “Legislators should invest billions of dollars in western North Carolina recovery instead of locking in billions for private school vouchers.”³

The state’s private school vouchers started as a way to give students from low-income families in low-performing schools more options. But last year the General Assembly removed any limit on family income. Applications for vouchers skyrocketed from 12,000 to 72,000, and 55,000 students wound up on a waiting list for vouchers. Families receive $3,360 to $7,468 per student, depending on family income.

HB10 would spend an additional $463.5 million in tax dollars this year to clear the waiting list. Of those on the list, more than 70% are from families that make more than $115,440 a year, and 23% are from families that make more than $259,740 a year.⁴

When state legislators ignore their constitutional obligation and shortchange public schools, it in turn puts pressure on counties to raise sales and property taxes to pay teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and HVAC technicians.⁵

So if you’re upset about local taxes rising, as Public Schools First recently pointed out, talk to your state legislators.

VOTERS IN THREE STATES – Nebraska, Kentucky and Colorado – said no to private school vouchers two weeks ago.⁶ What do Republicans in these states get that North Carolina Republicans don’t?

Because private schools are generally concentrated in metropolitan areas, Cooper and others warn that the voucher expansion means even more tax dollars will flow from rural North Carolina to private schools in urban North Carolina.

So yet again, rural North Carolinians’ representatives have voted against their own interests.

When local school systems don’t have enough bus drivers to navigate ice-packed roads this winter, Western North Carolina voters need to look themselves in the mirror.

Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, contends the state has enough in reserves to respond to Helene and expand taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools.

“Republicans have a strong track record of fiscal responsibility, which means we can expand parental school choice while at the same time building a healthy savings reserve to ensure we can respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene,” Berger said.⁷

As for the collateral damage to public schools from siphoning away hundreds of millions of dollars a year, Berger didn’t mention it.

Meanwhile, “The people of western North Carolina need our support right now to continue recovery and rebuilding their communities,” Cooper said this week. “When legislators return to session, they must prioritize helping our neighbors in western North Carolina instead of sending hundreds of millions more in taxpayer dollars to private school vouchers.”⁸

Legislators will return to Raleigh Dec. 2.

¹ https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2023/Bills/House/PDF/H10v5.pdf;  https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-11-18/private-school-voucher-north-carolina-veto-override-opportunity-scholarships.
² https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2024/09/20/joined-education-and-business-leaders-both-parties-governor-cooper-vetoes-hb10.
³ https://journalnow.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/governor-making-final-appeal-to-western-nc-legislators-to-not-override-school-vouchers-ice-bill-veto/article_5194d0d4-a394-11ef-89d3-573be44f5652.html.
⁴ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article295818404.html.
⁵ https://publicedworks.org/2024/10/local-taxes-increasing-talk-to-your-state-legislators/.
⁶ https://www.ncforum.org/private-school-vouchers-are-unpopular-failed-policy/2024/. On November 5th, voters in three states rejected private school voucher measures on their ballots. A majority (58 percent) of voters in Nebraska chose to repeal a recently passed voucher law. In Colorado, 55 percent voted against a proposed constitutional amendment to “establish a right to school choice.” And in Kentucky, Amendment 2, which would have allowed state dollars to be spent on private education, was defeated by a margin of 65 to 35 percent.
⁷ https://journalnow.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/governor-making-final-appeal-to-western-nc-legislators-to-not-override-school-vouchers-ice-bill-veto/article_5194d0d4-a394-11ef-89d3-573be44f5652.html.
⁸ https://www.wral.com/story/nc-lawmakers-announce-new-helene-relief-package-as-cooper-hammers-legislative-priorities/21728267/.