Gov. Cooper says WNC schools will lose $8 million with GOP school voucher bill
ASHEVILLE - Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper led a roundtable discussion with local educational leaders at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College June 30 to discuss how education bills will impact local school districts and touting his state budget proposal that includes funding for teacher raises and early childhood education.
Cooper has been traveling the state the last couple of weeks visiting schools and meeting with educators and principals to discuss the North Carolina General Assembly's legislation that would negatively impact public education.
Attending the roundtable was Buncombe County Schools Board member Rob Elliot, Jennifer Hefner, superintendent of Alexander County Schools, Rachael Ray a teacher from Madison County, Buncombe County Democratic Reps. Eric Ager, Lindsey Prather and Caleb Rudow, and Mike Hawkins, president at Pisgah Enterprise Inc.
School vouchers was a hot topic at the roundtable, where educational leaders and Cooper discussed the dangers they said this program would have on rural counties — though the concerns didn't stop there. They said the voucher program would be a catalyst for many funding issues in public schools.
'State of emergency in public schools'
Eight in 10 students still go to North Carolina public schools, Cooper said.
The governor discussed how there are several pieces of legislation along with the budget that are being considered in Raleigh that could have a "detrimental impact" on North Carolina public schools.
"We've got more than 5,000 teacher vacancies across our state. That means more than 100,000 students don't have a qualified teacher consistently in the classroom," he said.
More: Who are the new Buncombe County Schools principals, administrators for 2023-24?
Cooper sent a budget proposal to the legislature that doesn't raise taxes and fully funds public schools.
"It provides for a $7 billion reserve, and it provides for an 18% pay raise for our teachers and principals in our public schools, we can do this. It's only a question of priorities. I've also submitted a budget that requires $1.5 billion to help us with early childhood education, quality childcare that we know is so incredibly important to our families and our businesses."
The House and the Senate are pushing private school vouchers "on steroids," Cooper said.
They have set aside billions of dollars to fund money into private schools — making it so that there's no income limit for people who could get these vouchers.
Alexander, Buncombe, Madison and Transylvania counties could lose more than $8 million in state funding for public schools if this bill goes through, according to Cooper.
"With the Senate budget, a millionaire would be able to keep a child in a private school and get thousands of dollars from the state while a veteran teacher is going to get a $250 raise. That is the Senate's priority. The house is better, but it's not a whole lot better," he said.
Cooper told the audience that the legislature has received 36 resolutions from county boards across the state that are asking to protect public education — rural schools will be impacted the most.
More: What do Buncombe County, Asheville school employees make? Commission votes on budget
Elliot said Buncombe County Schools could lose more than $5 million in state funding if the voucher bill passes.
"It's this type of legislation that erodes financial support cost and what that erosion does to us is it puts us more or less into a triage mode. We got to start with what's critical, right? We have to have great teachers in the classroom, we have to start there. But then you look at all of the other really critical services and, you know, arts programs and sports and athletics that benefit our students that have to start being triaged more or less," Elliot said.
'A product of the public school system'
The president at Pisgah Enterprise Inc., said there's a direct economic development impact when public schools aren't funded.
"I don't know the exact numbers, but I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the rural counties in North Carolina, the public school system is either the first or second or third largest employer," said Hawkins, who is also a former Transylvania County commissioner.
Cooper said that with the budget he proposed it would make North Carolina No. 1 in the Southeast in teacher salaries.
"We have the money, so it's a question of priorities," Cooper said.
Prather, a former Buncombe County Schools teacher, said it's important to have teachers voices at the table but they can't be the only ones advocating for themselves anymore.
She told the crowd that "more parents and businesses need to be speaking out in Raleigh."
"The vast majority of parents in this state love their kids current public school but that's not the message being conveyed in Raleigh," Prather said.
Ager talked about the direct impact not funding schools has on businesses.
"North Carolina is the No. 1 state for business in this country and that was built on our great education system of 20, 30, 40 years ago, and if we don't continue to do that then we aren't going to continue to be successful," Ager said.
Rep. Rudow said it's heartbreaking to hear these stories. As a graduate of Asheville High School, he told the audience that they all have a lot of work to do to get more information out to the public to let people know what's going on in Raleigh.
Cooper's mother was a public-school teacher, and he was raised in the public school system.
"I'm a product of public schools," Cooper said.
From a teacher's point of view
Rachael Ray, a Spanish teacher at Madison High School, was a part of the roundtable discussion on June 30, speaking on behalf of her fellow teachers. Ray said the most important question that should be at the forefront of everyone's mind is "what are we doing for our children?"
"When we talk about some of these cuts that are going to happen, we're talking about bus drivers, who bus our children to school each and every day. We're talking about cafeteria workers who feed our children each and every day. When those kinds of cuts take place the village that it takes to run a school begins to be decreased," Ray said.
Ray was named the 2023 Western Regional teacher of the year by N.C. public schools.
"We also feel like there's a target on our back as well. It seems like no matter what we say, someone's going to be upset when honestly, we're just trying to give our students the best education that we possibly can, and we would love to be able to do that in a safe environment where we have the resources that we know we need, to do what's best for our kids."
More: NC private school voucher bill proceeds as Asheville public schools struggle for funds
What to know about the voucher bill
HB823 and SB406 both known as "Choose Your School, Choose Your Future" bills, would make “all N.C. K-12 students eligible for opportunity scholarships, with grant amounts based on household income, beginning in 2024-2025.”
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina pushed for this bill that will significantly expand the school voucher program, providing universal vouchers for private school tuition, including private religious schools. The bill would make all students eligible for the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program, funded by taxpayers, which some critics say would move students out of public schools and take more funds away from public school districts.
The bill was included in the state budget, which is expected to be voted on in mid-July.
HB823 and SB406 state that students would be awarded the voucher on a sliding scale, where the lowest-income applicants would receive scholarships up to 100% and the highest wage earners could receive awards up to 45%.
"Vouchers with no income limits and no accountability are wrong for North Carolina," Cooper said.
More: Without NC funding, child care workers in Asheville, Buncombe could see big pay cuts
Awaiting action from Cooper
House Bill 808: passed by the house on June 28, which restricts certain types of gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical gender transition procedures. Doctors would get penalties for performing these treatments.
House Bill 574, which would ban transgender girls from playing on female sports teams in middle school, high school and college.
Senate Bill 631, which would prohibit state funding of gender-affirming care and could complicate access for youth already receiving care in North Carolina., according to a June 28 news release from the Campaign for Southern Equality.
More: Western NC advocates respond to ban on gender-affirming health care for trans minors
McKenna Leavens is the education reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at mleavens@citizentimes.com or follow her on Twitter @LeavensMcKenna. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: NC Gov. Roy Cooper decries school voucher bill in Asheville visit
