Universal private school voucher bill passes NC House. Expanded choice or segregation?

A plan to allow every North Carolina family to request taxpayer funding to attend a private school was approved by the state House on Wednesday.

The “Choose Your School, Choose Your Future Act” eliminates income eligibility limits for the Opportunity Scholarship program. Instead, vouchers would be awarded based on a sliding scale with lower-income families getting the most money.

The legislation was approved in a 65-45 vote with all Republicans and one Democrat in support.

“This is a great day for children in North Carolina, putting kids first and empowering families,” said Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Republican and one of the bill’s primary sponsors. “This bill is the largest and the most expansive form of school choice that the state of North Carolina has seen.”

But most Democratic lawmakers said the voucher expansion will hurt public schools. An Office of State Budget and Management analysis says the bill could cost traditional public schools $200 million in state funding with rural counties being particularly hard hit.

Bleeding public schools?

“We don’t need to bleed off money to send to the private sector,” said Rep. Abe Jones, a Raleigh Democrat. “We need to strengthen, strengthen the public schools where most people’s kids are still going to be going.”

Jones got into an unexpected exchange during Wednesday’s floor debate when Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican, asked the Democrat if he thought he had gotten into Harvard University because he was a minority and an athlete. McNeely apologized for his remarks.

House Bill 823 now goes to the Senate, which has a similar bill going through committees. In addition, the Senate GOP included additional voucher funding and expanded access to the Opportunity Scholarships into the budget plan released this week.

Cotham’s recent decision to leave the Democratic Party gives Republicans a legislative supermajority in both chambers to overcome a potential veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

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.

Historically, most families have used their vouchers to attend religious schools

Over time, both the income-eligibility limits and the amount of the voucher have been raised.

Under the legislation, the income eligibility limits would change in the 2024-25 school year:

▪ 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.

Republicans rejected a Democratic amendment on Wednesday to keep the current income limits in place. Another Democratic amendment to prevent the program from being expanded to allow existing private school students to get a new voucher was also rejected.

Cotham, the lawmaker, said the changes would “catfish” the legislation.

Return to segregation?

Multiple Democratic lawmakers tied the expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program to past efforts to fight integration of public schools.

Rep. Julie von Haefen, a Wake County Democrat, called private school vouchers a legacy of white supremacy. She was among the Democrats who said the General Assembly should fund the Leandro public school funding plan first before expanding taxpayer support for private schools.

Rep. Lindsey Prather, a Buncombe County Democrat, noted that Wednesday is the 59th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional and must end.

“As soon as that decision (Brown vs. Board) was handed down, people in this country immediately started working to find ways around it,” Prather said. “Make no mistake. This bill is a descendant of those efforts. On this anniversary, you’re going to pass this bill to drastically expand government vouchers for unaccountable private schools.

“You’re going to pass it. It’s going to gut our education system, and we will face the consequences for years to come.”

Rep. Tim Longest, a Wake County Democrat, compared the legislation to the Pearsall Plan that state lawmakers proposed after the Brown ruling to help white families attend private schools to avoid integration.

“This bill will mean there’s not one but two systems of schools,” Longest said. “One for the wealthy who can now retreat to their private schools with public money given by all, and defunded public schools for the rest.”

Escape ‘failing’ public schools

Republican lawmakers disputed that the changes would benefit wealthy families only. They argued that it would allow more families to escape some public schools that have failed families for generations.

“Every data, every national test will tell you most of our children are not where they need to be,” Cotham said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that something is wrong with them.”

Rep. Ken Fontenot, a Wilson County Republican, said it’s not an issue of race or gender but one of families being not satisfied with the academic standards and safety in public schools. He said it would be sacrificing children to make them stay in unsafe and understaffed public schools.

“I hold it is felonious,” Fontenot said. “It is heinous. It is egregious to mandate that a child be in a school where that child is not afforded the same safety we have here in this body.”

Rep. Dean Arp, a Union County Republican, said many families feel after the COVID-19 pandemic “that schools are failing them.”

“I trust the taxpayer that we took the money from when they feel that their schools are failing them that they can take their per-pupil allotment and go to a different school that will meet their needs,” Arp said. “Different families will come down differently on that. “