Private school students barred from Learn and Earn
For years, students at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School in Kernersville have been able to earn college credit through courses offered at UNC-Greensboro. That partnership ended this year when students attending nonpublic high schools effectively were shut out of the tax-funded program.
Learn and Earn is a public initiative allowing North Carolina high school students to earn early college credits by taking courses at participating community colleges or online at UNC-Greensboro's iSchool. The state has earned accolades for implementing the program to address high school graduation rates while better preparing all students for higher education and careers in an increasingly competitive job market.
"We have supported the program from day one--when it first began as on-site learning model until it developed online," said Carol London, Director of Counseling Services at Bishop McGuinness.
According to London, controversy arose because nonpublic students were required to pay tuition for the state-funded program, while public school students could participate for free.
The state budget, which passed earlier this year, made Learn and Earn available to public and nonpublic students at no cost. At the same time, however, the legislation restricted the enrollment of nonpublic students to spaces not filled by public school students. Funding also was cut, reducing the total number of available seats.
Dr. Beth Boyett, Director of School Partnerships with UNC-Greensboro's iSchool, has heard from parents and school leaders who contend that the legislation is "giving with one hand and taking with the other."
"Nonpublic students may no longer have to pay, but the statute virtually guarantees that they will not be able to get seats in the classes," she explained.
According to Boyett, all available iSchool seats were filled by public school students only two weeks after registration opened. "It's definitely not a case of us trying to keep [nonpublic] students out of the program, but we are required by law to abide by the statute," she said.
London and other nonpublic school advocates just want students to have fair access to the program.
"The seats are filled before private schools are able to register," said London. " If they simply allowed all students the opportunity to register for classes at the same time, it would eliminate the sense of unfairness to private and home schooled students."
