In the News

By Brionna Dallara

July 29, 2024

North Carolina has one of the newest — and least regulated — private-school voucher programs in the country.

Given those traits of the N.C. ‘school choice’ program, which offers financial aid for students to attend private school regardless of income, a debate has emerged over the program’s accountability.

“In North Carolina, I mean, we’re slack. We’re really slack on this, as far as regulating private school vouchers…. There are just so many factors that pull into it. That’s the main thing, there is no equity,” said Jimmy Rogers, a member of the Haywood County Board of Education.

“The private schools, the Christian schools, they do a wonderful job. … The question is, where does the money go?” questioned Chuck Francis, Haywood school board chairman.

North Carolina implemented its voucher program last fall. Other states require private schools accepting vouchers to require state testing, certified teachers, regulated curriculum and regulated school hours and days. North Carolina requires none of those boxes to be checked.

In this state, private schools are required to operate for a school term of at least nine calendar months, keep attendance and immunization records, and administer a national standardized test that covers English grammar, reading, spelling and math. That test does not have to be the same as the one used by N.C. public schools however, making performance comparisons difficult.

By T. Keung Hei

July 3, 2024

Thousands of North Carolina parents are uncertain where their children will attend classes this fall after Republican lawmakers were unable to agree on a deal to increase private school voucher funding.

State lawmakers adjourned last week without approving new funding to clear a waiting list of 55,000 students who want an Opportunity Scholarship. Now, families are weighing whether they can still afford to attend a private school without state funding to help cover their tuition costs.

“We voted them in with the promise they’d give a free education to all, and it hasn’t happened,” said Kathy Whitehill, a parent from Charlotte whose daughter is on the state waiting list. “Seventy-two thousand families applied this year. That should show how many families want it.”

The lack of action so close to the start of the new school year has put families and schools in a bind, according to Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina. “It’s looking very bleak for those families who are on the waiting lists,” Long said. “Even if they come back in September as the Speaker (Tim Moore) has suggested, that’s too late for parents. Schools have to move on.”

By Ann Doss Helms

July 2, 2024

An infusion of cash to clear the waiting list for North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships — public money that helps families pay private-school tuition — seemed like a sure thing.

Last year’s eligibility expansion led to a surge in applications: 72,000 new students seeking scholarships for 2024-25, compared with fewer than 12,000 the year before. That meant the money allocated ran out with more than 50,000 students still on the waiting list.

Republican leaders of the state House and Senate agreed to pump $248 million into the current budget to clear that list before schools opened. With the state running a surplus, the money was there. And the GOP had enough votes to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s near-certain veto.

But when the General Assembly adjourned last week without updating the budget, the additional voucher money was a casualty, with the start of the school year less than two months away.

Mike Long, of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, a leading voucher advocacy group, called the lack of action “a head-scratcher.”

“We are frustrated. We’re disappointed for these families, because we are certainly hearing from them with their frustration and disappointment,” he said Monday.

By David N. Bass

June 28, 2024

North Carolina lawmakers left the state capital on Friday without fully funding the waitlist for the state’s school choice voucher program, even though both House and Senate leadership agree that the funding fix needs to happen.

Lawmakers will return to Raleigh July 10 for a skeletal session, and then five more times this year: July 29, Sept. 9, Oct. 9, Nov. 19, and Dec. 11. But it’s unclear when both chambers could agree on budget adjustments that would include the $487 million in additional funding to clear the 54,800 applicants on the waitlist for Opportunity Scholarships.

In May, the Senate approved a stand-alone bill and sent it over to the House, but that chamber hasn’t yet taken it up. Instead, House leadership wanted to tie the increased voucher funding to augmented raises for public school teachers and state employees.

“I’m disappointed in the House because we sent them an Opportunity Scholarships funding bill eight weeks ago and they have not taken it up,” said Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, yesterday. “We also sent it to them in our budget adjustments. We today, on multiple occasions in conference reports that were being negotiated, offered to put Opportunity Scholarships in those conference reports and the House refused. So I think folks need to ask them why it’s not funded. because we have tried every way that we know how.”

By Rebecca Noel

May 14, 2024

Private schools need more accountability if the North Carolina legislature hands out hundreds of millions in new tax money for student vouchers this year, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The N.C. General Assembly is working through final changes now on a $463 million bill to clear wait lists for opportunity scholarships — the state’s private school vouchers — one year after spending $505 million to vastly expand the program. It used to have an income cap, but anyone in the state is eligible now, regardless of income or whether they’ve already got a child in private school. The expansion strays from the initial intent of opportunity scholarships, which was to offer the ability to attend private schools to those who couldn’t afford tuition, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials say.

By Jeff Tiberii, Rachel McCarthy

May 13, 2024

North Carolina’s private school voucher program began over a decade ago to offer low-income families an alternative to low-performing public schools. The Opportunity Scholarship program has expanded in recent years — now there is no income requirement to qualify and tens of thousands of moderate to higher-income applicants are waiting to hear if they'll get scholarships as well.

By Gary D. Robertson

May 1, 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Addressing a sharp increase in private-school grant applications, North Carolina Republicans advanced legislation on Wednesday to spend hundreds of millions of dollars now to eliminate a large waiting list this fall for Opportunity Scholarships and to permanently meet expected higher demand.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted for legislation that would spend another $248 million in the coming year to eliminate a waiting list of 54,900 applicants who otherwise would receive money to attend private or religious K-12 schools.

Republicans from both chambers said before the legislative session began last week that finding a way to eliminate the wait list was a top priority. They said that parents counted on the program to help their children succeed if an alternative to public schools was best for them.

“The urgency of all this is really because these families have to make decisions,” said Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican and longtime school choice advocate, told committee members.

Interview by NC Family Staff

April 27, 2024

North Carolina is one of the leading states in the nation in the area of school choice. In addition to the wide variety of educational options available to K-12 students across the state, the North Carolina General Assembly has taken its commitment a step further by expanding the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which helps enable parents to send their child to the school that best fits their needs regardless of financial barriers.

This week on Family Policy Matters, host Traci DeVette Griggs welcomes back Mike Long, President of Parents for Educational Freedom North Carolina, to discuss North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship and the impact that it has.

By Ann Doss Helms

April 1, 2024

North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship program delivered good news to some families and bad news to many others this weekend.

After lifting the income cap and increasing the size of the scholarships, the state saw a surge of demand. Roughly 72,000 students applied for the scholarships for 2024-25. The scholarships provide state money to defray the cost of private-school tuition.

The State Education Assistance Authority notified 13,511 students whose families earn the least that they’re eligible if they attend a participating school next year. Their families have until April 19 to accept or decline.

The authority also announced this weekend that even with almost $192 million allotted, that won’t be enough to offer scholarships to about 40,000 students whose families are in the top income brackets.

That sets up an election-year battle over the voucher program. Republican leaders have promoted the expanded program as a chance to increase options and let all taxpayers take their child’s share of education money — sometimes dubbed “backpack funding” — to whatever school they choose.

The budget approved in 2023 includes annual increases, reaching more than $500 million by 2031. The GOP holds a veto-proof majority and could use the 2024 short session, which convenes later this month, to add money for the coming year.

By Andrew Campanella

March 21, 2024

For years, parents across North Carolina have demanded greater access to schools and learning environments that would better meet their children’s interests, talents and needs. Now, these demands have transformed into new opportunities.

Late last year, the North Carolina legislature heeded parents’ calls, expanding the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program so that all families could apply for scholarships to make private schooling more affordable. On Feb. 1, 2024, the state opened applications to the program for the first time since its expansion. Just minutes after going live, the application website crashed due to the overwhelming rush of newly eligible parents who were eager to apply.

The website was quickly repaired, and enthusiasm for school choice in the Tarheel State has only grown since. Since its inception in 2013, the Opportunity Scholarship program has grown from serving just over 1,200 students in 2014 to serving more than 32,000 students a decade later.