NC Senate backs private school vouchers for all. Democrats call it ‘welfare’ for wealthy.

North Carolina Republican lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation that will allow tens of thousands of additional students to get taxpayer funding to cover the cost of attending a private school this fall.

The state Senate voted 28-15 on Thursday to approve a bill that provides an additional $463.5 million in private school voucher funding over the next two years. GOP lawmakers said the additional money is needed to ensure that all of the 72,000 new applicants for an Opportunity Scholarship get access to a voucher this year.

The floor vote came one day after the revised bill was introduced and approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. House Bill 823 now goes to the House, where House Speaker Tim Moore has already said they’ll back an increase in voucher funding this year.

“We’ve got over 55,000 families that really are kind of on pins and needles wanting to know is their child going to be able to go to the school of their choice come this fall,” Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican and appropriations committee co-chair, said Wednesday.

Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, told reporters after a Senate session on Wednesday that the bill was moving ahead to give parents and schools time to plan for the fall. Berger said because of that planning time, lawmakers did not want to wait to include it in the budget bill that will likely come out in June.

“We wanted to go ahead and move that forward as soon as possible,” Berger said. “So hopefully, we’ll get it over to the House. Hopefully the House will take it up. And we’ll get it to the governor. I suspect we’ll be dealing with a veto, and we’ll have to move forward with that.”

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has called for a moratorium on the private school vouchers, so he is likely to veto the bill. Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers, so enough votes to overturn a veto.

Alternative to public schools

Thursday’s floor debate was heated with legislators using terms like indoctrination and segregation.

Expansion of the voucher program will leave public schools behind at a time when they need more resources, according to Sen. Gladys Robinson, a Guilford County Democrat.

“Are we going to return to a time when schools are segregated again?” Robinson said. “Not like that. Not Black versus white. But by low-income, poor, mostly rural public schools versus the wealthier private schools.”

But Sen. Amy Galey, an Alamance County Republican, said voucher opponents are really terrified that it will give middle-class families alternatives to a government-sponsored education.

“You advocate to set up government schools that are hostile to parents’ concerns and you demonize parents for resisting, and then you put barriers in the way of parents who have found a better fit for their child and family,” Galey said. “So just admit that you want to indoctrinate children with your fringe political theories.”

‘Welfare for the wealthy’

Democratic lawmakers called the bill “welfare for the wealthy” and a “handout” because the state no longer has an income limit for a family to get a voucher.

“They’re already paying their private school tuition and can afford it quite well, so it’s disingenuous to say they’re somehow waiting on this bill to save them in order to decide if their kids can continue to go to Greensboro Day or Providence Day, the fanciest schools money can buy,” Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said Wednesday.

Marcus and Robinson said the money could go to other needs such as a 3.4% raise for teachers, eliminating the wait list for the state’s pre-K program or helping keep childcare centers open.

Eligibility rules changed for vouchers

State lawmakers created the Opportunity Scholarship Program in 2013, originally promoting it as a way to help low-income families escape failing public schools.

Last year, state lawmakers changed the rules so that any family — regardless of their income or if they’re already attending a private school — could apply for a voucher. The eligibility changes led to a more than 500% increase in applications this year.

The applicants were grouped into four tiers based on their household income, with voucher priority going to those with the lowest incomes.

In March, the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority awarded 13,511 to families in Tier 1, the lowest economic tier. They’ll get scholarships of $7,468 per child.

On Friday, the NCSEAA awarded 2,294 new scholarships of $6,722 per child to families in Tier 2. A Tier 2 family of four has a maximum annual income of $115,440.

But, barring legislative action, the NCSEAA says it won’t have enough money to give scholarships to most Tier 2 families or any families in Tier 3 or Tier 4. That would put around 54,800 applicants on a waiting list.

Clearing voucher wait list

GOP lawmakers said they wanted to clear the wait list. The legislation would triple the number of students who currently get an Opportunity Scholarship to more than 100,000 children statewide.

“This is nothing more than funding the policy we already passed,” Sen. Ralph Hise, a Mitchell County Republican, said Wednesday. “We did not intend for there to be a wait list under any income level.”

The legislation would provide an additional $248 million this year and $215.5 million in recurring funding next year.

By the 2031-32 fiscal year, the bill would increase annual funding to $800 million — $295 million more than now projected.

The bill also includes $24.7 million recurring to clear the wait list for the Education Student Accounts program, which supports students with disabilities. There are an estimated 2,015 applicants currently on the wait list.

Millionaires could get school vouchers

Republicans focused on how the bill would fully fund the Tier 2 applicants, who they said are middle-class families.

Democrats focused on how the bill will fully found applicants from the two wealthiest tiers — who accounted for 55% of the applications.

A Tier 3 applicant has a family income of between 200% and 450% of the amount required for a a subsidized school meal. A Tier 3 family of four has a maximum annual income of $259,740. They’d get a voucher of $4,480 per child.

A Tier 4 applicant makes more than 450% of the income required for a free or reduced-price school lunch. Those applicants would get vouchers of $3,360 per child, which is 45% of the amount the state spends per child in public schools.

“Why is this your urgent priority to provide welfare for the wealthiest families who are in most cases already affording to send their children to their private school — the school of their choice as you call it — when we have so many other unmet needs?” Marcus said.

GOP: Vouchers fulfill constitutional rights

Republican lawmakers argued that the wealthiest families have the right to decide how their taxpayer dollars are used to educate their children.

“I’m a little perplexed by the fact that we are now — or at least certain people, are now — calling paying for a child’s education welfare,” Hise said. “I mean I guess if you pay for it for a wealthy person you’ll call it welfare.”

Hise said the state constitution’s right to a free education doesn’t only apply to poor people.

“The right of providing the education for a child is the state’s responsibility, and we are using private centers to do that,” Hise said.

High income earners are the ones paying the taxes, according to Galey, the GOP lawmaker.

“If we can help them find the fit for their child, then I think that by doing that we are fulfilling our constitutional duty to provide a sound basic public education,” Galey said Wednesday.

Democrats: Fund Leandro first

But Democratic lawmakers questioned passing the voucher expansion at the same time that GOP legislative leaders are appealing a 2022 state Supreme Court decision to increase public school funding.

A trial judge has said the state owes at least $677.8 million to try to provide students their constitutional right to a sound basic education.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the Leandro school funding case in February. The court’s GOP majority could reverse the former Democratic majority’s 2022 decision.

“They are taxpayer funded dollars that should be going into funding Leandro so we bring all of the schools up,” Robinson,the Democratic lawmaker, said Wednesday.