Nationally, NC ranks 48th in the amount spent annually per student in its public school
system. With the “Opportunity Scholarship Act”, NC legislators propose to remove $90 million from the already under funded public school system in order to issue $4200 vouchers to a limited number of students for use in enrolling in private schools. From a list of 554 private NC schools (222 elementary, 30 secondary and 302 combined levels), tuitions ranged from $1440 to $46,100 per term. Of those schools, 377 were of religious affiliation, with only a few Evangelical Christian schools offering tuitions under $4200. Even a survey by the conservative John Locke Foundation found that average day school tuitions exceed the proposed voucher amount. The distribution of private institutions varies widely from one county to another with one county having no private schools at all. A limited number of vouchers will be issued in order of application not by degree of need. These factors and the possibility of segregation by income and race open the “OSA” to court challenges since the NC Constitution forbids the use of tax dollars for private use. Unlike the public school system, private school teachers are not required to meet accreditation standards. This also applies to curriculum. Public schools are required to accept every student, private schools are not. The voucher system makes no provision for the expense of uniforms or transportation. In addition to undermining the woefully inadequate existing public school system, voucher programs have already been proven to provide no better education results as is demonstrated by the oldest running voucher program in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Therefore, the NC Democratic Party recommends that citizens make clear to their legislators that this is a costly, unnecessary and destructive program which we cannot afford!
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AuthorRockingham County Democratic Members Archives
July 2016
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