NC Republicans considering $300 million more for school voucher program
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – State House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) said Wednesday that GOP legislative leaders are talking about putting as much as $300 million more into the state’s school voucher program after demand exceeded the funding available for next school year.
The Opportunity Scholarship program is now open to all families regardless of income level to obtain taxpayer money to help pay for private school tuition. Families already in enrolled in private schools are eligible too.
The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority said it received a record 72,000 applications earlier this year and does not have enough money to cover everyone who applied.
“It’s just shown there’s much more demand for it. There’s a lot of parents who want their kids to be attending either religious or private school. And, so we ought to be able to step up. But, we have the money. The savings reserve has money set aside,” said Moore.
Lawmakers are preparing to come back into session on April 24 and will make adjustments to the state budget, which they passed last fall.
Moore said legislators also are discussing an additional $400 million in funding for Medicaid expansion.
The speaker added that Republicans have not agreed on a final amount for the Opportunity Scholarship program, but he said he thinks they should fund the full $300 million if that’s what it takes to cover everyone who applied. There’s already $293 million available for next year.
“We’ll just have to fund it to meet that commitment there. It’s about $300 million. And fortunately, we have the money to be able to do that,” he said.
Moore said lawmakers are still awaiting updated revenue figures, which are expected after April 15, and will impact what action the General Assembly takes.
The scholarships vary depending on a family’s income. Those in the lowest income bracket, referred to as Tier 1, will receive $7,468 per child. The NCSEAA says after that, there’s still funding to cover some families in Tier 2 and none in the remaining two tiers.
Gov. Roy Cooper (D), who has been a vocal critic of the program and its recent expansion, wrote about the latest development on X.
“Republicans are admitting they want hundreds of millions more dollars to help wealthy families attend unregulated private schools while treating public school as an afterthought,” he said. “We must end destructive private school vouchers until our public schools are fully funded.”
Public school teachers are currently receiving a 7% raise on average over two years. A report last week showed a jump in teachers leaving the profession. Between March 2022 and March 2023, the attrition rate climbed to 11.5%.
Moore said, “I think there’s still money there to make sure we take care of our teachers and state employees.”
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