NC public schools feel "suffocated" by lack of funding as voucher deal advances
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Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are poised to approve $463 million for private school vouchers, many going to well-off families, and proposed no additional raises for teachers.
Why it matters: State lawmakers have largely ignored a plea from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to increase teachers' salaries by 2% this year, instead prioritizing school choice. This is after 11.5% of the state's educators left the profession last year.
- "It feels like to me that there's a desire to suffocate traditional public schools to justify their demise," says Charles Jeter, executive director of government affairs at CMS.
Catch up quick: Yesterday, North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature sent to the governor's desk a budget bill that will fully fund the state's private school voucher program, clearing a backlog of more than 53,000 students, across various income levels, whose families requested state-funded private school tuition for the 2024-25 school year.
- The deal brokered between House and Senate Republicans includes no raises for teachers.
- In fact, public school funding would decrease by nearly $100 million, according to a recent Office of State Budget and Management analysis.
- North Carolina Association of Educators' president says expanding the voucher program is "dangerously irresponsible," undermines public schools and threatens their budgets.
The other side: Supporters of private school vouchers say the program gives parents more influence over their children's education. Nineteen percent of voucher applicants are families making $57,720 a year.
- "Whether you're a single parent, a young family, or in a military household, educational freedom should be attainable for all," Senate Leader Phil Berger said in a statement.
- Discussions about new teacher salary increases will take place during the budget process next year, Berger's spokesperson Lauren Horsch told Axios.
- House Speaker Tim Moore previously said he wanted additional teacher raises passed, and that vouchers wouldn't interfere with that. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
By the numbers: The bill includes $228 million for this year's backlogged scholarships and another $215.5 million for next year.
- 18% of waitlisted families make over $259,000 annually, or did not report their income.
- Jeter estimates it would cost around $81 million to give North Carolina's roughly 90,000 teachers an additional 2% raise, "assuming the state's portion of the average teacher pay rate in North Carolina is roughly $45,000."
- The starting salary is $40,136.
Context: CMS launched an advocacy effort this year called "Stop the NC Teacher Pay Cut." It sent letters to Berger and Moore, arguing that this year's average teacher raise of 3% wasn't enough to keep up with inflation.
"We already have an education system statewide that's hemorrhaging. Not having an increase that will cover the cost of inflation is putting further injury to a gaping wound."— School board chair Stephanie Sneed
- CMS did not hear back from Berger or Moore, Jeter said.
- School board member Summer Nunn, who chairs the district's Intergovernmental Relationships Committee, says a 5% raise would "at least keep us on track."
Between the lines: The negotiated legislation, House Bill 10, includes some of the GOP's other biggest priorities, such as requiring sheriffs to comply with ICE.
What's next: Republicans have the votes to override Cooper's anticipated veto of the measure.
- Meanwhile, North Carolina is projected to drop from 38th in the nation for teacher pay to 41st, according to the National Education Association.
- "My fear is the vast majority of people across the state want traditional public schools to be well-funded, well-organized and well-run," Jeter says. "By the time they realize that we've been undercut so much, it's going to be too late to undo the damage."