The extremists in the North Carolina legislature and in the governor’s mansion have decided that the state’s public education system must be subject to market pressures.
That means they want public money put into private hands, as much as possible.
North Carolina was once the most progressive of southern states. It is now among the most regressive, competing with Louisiana in a race to the bottom.
Please note that the lawmakers did not put the decision about vouchers in the hands of the electorate.
No state referendum on vouchers has ever passed, and they know it.
Being fearful to say out loud what they are doing, they call vouchers with a deceptive name, as do their supporters in other states. They call them “opportunity scholarships.”
One state official is responsible to oversee the nearly 700 schools that are eligible to receive voucher students.
The campaign for vouchers was funded by extremist groups, from inside and outside the state.
Please note that in the latest TIMSS international tests, students in North Carolina’s public schools took the test and were rated as one of the highest performing entities in the world.
Want to know about vouchers in North Carolina?
Read these outstanding and objective articles by Lindsay Wagner of the NC Policy Watch. Here, here, and here.
Who is footing the bill to privatize public dollars? Follow the money. North Carolina has its own Art Pope, who handsomely funds libertarians who agree with his views; this very conservative and politically important multi-multi-millionaire is now state budget director. Art Pope was profiled by the New Yorker magazine because of his outsize influence in changing the face of the North Carolina Republican party.
And then there is all the out-of-state money that has helped elect a reactionary legislature.
The voucher promoters–who represent the most reactionary elements of our society–are always able to find and pay people of color willing to make ridiculous claims that they are doing the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by helping to destroy public education that serves all children. Think of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, which is handsomely funded by the Walton Family Foundation (whose stores do not allow unions and pay minimum wage to their employees). And North Carolina has its own cheerleaders for local billionaires, falsely laying claim to Dr. King’s campaign for public responsibility, not privatization.
And lest we not forget: the governor’s senior education advisor is Eric Guckian, a distinguished leader groomed by Teach for America.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yep. Here we are.
I have a question. Since those in charge of public education right now still seem, to me, to mostly be backing decisions already made and convincing everyone of their worth (RttT, CCSS) I have a question for those well-versed in civil rights history. When schools were integrated by mandate, was there this much propaganda to get people to buy into it as there is for CCSS and RttT changes?
I know there was resistance by many about integrating. But it needed to happen and it did.
But my question is, again: was there propaganda about it? or was it just known that it would take time and eventually people would get adjusted to the necessary change.
The propaganda surrounding CCSS is the part that makes me cautious about it. But I want to know if there was similar propaganda surrounding integration. Just curious.
The vouchers make no sense. Vouchers will initially only be available to families receiving free/reduced lunch. School lunch in my town costs 2.50 full price, 0.40 reduced price. There are 181 days in the school year. There are 181 days in the school year. Someone paying the reduced rate for lunch saves $380 per year.
The vouchers in NC are capped at $4200 and cannot exceed 90% of the cost of tuition and fees. Let’s ignore the fact that in my town, there are no quality private schools with a tuition even close to $6000.
Let’s pretend there is a quality private school with a yearly tuition and fees totaling $4667 (90% of this amount is $4200). Now the parent who needed reduced lunch to save $380 per year has to come up with $467. If they can’t afford the extra $380, how will they have $467 for the difference in tuition? How will they pay for lunch and transportation to school?
The pro-voucher people state the median tuition for a private school in NC is $4680. In my county, they claim it is $6,640. I know in my county the high flying private schools cost much more and I seriously doubt that any of these top private schools are going to offer scholarships to make up the difference for these low income families (at least not in significant quantities).
Someone please explain this math to me. Do my elected leaders really believe vouchers are for low income families?
It does make it seem like it won’t work anyway, huh? The good news there is that maybe these guys in Raleigh, the ALEC guys, are following their playbook to make themselves feel good about being like Jeb Bush, but if it doesn’t hold water, then who cares. ? They have shown their true colors and maybe they won’t get re-elected. But why bother passing the scholarships if they don’t work?
I guess what I am saying is that the way you have outlined it here (and thank you for doing that) means nobody is going to get the vouchers anyway. Or is it that if nobody on free and reduced applies, then it opens up for others? Is that the deal? Also, what happens to voucher money that is unclaimed? Does it go back into the public school pool?
The trick here is to create an artificial demand for charter schools. A charter school can get a building for a dollar (yes, $1.00), not have to provide breakfast, lunch, or transportation (read: overhead costs) and magically get the cost of tuition down to around the voucher amount. They don’t have to have certified teachers or do background checks, so there are a few more areas they can cut costs. Mind you, this will do absolutely nothing positive for student achievement, but that is not the concern for charter school operators, which run on a for-profit business model. The concern is…profitability.
Reblogged this on Carolina Mountain Blue and commented:
North Carolina is a cautionary tale of how unfettered money into the political process can have deleterious effects on a state as a whole; education is but one example of it.
It was stated right in this article “Of course vouchers will not be put to a public vote.” Since we drove Jaime Aquino to resign within two hours of Yolande Beckles of the California Title 1 Parent Union presented in front of a committee that Thursday we instantly came up with the idea of once again as in the selection of Ruben Zacarias for superintendent in 1997, of which several of us have all the original documents, in a public open process. It got out of the billionaires control and the next time with Cowboy Roy Romer we had a superintendent shoved down our throats every time since 1997. We do not accept this anymore. We want the public process back for high district officials who require a board vote such as superintendent, Sup. of Inst., CFO, general counsel and such.
Everyone start demanding a public process on these issues. This cuts right to putting a stake through the billionaires plan for destruction as the last thing they can deal with is the “Public Process.”
If the board at LAUSD does not do this it will be war. What I mean by that is the release of documents like Wikileaks. People will start running for the hills with what we have on them. We want the public involved. This is why CORE-CA the night Aquino declared he is resigning sent a letter to the LAUSD Board of Education requiring a public process for these high district officials. This time the billionaires are at the disadvantage. They and we did not know Aquino was going to leave. He obviously made a decision after Yolande’s presentation and our presentations at the previous board meeting that no matter what Gates, Broad, Walton, HP and the rest promised him if he just did their bidding at LAUSD the rest of his life would be wonderful with them. Then he went I don’t care my life is on the line and they are all going to blame me and I am not going down for them. Now, for the first time, we are ahead of them and are not going to let the billionaires get ahead again here at LAUSD. It is up to you what you do. The one thing the billionaires cannot stand is the PUBLIC PROCESS. This allows us to go right to the heart of the issue and not waste time with distractions and focus the laser and cut right through their defense mechanisms.
George–
Does that have to happen through legal action. . .the demanding public process part? Really, I am curious. What does that look like?
Georgia is way down this road with our “tax fraud scholarship program” sending $57 million annually to private schools with no income requirements and minimal oversight. That’s what Milton Friedman would have wanted right? Our legislature is controlled by people who really want straight up vouchers but use this “scholarship” program as the work around the “no tax funds being sent to religious institutions” clause in our state constitution. The majority of private schools participating are religious. And I thought Christians were not supposed to lie.
Christians lie like a Persian rug.
All of us. Humans lie, if they are allowed to (not all, but many).
Laws are supposed to help protect us from ourselves (lies and all, Christians and non-Christians). So I guess if the law is not preventing it, we have to revisit what the law is. I guess somebody has to challenge it? This is where things get over my head.
Also, I would guess if someone is “lying” to get money for a religious institution they might convince themselves that their cause is above the law, or beyond the law (such as Jesus did, yes?)
“One state official is responsible to oversee the nearly 700 schools that are eligible to receive voucher students.”
This situation if ripe for further corruption. Note: Further corruption.