The North Carolina Policy Watch reports on the latest turn in the battle over vouchers, which were declared unconstitutional in August by a Supreme Court judge.
“The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled today that the 1,878 students who have already been granted school vouchers can now use those taxpayer dollars at private schools while the fate of the program is decided.
“Students enrolled at private schools this fall expecting to have the vouchers, worth $4,200 annually, in hand – but an August ruling by Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood found the school voucher law to be unconstitutional, halting a program that, as Judge Hobgood said, “appropriates taxpayer funds to educational institutions that have no standards, curriculum and requirements for teachers and principals to be certified.
“As a result, voucher recipients either returned to public schools or paid the full cost of attendance at private schools. Some private schools also indicated they would temporarily subsidize voucher students with the hope that the final court ruling would turn out in their favor.
“While the Court of Appeals’ ruling obligates the state to disburse taxpayer funds to the private schools of those students who were awarded vouchers no later than August 21, 2014, it also blocks the state from awarding any additional vouchers until the final merits of the case are decided.
“State lawmakers passed a 2013 budget that tagged $10 million to be used for the school vouchers, or “Opportunity Scholarships,” beginning this fall. The vouchers funnel taxpayer funds to largely unaccountable private schools–70 percent of which are affiliated with religious institutions…..”
Judge Robert Hobgood, who ruled against vouchers in August, said at that time:
““The General Assembly fails the children of North Carolina when they are sent with public taxpayer money to private schools that have no legal obligation to teach them anything.”
This farce, which transfers public money from public schools to mostly religious schools, has nothing to do with education reform, and everything to do with extremist ideology and the ALEC agenda. It is a betrayal of the state’s obligation to its children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I was hopeful that this wouldn’t go through but now that the money is in their hands, we have little to no hope of ever seeing it again. The precedent has now been set and for the foreseeable future, I will now be subsidizing my neighbor’s child’s religious schooling.
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The court ruled the vouchers unconstitutional. Going forward I cannot imagine that the court will back away from that decision. This is very likely the best solution given the prior promises made to some families. Next year is a different matter. Mistakes were made but moving forward I believe that lessons have been learned.
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Ms.Cartwheel, I hope you’re right, but I doubt it. You obviously think too logically to run for office in NC. They make mistakes and don’t learn from them because they don’t view them as mistakes.
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concerned mom, Sadly your last sentence says it all. Everyone has his or her own perspective which makes the greater good all the more challenging to determine yet we must continue to try. Let’s hope that here in North Carolina we can do better.
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Can I get vouchers so I can send my kids to the public school for religion on Sundays?
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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx In view of the public-ed news out of NC for the last few years, I find this decision encouraging. Frankly I wasn’t entirely aware that there was any rule of law in the state beyond the venal gov’r & legislature.
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I just read this. It should be read by all!!
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/19/creationism_is_just_the_start_how_right_wing_christians_are_warping_americas_schools_partner/?source=newsletter
This is entirely the antithesis of democracy. What can be done to correct it?????
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Such a misuse of public funds. I don’t know why more people aren’t outraged.
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So how is this going to apply to charter schools who basically have the same deal. Are they unconstitutional too? What can be done to stop the divertion of public educational fund being diverted to foreign lands like what is taking place in the largest charter school system through the Gulen inspired US Turkish schools. What about disabled students. Where is there school choice especially for the low incident children ( intellectual disabilities, moderate / sever autism , CP and many others). School vouchers and charters may need to be scrapped until FAPE, IDEA laws can be addressed to ensure a quality education to these students. Otherwise we have a populations whoes civil rights are being violated.
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