Public Schools First NC in North Carolina keeps watch on the state’s General Assembly. Since the legislature was captured by the Tea Party, it has ignored public schools and shifted state funds to charters. And after passing a voucher bill, hundreds of millions of public money have gone to vouchers. There is no state oversight or accountability over voucher schools. N.C. Has universal vouchers, no income limits. The state is subsidizing wealthy families while abandoning public schools.

In the most recent session, the legislature redistricted to produce another Republican seat. The state is almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. The Congressional delegation consist of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Soon it is likely to be 11 Republicans and 3 Democrats. A Democrat has won the Governor’s race in the past three elections. But NC is so outrageously gerrymandered that Republicans hold a veto-proof majority in both houses of the legislature.

Public Schools First NC released this summary:

NCGA Adjourns With No Budget, Educators Left with Stagnant Salaries & Higher Costs

Once again, the state budget took a back seat when the NC General Assembly was in town this week as legislative leaders prioritized moving quickly to pass a new U.S. Congressional District map (See last week’s newsletter.). 

Debate in the House and Senate reflected the high stakes attached to redrawing Districts 1 and 3 to more heavily favor Republicans in District 1, currently represented by Don Davis, a Democrat. Floor speeches in the Senate and House highlighted the dangers of redrawing a map (upon request by the president) that would disenfranchise voters in a state with virtually identical numbers of Democrats and Republicans.

Bill sponsors asserted the importance of delivering another Republican U.S. House member to the president so he can fulfill his agenda. Critics of the new map pointed out that state lawmakers’ sole duty is to serve North Carolinians and that drawing a map simply to serve the will of the president was an abdication of their oath to the state constitution. 

Floor speeches as well as in-person public comments urged lawmakers to abandon the new map and focus on passing a budget that addresses the many needs of the state. More than 12,000 public comments, overwhelmingly against new maps, had been sent by Wednesday via the online comment portal. 

Both the House and Senate leaders ended floor debate through a procedure that allows a member to call a vote on a bill to end debate. In both chambers, the vote to end debate passed along party lines, and by Wednesday afternoon the bill had passed through both chambers. 

Redistricting bills are not subject to a governor’s veto, so SB 249 “Realign Congressional Districts” is now law. Legal challenges have already been announced….

Funds to schools are disbursed each semester, so simply doubling the October totals and on X assuming some increases in November, North Carolina is projected to spend more than $600 million on taxpayer-funded private school tuition vouchers this school year alone while our public schools and our health care system suffer.

Even without State Budget, Voucher Spending Continues 

October data from the NCSEAA reveals that North Carolina has spent $296,056,119 MILLION dollarson the state voucher program so far this year ($279,889,102 on Opportunity Scholarship tuition vouchers for 98,917 students and $16,167,017 for 5,473 ESA+ students). Because voucher appropriations from the state have exceeded demand, the application period has been extended and first-semester expenditures are likely to increase.

Although hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars has been flowing to private schools over the past few years, very little is known about many of them due to the lack of state oversight of how voucher funds are spent. 

For example, private schools are not required to publicly share tuition cost, curriculum content, staff credentials, or financial information. Some schools don’t even have a website or Facebook where the public can find out their basic philosophy or school address.

In contrast, public schools are required to share details about every aspect of their work and finances to the public. And new legislation even requires public school teachers to publicly list all of the titles of books/media in their classroom libraries.

Perhaps legislators who are concerned about what’s happening in public school classrooms will also attend to what is happening in private school classrooms where hundreds of millions in state funds are flowing each year.

Leandro Still Missing!

The latest release of North Carolina Supreme Court rulings came and went on October 17 with no ruling on Leandro.

Oral arguments in the most recent iteration of the case were held more than 600 days ago, on February 22, 2024. Legislative leaders had sued to block the 2022 North Carolina Supreme Court ruling that required lawmakers to fund public schools according to the Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan. 

The funding at stake in the decades-old lawsuit against the state for equitable education funding is critical for addressing budget gaps between high-wealth (mostly urban) districts and low-wealth (mostly rural) districts. It is essential for providing fair, equitable education that all students deserve and are guaranteed by our state constitution. (Learn more about Leandro.)

The Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan (published in 2021) called for $5.5 billion in funding over 8 years.

Instead of meeting their constitutional requirement to fund public schools, lawmakers have already appropriated nearly $5.3 billion for vouchers through 2029-30.

Making NC’s Schools the Best in the Nation – Pillar 8

Pillar 8 of Achieving Educational Excellence: 2025-30 Strategic Plan for North Carolina Public Schools is Galvanize Champions to Fully Invest in and Support Public Education. 

North Carolina’s journey toward educational excellence requires more than vision and strategy — it demands the engagement, advocacy and investment of champions across our state who recognize public education as the cornerstone of our shared prosperity and collective future. This pillar builds upon efforts to transform the narrative around public schools by converting positive perception into concrete action by aligning partners behind a unified commitment to educational excellence. We envision a powerful network of non-education partners who bring fresh perspectives, resources and influence to advocacy efforts. 

Pillar 8 includes two measures of success. 

  • Increase state and local investments in public schools so that per pupil funding increases by 10% (over 2023 levels) by 2030. 
  • Increase the percentage of school-aged children enrolled in public schools to 89% by 2030. 

To achieve these goals, the plan identities actions grouped into three focus areas. Each focus area includes multiple actions and target completion dates. One example action is shown for each focus area:

  • Build community voices: Encourage and support aligned initiatives and outreach via social media, media and events. (September 2026)
  • Promote engagement initiatives: Develop and launch a statewide reading campaign where students will collectively read 10 million books annually, in collaboration with state and local partners. (January 2026) 
  • Move champions to action: Engage local and state policymakers to attend events, visit schools and participate in public education initiatives. (August 2026)

Superintendent Green is traveling around the state to share the plan and engage stakeholders. Find locations and times at the NCDPI website (scroll down the page to Regional Tour). Upcoming events are shown below: 

  • Oct. 27, 6 p.m. – Sandhills Region – Lumberton High School (Lumberton, Public Schools of Robeson County)
  • Oct. 29, 6 p.m. – North Central Region – Chapel Hill High School (Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools)

In Case You Missed It

‘It’s really unfair’: Triad parents blindsided by High Point charter school’s immediate closure

NC approaches 100,000 private school voucher students. What it means for the state.

Forsyth schools get another $500,000 gift from Winston-Salem Foundation

Hundreds of Union County teachers call out sick amid delayed pay increases

Nearly all state funding for Missouri school vouchers used for religious schools