President Ronald Reagan was a strong proponent of free trade and immigration. Not open borders, but a reasonable way to admit immigrants to the United States.

Trump hates to be reminded of President Reagan’s views, because they don’t agree. Trump wants to deport every immigrant who is not a U.S. citizen, and he has recklessly imposed tariffs on every other nation in the world.

Trump has disrupted the global economic order with his capricious imposition of tariffs, raising them, lowering them, on a whim. And increasing inflation for everything imported by the U.S.

The prince of Ontario in Canada posted an ad that showed President Reagan’s opposition to tariffs. Trump reacted with fury because he didn’t want the public to know that his tariffs were contrary to GOP policies, opposed specifically by Reagan, who was far more popular than Trump.

Trump insisted that the Reagan ad was phony. He raised the tariffs on Canada for daring to try to influence a pending Supreme Court decision about his power to impose tariffs without Congress.

It wasn’t a phony ad. President Reagan opposed tariffs.

Even the Wall Street Journal chastised Trump for lying about Reagan’s opposition to tariffs.

An excerpt:

The Ontario government had the temerity to buy ad time to run clips of Reagan’s 1987 remarks warning about the dangers of protectionism. Mr. Trump pitched a social-media fit in response late Thursday, claiming Ontario “fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs.”

The President said the ad was intended to interfere with the Supreme Court as it considers the legality of his claim that he can levy tariffs on anything he wants, for any amount he wants, whenever he wants. He immediately declared an end to trade talks with Canada….

Mr. Trump is wrong about the Reagan speech, and he was wrong when he said on social media that “Ronald Reagan LOVED tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy.” The Gipper was a free trader. In the 1987 speech, Reagan was trying to explain why he was making an exception to his free-trade policies on semiconductor imports from Japan…

It’s a shame to see the Reagan Foundation, of all places, indulging Mr. Trump’s pique with its statement saying the speech was taken out of context. Anyone who reads the whole speech can see the Gipper favored free trade, with rare exceptions for political pragmatism and national security. Reagan also backed, long before Nafta, a North American free-trade area….

Reagan knew that tariffs are taxes, while Mr. Trump pretends they are paid by foreigners. Reagan knew protectionist barriers over time breed complacency and lack of innovation. Mr. Trump thinks he’s making American manufacturing great again, when he is really hurting U.S. manufacturers by burdening them with higher costs. See American companies that use aluminum or steel.

After the launch of No Child left Behind in 2002, the curriculum in America’s schools changed. The tested skills–math and reading–were tested. Federal law required a rise in test scores in grades 3-8 every year. The law required that every student would be proficient in these two subjects by 2014–or the schools would face dire consequences, including closure.

There is no nation in the world where 100% of students are “proficient.” That term on our National Assessment of Educational Progress is equivalent to an A. In what world are all children scoring an A in reading and math? La-la land maybe.

The pressure to raise test scores crept into the earlier grades, to second grade, to first grade, even to kindergarten. Children of 5 were learning their letters and numbers instead of playing.

Note that John Dewey recommended that children begin to read at age 7. Note that children in Finland begin reading at age 7.

Some educators complained about the disappearance of play, but members of Congress didn’t listen. There probably is no subject in which legislators are actively engaged than education. Most know nothing about it other than to mosn that test scores are not high enough.

But after nearly a quarter century after NCLB and Race to the Top, the message has begun to get through.

In 2019, Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle wrote a book titled Let the Children Play, showing the positive benefits of play.

And now a few states have begun to recognize the value of play and to reintroduce it.

Elizabeth Heubeck of Education Week reported:

In recent years, some educators have begun to push back against the “academization” of kindergarten. These voices have gotten the attention of state policymakers; in turn, a few states have begun to push for a return to play in kindergarten, including Connecticut, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Oregon.

New Hampshire in 2018 amended its education legislation specific to kindergarten, noting that this grade level is “structured upon a play-based model.” Language for the state’s official kindergarten tool kits says: “Educators shall create a learning environment that facilitates high quality, child-directed experiences based upon early childhood best teaching practices and play-based learning that comprise movement, creative expression, exploration, socialization, and music.”

Connecticut in 2023 passed legislation requiring play-based learning in public preschool and kindergarten classrooms, and permitting it in 1st through 5th grades. Members of the Connecticut Education Association, led by CEA Vice President Joslyn Delancey, pushed for the return to play-based learning in early elementary classrooms. Delancey taught elementary school for 17 years before being elected to the association. 

“It was a commitment of mine to really understand where other educators were around play,” Delancey said. “It turns out that our members also were particularly excited about pushing play as a legislative agenda.” 

The legislation passed within a year of its introduction. Delancey credits its success to the CEA’s work to educate various stakeholders on the benefits of play-based learning, and its alignment with the state’s focus on creating and maintaining a positive school culture. 

“I think that you can’t talk about improving school climate without talking about bringing play back into our classroom,” Delancey said. 

In Massachusetts, the education department and the state association for school administrations issued a joint statement in 2021 asserting play as an instructional strategy in the early grades.

The state education department’s Early Learning Team then launched a Playful Learning Institute pilot initiative for administrators and educators in pre-K through 3rd grade. During the 2022-23 school year, the pilot involved monthly coaching in classrooms. 

Is all play created equally?

Not all play designed for today’s kindergarten classrooms looks like it did in the 1970s and ‘80s, when kids played together without much direction or input from teachers. Still, free, or unstructured, play retains an important place in the kindergarten classroom, believe some education experts. It allows children to explore, imagine, and socialize independently. But it’s generally not tied to any specific academic goals.

“I love free play, and free play has its own rights. It’s great for social development. It’s great for helping kids build their confidence,” Nesbitt said. “But it’s not going to organically, on its own, teach kids how to read.”

Instead, schools are starting to adopt play-based or playful learning, in which teachers guide students in playful activities designed to grow specific skills. For example, when students are building with blocks, the teacher could ask facilitating questions like, “What do you think will happen if you add this heavier block on top?” 

Play-based learning can boost students’ academic skills, research shows. A 2022 review of 39 studies that compared guided play to direct instruction(when a teacher delivers clearly defined, planned lessons in a prescribed manner) in children up to 8 years old found that guided play has a more significant positive impact than direct instruction on early math skills, shape knowledge, and being able to switch from one task to another.

But kindergarten isn’t just about acquiring academic skills, note education experts. Play-based learning also has the potential to help teach young learners lifelong skills.

“A lot of people are leaning heavily into the importance of play-based learning for the kinds of soft skills they can teach. I call them unconstrained skills,” Nesbitt said. “These are the skills that are not based on content-specific knowledge but rather, things like: How do we teach kids to collaborate with each other? How do we teach kids to be good communicators? How do we help them be critical and creative thinkers? How do we give them the motivation to want to be a learner?”

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

Nancy Flanagan has many gifts: She spent decades in the classroom teaching music; when she speaks, she knows what she’s talking about. And she’s a fine writer. I always learn by reading whatever she writes.

She just posted a review of my latest book, my memoirs. I intended to thank her on her website but I forgot my password. After a few tries, I realized that it was hopeless. So I thank her here for her generous words.

I urge you to open the link and read it all.

Nancy Flanagan wrote:

My introduction to Diane Ravitch: I can’t remember precisely which education conference it was, but I was in graduate school, so it was between 2005 and 2010. Ravitch had just begun writing her Bridging Differences blog with Deborah Meier at Education Week, a sort of point-counterpoint exercise. I had also just read her book The Language Police for a grad class, and—although she’d always been perceived as a right-wing critic of public education—found myself agreeing with some of her arguments.

She was on a panel at a conference session. I can’t remember the assigned topic, but after the presentation was opened up to questions, they were all directed to her. And she kept saying smart things about NCLB and testing and even unions. Finally, a gentleman got up to the microphone and said:

Who ARE you—and what have you done with Diane Ravitch? The room exploded in laughter. Ravitch included.

Ravitch has published two dozen books and countless articles. She is a historian—making her the Heather Cox Richardson of education history, someone who can remind you that when it comes to education policy, what goes around comes around. Her previous three books were, IMHO, masterpieces of analysis and logic, describing the well-funded and relentless campaign to destroy public education here in the U.S.

And now, at age 87, she’s written a kind of expanded autobiography, An Education: How I Changed my Mind about Schools and Almost Everything Else. She tells us how her vast experience with education policy, across partisan and ideological lines, has left her with a well-honed set of ideas about how to build good schools and serve students well. How, in fact, to save public education, if we have the will to do so.

You get the sense, as Diane Ravitch wraps up “An Education,” that she is indeed wrapping up– she sees this as her last opportunity to get it all out there: Her early life. How she found happiness. Mistakes and regrets, and triumphs. It’s a very satisfying read, putting her life’s work in context...

The book is a fine testament to a life spent searching for the truth about public education.

Five stars.

Thank you, Nancy!

It is a horrifying thought, but Trump seems to be setting the stage for war upon Venezuela. Trump wants regime change. As the following article in the Washington Post says, Trump is merging the “war on terror” with the “war on drugs.”

Ishan Tharoor writes in the Post:

The drums of war grow louder in the Caribbean. President Donald Trump may cast himself a peacemaker in far-flung climes, but the White House seems bent on using hard power to impose its will in the United States’ perceived neighborhood. In the path of the looming storm is Venezuela, whose autocratic regime under long-ruling President Nicolás Maduro is an explicit target of the Trump administration, which sees Maduro at the top of an illegitimate drug crime network it hopes to bring down.

American warships and thousands of troops have been deployed to the Caribbean; an old military base in Puerto Rico has whirred to life with new arrivals of U.S. warplanes, drones and bombers. Trump has authorized the CIA to carry out unspecified covert operations within Venezuela. A succession of U.S. strikes have destroyed at least seven small boats off Venezuela’s coast, killing dozens of alleged narcotraffickers. Trump and his allies say they are certain of what they’re targeting. The devastated families of Trinidadian fishermen tell another story.

The recent resignation of Adm. Alvin Holsey as head of the U.S. Southern Command, less than a year into a three-year appointment, is being read as an expression of unease with the ongoing operations. Despite the White House’s claims, the Caribbean is not a significant thoroughfare for fentanyl or the vast majority of other illicit drugs entering the United States. Nor is Venezuela a major producer of illegal narcotics like some other South American countries, including neighboring Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.

Yet there’s an expectation that the campaign is going to intensify. “Trump has made clear his intentions to go beyond blowing up boats, saying ‘we’re going to stop them by land’ in Venezuela,” my colleagues reported earlier this week. “Several people familiar with internal administration deliberations said any initial land attack would probably be a targeted operation on alleged trafficker encampments or clandestine airstrips, rather than a direct attempt to unseat Maduro.”

This is a gift article so you should be able to open it and continue reading.

One of the worst features of President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law was its assumption that schools with low test scores should be closed and replaced by state control or private management (i.e. charters).

Most of the nation now realizes that state takeovers do not improve schools, but Texas is clinging tenaciously to the tenets of NCLB. The state has an idiotic law stating that if a district has one school–just ONE SCHOOL–that persistently has low scores on state standardized tests, the state can take control of the entire district, throw out its elected leaders, and bring in new management.

Houston is currently under state control. The students and teachers have been subject to a scripted curriculum, more standardized testing, and the disappearance of democratic participation. Nothing in the Houston takeover has introduced real reform, such as reduced class sizes and wrap-around services.

Republicans used to be the party of local control. Those days are over. Now they support big government.

Professor Domingo Morel of NYU authored a book titled Takeover, in which he documented the persistent failure of state takeovers.

Pastors for Texas Children has been a dedicated supporter of public schools. It was the state’s loudest critic of vouchers. It has steadfastly defended the historic principle of separation of church and state.

It released this statement decrying the takeover of the public schools of Fort Worth.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Rev. Charles Foster Johnson, 210-379-1066

October 23, 2025

Pastors for Texas Children Opposes State Takeover of Fort Worth ISD Schools

 Fort Worth, TX — Pastors for Texas Children expresses deep concern over Governor Greg Abbott’s and Education Commissioner Mike Morath’s decision today to assume control of Fort Worth ISD public schools.

“Fort Worth citizens own and operate their neighborhood public schools—not the governor or the commissioner,” said Rev. Charles Foster Johnson, Executive Director of Pastors for Texas Children. “Today’s decision disregards the foundational principle of local control that has long guided Texas governance.”

Under this action, Fort Worth’s duly elected school trustees—who represent the city’s diverse neighborhoods—will be replaced by “managers” appointed by the state. This move undermines the voices of the very citizens who have faithfully supported and stewarded their public schools.

Having already replaced leadership in Houston ISD, Governor Abbott and Commissioner Morath have now extended that approach to Fort Worth. Communities across Texas are watching closely, concerned about the loss of local decision-making in their own districts.

For months, Fort Worth clergy, parents, and community members have expressed concern about state takeovers and their long-term effects. In Houston, the transition has brought increased standardized testing, low teacher morale, and reduced local oversight.

The state’s justification for these interventions rests on accountability measures that do not fully reflect the strength or challenges of a district. Factors such as student growth, teacher stability, and community engagement are not adequately captured by test-based metrics. Education experts, including the Texas School Coalition, have noted that such systems “do not adequately reflect the complexity of school performance and should not be used as a singular measure of effectiveness.”

“The standardized test used to rate our schools has well-known limitations in reliability and validity,” said Rev. Johnson. “It does not fully measure what matters most about student learning and growth.”

“This decision also sends a discouraging message to our teachers,” Johnson continued. “They work tirelessly—often in underfunded classrooms with limited resources—to serve our most vulnerable children. These are conditions that our state leaders have had ample opportunity to improve but have chosen not to. The constitutional promise of ‘a suitable provision for public free schools’ has steadily declined under this administration.”

Public education remains one of the great cornerstones of democracy. Local schools are the foundation of community life and self-determination. Trustees who govern them are chosen by the people they serve—not appointed from afar.

At a time when public trust and civic engagement are urgently needed, this decision risks weakening both. Pastors for Texas Children calls on Texans to continue supporting their neighborhood schools and to stand with educators and families who believe in local control, shared responsibility, and opportunity for every child.

 

About Pastors for Texas Children

Pastors for Texas Children is a statewide network of nearly 1,000 congregations working to protect and support public education. We equip faith leaders to advocate for fully funded public schools and oppose efforts to divert public dollars to private and religious institutions. Learn more at pastorsfortexaschildren.org

PO Box 471155 Fort Worth, TX, USA 76147 pastorsfortexaschildren.com

 

North Carolina was once considered the most progressive state in the South. Since the Tea Party sweep in 2010, the rightwing has gerrymandered the state so that The Legislature (the General Assembly) has a super-majority of Republicans. The General Assembly is currently redrawing Congressional districts to eliminate Democratic seats before the 2026 Congressional elections. All this in a state that elects a Democraric Governor!

Of course, the General Assembly enacted vouchers and removed income limits. The state now subsidizes the tuition of all students in private and religious schools. The biggest beneficiaries are religious schools.

The state is on track to spend $600 million this year for vouchers, most of which subsidize students in religious schools. Many of these schools use a Bible-based curriculum.

That is $600 million of public taxpayer money that should have been spent on public schools, schools that educate all children, not just those they choose.

The News-Observer reported:

Nearly 100,000 North Carolinians are now getting Opportunity Scholarships — meaning taxpayers are subsidizing tuition costs for most of the state’s private school students.

As of Oct. 6, 98,917 students were receiving Opportunity Scholarships — a 204% increase from two years ago and a 23% increase since last school year. The number of voucher students has exploded since state lawmakers opened the program last school year to all families, including wealthy families and those already attending private schools. 

The number of voucher students will continue to rise because the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority is still accepting applications for the spring semester.

“North Carolina is on track to see over 100,000 students use an Opportunity Scholarship this year,” said Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina. “PEFNC is fully engaged to ensure every scholarship is used and that schools have the capacity to serve families: expanding private school seats through our EduBuilder initiative and maintaining vital outreach so parents know their options.

“Together, these strategies sustain both access and opportunity, making school choice real for every North Carolina family.” 

It’s a milestone in the state’s education history that’s being criticized by supporters of public schools. 

“It’s unfortunate because the dollar signs are so huge and our public schools are really struggling, and it’s a direct result of lack of support and financial investment in our public schools,” said Heather Koons, a spokesperson for Public Schools First NC.

The Opportunity Scholarship program has changed since it began providing vouchers to 1,216 students in the 2014-15 school year. The program was initially promoted by Republican lawmakers as a way to help low-income families pay for private schools to escape low-performing public schools. 

Over time, the program’s demographics have shifted from majority Black to majority white as lawmakers raised the income eligibility limits. Now 75% of voucher students are white. That’s compared to 63% in the 2023-24 school year, when there were still income limits for receiving a voucher. 

Family income is still used to determine the size of the award. Voucher amounts range from $3,458 to $7,686 per student for this school year.

Most of the Opportunity Scholarship students are using the money to attend religious schools. 

“The true beneficiaries of this program are the students and families who now have the opportunity to access a Christian education that aligns with their values,” said Kevin Mathes, superintendent of North Raleigh Christian Academy.

Existing private students getting new vouchers 

Opening the program to all families also coincided with state lawmakers sharply increasing voucher funding. 

The state has awarded $279.9 million this semester, putting it on pace to give $559.8 million to private schools by the end of the school year. 

 In comparison, the state awarded $185.6 million two years ago and $432.2 million last school year. The increase in awards coincides with private schools encouraging both their existing and new students to apply for Opportunity Scholarships. Public Schools First NC found several private schools also raised their tuition as they got more voucher money. A report from the state Department of Public Instruction indicated most new voucher students last school year were existing private school students. 

Voucher students used to account for a minority of North Carolina’s private school students. In the 2023-24 school year, there were 32,549 Opportunity Scholarship students out of 131,230 private school students statewide.

Last school year, there were 80,472 voucher students out of 135,738 private school students. This school year’s statewide private school enrollment figures won’t be released until next summer. 

“I really think we’re just creeping up and up and up so that all the students and all the private schools that accept vouchers are going to be subsidized,” said Koons of Public Schools First NC.

Are private schools discriminating against voucher students? 

Public Schools First has accused state lawmakers of using taxpayer dollars to discriminate against students and families because private schools can limit who they enroll. In contrast, public schools are supposed to accept all students. 

Public Schools First singled out North Raleigh Christian Academy, which has received the most money from the Opportunity Scholarship program so far this school year at $3.1 million. 

North Raleigh Christian’s admissions requirements include that at least one parent must be a Christian and students must score at grade level. In addition, the student handbook says “students with IQs of 90 or less are not enrolled because of the difficulty they will have in achieving academic success.” 

Koons contrasted the amount North Raleigh Christian is now getting for voucher students compared to the $541,217 it received two years ago when the state still had income eligibility limits. The school is on pace to far exceed the $4.3 million in voucher money it received last school year. 

“Wealthy families are now getting a state-subsidized tuition payment to go to a school that excludes students who may be challenging to teach,” Koons said. 

Mathes, North Raleigh Christian’s superintendent, defended the school.

“Our admissions process considers each applicant holistically, with thoughtful attention to how NRCA can responsibly serve students within the scope of our mission and available resources as we partner with families in their children’s education,” Mathes said. 

 “While private schools like NRCA do not have access to the same range of specialized resources as public systems, we work diligently to serve students well within our capacity and to recommend alternative settings when another environment might better meet a child’s needs.”