school privatization
Latest NC GOP gerrymandering is emblematic of a broader decline in American politics
One of the most troubling developments in American policy and politics in recent decades involves the normalization of actions and ideas once widely viewed as outrageous and/or counter to the nation’s core democratic values. Donald Trump is, of course, the poster child for this phenomenon. When a candidate ascends to the presidency after having uttered […]
Democrats make a final, unsuccessful push against school voucher expansion
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday vigorously pushed back against a Republican-led effort to expand the state’s school voucher program that will make it accessible to North Carolina’s wealthiest families. It was the last chance Democrats had to change minds about the voucher expansion just ahead of successful House and Senate votes approving a $30 billion state […]
NC school vouchers: a decade of failure … and now this?
The list of shortcomings and failures associated with North Carolina’s decade-long experiment with private school vouchers (aka “Opportunity Scholarships”) is a long and sobering one. Though originally pitched and sold as a tool that would lift student performance and achievement by providing low-income families with a greater degree of “school choice,” there’s no evidence that […]
State lawmaker: NC must resist the ongoing radical overhaul of its public schools
In the past, North Carolina has been a leader in the South and the nation on education because we knew that investing in education is the best way to ensure a strong economy supporting working families. Unfortunately, our public schools are under assault, and the current Republican majority at the General Assembly is considering extreme […]
In Raleigh, GOP supermajorities advance big and controversial changes in public education
Two of the more controversial K-12 education bills to make it through the state House and Senate before the General Assembly’s May 4 crossover deadline have relatively innocuous names. “Choose Your School, Choose Your Future” (Senate Bill 406) and the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” (House Bill 574) both appear to promote concepts that, at […]
Rep. Tricia Cotham touts school voucher expansion on national stage
In a recent op-ed for the conservative National Review that is both celebratory and defiant, Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Republican from Mecklenburg County, made a case for opening up the state’s school voucher program to the state’s wealthiest families. The North Carolina General Assembly is currently weighing bills that would allow any parent, regardless of […]
Proponents of massive school privatization scheme owe us answers
If legislative leadership has their way, our public schools will be radically transformed by the 2023 legislative session. Bills targeting Black students and trans students threaten to make our schools increasingly hostile for many children. They are seeking to radically overhaul school funding in ways that harm rural students, students with disabilities, Black students, and […]
A massive expansion of school vouchers is on tap after Cotham’s switch
A Charlotte-area state legislator’s recent decision to switch parties just months after being elected as a Democrat all but assures a massive expansion of North Carolina taxpayer dollars flowing into school vouchers. In addition to increasing funding for vouchers by hundreds of millions of dollars per year, the recently filed bill eliminates income eligibility requirements so that […]
Charter School Advisory Board is concerned that a Pitt County school is not prepared to open
A Pitt County charter school scheduled to open in July is without a school leader and hasn’t hired any teachers, the Charter School Advisory Board learned Tuesday. The charter board also discovered that Greenville Preparatory Academy has 244 applicants, which is 61% of the first-year enrollment of 400 students. Greenville Prep needs 360 students to […]
Amid skyrocketing growth in home schools, NC legislators realize how very little is known about how students fare
The first year North Carolina parents could establish a home school for their children, the state recorded 381 such schools with slightly more than 800 students for the 1985-86 school year. Fast forward to this school year and the state has 112,614 schools on record, educating an estimated 179,990 children. “As home schools increased in […]
State Superintendent’s new parent advisory group will have an odd and worrisome makeup
As Policy Watch education reporter Greg Childress reported on Wednesday, state schools Superintendent Catherine Truitt is establishing a new “Parent Advisory Commission” — the members of which she says, will be charged with sharing “their aspirations for public education in the state” and discussing “challenges it faces, helping to put together recommendations for elected officials […]
With latest voucher bills, NC House and Senate compete to undermine public education
Both House and Senate leaders have now introduced bills (H32 in the House, S671 in the Senate) overhauling North Carolina’s three voucher programs in an apparent effort to see who can do more to dismantle public schools. Both bills are long, complex, and would further subsidize students in unregulated private schools at the expense of […]