North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared the week “North Carolina School Choice Week” in North Carolina for the first times since his election to office in 2017. National School Choice Week was established in 2011, and it is celebrated each year by those who advocate for more choices for K-12 education.
Jordan Monaghan tells Cooper that “the NC Association of Charter Schools requested the proclamation” There are reasons. “Educators at every level have faced unprecedented challenges over the last two years with grace, flexibility, and determination.”
Due to Cooper’s previous rhetorical and physical actions concerning school choice in North Carolina, mixed reactions have been received by school choice advocates. Cooper has been a strong opponent to the proclamation. ExpansionThe state has charter schools. Opposing effortsTo expand the state-funded Opportunity Scholarship program which grants vouchers up to $4,200 for low-income students to go to a limited number of private schools.
Cooper and North Carolina Democrats will be re-elected in April 2021 Contra House Bill (H.B.) 32 which would have raised funding for Opportunity Scholarship. H.B. H.B. You should instead link scholarship amounts with the state’s per pupil funding amount. The funding for Opportunity Scholarship programs would increase if the state increased funding for public school students.
“I think” [private school vouchers siphon]We have to take money from public schools. Cooper explained that there is only so much money we can invest. InterviewWith the Public School Forum of North Carolina. “I am aware that this has been an actual project of Republican leadership. The funding was eliminated and I feel better.”
Brian Jodice is the executive vice president for Parents for Educational Freedom North Carolina. He says that there were 16,516 applicants for this opportunity scholarship program in 2021-22 schoolyears. There are reasons. These “ultimately led to 6,500 new scholarship opportunities.” Jodice says that some people were not eligible to receive the scholarship based on the criteria of the scholarship.
Cooper will be available in 2021 vetoed H.B. The bill H.B. This bill would also have made Catherine Truitt (North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction), a Republican, a member of the North Carolina Charter School Advisory Board.
North Carolina’s school choice advocates are calling for more action after Cooper offers talk.
Jodice said that “the proclamation was a welcome supplement”, however, it would be contrary to the priorities he had in the past.