Cooper vetoes mini budget, centers rural educators’ concerns on private school voucher expansion
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday vetoed House Bill 10, the “mini budget” bill Republican legislators passed last week to clear waitlists for the private school voucher program, among other items.
“We know that private school vouchers are the biggest threat to public schools in decades,” Cooper said at a press conference Friday with educators and elected officials from rural communities.
“I am an educator first, and a Republican second,” said Wendi Craven, member of the Burke County Board of Education and principal in Hickory City Schools, at the press conference. “Education is the cornerstone of our nation, and once it fails, this country fails. Instead of continuing to divide and conquer, which shows a complete lack of leadership, support public education, love all children and youth, and remember to separate church and state.”
The mini budget includes an additional $463 million this fiscal year to clear the waitlist for the program, known as the Opportunity Scholarship program.
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This further expansion comes after Republican legislators expanded the program in 2023, removing income eligibility requirements and exponentially increasing funding over the next decade. After awards were distributed this year, nearly 55,000 students were left on a waitlist.
“The mini budget strengthens our commitment to school choice for all NC families as well as public education, with historic investments in enrollment growth for both K-12 public schools and our community colleges,” House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, previously said.
The educators and local officials at the press conference pointed to a recent analysis from the Office of State Budget and Management on the impact of the voucher expansion on public school districts by county. It found the expanded funding could decrease public school funding statewide by nearly $100 million in the first full year.
“Threats to public schools threaten not just the public schools, but they threaten the very fabric of rural life in North Carolina,” said Mike Hawkins, a small business owner and former county commissioner in Transylvania County who was elected and re-elected as a Republican.
Hawkins said the expansion would harm public schools financially since, although schools would have fewer children to educate, their expenses would not decrease.
“You’re going to run the same number of school buses,” Hawkins said. “You’re going to have the same number of teachers. You’re going to have the same number of classrooms. Your utility bills are going to be the same, your extracurriculars are going to be the same. There are not going to be a lot of variable costs involved.”
Hawkins pointed to other states like Texas, where rural Republican legislators have blocked voucher expansion efforts. He said public schools are the largest employer in many rural counties and that local governments in rural communities will not be able to make up the gap in public school district funding down the road.
Beyond financial concerns, Hawkins said public schools are one of two “cornerstones” of community, the other being churches.
“What public schools provide is this commonality that we lack in our society today,” Hawkins said. “It’s not just football games. It’s pageants, it’s blood drives, it’s band concerts, it’s all the things that make a community a community.”
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Washington County Board of Education Chair Carlos Riddick said his county does not have private schools as other options for students.
“That loss of funding would mean fewer resources for our students, teachers, classrooms — resources that are already stretched thin,” Riddick said.
“As an educator and parent, I want my child and every child to have the education they deserve and that requires funding,” said Elyse Cannon-McRae, a social studies teacher in Pitt County Schools. “Legislators, I am holding you accountable. You have to do right and support public education.”
The bill also included funding for enrollment boosts in K-12 schools and community colleges, as well as funding to expand access to high-speed internet in rural communities and language that requires “sheriffs to cooperate with ICE.” When asked at the press conference about his support or opposition of other items in the bill, Cooper said he opposed a provision requiring local sheriffs to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cooper then added: “There’s some positive things in this legislation but it is greatly outweighed by the damage it’s going to do to our public schools.”
Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, meaning they have the numbers to override a veto. Cooper said he has heard from Republican legislators from rural districts who have expressed concern over the voucher program’s impact on their schools.
“I hope that there will be enough of them to go to the leadership and say, ‘Let’s take a pause,'” Cooper said. “Because there is a one-vote Republican supermajority in both chambers, but I think this is a bipartisan concern. This is more about rural North Carolina. Most of these private schools that get this voucher money are in our urban areas, and that’s where the money will go, taking taxpayer money out of the rural counties and into the urban counties.”
The state legislature reconvenes on Wednesday, Oct. 9.