3/23/2023
New from EdNC
More off-base child care options available for military families in North Carolina
Military families in North Carolina will have more child care options, thanks to the expansion of a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) program. North Carolina, with the fourth-largest military presence in the country, is one of eight states and localities...
Perspective | School boards in North Carolina got whiter, more male, and less politically balanced in 2022
School boards hold profound power and responsibility over the direction of the schools within their districts. How school boards govern is determined by who serves on the school board; representation matters. At the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), we...
Perspective | Gen Z’s priorities are changing — are gap years the new path?
It’s hard to know what to do after high school. We’re often pushed to make huge life decisions at the young age of 17 or 18. We’re told to go to college or get a job, and to start “adulting.”...
The Editor’s Notes
Gov. Cooper will visit Winter Park Elementary School today.
A bill filed Tuesday would expand the Personal Education Savings Accounts program (PESA) in North Carolina to include all students and would eventually consolidate PESA with the opportunity scholarship program.
Both of these programs essentially give public money to students to use at nonpublic schools.
In 2024-25, the Personal Education Savings Accounts (PESA) would expand from being a program for students with disabilities to being open for everyone.
Home school students could get up to 28% of the state’s per pupil allocation for average daily membership in the previous year. Any other student attending a nonpublic school could get up to 33%.
Currently, that program is funded at a level of $48,943,166. Under this bill, funding for PESA would go up to $326,239,959 in 2024-25 and would increase each year until 2032-33, when it would reach a funding level of $1,541,178,159.
In 2025-26, the percentage students attending nonpublic schools could receive goes up to 66% for a full-time student.
And then, in 2026-27, the opportunity scholarship program and PESA would merge. At that point, nonpublic school students would be able to receive 100% of the state per pupil allocation for average daily membership in the prior year. Home school students would continue to receive 28%.
The bill would also eliminate the opportunity scholarship grant fund reserve by 2026, and the money for that previously allocated as part of the base budget each year will go back into the General Fund.
Need to know
Featured Read
LISTEN | Raise the Bar to Elevate & Diversify the Teaching Profession
Javaid Siddiqi with Secretary Cardona! Read the rest
-
NC House GOP passes anti-CRT bill. Democrats warn of ‘chilling effect’ on teachers.
-
New FAFSA will debut in December, Education Department says
-
How One High School Became a Model for Intergenerational Learning
Sign up for the EdDaily to start each weekday with the top education news.