Politics

State Legislature Sidesteps Dem Gov, Passes Sweeping School Choice Measure

NC Gov. Roy Cooper/Flickr

The North Carolina legislature successfully overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto Wednesday in a measure that opens up school choice vouchers to over 50,000 students.

The bill, Require ICE Cooperation & Budget Adjustments, added additional funds to the state’s school choice program for the thousands of students that have been held on a waitlist, according to The Center Square. Cooper vetoed the bill in September claiming it would have a “disastrous impact” on public schools, but the North Carolina House voted against the governor on Tuesday and the Senate finalized the veto override in a vote on Wednesday.

The governor has since taken to X to call the legislators’ decision a “massive power grab” and referred to school choice programs as a “nightmare.”

Yesterday, Gov. Cooper sent a letter to legislators urging them to invest in storm recovery instead of spending hundreds of millions on private school vouchers for the wealthy.

Read the letter here: pic.twitter.com/eunLbgjKJg

— Governor Roy Cooper (@NC_Governor) November 19, 2024

“Private school vouchers are the biggest threat to public schools in decades because they don’t improve student performance and they drain taxpayer money from badly needed investments like better teacher pay,” Cooper said in a press release announcing the veto. “North Carolina public schools continue to thrive and improve despite chronic underfunding by the legislature. We must stop the expansion of private school vouchers and prioritize investing in our public schools.”

North Carolina pays about $5,000 less per student on education than the national average, a 2023 report from the Education Law Center found. The state is ranked number 21 in education, according to the U.S. News & World Report.

The average teacher in the state makes an annual salary of $56,559, putting North Carolina at number 38 in the country for teacher pay rankings, according to the North Carolina Association of Educators.

An October study found that low-income and non-white students benefited the most from school choice programs, showing that every major city that serves a majority of low-income students had lowered the performance gap when at least a third of students enrolled in charter schools. Over 80% of both Democrats and Republicans support school choice, according to an October 2023 poll by the Yes. Every Kid. Foundation.

The voucher program designates about $463 million in scholarships to help students receive a better education.

Cooper did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.