Morehead City, N.C.
May 7, 2023
TO THE EDITOR:
David Larson’s opinion piece on Vouchers, disingenuously called opportunity scholarships, was a masterpiece of misdirection. That’s why the “non-profit” behind his Carolina Journal, the John Locke Foundation, is sitting on over $400M of money from primarily anonymous sources.
Misdirection is their job.
Mr. Larson managed to fill a good third of a page of this newspaper with elaborate refutations of the least important arguments made by devoted critics of vouchers and for-profit, private schools.
But he neglected to mention:
1) that vouchers suck funding out of already underfunded public schools, rendering them hard-pressed to function at all,
2) that many of the for-profit, private schools are not as good as the public schools, using underqualified teachers, and
3) that a bill has been presented to the General Assembly in NC SB406 that, if passed, would eliminate all income eligibility requirements for the vouchers, guaranteeing up to a 45% “scholarship” to all students--all who can pay the other 55% of the tuition, that is.
To say this differently, the poor will be left in public schools while a heap of their funding lands in private pockets.
Mr. Larson left all of that out. It’s his job, after all.
Please remember that NC is not an isolated case. Many state public school systems have been and continue to be attacked in this way. In Missouri over a quarter of school districts are running only four days a week for lack of funds that were given to for-profit schools. Imagine for a moment what that is like.
If you want that, keep voting for the privateers behind these bills, Berg, Moore, Goodnight and Co. Please read the Forbes October 2022 article “Who Is Behind North Carolina’s Plan To Upend Teacher Pay?” and write to your representatives to stop the madness.
SUSAN SCHURER
Editor’s note: The vouchers funding for scholarships does not come from the education budget, but from the general fund.
(11) comments
This nightmare has been created by the reigning heads of this over liberalized joke called NC Public schools . They did this by themselves , to themselves , over time and now is coming to a head . While not alone , because most other states are neck deep in the same rancid stew , it will have to play out .
Things always do .
Ms. Schurer's letter does not state that voucher funding comes from the states "education budget" as the good editors' note implies. Let's make every attempt to clarify when needed and not muddy.
The schools did not create this nightmare, the far right using fear mongering continues to push for " separate but equal" school tracks the haves will have more and the have nots will have less. I have a maga friend who was insisting the other day that "kids are running away and getting transgender surgery, Thousands of kids mutilated and ruint." When I asked where he got this info he said " the internet" This is why a good quality public school education is important. Parental involvement is important, no vital in children's education. The world is not lily white, nuclear families, Christian, and hetrosexual, America is not, Carteret county is not. Stop taking public money to fund schools that will pretend it is.
And where does the educational budget originate ? Some think from the educational fairy in the sky where the money tree grows .
I thought the North Carolina Education Lottery was supposed to close all of the funding holes..."for the children"...yeah right.
Reported today by wral:
A proposed more-than-doubling of North Carolina’s private school voucher program would reduce public school funding by more than $200 million, according to an analysis from the state’s Office of State Budget and Management.
So ?
The education lottery was and is just a shell game when it comes to funding . Believe it was the folks at wral , or a clone , who exposed that one a few years back .
The lottery could provide a lot more funding, if millions did not go into advertising..
.the lottery, add some bloated appointed patronage jobs..
I’m a fan of public schools—also a fan of pro-choice, including school choice.
The Office of State Budget and Management analysis is an “estimate” and says it would “likely” lead to a decrease in funding for public schools.
Also pointed out for private vs. public is that needs aren’t proportional with fewer public school students. Meaning public schools may not need as much money as in previous years.
The bottom line remains that it matters not from where the funds come. The voucher will only cover a portion of private school tuition, which makes this another perk for the wealthy, since the poor cannot cover the balance. This is a lose/lose for children whose parents aren’t rich.
Caring for children is expensive and not likely to get any cheaper . Sacrifices come with parenthood . Intelligent strategic planning comes with the job as well . A new idea would be to only have as many as you can afford and that number could start at 0 “zero” .
The rich get richer and the poor have babies . Your choice but when you make your choice a follow through is required . Babies making babies has never been a good idea but as a past time, more popular than ever .
Welcome to the discussion.
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