North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature approved spending $248 million to clear the waitlist for private school vouchers, allowing more than 54,000 children to get state subsidies for private school tuition this year.
House lawmakers on Wednesday voted 67-43 to authorize the spending as part of a larger funding bill. The bill now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper (D), who will likely veto it. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R) has said the legislature would override the expected veto later this year.
GOP state leaders across the country have moved in recent years to expand private school subsidies to all children, regardless of family income or previous public school attendance. They say the aid allows parents to send their children to the schools that suit them best.
Democrats have fiercely opposed the expansion of private school choice programs, arguing that such programs benefit wealthier families and siphon funds away from public schools.
In states that have embraced “universal” school choice, state leaders have been repeatedly surprised by the number of applications and the price tag. Programs in Arizona, Florida and Iowa ran millions of dollars over budget last fiscal year, while thousands of families were waitlisted in Oklahoma — a state that, like North Carolina, caps spending on its private school choice program.
Read more: School choice program costs diverge nationwide as fiscal year ends
Some 72,000 new students applied for vouchers in North Carolina this year, the first that all students are eligible, far outstripping available funding.
GOP leaders now want to make sure all applicants get awards. “Education dollars should follow students, no matter what school they attend,” Sen. Michael Lee (R), who chairs both the Senate appropriations and education committees, said in a statement Monday.
The bill the House and Senate passed this week would set aside enough money to eliminate the year’s waitlist while dramatically increasing voucher funding in future years.
It would spend an initial $248 million to clear the waitlist and $215.5 million to bolster a reserve fund used to pay for vouchers. It would then increase appropriations to the reserve fund by about 50% in Fiscal Year 2025-26, to $625 million, with additional increases every year for the next seven years.
The bill would also increase funding for a separate private school choice program for students with disabilities.
During floor debate, Democrats criticized the bill’s voucher provisions as unnecessary and harmful to public schools and rural communities.
“There are 28 counties in North Carolina that have zero or one public school that accepts taxpayer vouchers,” said Rep. Lindsey Prather (D). “We are siphoning money from our own constituents and saving it to [the state’s most populous counties] Wake and Mecklenburg.”