Bills To Watch

We've written about the numerous legislative proposals being considered in the North Carolina General Assembly and how they could devastate public education. We thought it might be helpful to create a few lists of those bills, what they could mean for public education in our state and where each is in the process of becoming law.


H944: Its supporters call it the Opportunity Scholarship Act but a voucher system by any other name is still taxpayer money funding private schools. H944 would set aside $90 million for vouchers in its first year and provide eligible students up to $4,200 per year or 90 percent of tuition, whichever is less, to attend a private school. Families with a household income of $53,000 or less would qualify for the voucher in the first year of implementation and up to $71,000 the following year. $90 million set aside for program.

Why it's bad for public education: Simply put, public money shouldn't pay for private schools. Our public school systems are the only way for taxpayers to have true input into how their taxes are spent on education.

ACTION on this bill: The bill is sitting in the House of Representatives' Committee on Education but lobbyists are hard at work promoting vouchers around the state.

H935: Politicians make a lot of hay about funding programs that work and not funding the ones that don't. The folks behind H935 seem to have gotten that axiom backwards. Their bill would drastically reduce the qualification threshold for the state's prekindergarten program from families that earn at or below $53,000 a year to those that earn at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line, about $19,500 for a family of three. The change would mean at least one-third fewer children eligible for the state's Pre-K program. H935 is also at odds with Gov. Pat McCrory's budget proposal, which calls for expansion of the program.

Why it's bad for public education: The National Institute for Early Education recently praised North Carolina's Pre-K program as one of the best early childhood education programs in the nation. Research has also shown that for every dollar spent on early childhood education there is a 10 percent return, according to Public Schools First NC.

ACTION on this bill: The House passed H935 and it is now being considered by the Senate Health Care Committee.

H443 / S337: There's an old saying that goes, “If you let a camel put its nose under your tent you'll soon have a camel in your tent.” The camel in this case is charter schools and these nearly identical bills would make sure the camel gets the best seat in the tent.

When the General Assembly adopted a plan for charter schools in 1996, the idea was to limit the privately developed schools receiving public funding to one per county. That idea has shifted over the years and there are now 131 charter schools operating in the state and six in Guilford County.

The amount of local and state control over charter schools is much more limited than the control they have over public schools. That is, however, still too much control for some and so H443 and S337 are designed to create a completely separate state Board of Education for charter schools. The bills would also free charter schools from some of the most basic standards that public schools must meet including employing qualified staff.

Why it's bad for public education: These bills setup a shadow system of schools that will drain even more tax dollars from our public schools. The bills strip the public of what little oversight it has of charter schools. CEOs of privately held charter school companies could even (and would likely) sit on the state charter school board responsible for approving new charter schools. Talking about the fox guarding the hen house.

ACTION on this bill: H443 is sitting in the House Education Committee and is likely dead because the Senate passed S337 this week and so did the House on first reading. S337 is now in the hands of the House Education Committee where most feel it won't stay for long.