This is truly encouraging for the school choice movement in North Carolina.
And this win will help approximately 55,000 students attend the school of their choice.
However, the fight isn’t over yet. Governor Roy Cooper vetoed this bill last week. It is now back in the legislature’s court, where they will need to override the governor’s veto if they want to turn this vital school choice bill into law.
The John Locke Foundation wants to make a special thank you to the countless supporters of school choice; parents, grandparents, legislators, and concerned citizens who made this possible.
For first-time readers, or if you need a refresher, the Opportunity Scholarship Program offers vouchers to families for their child to attend a private school of their choice.
This helps families choose the best possible education for their child.
Additionally, vouchers can be used for other appropriate educational expenses, such as speech therapy, tutoring services and educational technology.
Any family, regardless of income, is eligible to apply on behalf of their child.
Consequently, the program has proved to be tremendously popular, as there were nearly 72,000 applicants for the program by March 1, 2024!
Unfortunately, Governor Roy Cooper opposes this pro-child, pro-family, pro-freedom policy, vetoing the funding for these families. This would jeopardize the education of thousands of North Carolina students.
Governor Cooper would rather bow down to the special interest of teacher unions, than do right by North Carolina families.
Lawmakers are set to reconvene in early October. Perhaps they will override the governor’s veto at that time, although nothing is certain yet.
In the meantime, you can read more about the importance of the Opportunity Scholarship Program here, here and here.
Our friends at the North Carolina FreeEnterprise Foundation (NCFREE) recently released a report which analyzes the degree to which NC legislators favor free market policies
The higher the score, the more favorable to free enterprise
The Legislative Business Ratings (LBR) uses 3 variables:
Voting history
Business leaders’ perception of legislators
Net number of free enterprise bills sponsored by a legislator
Republicans in both chambers scored extremely high
Senate Republicans scored 97.6%
House Republicans scored 97.3%
Democrats’ scores declined significantly since 2021, as they have swung more in favor of government intervention
Senate Democrats had the lowest score in the data with 28.4%
And House Democrats declined from 50% in 2021 to ~ 31% in 2024
What explains the shift?
Over the past few years, there has been a philosophical shift within the Democratic party towards socialism-lite and a government-controlled economy
For example, in 2022, Governor Cooper issued an executive order imposing electric vehicle sales, to forcibly transform NC’s auto industry
Regardless of party affiliation, it is vital we reject policymakers’ attempts to distort and control the economy from the state capital
To improve the quality of life for all North Carolinians, we need greeted economic freedom not less
The man who allegedly attempted to assassinate former president Donald Trump, Ryan Wesley Routh, voted in the Democratic primary on March 5. Was he legally entitled to?
Routh had an extensive criminal history
According to the Guilford County Sheriff's Office, he had been arrested 74 times and multiple felony convictions
Including a conviction for possessing a weapon of mass destruction and possession of stolen goods
However, under NC law, his voting rights would have been restored upon completion of a felony sentence
And he would have completed his sentences by 2016
So his criminal history would not have prevented him from legally voting
But was he a current resident of North Carolina at the time?
His voting pattern is spotty as he moved to Hawaii for a time
But, election officials never knew he moved out of the state, and did not remove him from the voter lists, as required
So Routh should not have been allowed to vote without reestablishing residency and re-registering
Therefore, his vote in the March 5 primary was likely illegal
There is nothing Guilford County election officials could have done to stop him, since they didn’t know he moved out of the state
This illustrates the need to reform the Election Registration Information Center (ERIC), to improve interstate data-sharing on voter registrations
Routh’s likely illegal vote in NC’s primary exposed a problem with our voter registration system that we are not prepared to fix
