With NO Voucher Income Limits, the Rich Get Richer |
The 2024-25 school year is the first time North Carolina’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher program (i.e., Opportunity Scholarship voucher program) has no income limits. Even the wealthiest families—with incomes greater than $260,000/year—can now receive a $3,360 voucher (per child) to help offset tuition at a private school. Families with lower incomes can receive up to $7,460 per child. As a result, 2024 applications hit a record high, with 55% coming from families too wealthy to have qualified in previous years. And private schools with few—if any—students who previously qualified for vouchers lost no time in taking advantage of the opportunity. The biggest taxpayer-funded windfall this year goes to Metrolina Christian Academy Indian Trail in Union County. The school is receiving $3.7 million more this year than it did last year when income limits were in place. In 2024-25, taxpayers are funding $4.6 million in tuition payments at Metrolina Christian Academy. The top 5 beneficiaries of the new rules can all boast a one-year gain of at least $2.6 million more in taxpayer-funded tuition in 2024-25. The 2024-25 high school tuition for these schools ranges from $11,221 (Metrolina Christian) to $21,720 (Covenant Day): - Metrolina Christian Academy Indian Trail, Union
- North Raleigh Christian Academy, Wake
- Covenant Day School Matthews, Mecklenburg
- Gaston Christian School, Gaston
- Carmel Christian School Matthews, Mecklenburg
Statewide trends show that the voucher increases are highly concentrated in urban and suburban areas, further straining resources for rural areas that already struggle to fund their public schools. Tax dollars that could have been allocated to teacher raises or other programs that benefit public education and our communities are instead going to unaccountable private schools. Twenty-two of the state’s 100 counties did not see a change due to the income cap removal in this first year partly due to not having private schools in the county. However, the voucher expansion has accelerated the trend of rural counties subsidizing private schools in primarily wealthy, urban counties. See an interactive map of voucher funding changes here. Private schools in affluent Wake County gained the most. In 2023-24, taxpayers funded $13.9 million in private school tuition in Wake. This year, taxpayers have already spent $49.4 million, a one-year increase of $35.5 million. There is a strong likelihood that we will see even more families with children already in private schools requesting a school voucher again next year which means that the tab for taxpayers to cover private school tuition will also increase. This is creating a financial strain on the state's budget at a time when our public schools are woefully underfunded. |
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For example, Grace Christian School in Raleigh received $145,731 in 2023-24, but with the income caps removed, this year the school has received $2,555,995 state dollars. This represents a $2.4 million one-year windfall. Grace Christian’s high school tuition in 2024-25 is $13,370. The school’s strict admissions requirements include providing transcripts (with a minimum GPA), test scores, a student/family admissions interview, and letters of recommendation. Cardinal Gibbons, a Catholic school in Raleigh that in 2024-25 charges $13,550/year for Catholic parish affiliated students and $18,235/year for non-Catholic affiliated students also received a taxpayer-funded windfall. The school went from $240,204 in voucher payments last year to $2,037,423 this year, a $1.8 million one-year increase. The windfall for private schools in Wake County bumped it to the highest overall recipient of taxpayer-funded vouchers, knocking Cumberland County to second. Since the OS voucher program launched in 2014, Wake County private schools have received $100.1 million in private school tuition payments. - Wake County: $100,132,841
- Cumberland: $97,393,602
- Mecklenburg County: $76,369,404
- Guilford: $66,930,575
- Forsyth: $43,336,470
Together, private schools in these five counties have received $384,162,892 in taxpayer-funded tuition payments since the program launched. See an interactive map of total dollars sent to private schools by county here. |
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The top recipient of taxpayer-funded vouchers in 2024-25 is Grace Christian School in Lee County. It is getting $5.1 million in taxpayer-funded tuition payments this year alone. That’s a $2.0 million increase from last year. Their 2024-25 high school tuition is $17,900. Since the voucher program started, the school has received $13.2 million from North Carolina's taxpayers. Public Schools First NC has compiled data from NCSEAA on OS voucher schools by school and county to share. You can find it here. Look up your county and the schools within your county and share the information! |
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Legislative and SBE Updates |
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| The NCGA convenes on Monday, March 3. Committee meetings begin at 4:00 p.m. with the Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House. The House and Senate Education Appropriations committees meet Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. (livestream) Check the legislative calendar for meeting updates throughout the week. Read our Week in Review for a summary of legislative actions and the status of bills. This week, a few notable bills were introduced: House Bill 192 "Raise Teacher Pay & Dollar Allot. Study" would increase beginning teacher pay to $50,000. Salaries across the scale would increase up to $12,000 per year, making North Carolina salaries much more competitive with surrounding states. The bill also returns salary supplements for master's degrees, but fails to end the salary freeze for teachers in years 15-24. House Bill 139 "Restore State Emp/Teacher Retiree Med Benefits" restores retiree medical benefits to state employees and teachers who lost the benefits as a result of previous legislation cutting these benefits starting in January 2021. To date, at least 22 separate school calendar flexibility bills have been filed. The State Board of Education will hold its monthly meeting on March 5 and 6 (livestream) |
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Want to Fix the Teacher Shortage? Invest in Teachers - Not Corporations— |
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| By Dr. Amelia H. Wheeler, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction Imagine trying to run a school without teachers. You’d have classrooms, books, and lesson plans—but no one to bring them to life. Teachers are the heartbeat of our schools. But right now, that heartbeat is growing weaker as more and more educators leave the profession. Some say the teacher shortage is just a supply-and-demand issue—that everything will be fine if we recruit more teachers. But classrooms aren’t empty because there are not enough teachers. They are empty because teachers’ low wages and increasingly stressful working conditions have made staying in the classroom nearly impossible (Gracia & Weiss, 2019). This isn’t just a crisis of numbers. It’s a crisis of care—a system that demands more from teachers while giving them less and less support. While this crisis hurts students, communities, and educators, one group benefits: corporations that profit off failing schools. Who’s Making Money Off the Teacher Shortage? Instead of fixing the root issues, public funds are funneled into staffing firms and federal visa programs, supplying temporary, low-wage workers while sidestepping real solutions. READ MORE |
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| In an unsettling development, the U.S. Department of Education has set up a tip line for people to report potential crimes against its new anti-DEI policies: “The U.S. Department of Education is committed to ensuring all students have access to meaningful learning free of divisive ideologies and indoctrination. This submission form is an outlet for students, parents, teachers, and the broader community to report illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning. The Department of Education will utilize community submissions to identify potential areas for investigation.” Mark Robinson (former N.C. Lt. Governor) tried the same tactic with little success. Other similar “tip lines” such as the recent Office of Personnel Management's anti DEI effort have encountered massive pushback from spamming with fictional and farcical responses. Perhaps the USDE effort will experience a similar fate. |
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| March 2-8 is National School Social Work Week 2025 School Social Work Week 2025 celebrates the collective power and passion of school social workers who unite communities to ignite positive change in the lives of students, families, and schools. This year's theme, "Unite to Ignite: Celebrating our Impact," highlights the vital role school social workers play in fostering connections, advocating for equity, and driving social and emotional growth. It’s a time to honor the difference made by empowering others and working together to overcome challenges, ensuring all students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Remember to thank your School Social Workers this week! |
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Join Us for an Evening with Derek Black! |
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| An Evening with Derek Black: Conversation, Book Signing, & Fundraiser Please join Public Schools First NC on March 14 for an evening with acclaimed author and constitutional law scholar Derek Black, celebrating the release of his latest book, Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy His book describes the violent lengths to which Southern leaders went to repress Black literacy, and the extraordinary courage it took black people to resist. He connects the criminalization of Black literacy and freedom in the nineteenth century to today’s attacks on racial equity, racial history, and public education itself. Your $100 ticket supports Public Schools First NC’s critical work and includes a signed copy of his latest book. During these unprecedented times, Public Schools First NC will continue to advocate for NC’s public schools and keep community members informed on the latest news and legislation impacting our students and teachers. Please join us! REGISTER HERE |
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| Did you miss our webinar discussion with Superintendent Mo Green? Mo shared his personal background and talked through his vision for public schools in North Carolina. He addressed many participant questions and shared his deep knowledge about what our state can do to make our public schools the BEST in the nation. "Excellence is the ONLY option!" You can watch the webinar here. |
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Flyleaf Books Book Event - March 13 |
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| March 13. You won't want to miss meeting Derek Black and hearing him talk about his newest book, Dangerous Learning: The South's Long War on Black Literacy. Join Public Schools First at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill (752 MLK Jr. Blvd.) for a book signing and talk. Book signing begins at 5:30 and the talk begins at 6:00 |
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| Multiple Dates, 7:00-8:30 pm: Resilience and ACES. Learn about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and resilience. Join us for this award-winning, 60-minute film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope. This documentary examines how abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences affect children’s development & health outcomes in adulthood. This powerful movie is a conversation starter and a perspective changer. REGISTER HERE |
All screenings are on Thursday and include time for discussion. Invite a friend and contact us about setting up a private screening for your school staff, PTA, civic group, church, or synagogue. |
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Words to Remember"The preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks, is of more importance to the public than all the property of all the rich men in the country. It is even of more consequence to the rich themselves, and to their posterity." — John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765 |
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Help us support public schools!Public Schools First NC is a statewide nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused solely on pre-K to 12 public education issues. We collaborate with parents, teachers, business and civic leaders, and communities across North Carolina to advocate for one unified system of public education that prepares each child for productive citizenship. |
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