Flip-Flopping Senators Give Gov Political Victory as Costs to Children Mount

In face of NCAE fury, Governor and Dem legislators refuse to help struggling students, desperate parents

It’s unclear what changed in the 12-day period in which Dem senators voted in favor of the bill and then voted to kill the bill

Sen. Ballard: “It’s time to fund students instead of systems”

Raleigh, N.C. — One Democratic senator, Sen. Paul Lowe, flip-flopped and one, Sen. Ben Clark, declined to come to session to vote on the veto override of Senate Bill 37, the school reopening bill. They first voted to pass it then, 12 days later, sustained Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and killed it. It’s unclear what changed in that time period.

Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who co-chairs the Senate Education Committee and sponsored Senate Bill 37, said, “Hundreds of thousands of struggling students and desperate parents are paying the price for Gov. Cooper’s political victory. The far-left NCAE controls education policy at the Governor’s mansion and in the Democratic caucus, and some students will never recover from the destruction they’ve caused.”

Sen. Ballard continued, “It’s time to fund students instead of systems. I’d like to thank Gov. Cooper for doing more than we could have imagined to advance the cause of school choice. We expect to file legislation to increase funding available to low- and middle-income families to allow them to choose the school that best fits their needs. For too many families, the public education bureaucracy is failing them.”

Hours before the flip-flopping senators abandoned students and parents, data was released showing a majority of high school students “did not pass end-of-course exams” and 75% of third-graders are not proficient in reading.

In addition to the academic carnage, children face a growing mental health crisis.

As far back as last summer, Harvard researchers warned that withholding in-person instruction from students was a “disaster that some children may never recover from.”

Gov. Cooper has boasted recently of increasing teacher vaccinations after prioritizing them ahead of cancer patients. Yet even now his veto means a continued prohibition on allowing school districts to move to Plan A if they wish.

Gov. Cooper has long prioritized his relationship with the far-left NCAE above students, parents, and regular teachers.

For example, last session, the Governor vetoed a stand-alone bill providing teachers with a pay raise of 3.9%. Every Senate Democrat voted to sustain the veto, ensuring teachers received no raise.