Governor’s Four-Months-Late Budget Proposal: Prohibit Low-Income Kids from Public AND Private Schools

Cooper’s four-months-late budget plan stops funding for Opportunity Scholarships

Private schools are the only choice for in-person instruction for many families

Without Opportunity Scholarships, only rich kids could get in-person instruction

Raleigh, N.C. — The Governor’s four-months-late budget proposal strips funding from the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program. Gov. Roy Cooper’s plan is apparently to prohibit low-income children from both public AND private schools.

Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who co-chairs the Senate Education Committee, said, “The Governor uses a lot of buzz words, like ‘equity,’ but his four-months-late budget proposal is anything but equitable. It strips low-income children, many of whom are Black, from the chance to choose the education that best suits their needs. Under the Governor’s ‘equity’ plan, only the wealthy can attend private school.”

Polling shows huge support for school choice and Opportunity Scholarships, especially among Black Democrats.

Despite the massive support for the program and the clear inequities it seeks to resolve, Gov. Cooper is still fighting to defund Opportunity Scholarships. Could it be more about his allies in the far-left N.C. Association of Educators than the best needs of children?