HYPOCRISY: N&O Columnist Who Attended Private Religious High School Pushes to Kill Opportunity Scholarships

Product of privileged private education wishes to deny lower-income children the same opportunity he had

Sen. Ballard: “The hypocrisy is stunning.”

Raleigh, N.C. — News & Observer columnist Ned Barnett attended Archbishop Carroll High School, a private religious school in Pennsylvania. With tuition and fees, attendance at the school costs nearly $10,000 per year today, though students did not pay tuition at the private school when Mr. Barnett attended.

Yet in an opinion column published yesterday, Mr. Barnett advocated killing Opportunity Scholarships, a state-funded school freedom program that provides grants to lower-income children so they, too, can attend private school if they wish.

Mr. Barnett — who is the product of a private, religious high school — ridiculed the school freedom program because it “enable[s] children to attend smaller, mostly religious schools.”

Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who co-chairs the Senate Education Committee said, “The hypocrisy on display is stunning. A man who had the privilege of attending a private religious high school is using his position, which his education helped him attain, to deny desperate parents the same privilege for their children.

Sen. Ballard continued, “All children, not just the select few like Mr. Barnett, deserve the freedom to attend a school that best fits their needs. Opportunity Scholarships level the playing field by allowing all families to access a private education.”

*Note: This press release has been updated to reflect the fact that Mr. Barnett did not pay for his private education.