Sen. Ballard Responds to Senate Democrats’ Attack on Opportunity Scholarship Families

Senate Democrats say Opportunity Scholarship funds can be cut, reallocated to “better, smarter uses”

Ballard: There’s no “better, smarter use” than providing children with the choice of the education that best suits their needs

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina Senate Democrats launched a full-out attack on Opportunity Scholarship parents this afternoon, arguing there’s a “better, smarter use” for the grants parents use to send their kids to the best school for them.

In response, Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who co-chairs the Senate Education Committee, said, “There is nothing better or smarter than providing families with a choice in education so that they, too, can access the schools previously reserved for the wealthy and elite. How condescending it is to tell low- and middle-income parents, many of them at their wits’ end juggling work and virtual schooling, that their child’s chosen education path has been reallocated to ‘better, smarter’ uses. Parents, including Black soon-to-be-former Democrats, overwhelmingly support Opportunity Scholarships.”

For the 2020–21 school year, at least 11,259 children are set to receive Opportunity Scholarship funding. The program serves more Black students than traditional public schools do.

The number of low- and middle-income children receiving Opportunity Scholarships has increased 926% since 2014. Many private schools are open for in-person instruction while public schools are closed for the majority of North Carolina students.