You’ll take our vouchers from our cold, dead hands

Okay, that title was a little over the top. Maybe there shouldn’t be open revolution in North Carolina if the Opportunity Scholarship Program is ended, but Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s recommendation, in his newly released proposed state budget, that we phase out the popular private school voucher program, should be strongly opposed by every conservative, every taxpayer, every parent with school-aged children, and anyone else who cares about education in our state.

Stein directed that the state budget should freeze all new enrollees into the OSP, so the program would “wind down” as students graduate. In addition, he said that students from middle- and upper-income households should have their scholarships removed immediately.

Now, to be clear, this is just a proposed budget. The Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers, are unlikely to even consider this. The governor could veto their budget, but they have generally been able to override his vetoes using Democratic swing voters. And in an election year when the Democrats are highlighting the fact Republicans didn’t pass a budget, would Stein really want to give up that talking point by killing the budget?

However, after this session, the governor’s plans will likely hold increased weight, as those swing-voting Democrats all lost their primaries and polls suggest Republicans will lose some seats. In that dynamic, where Democrats will see their first real power to affect law since 2011, Opportunity Scholarships could actually be threatened. But, if both parties have to compromise on future budgets, the program should be the last thing up for discussion in any budget negotiation.

The governor’s plan is a direct attack on a program that has helped tens of thousands of students across the state have access to a school of their choice, a school their families believed would be best for them. What is the downside of this program?

According to Stein, it takes money from public schools. But this is not the case. There is no direct connection in the funding level of OSP to the funding given to public schools. An increase in one does not imply a cut in the other.

In his proposed budget, a $12.5 million “contingency reserve” is earmarked with the note that “this portion of the public funds saved through the Opportunity Scholarship Moratorium supports students who previously received vouchers but will now return to North Carolina’s excellent public schools.”

Did you catch that? It says, with the vouchers taken away from these families, the students “will now return” to public school.

But what would forcing these students to attend public schools achieve?

It certainly wouldn’t help their academic success, since NAEP scores consistently show private school students average about 20 points higher in reading and math scores across grade levels.

It wouldn’t even help save the government money — in fact, quite the opposite. Think about this for a minute: If a student, whose education would cost taxpayers about $13,000 a year at a public school, instead gets an Opportunity Scholarship of around $7,000 to attend a private school, what affect would that have on overall budgets? A North Carolina student is getting a sound, basic education (likely a superior one) at about half the expense to taxpayers.

No, the only downside is not to the taxpayers, or to the families that get an education they prefer, but to the education establishment. The quasi-teachers union, NCAE, is the only constituency truly crying foul, mostly because they hate the idea of any education dollar in the state being outside the control of the public school systems. Any dollar that goes somewhere else they see as a dollar that should be going to a public school teacher raise, or to buy more iPads and Chromebooks, or to hire another administrator in a central office.

But it doesn’t have to be a zero-sum dynamic. If the state saves money on the education of tens of thousands of students by giving them Opportunity Scholarships, that actually frees up more funds for the remaining public school students, and for teacher salaries (which admittedly could be raised a bit).

Instead, the OSP money is always painted as money unjustly stolen from public schools. Stein said directly that if OSP were allowed to continue, it would take away $7.5 billion from public schools over the next decade. Again, these are different areas of the budget, even if the NCAE talking points always try to connect them.

And the NCAE, which is not legally allowed to collectively bargain or strike, is organizing a call-out for North Carolina teachers on May 1 to come to Raleigh and demand more funding and increased salaries. School districts across the state were pressured (though many didn’t need their arms twisted too hard) to change their schedules and make it a non-instruction day for teachers — making parents scramble yet again to figure out how to juggle watching their children and doing their jobs on a week day.

During this non-strike, expect to see many of these non-union members carrying signs suggesting raiding OSP funding. But the fact remains, the program is very popular among the public at large, with Carolina Journal polling finding 64% of voters in favor and only 26% opposed to Opportunity Scholarships. Making this program a target would be a major political mistake that would help nobody, and far more people would be outraged than those at the NCAE event on May 1.

“You’ll take our vouchers from our cold, dead hands” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.