Board: Private school vouchers hurt public schools

The chairman of the Wilson County Board of Education called the continued erosion of public school funding to pay for financial subsidies for parents who send their children to private schools “a total disrespect for the job that public education does for all children.”

Christine Fitch, chairman of the Wilson County Board of Education, made the statement after the board voted unanimously at its regular meeting Monday to support a resolution from Gov. Roy Cooper prioritizing public schools and opposing unaccountable, taxpayer-funded private school vouchers.

The resolution states that “84% of North Carolina’s school-aged children and approximately 82.8% of school-aged children in Wilson County attend public schools, reflecting high levels of parental satisfaction and confidence in the quality of education provided.”

The resolution further states that “despite these accomplishments, North Carolina faces challenges such as inadequate funding for public education, ranking near the bottom nationally in K-12 funding, and lagging behind our neighboring states in teacher compensation … and diverting taxpayer funds towards unaccountable, taxpayer-funded private school vouchers undermines the integrity and effectiveness of North Carolina’s public education system.”

The resolution states that the “diversion” of public funds away from public schools to support private schools through “taxpayer-funded vouchers” poses “a significant threat to public schools.”

“It is very important that this (resolution) be supported because we are eroding the funding to public schools. We have the charge to provide a sound public education to all of the children according to all of the Leandro court decision and as the legislature continues to deplete us of our funds, it becomes more and more difficult,” Fitch said. “We have to meet all of the varied and extenuating needs of each of our students and to continue to see money banked and put for Opportunity Scholarships and vouchers, whatever you want to call them, it is a total disrespect for the job that public education does for all children. We cannot pick and choose who comes to us. We must serve all of the children. The lack of funding makes that incredibly difficult for us to be able to do on a consistent basis.”

According to the resolution, “in the first year of taxpayer funded private school voucher expansion, our state’s public schools could lose more than $200 million in state funding, and Wilson County could lose $2,499,085 or 3% in state funding, with hundreds of millions lost in coming years.”

The resolution calls on the legislature to forego support of private school vouchers and instead allocate funding for “expanding access to pre-kindergarten and quality child care, increasing teacher salaries, providing necessary school supplies, enhancing educational facilities, and ensuring equitable opportunities for students with disabilities.”

The resolution calls for a moratorium on taxpayer-funded private school vouchers until the state’s public schools are fully funded.

“Our funding is based on the number of students enrolled in our school system,” said school board member Debora Powell.

Powell said funding for Opportunity Scholarships and public school vouchers “takes away from funding for our students, for our teacher salaries, teaching training, materials transportation, meals.”

“We need our funding because we serve a large population of students which includes our special needs population,” Powell said. “We try to bring in training for our teachers. That causes us to look for funding in other areas. Each year we lose money to their vouchers, education savings accounts that parents can withdraw from. There is also tax credit scholarship that taxpayers can receive tax credits for,

so it is almost like they are trying to dismantle out public education system.”

IN OTHER BUSINESS

• The board was informed of contracts less than $90,000, including a $37,098 contract with Singer T&L for a walk-in freezer at Vick Elementary School; a contract not to exceed $80,000 with Behavior Operations, LLC for behavior consultation, observations, staff training and other related services; a contract not to exceed $80,000 with Getty Psychology for psychological testing services; and a contract for $34,200 with Pathful, Inc. for Pathful Explore renewal for the district’s middle schools, high schools and early colleges.

• The board approved contracts exceeding $90,000 including a $2,701,666 contract with Sysco Raleigh for one order of groceries and $343,910 for a another order; a $110,482 contract with Joseph Motors Inc. for a used 2011 Ford box truck with refrigeration for Child Nutrition; and a $210,204 contract with Lexia Learning Systems, LLC for student subscriptions and School Success Partnership renewals, Core5 Reading district Success Partnership-Gold.

• The board approved expenditure of $5,000 to the N.C. School Boards Action Center, an annual request from the lobbying organization.

• The board approved 2023-24 year end budget amendments totaling $931,230.

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