The State Board of Education today approved its budget request to the General Assembly for public school funding. It also added a call for no new state funding of vouchers for private school students.
The State Board voted 9-to-2 to request a moratorium on new spending for the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program. State board member Catty Moore, the recent interim superintendent of Durham Public Schools and a former Wake County superintendent, made the motion, which she read aloud:
“We are requesting that a moratorium be placed on the expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program, offer no new awards to students beginning in the 25-26 fiscal year, and redirect funding appropriated for new Opportunity Scholarships for 25-26 and 26-27 fiscal years to addressing the needs in our public schools. Future funding increases for the Opportunity Scholarship program should be limited to the annual percentage increase in funding for the state public school fund. “
Moore said staff at DPI helped draft the motion after she suggested to State Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green and other board members, following their Wednesday meeting, that they consider a legislative request about voucher funding.
State funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program amounts to $541.5 million in the current fiscal year. Last year, the Republican-led General Assembly successfully overrode former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill to boost funding for the program to clear its waitlist. A prior law made any private school student eligible to apply for a tuition voucher. The $541.5 million includes funding appropriated in the 2024 law formerly known as House Bill 10, as well as other previously appropriated funds.
The Board of Education’s statement will be included in new Democratic State Superintendent Green’s cover letter to documents outlining his administration’s budget request to the General Assembly.
Green’s senior Director of Government Affairs, Geoff Coltrane, told WUNC the motion refers to funding for new voucher recipients, not scholarship renewals.
Coltrane also clarified the request that public schools receive a funding increase commensurate with increases to voucher funding. He said that’s meant to refer to money for Opportunity Scholarships that is already built into the base budget for future legislative sessions.
For example, Opportunity Scholarship funding is set to rise 9.7% to $594 million in the next fiscal year, even with no new action by the General Assembly. The board is asking for that increase to be no higher than the percentage increase to the public school fund.
Republican State Treasurer Brad Briner and board member Olivia Oxendine voted against the call for a moratorium.
“I will always be a supporter of public schools, but I will also be an extra supporter of what is in the best interest of students — that is supreme,” Oxendine said during the discussion of the motion. “I went to a public school system that had no money — no money — segregated schools, Indian schools, no money. I think I came out able to read and write and do things fairly well, so did my siblings.”
Briner cast the sole vote against the Department of Public Instruction’s broader budget requests.
A look into Superintendent Green’s budget priorities
Some of the Department’s big ticket budget requests include:
- $377 million to offer free breakfast and lunch to all K-12 public school students
- $229.8 million to implement a school funding formula for students with disabilities that is weighted to account for the cost of services based on the type of disability
- $153 million to replenish students’ laptops and Chromebooks across the state that were purchased with federal COVID-19 relief funds
- $120 million to fund school resource officers in middle schools and elementary schools
- $100 million to address school facility needs in schools damaged by Helene
- $65.5 million to hire more school counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists
Green’s administration is also seeking state-funded raises for all educators, the restoration of statewide supplements for educators with master’s degrees, and funding to alleviate an estimated $13 billion worth of deferred maintenance costs at school facilities.
Each of those would require a hefty increase in state funding for public schools, and Green’s administration did not present specific dollar amounts for those requests.
