Decisions about education are some of the most important decisions that families — and therefore state leaders — make. Just as parents consider the many school choices available in North Carolina, lawmakers are making choices about where to put our taxpayer dollars to yield the best outcomes for our children. Families across North Carolina want public schools that prepare their children to be well-rounded and successful.
State leaders in the General Assembly have choices as to how to allocate taxpayer dollars. Recent decisions have led to the following results when it comes to public schools, which serve approximately 85% of students in North Carolina:
- North Carolina ranks 48th in the country on per-student spending and 49th on funding effort – the amount we spend on education as a percent of our gross domestic product (GDP).
- North Carolina ranks 38th in the country on average teacher pay, falling nearly $13,000 below the national average.
The General Assembly recently opted to enact universal, taxpayer-funded private school vouchers, making private school “opportunity scholarships” available to any family, regardless of their income or whether they had previously enrolled in public schools. These vouchers were previously accessible only to low-income families who had previously attended public schools. With this decision, state lawmakers are choosing to send hundreds of millions of dollars per year to private and religious schools that can practice discriminatory admissions policies, and do not have to share what they teach or how their students perform.