The Past & Future of School Choice

Welcome to Family Policy Matters, an engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Hi, this is John Rustin, President of NC Family, and we're grateful to have you with us for this week's program. It's our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged, and inspired by what you hear on Family Policy Matters, and that you will feel better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state, and nation. And now here is our host of Family Policy Matters, Tracey Devitt-Griggs. Welcome back to Family Policy Matters.

It's always wonderful to be with you, Tracey. Well, Mike, start by giving us a lay of the land on school choice here in North Carolina. It's incredible. The education landscape in North Carolina, right now, 69% of the schools in North Carolina are in school choice. 31% of school-aged children, K-12, are attending the traditional public schools. That's about 1.2 million plus.

But here's the interesting number. 31% of school-aged children are now attending schools of choice. That 1.2 million used to be 1.5 million just a couple of years ago attending traditional public schools. It was less than 20% attending schools of choice. So this is a huge rise in families choosing alternative schools and non-traditional schools for their children, which is an amazing number for North Carolina. Just to give you a laydown of it, homeschoolers, 179,000 magnet schools, 162,000 charter schools, 130,000 private schools, 107,000. Those are amazing numbers and speaks very strongly for school choice in North Carolina. You know, Mike, I'm going to give you an opportunity to brag on yourself and your staff there because I remember when you took over this position several years ago and North Carolina seemed to be kind of riding high. A lot of people thought we couldn't go any higher.

But you guys have continued to excel. Why is that? Because school choice, there are just so many wins when it comes to school choice, Tracey. First of all, it levels the playing field for families that are seeking educational opportunity. That's a real thing. Plus, it funds students, not systems.

That's huge. It empowers parents who know what's best for their children, not this bureaucracy in Raleigh. It also saves the taxpayers money and it reduces overcrowded classrooms. You know, those are so many wins that politicians on both sides of the aisle see this as real benefits for families and for North Carolina. And when you allow school choice among so many people in the state, it also ensures economic equality for all. There's so many families that are stuck in their zip coded school that is failing their kids. And now with the scholarship opportunities that North Carolina offers, it gives them the economic opportunity to make decisions that are best for their children as far as their education and concerns. And it frees them from these challenging communities that they might be in and especially challenging public schools they might be in.

So there's so many wins to this. It's one of the major reasons why it's continuing to grow so rapidly and being supported by so many citizens here in North Carolina. He is a very good politician.

He's very astute on polls and numbers and what is very popular. And when you've got 65% of North Carolinians in support of school choice, I mean, that is something that the governor definitely sees. And therefore make some, you know, proclamations that might be supportive of school choice. I will say in that proclamation, it's mainly highlighting charter schools, which is fantastic.

fantastic, but charter schools are public schools. And so, you know, when it comes to opportunity scholarship programs, and those kinds of things, he's also made some incredible proclamations. And I'll just simply quote him when talking about the opportunity scholarship on the television show Education Matters a couple of years ago, he said, and I quote that the opportunity scholarship program is an expense we should stop. He also said that he felt better when dealing with the state's budgets. He felt better quote in eliminating the funding for opportunity scholarship programs.

And he said, I do not like their vouchers. Now when he says there, he is referring to the republican led legislature that have been the leaders in the forefront of the opportunity scholarships and school choice throughout the state of North Carolina. So he may make one proclamation for school choice, primarily talking about charter public schools. But when it comes to the programs that have really grown this whole movement of school choice throughout North Carolina, he has made many proclamations against these programs and actually wanted to see them stop and still does.

It's a belief that those that are against it, it's a belief that one size fits all. And that is namely the public schools. And so all taxpayer dollars should go only to the public schools when it comes to education. Well, one size does not fit all when it comes to a child's education and nobody knows that better than their parents. And so what we're trying to do here parents for educational freedom in North Carolina is we're trying to empower parents to make those choices and have the ability the economic ability to make those choices so that their kids can be in a school where they thrive and can have greater success than than perhaps one where they're stuck, because they're assigned primarily because of their zip code, and they simply feel trapped. But you're not opposed to public schools?

Absolutely not. We're for public schools. You know, the vast majority of parents still attend public schools.

And but what we want to see is we want to see them get better. This is why I think those that are against school choice, I think it would do them better, like the teacher union, the NCAE, and all of that that are so vehemently as opposed to these scholarship programs. I would suggest that they begin to ask the questions why? Why are so many parents choosing alternative educational resources in order for their children to be to be educating according to their needs? Because when they learn why they're leaving the public schools, it'll help identify what those problems are.

And then we would hope that they can improve in those areas so that that does not happen at such a rapid pace. So yes, I we are all for the public schools. But we're also for the charter schools, the magnet schools, the virtual schools, the private schools, the home schools, all types of schools that meet the needs of children. So North Carolina has long been a national leader in school choice. Is that still the case?

Are we still kind of leading the nation? Very much so. You know, we we have so many programs here, particularly the opportunity scholarship program. And then also we have the disability grants that are for children with learning disabilities and other disabilities to get them in a school that best fits those needs.

And also education savings accounts, which helps fund what what further needs they have. So North Carolina leads with all three. And and many other states look to North Carolina as the model for school choice for their state as well.

So we're very pleased to be a leader in this throughout the country. Speaking of those scholarship programs, there's been an expansion of the North Carolina's opportunity scholarship program, correct? Right in the state budget that we finally got passed this year and signed by the governor.

The scholarship amounts in the past have always been around forty two hundred dollars. Now that's that is a direct scholarship to a parent that qualifies to pay the tuition of a of a private school that would meet their children's needs. And the current new state budget that was just passed, that's now increased to fifty nine hundred dollars. So that is going to help a lot of the OSP families out there be able to get into a the school that might have higher tuitions and help meet those needs there. Also, for families to qualify. It was that an income for a family of four was seventy three thousand a year that could qualify. That's now been increased to eighty five thousand a year. So it's working exceptionally well. And I just want to remind our listeners that these dollars do not take away anything from public school dollars.

These are entirely separate programs from that. And if anything, it saves the taxpayer dollars because fifty nine hundred dollars is a lot less to educate a child than approximately ninety nine hundred dollars, give or take a little bit when you bring in federal funds to educate a child in the public schools. So these programs are actually saving taxpayer dollars and reducing overcrowded classrooms at the same time.

And so that's why it's, again, such a great win. The legislature understands this. The leadership there understands it. But the biggest plus in this is the way that it empowers parents to make those educational decisions rather than the bureaucrats in Raleigh. So if parents are hearing this and they're like, oh, I'd like to get in on that scholarship thing, how do they do that? And we have some deadlines coming up, right?

Sure. One of the best places they can go to is part of our organization. It's called School Choice North Carolina dot com. That will give you all the deadline information. But the easier approach to could be just our website, which is PEFNC dot org.

That's Parents for Educational Freedom North Carolina. And all of the deadlines are there as well. I will say for OSP applications for the next school year are opening on February the 1st. And the prior the application window is the month of February.

So we always recommend applying early. We have a team of parent liaison mamas whose children are also benefiting from opportunity scholarships that will walk through anyone who goes to our website at PEFNC dot org and just send in your information. We have a team of people that will contact you, walk you through the process, get you applied with the state, get you funded by the state, and then we'll even take it one step further and help you find the school that best meets the needs of your child. We talked a little bit about North Carolina being a leader in this area. What is it about our state? What has happened in our history? Is there something unique about the people of North Carolina that make this so important to us here? It has been a long process. Our organization was put together 17 years ago. When you have a system in place that's 100 plus years old, and that is the current education system that runs the public schools, it is very, very hard to make changes and reforms to something that's been around that long.

And so it's just been a process. And as the state of North Carolina has implemented these programs on a small basis and then seeing the overwhelming reaction of parents for it, it's just been a no brainer to continue to expand it and expand it. And then finally, I'll say, we now have a situation where millennial parents, those that have been, you know, with the smartphones and all the apps, and we have a whole generation of parents now having kids that are reaching school age, that have been inundated with choice, through technology, through cell phones, smartphones, those kinds of things. And so to say to them, those parents that your child is only going to go to the school that's in your zip code, whether you like it or not, just is not settling well with the parents of today.

And that's why this river is flowing more rapidly. Those parents are going to demand choice and they actually are demanding choice. And so in the wisdom of our legislative leadership, they're hearing these parents and they're listening to these parents, and they're responding to them. That kind of freedom, that kind of ability to give your child the kind of education they deserve is hard to fight.

It's hard to beat. And so the tide keeps rolling along. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina. Thanks for being with us today on Family Policy Matters.

You've been listening to Family Policy Matters. We hope you enjoyed the program and plan to tune in again next week. To listen to the show online and to learn more about NC Families work to inform, encourage and inspire families across North Carolina, go to our website at ncfamily.org. That's ncfamily.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family.