The long-awaited state budget signed by Gov. Josh Stein included provisions for the state’s private schools and Opportunity Scholarship Program, including reallocating some funds from the voucher program back to public schools. Researchers and critics of North Carolina’s private school vouchers have long said the state uses the scholarship to drain public schools of their funds.

Voucher Funds Reallocated

The budget states public schools will be reinvested in utilizing savings from the Opportunity Scholarship. The legislature says the state saved money the last two years by expanding access to vouchers and making more students eligible, including those who were already attending private schools on their own dime, because the scholarships often cost less than what the state would spend on a public school student.

The $35 million, the estimated amount public schools lost because of voucher expansion, will go toward one-time bonuses for nutrition and custodial staff, middle school literacy professional development and acquisition of mathematics curriculum from another state that has developed its own mathematics curriculum and to conform those materials to align with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Testing Compliance

The state already requires nonpublic schools to administer standardized tests to students in third grade and above who receive a state-funded scholarship. Tests given to voucher students in grades three and eight are chosen by the North Carolina State Education Authority and grade 11 must be the ACT, but tests for other grades are chosen by the school administrator.

Schools must submit the data to NCSEAA by July 15 each year, though it is not considered public record. Now, to verify compliance with the testing requirements, the new budget makes it so schools must retain those records for four years. NCSEAA will also audit at least 4% of schools each year to ensure tests are being administered.

Audit of Voucher Program

Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek announced an audit into the Opportunity Scholarship in June, to be completed sometime this fall. Supporters and detractors both say it’s not so simple. The audit might have come at a shock to some who understand private school vouchers to be an issue that falls along party lines, especially after Stein expressed interest in imposing new income limits.

Original reporting: Carolina Public Press — read the source article.