More than 54,000 new NC private school vouchers awarded in record program expansion

T. Keung Hui, The Charlotte Observer on Dec 3, 2024

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

More than 54,000 new Opportunity Scholarships were awarded Tuesday, which would more than double the number of students getting taxpayer funding to attend private schools.

The N.C. State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) issued the new private school vouchers to the families who had been on the Opportunity Scholarship list. The 54,000 new voucher awards would come on top of the 37,143 Opportunity Scholarships that were previously awarded to families this school year.

This year is a record expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship program under new eligibility rules that allow any family to apply for a voucher. Previously, the program had income eligibility limits.

Also on Tuesday, the NCSEAA made awards to nearly 2,000 new students in the Education Student Accounts program. These awards are going to help pay the cost for students with disabilities.

Deadline to accept private school voucher awards

Families will have until 5 p.m. on Dec. 27 to accept or decline the award offer. Families must log into their MyPortal online account to accept the offer.

The NCSEAA will begin giving the fall semester and spring semester awards to private schools in January. Private schools are supposed to reimburse voucher recipients for money they’ve already spent this school year.

Depending on the family’s income, people will get $3,360 to $7,468 per child to cover private school costs for the school year. The higher awards will go to families with lower incomes.

How many are new private school families?

Last month, Republican lawmakers voted to provide an additional $463.5 million in Opportunity Scholarship funding over the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. The funding cleared the program backlog.

Republican lawmakers said the additional funding would provide families with the ability to decide what school best meets their educational needs. Democratic lawmakers said it takes away money that could have gone to public schools or Hurricane Helene relief.

It’s not immediately clear how many of the new voucher awards went to families who had attended private schools before this school year. Studies of similar program expansions in other states have found that many of the new voucher recipients had already been attending private schools.

The NCSEAA will report to the state Department of Public Instruction on how many of the new scholarship recipients attended public schools last school year. GOP lawmakers have said they’ll provide additional money to public schools for voucher recipients who are leaving public schools.