Governor Roy Cooper (D-NC) declared a “state of emergency” on Monday, aiming to prevent a school choice bill from passing the state legislature.
Senate Bill 406, also known as “Choose Your School, Choose Your Future,” is an initiative to make opportunity scholarships (also known as “vouchers”) available to families of all income levels. This would allow parents to use public school fund allocated for their children and use it to send them to a private school of their choosing.
The bill will also require public schools to allow students to graduate from high school in three years, instead of four.
“Today’s a great day for kids – and that’s what this bill is about,” said the lead sponsor of the bill, Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), at a press conference.
“Constituents continually support increased school choice and more access to educational options for families,” Amy Galey (R-Alamance), one of the bill’s principal sponsors, said in response to an email from WGHP. “Not every school is a good fit for every child, and when there is a disconnect, the parents should have options to be sure that their child is learning and growing appropriately.”
North Carolina’s Democrat Governor, Roy Cooper, announced a state of emergency on Monday in anticipation of an override of his veto of Senate Bill 406 by the state legislature.
“I’m declaring the state of emergency because you need to know what’s happening,” Cooper stated in a special address. “If you care about public schools in North Carolina, it’s time to take immediate action and tell them to stop the damage that will set back our schools for a generation.”
The Democrat governor argued that the bill would expand private school vouchers, potentially allowing even wealthy individuals to receive taxpayer funds for their children’s private academy tuition.
“In the next few weeks, their private school voucher scheme will pour your tax money into private schools that are unaccountable to the public and can decide which students they want to keep out. They want to expand private school vouchers so that anyone, even a millionaire, can get taxpayer money for their children’s private academy tuition,” he said.
Cooper failed to mention during his address that he sent his own children to a private school.
https://twitter.com/DeAngelisCorey/status/1660741508784443406
You can watch the full speech below:
via unsilencednews
