North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) declared that the public education system is in state of emergency following GOP legislative gains with school choice and parental rights.
During a Monday special address, Cooper asked residents of North Carolina to call state lawmakers’ offices and tell them that recent school choice legislation and proposed teacher raises have the potential to “choke the life out of public education,” according to the special address.
The state House passed legislation Wednesday in a 65-45 vote that would make all students eligible to have the state cover nearly half the average cost of attending a private school.
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“Hi everybody. It’s time to declare a State of Emergency for public education in North Carolina. There’s no Executive Order like with a hurricane or the pandemic, but it’s no less important,” Cooper said.
“It’s clear that the Republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education,” Cooper said in a press release. “I’m declaring this a state of emergency because you need to know what’s happening. 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.”
Cooper said, “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. When kids leave public schools for private school, the public schools lose hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The efi Institue said on their website, “Governor Cooper opposes private school choice, but sends his own child to an expensive private school in Raleigh, NC.”
North Carolina Senator Phil Berger said Monday, “Meaningless publicity stunts do nothing to improve educational outcomes in our state. The House and Senate will continue working together to put forward budget proposals that address the needs of students and parents.”
Cooper said that state Senate Republicans’ proposal to give veteran teachers a 4.5% raise over two years instead of his proposed 18% raise will lead to greater teacher shortages.
In February, the state Senate and House passed legislation requiring educators to tell parents if their child is transitioning genders at school. The legislation also prohibits lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation in K-4 classrooms.
“The government is not a partner in raising our children,” Republican state Sen. Amy Galey told WRAL News, a North Carolina-based outlet, following the passing of the bill.
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Throughout the country, lawmakers are pushing for school choice legislation and bills to keep gender ideology out of the classroom.
Here in Florida, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a piece of legislation creating a universal school choice program.
Iowa lawmakers are also weighing a bill that would prohibit teachers from giving lessons “relating to gender identity” for students in K-8 classes in public and charter school classrooms.
“Republican leaders want to inject their political culture wars into classrooms across North Carolina with bills that would put politicians in charge of curriculum setting, micromanage what teachers can teach, and target LGBTQ+ students,” Cooper said in a press release.
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