How Dare They Empower Parents, Not The System!

Every time I hear opponents of school choice launch their destructive and easily refutable rhetoric, I’m not sure whether to feel frustrated by the tall tales being told, or just sad for the children. Just read what is taking place in the legislature as House Bill 944, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, is being debated.

“This money will diminish what we can do. … And it ultimately will dismantle public schools, and that’s really the underlying motive here,” Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, said during Education Committee debate.

“This is a very bad bill. Even if parents have this opportunity that we’re talking about, they can make that choice, if they don’t have the dollars in their pocket to put with that [grant] to make the difference, that child will not have an opportunity. We need to be honest and up front about that,” Adams said.

Rep. Rob Bryan, R-Mecklenburg, a bill sponsor, dismissed that notion.

“When you look at the Florida program which we’re very similarly modeled after, not only is it not the folks at the high-income level exercising on it, it tends to be the poorest of the poor exercising,” Bryan said. 

The average family income of voucher recipients in Florida is $24,000 a year. The scholarship grant there ranges from $4,100 to $4,300, Bryan said, while average tuition at private schools where those voucher recipients attend is about $5,600.

Yet even as it has grown from about 10,000 students to about 60,000 this year, the Florida program “has not decimated public education,” Bryan said.

The point of empowering parents is to let them determine what is best for their children. That includes choosing a traditional public school if they determine that’s the best option for them. The fact is, empowering others scares those tied to North Carolina’s educational status quo and the entrenched power it holds over parents, taxpayers, and children. What’s more, competition and accountability are scary things to some people. When competition and greater accountability are infused into a system, weaknesses and failure have nowhere to hide.