Yes, it’s true: liberals are seeking to take away education opportunity from low-income North Carolina families. Thankfully, the Institute for Justice has joined the fight on behalf of parents who are desperately in need of education options for their kids — and have gotten it in the form of the Opportunity Scholarship program passed by the school-choice majority in the North Carolina General Assembly. This morning, IJ held a news conference to discuss the issue. JLF’s Mitch Kokai has posted video of the news conference here.
I recently wrote about North Carolina liberals’ assault on education choice here, and the impact their legal fight could have on another vital scholarship for parents of kids with special needs.
But the special-needs scholarship could be in jeopardy due to legal challenges against a separate educational lifeline the legislature approved, this one for low-income parents — the new $4,200 per year opportunity scholarship. The North Carolina Association of Educators and the liberal advocacy group N.C. Justice Center lead a lawsuit that claims giving low-income kids scholarships to private schools violates the North Carolina Constitution. An additional suit filed by the North Carolina School Boards Association alleges the low-income scholarship gives money to schools that discriminate.
In a radio interview I conducted with Rep. Stam for Curtis Media Group, I asked him if the special-needs scholarship could be struck down if legal challenges to the low-income scholarship are successful. “Well, it wouldn’t per se,” Stam said, “but every argument they make in those lawsuits would do away with the special-needs scholarships and would do away with needs-based scholarships at the college level as well.”
Let’s be clear. Powerful left-of-center groups who say their mission is to protect children and seek justice are actively engaged in a legal effort that could result in the exact opposite outcome. If they prevail, thousands of kids may be denied an opportunity to achieve — an opportunity their parents have determined the traditional public system is not providing.
