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To the editor:

Charter schools are an educational reform intended to bring freedom of choice to public education. This definition varies from state to state.

The N.C. charter school movement began in 1996, when the General Assembly approved the Charter School Act (CSA). CSA allowed any person, group, or non-profit organization to propose a charter school. The State Board of Education was given the power to approve or reject this proposal.  Through charter schools were freed from many bureaucratic restraints, they were still required to administer standardized state tests. CPA capped the number of state charter schools at 100. To date there are 211 charter schools in North Carolina, making up 10% of the state’s Average Daily student Membership and they are still growing. Charter schools receive $5,186 per student in state funding per year.

This year House Bill 10 passed, which allocates an additional $248 million in nonrecurring funds to Opportunity Scholarships for the current year, $215.5 million in recurring funds for scholarships awards for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and $24.7 million in recurring funds to clear the waitlist for the Education Savings Account. Currently, around 55,000 students are waiting for Opportunity Scholarships, which are state-funded vouchers to families for a private school education. The bill includes retroactive funding for eligible families, allowing them to quality for tuition reimbursement from their schools.

Each Opportunity Scholarship is valued between $3,360 and $7,468 annually depending on family income. The program has seen a surge in demand, with a record-breaking 72,000 applications received in February.

Governor Roy Cooper convened a press conference to condemn the Opportunity Scholarship expansion, saying: “I am against taking taxpayer money out of public schools and giving it to private schools when our public schools already have so many needs.”

Governor Cooper is correct. We have had a public school system for all students for years. Those families that do not want to send their children to a public school should not receive funds from the taxpayers to pay tuition to a private school.

This is similar to President Joe Biden wanting to forgive the student debt for college students. The families and students knew what they were doing when they applied for the college debt and they should be held accountable to pay pack the debt.

My question is, Should we have or will there be a public school system in the future?

Fred Voreh

Bermuda Run