Public school advocates have said the expansion of the North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship private school voucher program takes funding away from public schools.
But a new report from the group Public Schools First dives into another facet of that debate: the fact that public money is going to private schools who are allowed to prohibit certain students from enrolling. The group says the end result is funding discrimination with tax dollars.
WFAE education reporter James Farrell dug into the report and talked to opponents and supporters of the voucher program.
What did this report find?
The report’s authors tried to illustrate how hundreds of millions of dollars from the state voucher program — public money — are going to private schools that have some sort of prohibitive or discriminatory admissions policy.
It lists the more than 500 private schools that got at least $100,000 in voucher money and that appear to either explicitly prohibit certain students from enrolling or at least suggest that certain students shouldn’t apply.
And ultimately, they argue that this is an example of the state taking public money that could be going to public schools, which are legally required to accept all students, and giving it instead to private schools that are by their very nature more exclusive.
What kinds of alleged discrimination did this report find?
There are some very obvious examples where a school’s policies exclude certain types of students. For instance, many private schools require students to take tests or meet certain academic benchmarks.
Others might feel more explicitly discriminatory though, like religion. The report notes that 73% of voucher-receiving private schools are religious schools, and many of those schools only accept members of a certain faith. Or they might make families sign on to statements against things like gay marriage prior to enrollment.
So, for example, the Arborbrook Christian Academy in Matthews, which got more than $1 million in voucher funding last year, requires all parents to sign a covenant as “Bible believing Christians.” On the website, clicking the link on the word covenant brings you to the school’s statement of faith, which holds that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Other schools don’t offer special education services (private schools are not required to offer special education services in the same way public schools are.) And the report also lists less obvious forms of potential discrimination – many private schools require an interview with school leadership to be accepted, for instance. The report argues that creates the opportunity for discrimination that’s less publicly visible.
Aren’t private schools allowed to be more exclusive with who they choose to admit?
Yes.
State law requires private schools that get voucher money to adhere to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which means they can’t discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin. But Title VI doesn’t include religion or sexual orientation or anything else. So that does give private schools more latitude.
There have also been court cases here in North Carolina challenging the Opportunity Scholarship program on this very basis. They have not been successful.
But the report argues that the state can and should expand the requirements for private schools to include all federal anti-discrimination requirements when they receive public money.
“This is public money that should be going to serve a public good,” said Heather Koons, the communications and research director for Public Schools First. “And these private schools are not serving the public. It’s not parental choice in any way, shape or form. It’s school’s choice. The schools are choosing the students.”
But Koons also noted the report underscores a larger point — while public schools have to follow strict transparency requirements, in some cases, public money is going to private schools that are harder to find information about. The report highlighted some schools that are receiving voucher money but don’t have any website or social media presence or any easily accessible way for the general public to learn about their admissions policies.
On the other hand, voucher advocates argue that the point of the program is to help give families access to a wealth of different types of schools.
Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, told me the school choice philosophy adheres to the idea that there shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all educational system.
“School choice is all about those education dollars following the child, not the system, and it doesn't discriminate against anyone,” Long said. “Anyone can qualify for these funds if they find the school that best meets the needs of their child, and the only thing holding them back was the economics of it.”
He said that private schools are often mission driven, and are adhering to all laws. And he said no public policy will ever perfectly meet all taxpayers' needs, but the program gives parents some financial flexibility to choose a school that’s right for them. And for some parents, that might be a religious school.
What else does the report tell us?
The report also argues that the voucher program has become more segregated by race since it first launched in 2014.
The report says, at that time, approximately 51% of voucher recipients were Black, while white recipients made up 27%.
As the state has continued to expand eligibility and funding for the program, there’s been a noticeable gap in the other direction: Black students now account for just 11% of voucher recipients, while white students account for 73%.
