Vouchers in NC: The Early Results

A study was just released by the Children's Law Clinic, through the Duke Law School.  It looks at the results of North Carolina's first three years of offering vouchers (The Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program).  The bullet points from the executive summary speak volumes...

•   In 2013, the NC General Assembly enacted the Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program to make taxpayer-funded grants, or vouchers, available to low-income students to assist with payment of tuition at private schools. A voucher can be a grant of up to $4,200 per year.
  
•   The number of children receiving vouchers has increased from approximately 1,200 in the first year to 5,500 in 2016-17. The General Assembly has authorized an additional 2,000 vouchers for each year over the next decade, bringing the total to 25,000 by 2017.
  
•   The Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program is funded through general revenues. The initial annual appropriation was $10 million; the current annual appropriation is $60 million; the anticipated annual appropriation by 2027 is $145 million. At this rate, the total expenditure by 2027 will be $900 million.
  
•   Approximately 93% of the vouchers have been used to pay tuition at religious schools.
  
•   Based on limited and early data, more than half the students using vouchers are performing below average on nationally-standardized reading, language, and math tests. In contrast, similar public school students in NC are scoring above the national average.
  
•   Accountability measures for North Carolina private schools receiving vouchers are among the weakest in the country. The schools need not be accredited, adhere to state curricular or graduation standards, employ licensed teachers, or administer state End-of-Grade tests.
  
•   Because private schools receiving vouchers are not required to administer the state tests nor to publish detailed achievement data, researchers will be unable to develop thorough and valid conclusions about the success of the program at improving educational outcomes for participating students.
  
•   The North Carolina voucher program is well designed to promote parental choice, especially for parents who prefer religious education for their children. It is poorly designed, however, to promote better academic outcomes for children and is unlikely to do so. 
  

You can read the entire study by clicking here.