Families rally to urge North Carolina lawmakers to fully fund private-school vouchers

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Dozens of North Carolina parents held a rally on Wednesday to urge Republican legislators to fully fund scholarships for children to attend private and religious schools after lawmakers failed to work out an agreement earlier this year to meet the program’s soaring demand.

A state budget provision last year ending income caps to qualify for the decade-old Opportunity Scholarship program and the repeal of another eligibility requirement led to a six-fold increase in new applications for the coming school year. But without enough funding set aside, nearly 55,000 children who qualified for scholarships were placed on a waiting list.

House and Senate Republicans said during this year’s chief General Assembly session that eliminating the waiting list was a top priority. But the two chambers failed to work out a deal to appropriate hundreds of millions of additional dollars for the program before adjourning in late June.

“We’ve been told time and time again that they would get this done, and it so far has not happened,” said Rachel Brady of Wake Forest, a rally organizer who is among the waiting list families. “We applaud your school choice efforts, but we are not going to be forgotten… it’s time to act now and get this done.”

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