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NC School Voucher Fund Grows While Millions Of Dollars Are Left Unspent

Rep. Craig Horn, chair of the House Education Appropriations Committee, says the state needs to re-examine how money is allocated to a voucher program for low-income students. (Photo courtesy NCGA)

Concerns are growing about state funds bolstering a school voucher program even as millions of dollars are being left unspent.    

About $10 million is being added annually to North Carolina's Scholarship Opportunity Program, which sends low-income children to private schools.

But The Charlotte Observer reports that the voucher program left almost $13 million on the table during its first three years.

Under current legislation, any money that remains unused for two years reverts to the state's General Fund.

Representative Craig Horn, the Republican chair of the House Education Appropriations Committee, says the practice needs to stop. 

He tells the paper the state “has gotten a little bit too exuberant in filling the demand” for vouchers.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted in January to ask the General Assembly to stop adding to the voucher fund.

An official with the program that administers the scholarships says the financial gap is actually much smaller when you account for administrative costs and a budgeting formula that holds back allocations for the following year.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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