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Dan Forest Calls For An Expanded School Voucher Program

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest shakes hands with supporters as his wife, Alice Forest, (right) looks on during his gubernatorial campaign kickoff rally in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gary Robertson)

Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest is promoting expanded school choice as part of his push to win the Republican nomination for governor in 2020. 

In a campaign video released on Wednesday, Forest says every North Carolina family, regardless of their income, should be eligible to receive a state-funded voucher to attend a private school.

The News and Observer reports a North Carolina scholarship program was established in 2013 that provided up to $4200 a year to help parents send their children to private schools. But those funds are earmarked for lower-to-middle income families.

Democratic Governor Roy Cooper has criticized the voucher program and resisted calls to increase school choice funding.

Forest says he'd like to see more money going directly to charter schools, which don't currently receive any funds to build or renovate facilities.

The lieutenant governor's platform also calls for armed security in schools, mandating background checks for teachers, and requiring students to pass a U.S. citizenship exam before graduation.

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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