Thousands of private school voucher recipients in the Triad this year come from affluent families who wouldn’t have previously qualified for state money.
The voucher program, also known as Opportunity Scholarships, was initially created to aid low-income families. But in 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to expand the program to all income levels.
“That certainly had the impact of increasing the number of award recipients," said Stephen Bailey, with the legislature's fiscal research division at a recent appropriations committee meeting.
But more specifically, it increased the number of wealthy award recipients.
Data shows that in Forsyth County, 40% of students receiving private school vouchers this academic year fall under the top two income tiers. Those 1,300 students wouldn’t have previously been eligible for state money.
That’s because they have household incomes between $115,000 and $260,000 — or even more.
Guilford County had a similar breakdown to Forsyth, with 1,800 vouchers going to the wealthiest families.
On a recent visit to Winston-Salem, State Superintendent Mo Green, said he’s encouraging the legislature to put a moratorium on the program’s expansion.
“The biggest concern is, in North Carolina, it's in our constitution to provide public schools, right? We already know that we're 48th or so in the country," Green said. "To then see that amount of money go from our public schools into private schools, is deeply concerning.”
Out of the nearly 80,000 Opportunity Scholarships distributed across the state this year, 34,000 went to affluent families.
Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.