A new analysis from researchers at the John Locke Foundation scrutinizes Gov. Roy Cooper’s claims against opportunity scholarships, including assertions that the program diverts funds from public education.

The experts determined Cooper’s widely promoted attacks on the school choice program don’t align with reality. 

The General Assembly recently passed HB10, which fully funds opportunity scholarships for students across North Carolina. Last week, Gov. Roy Cooper shot down the school choice legislation, citing numerous drawbacks in his veto message. 

One concern Cooper asserts, and has frequently voiced, is the harmful effects of school choice appropriations on overall public school funding. He argues that the bill takes taxpayer dollars from public schools and gives them to private school vouchers used by wealthy families.

SEE ALSO: Cooper vetoes HB 10 after criticizing Opportunity Scholarship funding

“Unfortunately, those public schools are facing the biggest threat in decades from the legislature that is pillaging taxpayer money from them and using it for private school vouchers that even the wealthiest families can use for children already in private school,” he said.

However, according to the report, the money allotted for OSP is not sourced from the public school budget. Instead, the OSP funding is administered via the UNC portion of the budget, while North Carolina’s public school funding is administered via appropriations to the Department of Public Instruction. 

“In short, the OSP does not divert money from public schools because it is funded through a different part of the state budget,” the analysis reads.

The report also counters the claim of helping wealthy families, explaining that OSP uses a sliding scale in which lower-income families receive larger scholarship amounts. The scale shows a preference for supporting low and moderate-income families with greater scholarship amounts. The average awards range from $7,460 for students in lower-income tiers to $3,360 for students in higher tiers. 

Another Cooper claim is that private school vouchers do not improve student performance. While a few scattered studies may provide the results Cooper is fixated on, a metastudy of nearly 190 studies on school choice shows otherwise. About 84% of the 190 studies showed a positive effect of choice in education, 10% showed no impact, and 6% showed a negative result.

Of 29 studies that evaluated school choice programs’ impacts on public school student test scores, 26 showed a positive effect, one found no visible effect, and two found a negative effect.

While the governor has clearly expressed his disapproval of the bill, the General Assembly, with a supermajority of Republicans, is likely to override the veto in the coming months. Just 40 days out from Election Day, optics are front of mind for all House members as they aim to secure their election bids. 

It is uncertain whether the House will hold override votes before the election. The General Assembly will reconvene for a one-day session on October 9, which could bring a potential override vote. The House must first override the bill before the Senate can take any action (the Senate does not have any votes scheduled for that day).

In November, the legislature will reconvene for a longer period of time from November 19-22. A practical challenge leaders face is ensuring all Republicans can attend in order to achieve the three-fifths majority required to override the governor’s veto.