Just a few months away from leaving office, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has ramped up his calls for increased spending on K-12 public schools and doubled down on his campaign to vilify the state’s school choice voucher program.

In a statement on Aug. 20, Cooper said that public schools are where the majority of North Carolina’s K-12 students receive their education. 

“Our public schools are home to hardworking teachers and students who deserve to be supported,” he said. “The General Assembly continues to prioritize private school vouchers for the wealthy instead of helping the millions of students who attend our public schools each day.”

In recent weeks, the school boards of Bladen, Buncombe, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Gates, Jackson, Roanoke Rapids, Wayne, and Wilson counties, along with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Chatham County Boards of Education, have passed resolutions or sent letters urging legislative leaders to implement immediate salary increases for teachers and focus on substantially increasing teacher compensation in the next legislative session.

In April, Governor Cooper released his recommended budget for FY 2024-2025, titled “Securing North Carolina’s Future.” The plan proposed investing over $1 billion in public schools, raising teacher pay by 8.5%, and providing a $1,500 retention bonus for teachers across the board.

But according to Dr. Robert Luebke, director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, Cooper’s claims on education spending are missing the mark.

“Let’s get the facts straight. Budgets reflect government priorities, and the public schools continue to be the largest budget expenditure. They have been for decades,” Luebke said. “For the 2023-2024 school year, the value of Opportunity Scholarship awards comprised about 1.4% of the $11.5 billion budget for K-12 public schools in North Carolina. Final figures haven’t been released, but I’d estimate in 2023-24 about $163 million was distributed for Opportunity Scholarships. In the same year, the public schools received an increase of almost $411 million over the previous budget.”

“Statements by the governor and school board administrators about underfunding public schools are long on political rhetoric, but short on facts,” Luebke concluded.

The state budget approved by lawmakers in 2023 adds nearly $800 million to public schools over the two-year biennium, even as many schools are seeing enrollment declines. Between 2012 and 2022, per-pupil spending increased from $8,436 to $12,345.

The renewed focus on public school funding coincides with ongoing debates around the Leandro case, a 30-year-old legal dispute concerning education finance reform in North Carolina. The state Supreme Court’s upcoming decision could significantly impact future education budgets. 

Republican legislative leaders and Cooper have often clashed over the case, with Cooper’s allies frequently advocating for the full funding of the comprehensive remedial plan linked to Leandro. But GOP lawmakers question the authority of judges to mandate statewide education spending based on this case.

At the same time, the House and Senate have been unable to agree on K-12 public school funding increases, meaning no budget adjustments were passed for the new fiscal year.

Adding to the complexity is the debacle over failures to fully fund the Opportunity Scholarship waitlist. Parents and private school administrators recently rallied in Raleigh, urging lawmakers to address the more than 55,000 students waiting for scholarships. 

The Senate had approved a bill to fully fund the waitlist, but progress stalled when House leadership tied increased voucher funding to raises for public school teachers and state employees. The budget impasse has left many families and private schools in limbo, exacerbating frustrations among parents and educators alike.