NC House overrides Stein veto of federal school choice tax credit bill

The North Carolina House voted 73-46 on May 20 to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of House Bill 87, Educational Choice for Children Act, advancing the school choice measure to the Senate, which must concur for it to become law.

All House Republicans supported the override, joined by unaffiliated Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed. Both lawmakers, who represent parts of Mecklenburg County, switched their party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated after losing their primaries in March. Democratic Rep. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County, who voted for the bill last summer, was not in the chamber for the override vote.

Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, urged colleagues to support the measure, framing it as a no-cost expansion of educational options.

“This is a federal program. It costs the state of North Carolina nothing,” Jackson said. “It expands educational opportunities for all students — public school students, charter school students, private school students, and home school students. It allows taxpayers to voluntarily fund student scholarships, and it gives more students access to quality educational environments.”

House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, cheered the vote in a statement.

“Today’s override was another major win for North Carolina students and parents,” Hall said. “Gov. Stein and Democrats tried to stand in the way of giving families more control over their children’s education, but Republicans, yet again, stood firmly on the side of educational freedom. This vote was about trusting parents and giving students more choices, because when our kids succeed, North Carolina succeeds.”

If the Senate overrides the veto as well, HB 87 would add North Carolina to a growing list of states that have opted into the new federal tax-credit program authorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. 

Beginning in 2027, individuals can claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per year for donations to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). These SGOs then issue scholarships for tuition, tutoring, dual enrollment, special education therapies, transportation, curriculum materials, testing fees, and other qualified educational expenses.  Families earning up to three times their area’s median income would be eligible.

The State Education Assistance Authority — which already administers the Opportunity Scholarship Program in North Carolina — would maintain the list of approved scholarship organizations and submit it to the US Treasury Department. The agency must establish rules by July 1, 2026, or within 120 days of federal guidance, whichever is later.

Stein vetoed the bill last summer, casting it as a giveaway to wealthy donors at the expense of public schools. Democrats echoed that argument on the floor on May 20.

Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, said the federal program would erode tax revenue used to support public schools and claimed that fraud has been a recurring problem in voucher programs.

“All voucher programs direct funding and resources away from underfunded public schools,” von Haefen said. She cited “at least 43 instances where private schools received more vouchers than they had students” in North Carolina and argued independent analyses show the federal credit “could cost taxpayers anywhere from $25 [billion] to $100 billion annually.”

Von Haefen also questioned the timing of the override, noting that federal regulators have not yet issued guidance on how the program will operate.

“Opting into a program at this time, before any federal regulations or guidelines have even been proposed or finalized, is a dangerous precedent,” she said. “We actually have no idea what this program is going to look like at the end of the day.”

The override now heads to the Senate, which originally passed HB 87 on a party-line 30-19 vote in July 2025. Senate Republicans hold a one-seat margin over the three-fifths threshold required to complete the override.

North Carolina remains a strongly pro-school choice state. A Carolina Journal poll of likely voters in January put support for the Opportunity Scholarship Program at 61%, with the same share saying school funding should be tied to individual student needs.