Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein says he would consider rolling back the Opportunity Scholarship program to fund a relative handful of students, reversing key choice victories made in recent years that polling shows is popular with the majority of North Carolinians.

Appearing on Capital Tonight Oct. 23, Stein was asked whether he would support eliminating the Opportunity Scholarship Program entirely or simply freezing any future funding.

“I certainly wouldn’t have done what the legislature did this year, which was to open it up to anyone, irrespective of how much money they have and whether they went to a public school or not. I could potentially go back to where it used to be, which was for low-income kids in public schools who needed it,” Stein said. “But that’s not where we are.”

If enacted, such an approach would likely take away scholarships from most of the current recipients, depending on where the household income thresholds fell. Stein’s move is also in contrast to budget proposals from current Gov. Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, who has proposed freezing future funding for Opportunity Scholarships but allowing students who currently receive a scholarship to continue to do so until graduation.

Opportunity Scholarships are the state’s voucher program enabling families to choose a private school education for their children. Each scholarship is valued at between $7,468 and $3,360 each year, spread across four income tier levels ranging from $57,720 for a family of fouin the first tierto more than $259,740 a year in the fourth tier. A record-breaking 72,000 applications were received for the scholarships in February.

During the interview, Stein went on to say that private schools have no curriculum requirements, teacher certification requirements, or anti-discrimination requirements, as reason for his opposition.

Stein claimed that NC public schools are “woefully underfunded.” Stein also repeated the misleading claim that Opportunity Scholarships divert funds away from public schools. But as pointed out by a recent Locke 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 said.

In 2023, the Republican-led General Assembly passed a measure to make Opportunity Scholarships universally available. But unprecedented demand for the program meant that many of the scholarships weren’t funded for the 2024-2025 school year. Lawmakers sought to bridge that gap with House Bill 10, a measure which Cooper vetoed.

It’s unclear when lawmakers might attempt a veto override vote.