Gov. Cooper calls on state lawmakers to invest in public education during visit to Wilmington preschool

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper met with teachers and district staff at College Road Early Childhood Center Thursday to discuss funding for public schools. Cooper recently declared a “state of emergency” because he is worried about the future of public education in the state.

“I’ve declared a state of emergency in North Carolina when it comes to public education,” said Cooper. “And that doesn’t mean that there’s an executive order like we have with a hurricane or a snowstorm, but it is no less important because we’re really at a crossroads on what we’re going to be doing with our public schools.”

Cooper is concerned about legislation introduced by Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly, including a bill that would expand the state’s private school voucher program, also called opportunity scholarships. The bill would end income caps for families, and allow all families in the state access to some opportunity scholarship money to send their kids to private school.

“That means that a millionaire can have a child already at a private academy and, under this legislation they’re about to pass, get thousands of dollars of public money for children that they were already going to have in private school,” said Cooper.

A version of the bill passed the State House last month and is in committee in the Senate. One of the bill’s sponsors, New Hanover County Senator Michael Lee, says opportunity scholarships are important.

“I just think opportunity scholarships are really a key,” said Lee. “Parents and kids need to have that choice and that opportunity, and opportunity scholarships [are] one key way we can make sure that everyone has those opportunities.”

Cooper says the legislation will hurt public schools, but Lee disagrees.

“We end up saving money in this program and that money can be used to reinvest in our traditional public school system,” Lee said. “And you already see it because we increase funding every single year. And I’ve been in budget meetings and we have been working on reinvesting hundreds of millions of more dollars into public education.”

Cooper’s proposed budget includes an 18% average base salary raise for teachers over the next two years. The House version of the budget includes about a 10% raise, while the Senate budget includes a 4.5% raise.

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