Dive Brief:
- North Carolina Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood ruled Thursday that the state's Opportunity Scholarship voucher program is unconstitutional, WRAL reports.
- The voucher program, established by a state law, allowed low-income families to use tax dollars on private or religious schooling.
- The first $730,000 of the $4,200-per-child grants was already awarded to over 360 students on Friday, according to WRAL. A lottery would have awarded funds to around 2,400 out of about 5,500 applications.
Dive Insight:
Supporters of the program argued it provided options to those whose children weren't being adequately served by public schools and that its $10 million price tag would alleviate high costs per-pupil. However, those opposed saw the use of tax dollars on private schools as unconstitutional. Add in the fact that some schools were religious, thus blurring the separation of church and state, or had allegedly discriminatory admissions or lower standards and accountability compared to their public counterparts, and it's understandable why some feathers were ruffled — especially as concerns continue to grow among "reform" opposition regarding the privatization of public education.
