Equal Opportunity Scholarships are means-tested scholarships provided to children from working class families. These families, who fall between 175 and 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, are eligible to use the state funding set aside for their children’s education to send them to the K-12 public or private school of their choice.

Eight states, Washington D.C. and Douglas County, Colorado currently have equal opportunity scholarship programs. Six states have means-tested programs, including the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program which started in 1990 and is the oldest parental school choice program in the nation.

These programs have been found to:

Improve School Discipline
According to a study by Stanford University, parents and students who have received scholarships report less fighting, cheating, property destruction and other forms of disruption than do the parents and students who are in public schools.

Increase Graduation Rates
Studies have found that students participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program were 20 percent more likely to graduate from high school.

Improve Public School Performance
Eighteen empirical studies over the past ten years show these programs have improved the academic achievement of both the students who transferred to private schools and those who remained in public schools. These studies have been conducted by researchers from institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank to Harvard University.

North Carolina has an educational crisis

An Equal Opportunity Scholarship Program would provide scholarships to students from working class families to attend private schools that can address their various academic challenges. Children from working class families suffer the brunt of educational achievement gaps, high suspension/expulsion rates and high dropout rates.

Achievement Gaps

Economically disadvantaged children are falling behind in reading and math in North Carolina’s traditional public schools. Below is a chart illustrating the achievement gap in North Carolina’s seven most populous counties. This chart, based on 2010-11 numbers from the state Department of Public Instruction, illustrates that this is a statewide epidemic, not a simple problem relegated to a few minor school districts.

Simply put, socioeconomically disadvantaged children are approximately 30% less likely to be proficient in reading and mathematics.

 

Suspension/Expulsion Rates

North Carolina currently ranks third in the nation in the percentage of students suspended and expelled, according to recent numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Short-term suspensions are for less serious offenses and can last up to 10 days. Long-term suspensions last from a minimum of 11 days to a maximum of the days remaining in the school year.

The number of black students and white students receiving short-term suspensions has declined from 2006-2011. However, there has been an increase in the number of Hispanic and Multi-Racial students receiving short-term suspensions during that same time period.

Though there has been a decrease in the number of suspensions for black students, they are still disproportionately represented among those suspended.

All groups have seen a decline in the number of long-term suspensions since 2006.

A study of school suspensions by the North Carolina Center for Child and Family Policy noted that it is important to consider the various reasons why this data may fluctuate from year to year. The study found that decreases and increases in the numbers or type of suspension might stem not only from changes in student behavior, but also how the offenses are classified or changes in policy.