Nearly half of NC’s local school boards sign on as plaintiffs in school voucher case; several also reject teacher contracts

Fifty-four school boards in North Carolina have now signed on to be plaintiffs in the NC School Board Association’s school voucher lawsuit, which calls into question the constitutionality of providing families with $4,200 annual taxpayer-funded scholarships to use at private schools. (See the end of this post for the full list.)

The North Carolina Association of Educators along with the North Carolina Justice Center also filed a lawsuit late last year seeking to block the school voucher legislation.

On February 1, the NC State Education Assistance Authority began accepting applications for school vouchers. Award notification will begin in March, unless an injunction filed by the NCAE is successful at halting the implementation of the program.

The NCAE has also filed a complaint against the new teacher contract system, which eliminates tenure in exchange for temporary contracts.

With this new system that was put into law last summer, local school districts will award the top 25 percent of teachers with 4-year contracts that may come with $500 bonuses for each of those four years—as long as those teachers give up their tenure prior to 2018, when all teachers will lose it.

According to NCAE President Rodney Ellis, nine school districts have adopted resolutions rejecting the teacher contract system, including Durham, Caswell, Pitt, New Hanover, Cleveland, Alexander, Surry, Mt. Airy, and Iredell/Statesville.

This past weekend, Guilford County came close to adopting a resolution to opt out of the teacher contract system, but tabled that vote for Feb 11, at which time all members of the local school board would be present for a full vote.

It’s unclear what consequences local school districts face if they fail to comply with state law and participate in the teacher contract system.

Plaintiffs that have signed on to join NCSBA’s school voucher lawsuit:

1. Alamance-Burlington Board of Education
2. Alexander County Board of Education
3. Asheboro City Board of Education
4. Camden County Board of Education
5. Catawba County Board of Education
6. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Board of Education
7. Chatham County Board of Education
8. Cleveland County Board of Education
9. Columbus County Board of Education
10. Craven County Board of Education
11. Currituck County Board of Education
12. Davidson County Board of Education
13. Durham Public Schools Board of Education
14. Edenton-Chowan Board of Education
15. Edgecombe County Board of Education
16. Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Board of Education
17. Gates County Board of Education
18. Graham County Board of Education
19. Halifax County Board of Education
20. Harnett County Board of Education
21. Hertford County Board of Education
22. Hoke County Board of Education
23. Hyde County Board of Education
24. Jackson County Board of Education
25. Jones County Board of Education
26. Kannapolis City Board of Education
27. Lee County Board of Education
28. Lenoir County Board of Education
29. Lexington City Board of Education
30. Macon County Board of Education
31. Martin County Board of Education
32. Moore County Board of Education
33. Mount Airy City Board of Education
34. Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education
35. Newton-Conover City Board of Education
36. Northampton County Board of Education
37. Onslow County Board of Education
38. Orange County Board of Education
39. Pamlico County Board of Education
40. Person County Board of Education
41. Pitt County Board of Education
42. Polk County Board of Education
43. Roanoke Rapids Board of Education
44. Rockingham County Board of Education
45. Rutherford County Board of Education
46. Scotland County Board of Education
47. Stanly County Board of Education
48. Surry County Board of Education
49. Transylvania County Board of Education
50. Vance County Board of Education
51. Warren County Board of Education
52. Washington County Board of Education
53. Whiteville City Board of Education
54. Yancey County Board of Education