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:
- Alamance-Burlington Board of Education
- Alexander County Board of Education
- Asheboro City Board of Education
- Camden County Board of Education
- Catawba County Board of Education
- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Board of Education
- Chatham County Board of Education
- Cleveland County Board of Education
- Columbus County Board of Education
- Craven County Board of Education
- Currituck County Board of Education
- Davidson County Board of Education
- Durham Public Schools Board of Education
- Edenton-Chowan Board of Education
- Edgecombe County Board of Education
- Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Board of Education
- Gates County Board of Education
- Graham County Board of Education
- Halifax County Board of Education
- Harnett County Board of Education
- Hertford County Board of Education
- Hoke County Board of Education
- Hyde County Board of Education
- Jackson County Board of Education
- Jones County Board of Education
- Kannapolis City Board of Education
- Lee County Board of Education
- Lenoir County Board of Education
- Lexington City Board of Education
- Macon County Board of Education
- Martin County Board of Education
- Moore County Board of Education
- Mount Airy City Board of Education
- Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education
- Newton-Conover City Board of Education
- Northampton County Board of Education
- Onslow County Board of Education
- Orange County Board of Education
- Pamlico County Board of Education
- Person County Board of Education
- Pitt County Board of Education
- Polk County Board of Education
- Roanoke Rapids Board of Education
- Rockingham County Board of Education
- Rutherford County Board of Education
- Scotland County Board of Education
- Stanly County Board of Education
- Surry County Board of Education
- Transylvania County Board of Education
- Vance County Board of Education
- Warren County Board of Education
- Washington County Board of Education
- Whiteville City Board of Education
- Yancey County Board of Education
