GOP targets public education for deep cuts

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http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-gop-targets-public-education-for-deep-cuts/Content?oid=1983597

January 26, 2011 News » North Carolina

In Room 643, the vast committee room on the top floor of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh, it was last rites for the Democratic Party's control of education policy in North Carolina. Both co-chairs of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee, Democrats Doug Yongue of Scotland County and Tony Foriest of Alamance County, had been swept from office in the Republican landslide Nov. 2, making the atmosphere close to funereal as the committee met briefly last week to wrap up its business. "Real changes in the way we do business," Sen. Foriest said, will be coming under Republican control. snip

That's the idea behind the Republican push for more charter schools and for supplying vouchers in the form of tax credits to parents who send their children to private K–12 schools.

Neither idea, however, will save much money, and in fact, any voucher plan would cost additional funds if students already in private schools or being homeschooled were eligible, according to Brian Lewis, government relations chief for the N.C. Association of Educators.

Lewis maintains that voucher bills previously sponsored by Republican Rep. Paul (Skip) Stam of Wake County, ostensibly limited to students with "special needs," were loose enough that almost any homeschooling parent could've made the case that his or her child was special—and eligible. Stam has said that his legislation would save the state money by helping parents pay to transfer their expensive special-needs kids from public schools to private ones.