By Galen Bacharier and Ahmed Jallow

NC Newsline

Republicans in the North Carolina Senate voted to fully fund private school vouchers on Monday, advancing a budget plan negotiated by top leaders for months over the objections of Democrats.

The “mini-budget” fully funds the Opportunity Scholarships program and is set to eliminate a waitlist of around 54,000 students who have sought vouchers to attend private schools.

The legislation also includes a measure requiring cooperation between North Carolina sheriffs and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And it provides new money for Medicaid, rural broadband internet, and enrollment growth in public schools and community colleges.

The additional funding for vouchers, which was at the core of continued budget negotiations among Republican leaders, totals $5 billion over the next decade.

“The emphasis that we have placed around scholarships is giving parents more of a say in their child’s education,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) told reporters after the vote.

Democrats in the Senate railed against the plan during floor debate Monday, calling it a misuse of taxpayer resources that prioritizes wealthier families over low-income students and districts.

Sen. Graig Meyer (D-Orange) called the vouchers “fool’s gold.” And Sen. Michael Garrett (D-Guilford) said it was “immoral” and “a betrayal of this state’s values.”

“It’s a brazen attempt to subsidize the education of the wealthy at the expense of our most vulnerable children,” Garrett said. “Children. It’s Robin Hood, but in reverse.”

Berger defended the plan against those charges, arguing that Democrats “want to totally ignore the wishes and desires of parents, and particularly those lower-income parents who are really stuck in some of the worst schools in the state of North Carolina.”

The budget package, which was made a part of a “conference committee substitute” for House Bill 10 — a measure that had previously been dealt only with immigration enforcement — passed the Senate in a 27-17 vote. It now moves to the House, where a Republican majority is expected to approve it.

NC sheriffs required to honor ICE detainer requests

The conference committee substitute still includes the immigration enforcement language. Currently, North Carolina law requires sheriffs to determine the legal status of people they arrest and notify ICE. However, sheriffs are not obligated to honor ICE “detainer” requests, which ask them to hold individuals believed to be in the country illegally for up to 48 hours while federal agents pick them up. If the new version of HB 10 becomes law, all 100 sheriffs in the state will be required to notify ICE if they are unable to determine the legal status of a person charged with certain high-level offenses. The bill would also compel sheriffs to honor ICE requests to detain individuals suspected of being in the country illegally for up to 48 hours.

“This bill does not round folks up who are not charged with crimes. This bill does not send law enforcement to the homes of folks who are not charged with crimes,” said Sen. Danny Britt R-Hoke County. “What this does is it says, if an individual is locked up for a certain violent crimes, violent felonies and violent misdemeanors, that individual must be held by their Sheriff for at least 48 hours prior to being released. That’s all this bill does.”

Immigrant and civil rights advocates, along with some sheriffs, have long opposed the mandate, arguing that it will discourage cooperation between immigrant communities and local law enforcement.  

“We cannot ignore the profound harm HB 10 will cause,” said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, president of El Centro Hispano, an advocacy organization focused on the Latino community in North Carolina. “This bill not only strips away immigrant rights but also destroys the trust between law enforcement and our community,” Rocha-Goldberg said during a press conference this morning before the Senate vote.

The press conference, held in front of the Legislative Building, was organized by El Colectivo NC, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups in the state.

“Let’s be clear: these are our neighbors that are being attacked and targeted,” said Sen. Natalie Murdock D-Durham. “Overwhelmingly working people that are paying their taxes, simply getting up every day trying to support our families.”

Rep. Marcia Morey D-Durham and Renée A. Price D-Orange County also attended the press conference.

North Carolina Sen. Natalie Murdock (D-Durham) speaks during a rally opposing legislation that would mandate cooperation between North Carolina sheriffs and federal immigration officers ahead of a planned Senate vote on Sept. 9, 2024 in Raleigh. (Photo: Galen Bacharier)

North Carolina teachers criticize vouchers ahead of vote: ‘Who is this for?’

A panel of North Carolina teachers criticized the Opportunity Scholarships program ahead of the Senate vote Monday morning, as they described their schools as underfunded and understaffed.

“This is not a bill that’s going to try to promote equity in some way,” said Keegan Storrs, a teacher at NC School of Science and Math in Durham and the 2022 North Carolina Charter Schools Teacher of the Year.

“This is a measure that is going to help resegregate our North Carolina schools, leaving the ones with the fewest resources with the fewest resources in the end,” Storrs said.

The group of educators, which included elementary school teachers and administrators, was organized by Sen. Jay Chaudhuri (D-Wake). Speakers said money flowing to private schools through the program would exacerbate struggles to staff public classrooms and educate students.

Keegan Storrs (left), a teacher at NC School of Science and Math in Durham, and Eugenia Floyd, a teacher at Mary Scroggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill, discuss public school funding and concerns ahead of a vote to fund school vouchers on Sept. 9, 2024 in Raleigh. (Photo: Galen Bacharier)

Eugenia Floyd, a teacher at Mary Scroggs Elementary in Chapel Hill and the 2021 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, questioned whether those receiving vouchers through the program truly represented the state’s population.

“One of the things I knew to be true was no one was knocking on my door to see if I can go to the private school … in my area,” said Floyd, who grew up in a Chapel Hill trailer park.

“Who is this for?” she added. “Is this really for kids that grow up like me?”

Galen Bacharier covers North Carolina politics and government for NC Newsline. Reporter Ahmed Jallow covers education as well as politics and elections.