It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and NC Republicans just passed a bill diverting taxpayer money from public schools to a private school voucher program

Teacher Appreciation Week ends Friday and North Carolina Republicans could have shown their appreciation for our public school educators this week in many ways. But, they didn’t.

Instead, they basked in the afterglow of pushing a bill through the Senate last week that takes taxpayer money intended for public schools and shifts it into a private school voucher program. That program allows wealthy families to send their children to private schools on the taxpayers’ dime. Republicans will put an extra $463 million into the program, bringing the total funding to more than $625 million this year.

Gov. Roy Cooper said earlier this week that the money Republicans are spending on the private school voucher program would be enough to pay for 8.5% average raises and $1,500 bonuses for most public school teachers in the state. In addition, it would restore extra pay for teachers with advanced degrees, plus employ hundreds of new teaching assistants, nurses, counselors and psychologists in public schools.

“This latest larceny — and that’s what it is — is on top of the hundreds of millions in taxpayer money they’ve already siphoned out of our public schools for vouchers,” Cooper said. “It’s shockingly irresponsible. If they tell you they don’t have the money, that’s wrong. This is all about priorities.”

What many North Carolinians see as priorities, such as good public schools and teachers who get paid what they deserve, are not priorities for the Republican legislative supermajority.

North Carolina Republicans prioritize themselves and their wealthy friends and donors over the people who actually vote for them. As Cooper pointed out this week, private school choices are quite limited in the most rural parts of the state, making you wonder who benefits from the legislation if it’s not the kids.

“Maybe the most confounding mystery is why so many rural legislators vote to take taxpayer money out of their own public schools and send it to the large number of private schools in the city?” Cooper said.