In a release from the Republican Caucus Tuesday, leaders explained a proposal that would bridge the gap in private school funding in the years between preschool and college.

The bill is in draft form and not yet ready for introduction.

From their press release:
About 200,000 North Carolinians receive their education at private institutions. In most cases they pay twice – taxes and tuition. North Carolina already has private school choice – at the preschool level and the college level. 

The Smart Start Initiative backs a wide variety of purchases for private services, not just for children of low-income families.  An analysis done by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation1, listed on the Partnership’s website as the chief private donor to Smart Start show that most states use vouchers as part of their standard policy.  This statewide non-profit has received $2,280.2 Billion2 in funding from the taxpayers.

At the college level, the State has provided private education vouchers in the form of Legislative Tuition Grants3 for more than 35 years.  For every North Carolina student who attends an in-state private institution, the taxpayers spend $1,950, compared to spending $12,282 to send that same student to the University of North Carolina. (In addition the state provides financial aid for private colleges to fund scholarships.)

Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake), along with Reps. Danny McComas (R-New Hanover), Ric Killian (R-Mecklenburg) and Jeff Barnhart (R-Cabarrus) have filed HB 335 – Tax Fairness in Education – to provide a $2,500/year credit for K-12 private education.  This would save the state $13 million to $35 million per year and save local governments $9 million to $25 million per year.

A proposal will also be introduced by Reps. Paul Stam, Laura Wiley (R-Guilford) and Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkes) to give tax credit to parents of children with special needs.  Fiscal Research projects yearly savings are between $1 million and $6 million for the state and $1 million to $5 million for counties.  The proposal provides that any savings would be returned to the public schools after the first year’s implementation costs of $2-8 million.  For each proposal there is a small first year cost because of the way we calculate ADM funding.

“We are being called to sacrifice.  I can not see why saving money while providing more educational choices for our students is not worth a try,” said Rep. Paul Stam.