North Carolina’s Supreme Court has denied a request to release private school voucher funds while they await an appeals decision regarding the constitutionality of the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Act.
A clerk to the Supreme Court confirmed that the request had been dismissed. State lawmakers, along with a handful of parents, had asked the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling allowing for the disbursement of vuochers to families who had already enrolled their children in private schools for 2014-15.
House Speaker Thom Tillis, Sen. Phil Berger and several families took their case to the N.C. Supreme Court after a three-judge Court of Appeals panel deemed the request was premature, in that it had been made before N.C. Appellate Court Judge Robert Hobgood’s written order had been issued.
Last last month, Hobgood ruled in favor of a group of educators and parents that the vouchers issued through the Opportunity Scholarship Act were unconstitutional because the program would funnel public money into private institutions.
Under the 2013 act , qualifying parents can receive up to $4,200 per year to be used toward private school tuition.
Statewide, 1,878 children were approved for vouchers this year, according to Elizabeth McDuffie of the N.C. Educational Assistance Authority (NCEAA), which is overseeing the voucher disbursements.
Eighteen of those students live in New Hanover County. Another five are in Brunswick County, and three reside in Pender County.
The NCEAA was set to send out disbursements totaling approximately $730,000 for 363 students two weeks ago, but Judge Hobgood’s injunction immediately halted that process.
The most recent injunction was the second mandated halt this year. An appeal to an earlier injunction was granted in May, allowing the NCEAA to move ahead with notifying parents.
Many who qualified, McDuffie said, enrolled their children in private schools this summer and are now unable to receive voucher disbursements.
The case will now return to the N.C. Court of Appeals.
See related story: Area private schools enrolling students despite legal battles over vouchers
Hilary Snow is a reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6341 or [email protected].
