NC School Voucher Fund Grows While Millions Of Dollars Are Left Unspent

Concerns are growing about state funds bolstering a school voucher program even as millions of dollars are being left unspent.    

About $10 million is being added annually to North Carolina's Scholarship Opportunity Program, which sends low-income children to private schools.

But The Charlotte Observer reports that the voucher program left almost $13 million on the table during its first three years.

Under current legislation, any money that remains unused for two years reverts to the state's General Fund.

Representative Craig Horn, the Republican chair of the House Education Appropriations Committee, says the practice needs to stop. 

He tells the paper the state “has gotten a little bit too exuberant in filling the demand” for vouchers.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted in January to ask the General Assembly to stop adding to the voucher fund.

An official with the program that administers the scholarships says the financial gap is actually much smaller when you account for administrative costs and a budgeting formula that holds back allocations for the following year.