Funds Being Drained From Public to Private Schools

Good Day -

It has been a week, and we hope that your week has gone well. Take a moment if you have not yet, to appreciate what you have. Take a moment to appreciate your life. Enjoy your morning brew.

Cheers ☕

The “Opportunity” Scholarship

In North Carolina, the state legislature cleared the way to fully fund the state’s private school voucher program, the Opportunity Scholarship. $248 million is being infused into the fund, and if signed off by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, it will clear up the backlog of 55,000 students and families. Governor Cooper is expected to Veto the bill, but because the House and Senate are majority Republican, they will have the votes to override the veto.

To be clear, the $248 million in taxpayer money, based on an analyst by the Office of State Budget and Management, would mean a $100 million decrease in public school funding if/when the bill is passed.

How much a family receives from the Opportunity Fund depends on which “tier” they are in. The following tiers are:

Tier 1: A family of 4 with a maximum household income of $57,720. These students will receive the maximum amount of $7,468.

Tier 2: A family of 4 with a maximum household income of $115,440. These students will receive $6,722.

Tier 3: A family of 4 with a maximum household income of $259,740. These students will receive $4,480.

Tier 4: This is for everyone else above the income threshold. They will receive $3,360.

The numbers used are based on a family of 4, but the fund can accommodate up to a 12-person household. You can see the rest of the breakdown here.

What does this mean for public schools in North Carolina? As has been going on in other parts of the country, when money gets diverted away from the public school systems, schools will eventually have to shut down. As of right now, there isn’t a catastrophic breakdown in the public school system, but the siphoning of money from public schools to private schools as well as charter schools can be seen how it is affected in a state like Florida where Broward County Public Schools claimed to have more than 49,000 empty, classroom seats. This number matches the number of students, 49,833, who are attending charter schools around the area. In Arizona, three Paradise Valley Unified School District schools closed due to low enrollment. One factor that is said to lead to the drop is the voucher program's impact, which allows students to attend private schools.

There will be a continuous attack on public schools, and it is understandable to acknowledge that our school system is and has failed many students. Sending students to private schools or charter schools is not the answer. People will cite how private schools send nearly 100% of their students to college but fail to highlight that most parents who send their kids to a private school have the means to provide for private tutors and other enrichment programs that might not be in the reach of families that have their child in public schools.

As a society, we can provide everything we need for our kids to succeed in public schools. Unfortunately, there is a loud minority that wants to continue to tear down this institute so that one day, the only options left are private, patriarchal schools that will cost more to send your kids to than what the average family household income is.

A Nationwide Problem

As we work on curating the news for each week, there has not been one week in which there has not been an incident of a bomb threat or some type of violence toward a school somewhere in the U.S. This is, unfortunately, something that happens a lot. I rarely, if ever, write about this. Yet, and more than likely because of what happened last week with the mass shooting in Apalachee High School, there has been an uptick in the number of threats against schools across the country.

• In Kentucky, at least 12 counties have received some threats, causing schools to shut down. A fifth grader at Summit View Academy in Independence, Kentucky, made terroristic threats on social media.

• Multiple schools in Springfield, Ohio, received bomb threats as well as threats to local city leaders that have stemmed from the false belief that the influx of Haitian immigrants is eating people’s pets.

• In Arizona, three teens were arrested for spreading false rumors about potential school and gun violence on campus. In Buckeye, a city just west of Phoenix, the police have received more than 300 reports from citizens concerned with the threats of school shootings.

• A 13-year-old at Griffin Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, was arrested after a loaded gun and cocaine were found in his backpack. In Tampa, a 15-year-old boy was arrested on school campus after being found in possession of a .45 caliber and a 9mm in their backpack — both loaded.

• In Nebraska, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the bathroom and is currently in critical condition. This was an isolated incident.

These are just a few of the incidents that occurred last week. If you were a parent considering sending your child to school in America, these incidents would undoubtedly raise serious concerns. This is not the norm in the rest of the developed world. The changes needed to ensure our schools are safe will not happen overnight, but they are urgently required. Parents should not have to fear for their child's safety when they send them to school.

The Final Minute

1. Portland Public Schools has adopted a new directive restricting political and personal displays in classrooms, sparking controversy and a formal grievance from the Portland Association of Teachers. The policy, which requires displays to be tied to approved curriculum or district-approved events, has been criticized as "unworkable, overly broad, and vague" by the teachers' union president. This move comes in the wake of a contentious incident involving teaching materials related to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which outraged some members of the local Jewish community. The situation highlights the ongoing tensions between academic freedom, political expression in schools, and the district's desire to maintain a neutral learning environment, raising questions about the balance between inclusivity and avoiding controversy in the classroom.

2. A small Pennsylvania town is in uproar over plans to convert an abandoned Civil War-era school into a shelter for migrant families, with residents and lawmakers vowing to stop what they're calling a "foreign invasion." The proposal, put forth by disaster response company USA Up Star, aims to repurpose the former Scotland School for Veterans Children in Franklin County into a "shelter for families seeking refuge," working in conjunction with the federal government. Despite the Greene Township Board of Supervisors denying the request based on zoning laws, the possibility of an appeal has sparked immediate outrage, with locals packing a township board meeting to voice concerns about unvetted migrants coming into their town. Republican state lawmakers Rep. Rob Kauffman and Sen. Doug Mastriano have joined the opposition, stating the facility's proposed usage would "irreparably change Greene Township" and vowing to defend the county from what they view as an invasion from the southern border.

3. A tragic incident unfolded at Bell's Crossing Elementary in Simpsonville, South Carolina, when 8-year-old Lionel Ramirez Cervantes ran away from his classroom and was later found dead in a nearby pond. School officials reported that Lionel, who may have had autism or another developmental disorder, bolted from a classroom with three staff members present, ran through or over a fence, and disappeared into a field with high grass, prompting an immediate search by police, school staff, and community members. After a four-hour search, divers discovered Lionel's body in a neighborhood pond about 1,000 feet from the school, with the coroner later determining the cause of death as accidental drowning, leaving the school and community devastated and prompting an investigation into how the child managed to leave school grounds.

4. At San Pedro High School in Los Angeles, millions of fossilized bones from various sea creatures were unearthed, representing an entire ocean ecology from 9 million years ago. The excavation, which began in June 2022 and continued through June 2024, revealed a diverse array of marine life, including fish, sea mammals, sea turtles, shorebirds, and various plant species. Dr. Austin Hendy, assistant curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, suggests that the site likely represents a submarine channel that carried material from shallow to deeper waters, with evidence of nearby volcanic activity. The discovery has not only excited researchers, who have identified 200 species so far, but also provided unique opportunities for students like Milad Esfahani, who seized the chance to intern at the Natural History Museum and contribute to this remarkable find.

Closing Bell

On this day in 1835

Charles Darwin landed on the Galapagos Island. This experience led to Darwin writing “On the Origin of Species” which would go on to help define natural selection, paving a way to a better understanding of evolutionary biology.