This week, Jason Simmons, Chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP), wrote in The Center Square about the stance of former Governor Roy Cooper on school choice in North Carolina.
Simmons argues that North Carolina was once recognized for its leadership in the school choice movement. He states that both major political parties previously supported expanding charter schools and educational options beyond traditional public schools. According to Simmons, this bipartisan support changed when “radical left Democrats led by former Gov. Roy Cooper broke North Carolina’s bipartisan agreement on school choice.”
He writes: “Only among the radical left is school choice a problem: history shows Democrats once agreed with giving children a fair shot at obtaining a quality education. That radical left is led by Cooper, who waged war on school choice as governor. In his lame duck year in office, he went so far as to call school choice an emergency on par with hurricane warnings and public health concerns.”
Simmons continues: “Cooper’s state of emergency sham was called ‘The Year of Public Schools’ – making no mention of parents or students.”
In his commentary, Simmons criticizes Cooper’s actions regarding Opportunity Scholarships. He states: “In nearly every budget cycle, Cooper zeroed out funding for Opportunity Scholarships, arguing the money going directly to families to escape a failing school should go elsewhere. Cooper and his Democrats misled the public about the source of funding: the General Assembly fully funded North Carolina’s public schools, increasing appropriations every year for over a decade. This is a shameful lie perpetuated by Cooper and the radical left.”
He also refers to national data showing low math and reading proficiency scores among students. Simmons claims: “Radical left Democrats nationally continue to defend the status quo while math and reading scores for 13-year-olds are at the lowest level in decades, 6 in 10 fourth graders and nearly three-quarters of eighth graders are not proficient in math, and 7 in 10 fourth and eighth graders are not proficient in reading, while 40% of fourth grade students don’t even meet basic reading levels.”
Concluding his remarks, Simmons says: “Democrats today firmly stand in the doorway between students and the education they deserve. It’s no wonder, then, why Roy Cooper wants to join Randi Weingarten and his fellow radical left activists in Washington.”
