Vouchers 2.0

Vouchers were just the beginning.

Vouchers paid private schools. Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) go directly to parents. ESAs are government debit cards loaded with tax dollars, spent on private school tuition, homeschool curriculum, tutoring, devices, therapies, whatever's approved.

North Carolina began our rollout in 2014. The Opportunity Scholarship voucher started small, expanded twice, and went universal in 2023. SB 990 and SB 1006, filed in Raleigh on April 30 by Republican senators, are the next steps: a new ESA pilot and the digital foundation for a full rollout.

We're following in the footsteps of Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and others. Following the best practices championed by ExcelinEd and the Heritage Foundation.

Every state that's gone all-in has blown past its first-year budget.

• Texas. $1 billion budgeted in 2025. Legislative Budget Board now projects $7.9 billion by 2031.
• Arizona. Sold to legislators at $65 million. Actual first-year cost: $738 million.
• Iowa, West Virginia, Utah. All three blew past their initial projections.
• ExcelinEd's own implementation guide warns states about underestimating the practical obstacles to launching and growing ESA programs.

Florida's allowable-expense disputes include kayaks, trampolines, theme-park tickets, and 65-inch TVs.

• Spending routes through private platform vendors. State agencies can't compel disclosure of household-level expenses.
• EdChoice estimates fraud at 0.3 percent of spending. That number is only what was caught and reported.
• Arizona: state-park passes filed as field trips.
• Florida: theme-park tickets, kayaks, trampolines, 65-inch TVs filed as classroom equipment.

Don't worry about standards.

Florida 8th-grade reading is at its lowest level since 1998.

• Florida launched the country's first voucher in 1999. Went universal in 2023.
• Eighth-grade reading: lowest level since 1998.
• Eighth-grade math: below 2003 levels.
• Four straight NAEP assessments: declining.
• ExcelinEd's chairman left Florida off his list of ‘success states’ when 2024 NAEP came back. He pointed to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee instead.

Helps move even more money out of public education.

• A school's costs don't shrink with enrollment. The buses still run. The buildings still need heat. Teachers are already under contract.
• A rural NC district that loses 50 of 500 students still has the same bills.
• Per-student cost rises for every kid who stayed.
• 80 of NC's 100 counties are rural. They have the least room to absorb the hit.

Approved even if you're already in private school.

The GRIFT Card isn't real yet. SB 990 and SB 1006 are.

I'm Andy Bowline, running for NC State Senate, District 31. Every state that has gone universal followed the same path. Idaho. Florida. Arizona. Iowa. Utah. Indiana. West Virginia. Pilot. Expand. Universal. NC is one step earlier on the same trajectory.