NC court won't free tax money to private schools
A North Carolina appeals court is rejecting an effort by a pair of parents to reverse a judge who last month blocked a new law that would have allowed taxpayer money to go for tuition at private or religious schools.
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The state Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied the request by parents Cynthia Perry and Gennell Curry, who joined the case arguing their children would benefit by the grants that opponents call vouchers. State attorneys are separately defending the law passed last summer.
The appeals court's decision means the program remains suspended until a trial or other appeals judges reverse the hold.
A judge blocked the grants in February, days before a lottery to pick 2,400 students who would receive up to $4,200 toward private school tuition next fall.
Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, said he was disappointed by the Court of Appeals ruling but remains confident that vouchers will be approved eventually.
"I believe that the program and, more importantly, the parents who applied for this program from across the state will ultimately prevail," Allison said in a statement. "There are valid reasons why these parents have applied in such strong numbers, and it is because the current public schools that they are assigned to are not adequate. We must as a state do better for these parents, and we must do so now."
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