IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA

No. 372A14

Filed 23 July 2015

ALICE HART, RODNEY ELLIS, JUDY CHAMBERS, JOHN HARDING LUCAS, 

MARGARET ARBUCKLE, LINDA MOZELL, YAMILE NAZAR, ARNETTA 

BEVERLY, JULIE PEEPLES, W.T. BROWN, SARA PILAND, DONNA 

MANSFIELD, GEORGE LOUCKS, WANDA KINDELL, VALERIE JOHNSON, 

MICHAEL WARD, T. ANTHONY SPEARMAN, BRITTANY WILLIAMS, 

RAEANN RIVERA, ALLEN THOMAS, JIM EDMONDS, SASHA VRTUNSKI, 

PRISCILLA NDIAYE, DON LOCKE, and SANDRA BYRD, 

Plaintiffs

v.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA and NORTH CAROLINA STATE EDUCATION 

ASSISTANCE AUTHORITY, 

Defendants,

 and

CYNTHIA PERRY, GENNELL CURRY, TIM MOORE, and PHIL BERGER, 

Intervenor-Defendants

Appeal pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-27(b)(1) from an order and final judgment 

granting summary judgment and injunctive relief for plaintiffs entered on 28 August 

2014 by Judge Robert H. Hobgood in Superior Court, Wake County. On 10 October

2014, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-31(a) and (b)(2), and Rule 15(e)(2) of the North 

Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Supreme Court on its own initiative 

certified the case for review prior to determination in the Court of Appeals. Heard in 

the Supreme Court on 24 February 2015.

Patterson Harkavy LLP, by Burton Craige, Narendra K. Ghosh, and Paul E. 

Smith; and North Carolina Justice Center, by Carlene McNulty and Christine 

Bischoff, for plaintiff-appellees.
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Opinion of the Court

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Roy Cooper, Attorney General, by Lauren M. Clemmons, Special Deputy 

Attorney General, for defendant-appellants.

Institute for Justice, by Richard D. Komer, pro hac vice, Robert Gall, and Renée 

Flaherty, pro hac vice; and Shanahan Law Group, PLLC, by John E. Branch, 

III, for parent intervenor-defendant-appellants Cynthia Perry and Gennell 

Curry.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, by Noah H. Huffstetler III and 

Stephen D. Martin, for legislative officer intervenor-defendant-appellants Tim 

Moore and Phil Berger.

American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, by 

Christopher Brook, for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 

American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union of North 

Carolina Legal Foundation, Anti-Defamation League, Baptist Joint Committee 

for Religious Liberty, and Interfaith Alliance Foundation, amici curiae.

Liberty, Life, and Law Foundation, by Deborah J. Dewart; Thomas C. Berg, pro 

hac vice, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota); and Christian 

Legal Society, by Kimberlee Wood Colby, pro hac vice, for Christian Legal 

Society; North Carolina Christian School Association; Roman Catholic Diocese 

of Charlotte, North Carolina; Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, North 

Carolina; North Carolina Family Policy Council; Liberty, Life, and Law 

Foundation; Association of Christian Schools International; American 

Association of Christian Schools; and National Association of Evangelicals, 

amici curiae.

Jane R. Wettach for Education Scholars and Duke Children’s Law Clinic, amici 

curiae.

Tin Fulton Walker & Owen, by Luke Largess; and National Education 

Association, by Philip Hostak, pro hac vice, for National Education Association, 

amicus curiae.

UNC Center for Civil Rights, by Mark Dorosin, Managing Attorney, and 

Elizabeth Haddix, Senior Staff Attorney, for North Carolina Conference of the 

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, amicus curiae.

Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A., by Richard A. Vinroot and Matthew F. 

Tilley, for Pacific Legal Foundation, amicus curiae.
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Opinion of the Court

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MARTIN, Chief Justice.

When assessing a challenge to the constitutionality of legislation, this Court’s 

duty is to determine whether the General Assembly has complied with the 

constitution. If constitutional requirements are met, the wisdom of the legislation is 

a question for the General Assembly. E.g., In re Hous. Bonds, 307 N.C. 52, 57, 296 

S.E.2d 281, 284 (1982). In performing our task, we begin with a presumption that 

the laws duly enacted by the General Assembly are valid. Baker v. Martin, 330 N.C. 

331, 334, 410 S.E.2d 887, 889 (1991). North Carolina courts have the authority and 

responsibility to declare a law unconstitutional,1 but only when the violation is plain 

and clear. State ex rel. Martin v. Preston, 325 N.C. 438, 449, 385 S.E.2d 473, 478 

(1989). Stated differently, a law will be declared invalid only if its unconstitutionality 

is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt. Baker, 330 N.C. at 334-35, 410 S.E.2d at 

889.

In this case plaintiffs challenge the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which

allows a small number of students2 in lower-income families to receive scholarships

from the State to attend private school. According to the most recent figures

published by the Department of Public Instruction, a large percentage of economically 

 

1 See N.C. Const. art. IV, § 1; Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. 5 (1787) (recognizing the 

courts’ power of judicial review and declaring unconstitutional an act of the legislature 

infringing upon the right to a trial by jury).
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disadvantaged students in North Carolina are not grade level proficient with respect 

to the subjects tested on the State’s end-of-year assessments.

3 Disagreement exists 

as to the innovations and reforms necessary to address this and other educational 

issues in our state. Our state and country benefit from the debate between those with 

differing viewpoints in this quintessentially political dialogue. Such discussions 

inform the legislative process. But the role of judges is distinguishable, as we neither 

participate in this dialogue nor assess the wisdom of legislation. Just as the 

legislative and executive branches of government are expected to operate within their 

constitutionally defined spheres, so must the courts. See In re Alamance Cty. Court 

Facils., 329 N.C. 84, 94, 405 S.E.2d 125, 130 (1991) (“Just as the inherent power of 

the judiciary is plenary within its branch, it is curtailed by the constitutional 

definition of the judicial branch and the other branches of government.”).4 Our 

constitutionally assigned role is limited to a determination of whether the legislation 

 

2 In the first year of the Opportunity Scholarship Program, 2300 students were 

selected to participate. The average daily membership in our State’s public and charter 

schools is approximately 1.5 million students. N.C. Dep’t of Pub. Instruction, Facts and 

Figures 2012-13, http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/docs/fbs/resources/data/factsfigures/2012-

13figures.pdf (last visited July 21, 2015) (reporting a combined average daily membership of 

1,492,793 in public and charter schools during calendar year 2012-13).

3 N.C. Dep’t of Pub. Instruction, 2013-14 School Report Cards, NC School Report 

Cards, http://www.ncpublicschools.org/src/ (last visited July 21, 2015).

4 This foundational principle of constitutional law is well established in North 

Carolina. See N.C. Const. art I, § 6 (“The legislative, executive, and supreme judicial powers 

of the State government shall be forever separate and distinct from each other.”); see also id.

art. II (describing the legislative sphere of authority); id. art. III (describing the executive 

sphere of authority); id. art. IV (describing the judicial sphere of authority).
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is plainly and clearly prohibited by the constitution. Because no prohibition in the 

constitution or in our precedent forecloses the General Assembly’s enactment of the 

challenged legislation here, the trial court’s order declaring the legislation 

unconstitutional is reversed.

* * *

I

Under the provisions of the Opportunity Scholarship Program,

5 the State 

Educational Assistance Authority (the Authority) makes applications available each 

year “to eligible students for the award of scholarship grants to attend any nonpublic 

school.” N.C.G.S. § 115C-562.2(a) (2014). An “[e]ligible student” is defined as “a 

student who has not yet received a high school diploma” and who, in addition to 

meeting other specified criteria, “[r]esides in a household with an income level not in 

excess of one hundred thirty-three percent (133%) of the amount required for the 

student to qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program.” Id. § 115C-

 

5 The Opportunity Scholarship Program was ratified by the General Assembly and 

signed into law by the Governor in July 2013 as part of the “Current Operations and Capital 

Improvements Appropriations Act of 2013”—the State’s budget bill for fiscal years 2013-14 

and 2014-15. Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2013, ch. 

360, sec. 8.29, 2013 N.C. Sess. Laws 995, 1064-69. The program was amended in August of 

2014 to its present form, The Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations 

Act of 2014, ch. 100, sec. 8.25, 2013 N.C. Sess. Laws (Reg. Sess. 2014) 328, 371-73, and is 

codified as amended in Part 2A to Article 39 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, 

N.C.G.S. §§ 115C-562.1 through -562.7 (2013 & Supp. 2014).
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Opinion of the Court

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562.1(3) (2013). A “[n]onpublic school” is any school that meets the requirements of 

either Part 1 (“Private Church Schools and Schools of Religious Charter”) or Part 2 

(“Qualified Nonpublic Schools”) of Article 39 of Chapter 115C of the General Statutes. 

Id. § 115C-562.1(5) (2013).

The Authority awards scholarships to the program’s applicants, with 

preference given first to previous scholarship recipients, and then to students in 

lower-income families and students entering kindergarten or the first grade. Id.

§ 115C-562.2(a). Subject to certain restrictions, students selected to participate in 

the program may receive a scholarship grant of up to $4,200 to attend any nonpublic 

school. Id. § 115C-562.2(b) (2014). Once a student has been selected for the program 

and has chosen a school to attend, the Authority remits the grant funds to the 

nonpublic school for endorsement, and the parent or guardian “restrictively 

endorse[s] the scholarship grant funds awarded to the eligible student to the 

nonpublic school for deposit into the account of [that] school.” Id. § 115C-562.6 (2013).

A nonpublic school that accepts a scholarship recipient for admission must 

comply with the requirements of N.C.G.S. § 115C-562.5(a), which include: 

(1) providing the Authority with documentation of the tuition and fees charged to the 

student; (2) providing the Authority with a criminal background check conducted on 

the highest ranking staff member at the school; (3) providing the parent or guardian 

of the student with an annual progress report, including standardized test scores; 
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(4) administering at least one nationally standardized test or equivalent measure for 

each student in grades three or higher that measures achievement in the areas of 

English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics; (5) providing the Authority 

with graduation rates of scholarship program students; and (6) contracting with a 

certified public accountant to perform a financial review for each school year in which

the nonpublic school accepts more than $300,000 in scholarship grants. Id. § 115C562.5(a)(1)-(6) (2014). Nonpublic schools enrolling more than twenty-five 

Opportunity Scholarship Program students must report the aggregate standardized 

test performance of the scholarship students to the Authority. Id. § 115C-562.5(c)

(2014). Furthermore, all nonpublic schools that accept scholarship program students 

are prohibited from charging additional fees based on a student’s status as a 

scholarship recipient, id. § 115C-562.5(b) (2014), and from discriminating with 

respect to the student’s race, color, or national origin, id. § 115C-562.5(c1) (2014); see 

also 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (2012). Nonpublic schools that fail to comply with these 

statutory requirements are ineligible to participate in the program. N.C.G.S. § 115C562.5(d) (2014).

The Opportunity Scholarship Program also subjects the Authority to certain 

reporting requirements. Each year, the Authority must provide demographic 

information and program data to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight 

Committee. Id. § 115C-562.7(b) (2014). The Authority is also required to select an 

independent research organization to prepare an annual report on “[l]earning gains 
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Opinion of the Court

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or losses of students receiving scholarship grants” and on the “[c]ompetitive effects 

on public school performance on standardized tests as a result of the scholarship 

grant program.” Id. § 115C-562.7(c) (2014). Following submission of these reports to 

the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and the Department of Public 

Instruction, “[t]he Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee shall review 

[the] reports from the Authority and shall make ongoing recommendations to the 

General Assembly as needed regarding improving administration and accountability 

for nonpublic schools accepting students receiving scholarship grants.” Id.

The Opportunity Scholarship Program is funded by appropriations from 

general revenues to the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina, 

which provides administrative support for the Authority. In fiscal year 2014-15, the 

General Assembly appropriated a total of $10,800,000 to the program.

II

On 11 December 2013, plaintiff Alice Hart and twenty-four other taxpayers 

filed a complaint in Superior Court, Wake County, challenging the constitutionality 

of the Opportunity Scholarship Program under the Constitution of North Carolina.6

 

6 Although plaintiffs generally represent a cross section of individuals who currently 

interact or have previously interacted with our state’s public schools, plaintiffs’ complaint in 

the present action was made in their capacity as taxpayers of the state.
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Plaintiffs’ amended complaint asserted five claims for relief, all of which 

presented facial challenges under the North Carolina Constitution. First, plaintiffs 

alleged that the Opportunity Scholarship Program “appropriates revenue paid by 

North Carolina taxpayers to private schools for primary and secondary education” in 

violation of Article IX, Sections 2(1) and 6, and Article I, Section 15. Second, plaintiffs 

alleged that the law “appropriates revenue paid by North Carolina taxpayers to 

private schools for the ostensible purpose of primary and secondary education 

without those funds being supervised by the Board of Education” in violation of 

Article IX, Section 5. Third, plaintiffs alleged that the law creates “a non-uniform 

system of schools for primary and secondary education” in violation of Article IX, 

Section 2(1). Fourth, plaintiffs alleged that in “transfer[ring] revenue paid by North 

Carolina taxpayers to private schools without any accountability or requirements 

ensuring that students will actually receive an education,” the law “does not 

accomplish any public purpose” in violation of Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7). Fifth, 

plaintiffs alleged that in “transfer[ring] revenue paid by North Carolina taxpayers to 

private schools that are permitted to discriminate against students and applicants on 

the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin,”

7 the law serves no public purpose 

and therefore violates Article V, Section 2(1), and Article I, Section 19. Plaintiffs 

 

7 Plaintiffs’ allegations concerning a nonpublic school’s ability to discriminate based 

on race, color, or national origin were rendered moot by the passage of N.C.G.S. § 115C562.5(c1). See ch. 100, sec. 8.25(d), 2013 N.C. Sess. Laws (Reg. Sess. 2014) at 371.
HART V. STATE

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requested a declaration that the scholarship program is unconstitutional under the 

challenged provisions, as well as a permanent injunction to prevent implementation 

and enforcement of the legislation.

On cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court entered an order and 

final judgment on 28 August 2014, allowing plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment

on all claims, denying defendants’ and intervenor-defendants’ motions for summary 

judgment,8 and declaring the Opportunity Scholarship Program unconstitutional on 

its face. The trial court permanently enjoined implementation of the Opportunity 

Scholarship Program legislation, including the disbursement of public funds.

Defendants appealed, and this Court, on its own initiative, certified the appeal 

for immediate review prior to a determination in the Court of Appeals.

9 For the 

following reasons, we reverse the trial court’s order and final judgment declaring the 

Opportunity Scholarship Program unconstitutional and dissolve the injunction 

preventing further implementation and enforcement of the challenged legislation.

 

8 For purposes of this opinion, we will refer to defendants and intervenor-defendants 

collectively as “defendants.”

9 We also certified the companion case of Richardson v. State, No. 384A14, for 

immediate review, which we decide today in a separate opinion.
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Opinion of the Court

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III

Defendants’ appeal from the trial court’s order and final judgment presents 

questions to this Court concerning the construction and interpretation of provisions

in the North Carolina Constitution.10 As the court of last resort in this state, we 

answer with finality “issues concerning the proper construction and application of 

North Carolina laws and the Constitution of North Carolina.” Preston, 325 N.C. at

449, 385 S.E.2d at 479 (citations omitted). Accordingly, our review of the 

constitutional questions presented is de novo. Piedmont Triad Reg’l Water Auth. v. 

Sumner Hills Inc., 353 N.C. 343, 348, 543 S.E.2d 844, 848 (2001); see Craig v. New 

Hanover Cty. Bd. of Educ., 363 N.C. 334, 337, 678 S.E.2d 351, 354 (2009).

In exercising our de novo review, we apply well-settled principles to assess the 

constitutionality of legislative acts. At the outset, the North Carolina Constitution is 

not a grant of power, but a limit on the otherwise plenary police power of the State. 

See, e.g., Preston, 325 N.C. at 448-49, 385 S.E.2d at 478. We therefore presume that 

a statute is constitutional, and we will not declare it invalid unless its 

unconstitutionality is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt. Baker, 330 N.C. at

334-35, 410 S.E.2d at 889; see also Preston, 325 N.C. at 449, 385 S.E.2d at 478 (stating 

that an act of the General Assembly will be declared unconstitutional only when “it 

[is] plainly and clearly the case” (quoting Glenn v. Bd. of Educ., 210 N.C. 525, 529-30, 

 

10 Plaintiffs have not presented any claims under the United States Constitution.
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187 S.E. 781, 784 (1936))). Next, when the constitutionality of a legislative act 

depends on the existence or nonexistence of certain facts or circumstances, we will 

presume the existence or nonexistence of such facts or circumstances, if reasonable, 

to give validity to the statute. In re Hous. Bonds, 307 N.C. at 59, 296 S.E.2d at 285

(citing Martin v. N.C. Hous. Corp., 277 N.C. 29, 44, 175 S.E.2d 665, 673 (1970)). 

Further, a facial challenge to the constitutionality of an act, as plaintiffs have 

presented here, is the most difficult challenge to mount successfully. Beaufort Cty. 

Bd. of Educ. v. Beaufort Cty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 363 N.C. 500, 502, 681 S.E.2d 278, 280 

(2009) (citations omitted). “We seldom uphold facial challenges because it is the role 

of the legislature, rather than this Court, to balance disparate interests and find a 

workable compromise among them.” Id. (citation omitted); see also Wash. State 

Grange v. Wash. State Republican Party, 552 U.S. 442, 450-51, 128 S. Ct. 1184, 1191 

(2008) (discussing why facial challenges are disfavored). Accordingly, we require the 

party making the facial challenge to meet the high bar of showing “that there are no 

circumstances under which the statute might be constitutional.” Beaufort Cty. Bd. of 

Educ., 363 N.C. at 502, 681 S.E.2d at 280 (citation omitted); see also United States v. 

Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745, 107 S. Ct. 2095, 2100 (1987) (“[T]he challenger must 

establish that no set of circumstances exists under which the [a]ct would be valid. 

The fact that the [act] might operate unconstitutionally under some conceivable set 

of circumstances is insufficient to render it wholly invalid . . . .”). It is through this 

lens of constitutional review that we begin our analysis in this case.
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A

The first question presented by defendants’ appeal is whether Article IX, 

Section 6 of the state constitution prohibits the General Assembly from appropriating 

tax revenues to the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which is not part of our public 

school system.

Defendants contend that Article IX, Section 6 should not be read as a limitation 

on the State’s ability to spend on education generally. In plaintiffs’ view, however, 

even when the General Assembly explicitly intends, as it did here, to appropriate 

money for educational scholarships to nonpublic schools, the plain text of Article IX, 

Section 6 prohibits that option and requires that any and all funds for education be 

appropriated exclusively for our public school system.

Entitled “State school fund,” Article IX, Section 6 provides:

The proceeds of all lands that have been or hereafter 

may be granted by the United States to this State, and not 

otherwise appropriated by this State or the United States; 

all moneys, stocks, bonds, and other property belonging to 

the State for purposes of public education; the net proceeds 

of all sales of the swamp lands belonging to the State; and 

all other grants, gifts, and devises that have been or 

hereafter may be made to the State, and not otherwise 

appropriated by the State or by the terms of the grant, gift, 

or devise, shall be paid into the State Treasury and, 

together with so much of the revenue of the State as may 

be set apart for that purpose, shall be faithfully 
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appropriated and used exclusively for establishing and 

maintaining a uniform system of free public schools.

N.C. Const. art. IX, § 6.

The manifest purpose of this section is to protect the “State school fund” in 

order to preserve and support the public school system, not to limit the State’s ability 

to spend on education generally. Section 6 accomplishes this purpose by identifying 

sources of funding for the State school fund and mandating that funds derived by the 

State from these sources be “faithfully appropriated for establishing and maintaining 

in this State a system of free public schools.” City of Greensboro v. Hodgin, 106 N.C. 

182, 186-87, 11 S.E. 586, 587-88 (1890) (quoting a previous version of the provision). 

The first four clauses of Section 6 identify non-revenue sources of funding, two of 

which appear to be mandatory and two of which appear to be within the discretion of 

the General Assembly to otherwise appropriate as it sees fit. The fifth clause (the 

revenue clause) states that a portion of the State’s revenue “may be set apart for that 

purpose”—meaning for the purpose of “establishing and maintaining a uniform 

system of free public schools.” This clause recognizes that the General Assembly may 

choose to designate a portion of the State’s general tax revenue as an additional

source of funding for the State school fund.

Thus, within constitutional limits, the General Assembly determines how 

much of the revenue of the State will be appropriated for the purpose of “establishing 

and maintaining a uniform system of free public schools.” Insofar as the General 
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Assembly appropriates a portion of the State’s general revenues for the public schools, 

Section 6 mandates that those funds be faithfully used for that purpose. Article IX, 

Section 6 does not, however, prohibit the General Assembly from appropriating 

general revenue to support other educational initiatives. See Preston, 325 N.C. at 

448-49, 385 S.E.2d at 478 (“All power which is not expressly limited by the people in 

our State Constitution remains with the people, and an act of the people through 

their representatives in the legislature is valid unless prohibited by that

Constitution.” (citations omitted)). Because the Opportunity Scholarship Program 

was funded from general revenues, not from sources of funding that Section 6 

reserves for our public schools, plaintiffs are not entitled to relief under this provision.

Faithful appropriation and use of educational funds was a very real concern to 

the framers of our constitution. Before the introduction of Article IX, Section 6 in the 

1868 Constitution, the Literary Fund, which was devoted to funding public education, 

was routinely threatened to be used during the Civil War to pay for other expenses 

and was almost completely depleted by the war’s end. See M.C.S. Noble, A History of 

the Public Schools of North Carolina 242-49, 272 (1930); Milton Ready, The Tar Heel 

State: A History of North Carolina 263 (2005). The framers of the 1868 Constitution 

sought to constitutionalize the State’s obligation to protect the State school fund. In 

so doing, our framers chose not to limit the State from appropriating general revenue 

to fund alternative educational initiatives. Plaintiffs’ arguments to the contrary are 

without merit.
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Given our disposition of plaintiffs’ claim under Article IX, Section 6, we agree 

with defendants that plaintiffs are likewise not entitled to relief under Article IX, 

Section 5. Under Article IX, Section 5, “[t]he State Board of Education shall supervise 

and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for 

its support.” N.C. Const. art. IX, § 5 (emphasis added). Because public funds may be 

spent on educational initiatives outside of the uniform system of free public schools, 

plaintiffs’ contention that funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program should 

have gone to the public schools—and therefore been brought under the supervision 

and administration of the State Board of Education—is without merit.

The final issue under Article IX presented by defendants’ appeal is whether

the Opportunity Scholarship Program legislation violates Article IX, Section 2(1). 

Under Section 2(1), “[t]he General Assembly shall provide by taxation and otherwise 

for a general and uniform system of free public schools, which shall be maintained at 

least nine months in every year, and wherein equal opportunities shall be provided 

for all students.” Id. art. IX, § 2(1). Plaintiffs contend that “[i]f the uniformity clause 

has any substance, it means that the State cannot create an alternate system of 

publicly funded private schools standing apart from the system of free public schools 

mandated by the Constitution.”

Plaintiffs’ characterization of the Opportunity Scholarship Program is 

inaccurate. The Opportunity Scholarship Program legislation does not create “an 
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Opinion of the Court

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alternate system of publicly funded private schools.” Rather, this legislation provides 

modest scholarships to lower-income students for use at nonpublic schools of their 

choice. Furthermore, we have previously stated that the uniformity clause requires 

that provision be made for public schools of like kind throughout the state. Wake 

Cares, Inc. v. Wake Cty. Bd. of Educ., 363 N.C. 165, 171-72, 675 S.E.2d 345, 350 

(2009). The uniformity clause applies exclusively to the public school system and 

does not prohibit the General Assembly from funding educational initiatives outside 

of that system. Accordingly, the Opportunity Scholarship Program does not violate 

Article IX, Section 2(1).

B

The next question presented by defendants’ appeal is whether the 

appropriation of general revenues to fund educational scholarships for lower-income 

students is for a public purpose under Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7).

Defendants contend that providing lower-income students the opportunity to 

attend private school “satisfies the State’s legitimate objective of encouraging the 

education of its citizens.” Defendants maintain that, in satisfying this objective, 

appropriations directed to the Opportunity Scholarship Program are made for a 

public purpose. Plaintiffs contend that the program does not accomplish a public 

purpose because the program appropriates taxpayer money for educational 
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scholarships to private schools without regard to whether the schools satisfy 

substantive education standards.

Under Article V, Section 2(1), “[t]he power of taxation shall be exercised in a 

just and equitable manner, for public purposes only, and shall never be surrendered, 

suspended, or contracted away.” N.C. Const. art. V, § 2(1). Under Article V, 

Section 2(7), “[t]he General Assembly may enact laws whereby the State, any county, 

city or town, and any other public corporation may contract with and appropriate 

money to any person, association, or corporation for the accomplishment of public 

purposes only.” Id. art. V, § 2(7). Because “[t]he power to appropriate money from

the public treasury is no greater than the power to levy the tax which put the money 

in the treasury,” we subject both legislative powers to the public purpose 

requirement. Mitchell v. N.C. Indus. Dev. Fin. Auth., 273 N.C. 137, 143, 159 S.E.2d 

745, 749-50 (1968).

At the outset, we note that “the fundamental concept underlying the public 

purpose doctrine” is that “the ultimate gain must be the public’s, not that of an 

individual or private entity.” Maready v. City of Winston-Salem, 342 N.C. 708, 719, 

467 S.E.2d 615, 622 (1996). Thus, in resolving challenges to legislative 

appropriations under the public purpose clause, this Court’s inquiry is discrete—we 

ask whether the legislative purpose behind the appropriation is public or private. See 

id. at 716, 467 S.E.2d at 620-21; Mitchell, 273 N.C. at 144, 159 S.E.2d at 750. If the 
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Opinion of the Court

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purpose is public, then the wisdom, expediency, or necessity of the appropriation is a 

legislative decision, not a judicial decision. See Maready, 342 N.C. at 714, 467 S.E.2d 

at 619. Accordingly, our public purpose analysis does not turn on whether the 

appropriation will, in the words of plaintiffs, “accomplish” a public purpose.

Likewise, sustaining a legislative appropriation under the public purpose 

clause does not require a concurrent assessment of whether other constitutional 

infirmities exist that might render the legislation unconstitutional. If the challenged 

appropriation is constitutionally infirm on other grounds, proper redress is under the 

applicable constitutional provisions, not the public purpose clause. Thus, plaintiffs’ 

contentions that the Opportunity Scholarship Program runs afoul of Article I, 

Sections 15 and 19, due to scholarships being remitted to allegedly “unaccountable”

schools or schools that discriminate on the basis of religion, are inapposite to the 

public purpose analysis.

11

Our inquiry under Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7), therefore, is whether the 

appropriations made by the General Assembly to fund the Opportunity Scholarship 

Program are for a public rather than private purpose. In addressing this question, 

we are mindful of the general proposition articulated by this Court over forty-five 

years ago: “Unquestionably, the education of residents of this State is a recognized 

 

11 The independent applicability of Article I, Sections 15 and 19, in this case is 

discussed in Part III(C) of our opinion.
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object of State government. Hence, the provision therefor is for a public purpose.” 

State Educ. Assistance Auth. v. Bank of Statesville, 276 N.C. 576, 587, 174 S.E.2d 551, 

559 (1970) (citing Jamison v. City of Charlotte, 239 N.C. 682, 696, 80 S.E.2d 904, 914 

(1954); Green v. Kitchin, 229 N.C. 450, 455, 50 S.E.2d 545, 549 (1948)).

In determining whether a specific appropriation is for a public purpose, “[t]he 

term ‘public purpose’ is not to be narrowly construed.” Madison Cablevision, Inc. v. 

City of Morganton, 325 N.C. 634, 646, 386 S.E.2d 200, 207 (1989) (citing Briggs v. 

City of Raleigh, 195 N.C. 223, 226, 141 S.E. 597, 599 (1928)). We have also specifically 

“declined to ‘confine public purpose by judicial definition[, leaving] “each case to be 

determined by its own peculiar circumstances as from time to time it arises.” ’ ” 

Maready, 342 N.C. at 716, 467 S.E.2d at 620 (alteration in original) (quoting Stanley 

v. Dep’t of Conservation & Dev., 284 N.C. 15, 33, 199 S.E.2d 641, 653 (1973)). Indeed, 

“[a] slide-rule definition to determine public purpose for all time cannot be 

formulated; the concept expands with the population, economy, scientific knowledge, 

and changing conditions.” Id. (quoting Mitchell, 273 N.C. at 144, 159 S.E.2d at 750). 

Although the initial determination of the General Assembly in passing the law is 

given “great weight” by this Court, Madison Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 644-45, 386 

S.E.2d at 206, “the ultimate responsibility for the public purpose determination rests, 

of course, with this Court,” id. at 645, 386 S.E.2d at 206. “[T]wo guiding principles 

have been established for determining that a particular undertaking by [the State] is 

for a public purpose: (1) it involves a reasonable connection with the convenience and 
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-21-

necessity of the [State]; and (2) the activity benefits the public generally, as opposed 

to special interests or persons.” Maready, 342 N.C. at 722, 467 S.E.2d at 624 (quoting 

Madison Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 646, 386 S.E.2d at 207 (citations omitted)).

“As to the first prong, whether an activity is within the appropriate scope of 

governmental involvement and is reasonably related to communal needs may be 

evaluated by determining how similar the activity is to others which this Court has 

held to be within the permissible realm of governmental action.” Id.; see also Green 

v. Kitchin, 229 N.C. 450, 455, 50 S.E.2d 545, 549 (1948) (“A tax or an appropriation 

is certainly for a public purpose if it is for the support of government, or for any of the 

recognized objects of government.” (citations omitted)). Here, the provision of 

monetary assistance to lower-income families so that their children have additional 

educational opportunities is well within the scope of permissible governmental action 

and is intimately related to the needs of our state’s citizenry. See State Educ. 

Assistance Auth., 276 N.C. at 587, 174 S.E.2d at 559 (“Unquestionably, the education 

of residents of this State is a recognized object of State government.”); see also Rowan 

Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 332 N.C. 1, 10, 418 S.E.2d 648, 655 (1992) 

(“Education is a governmental function so fundamental in this state that our 

constitution contains a separate article entitled ‘Education.’ ”); Delconte v. State, 313 

N.C. 384, 401-02, 329 S.E.2d 636, 647 (1985) (“We also recognize that the state has a 

compelling interest in seeing that children are educated and may, constitutionally, 

establish minimum educational requirements and standards for this education.”).
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-22-

In State Education Assistance Authority v. Bank of Statesville, for example, we 

approved the use of revenue bond proceeds to “make loans to meritorious North 

Carolinians of slender means” for the purpose of “minimiz[ing] the number of 

qualified persons whose education or training is interrupted or abandoned for lack of 

funds.” 276 N.C. at 587, 174 S.E.2d at 559. Observing that “[t]he people of North 

Carolina constitute our State’s greatest resource,” we held that “bond proceeds are 

used for a public purpose when used to make such loans.” Id.

Similarly, in Hughey v. Cloninger we addressed the legality of an appropriation 

made by the Gaston County Board of Commissioners to a private school for dyslexic 

children. 297 N.C. 86, 88, 95, 253 S.E.2d 898, 900, 903 (1979). Although we held that 

the Board of Commissioners lacked statutory authority to make such an 

appropriation, we stated, albeit in obiter dictum, that had there been statutory 

authority, such an appropriation “would have presented no ‘public purpose’ 

difficulties as it is well established that both appropriations and expenditures of 

public funds for the education of the citizens of North Carolina are for a public 

purpose.” Id. at 95, 253 S.E.2d at 903-04. We therefore conclude that the 

appropriations made to the Opportunity Scholarship Program involve a “reasonable 

connection with the convenience and necessity of the [State].” Maready, 342 N.C. at 

722, 467 S.E.2d at 624 (quoting Madison Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 646, 386 S.E.2d at 

207).
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-23-

As to the second prong of the public purpose inquiry, whether “the activity 

benefits the public generally, as opposed to special interests or persons,” id. (quoting 

Madison Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 646, 386 S.E.2d at 207), “[i]t is not necessary, in 

order that a use may be regarded as public, that it should be for the use and benefit 

of every citizen in the community,” id. at 724, 467 S.E.2d at 625 (quoting Briggs, 195 

N.C. at 226, 141 S.E. at 599-600). “[A]n expenditure does not lose its public purpose 

merely because it involves a private actor. Generally, if an act will promote the 

welfare of a state or a local government and its citizens, it is for a public purpose.” 

Id.; see also State Educ. Assistance Auth., 276 N.C. at 588, 174 S.E.2d at 560 (“[T]he 

fact that the individual obtains a private benefit cannot be considered sufficient 

ground to defeat the execution of ‘a paramount public purpose.’ ” (quoting Clayton v. 

Kervick, 52 N.J. 138, 155, 244 A.2d 281, 290 (1968))).

The promotion of education generally, and educational opportunity in 

particular, is of paramount public importance to our state. Indeed, borrowing 

language from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, our constitution preserves the ethic 

of educational opportunity, declaring that “[r]eligion, morality, and knowledge being 

necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, libraries, and 

the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” N.C. Const. art. IX, § 1 

(emphasis added). Although the scholarships at issue here are available only to 

families of modest means, and therefore inure to the benefit of the eligible students 

in the first instance, and to the designated nonpublic schools in the second, the 
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-24-

ultimate beneficiary of providing these children additional educational opportunities

is our collective citizenry. Cf. Maready, 342 N.C. at 724, 467 S.E.2d at 625

(recognizing that an expenditure providing an “incidental private benefit” is for a 

public purpose if it serves “a primary public goal”). Accordingly, the appropriations 

made by the General Assembly for the Opportunity Scholarship Program were for a 

public purpose under Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7).

C

The next issue presented by defendants’ appeal concerns the independent 

applicability, if any, of Article I, Section 15 to plaintiffs’ claims. Article I, Section 15 

declares: “The people have a right to the privilege of education, and it is the duty of 

the State to guard and maintain that right.” N.C. Const. art. I, § 15. This 

constitutional provision states a general proposition concerning the right to the 

privilege of education, the substance of which is detailed in Article IX. Article I, 

Section 15 is not an independent restriction on the State. See generally John V. Orth 

& Paul Martin Newby, The North Carolina State Constitution 62-63 (2d ed. 2013).

Plaintiffs rely on Article I, Section 15 and Leandro v. State, 346 N.C. 336, 488 

S.E.2d 249 (1997), a case challenging the adequacy of public school funding, for the 

proposition that “public funds spent for education must go to institutions that will 

provide meaningful educational services—specifically, to institutions with a 

sufficient curriculum and competent teachers.” Because the Opportunity Scholarship 
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-25-

Program legislation does not require that participating nonpublic schools meet the 

sound basic education standard announced in Leandro, 346 N.C. at 347, 488 S.E.2d 

at 255, or impose regulatory standards approximating those placed on our public 

schools in Chapter 115C of the General Statutes, plaintiffs contend that the 

scholarship program accomplishes no public purpose and is constitutionally 

inadequate.12

As stated above, Article I, Section 15 has no effect on our disposition with 

respect to plaintiffs’ public purpose claim. In its order and final judgment, however, 

the trial court purported to grant independent relief to plaintiffs under Article I, 

Section 15, concluding that the Opportunity Scholarship Program legislation fails to 

“ ‘guard and maintain’ the right of the people to the privilege of education” by 

“appropriating taxpayer funds to educational institutions that are not required to 

meet educational standards” and by “expending public funds so that children can 

attend private schools.” To the extent that plaintiffs rely on Article I, Section 15 as 

 

12 Plaintiffs acknowledge that at least some nonpublic schools may be able to provide 

scholarship students a meaningful education. Even so, plaintiffs contend that “[t]he State 

has an affirmative obligation to ensure that public funds are used to accomplish a public 

purpose” and that, without built-in accountability standards, the State cannot ensure that 

the Opportunity Scholarship Program will accomplish its intended purposes as to each 

scholarship recipient. In making this argument, plaintiffs would require the State to 

demonstrate that the program operates constitutionally in all circumstances, rather than 

accepting the burden of showing that there is no set of circumstances under which the law 

could operate in a constitutional manner.
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-26-

an independent basis of relief, we agree with defendants that such reliance is 

misplaced.

It is axiomatic that the responsibility Leandro places on the State to deliver a 

sound basic education has no applicability outside of the education delivered in our 

public schools. In Leandro we stated that a public school education that “does not 

serve the purpose of preparing students to participate and compete in the society in 

which they live and work is devoid of substance and is constitutionally inadequate.” 

346 N.C. at 345, 488 S.E.2d at 254. We concluded that “Article I, Section 15 and

Article IX, Section 2 of the North Carolina Constitution combine to guarantee every 

child of this state an opportunity to receive a sound basic education in our public 

schools.” Id. at 347, 488 S.E.2d at 255 (emphases added). Thus, Leandro does not 

stand for the proposition that Article I, Section 15 independently restricts the State 

outside of the public school context.

Furthermore, our constitution specifically envisions that children in our state 

may be educated by means outside of the public school system. See N.C. Const. 

art. IX, § 3 (“The General Assembly shall provide that every child of appropriate age 

and of sufficient mental and physical ability shall attend the public schools, unless 

educated by other means.” (emphasis added)); see also Delconte, 313 N.C. at 385, 400-

01, 329 S.E.2d at 638, 646-47 (concluding that home school instruction did not violate 

compulsory attendance statutes and noting that a contrary holding would raise a 
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-27-

serious constitutional question under the North Carolina Constitution). Thus, even 

if Article I, Section 15 could serve as an independent basis of relief, there is no merit 

in the argument that a legislative program designed to increase educational 

opportunity in our state is one that fails to “guard and maintain” the “right to the 

privilege of education.”

The final issue presented by defendants’ appeal concerns plaintiffs’ Article I, 

Section 19 religious discrimination claim. Article I, Section 19 declares, in pertinent 

part, “[n]o person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any 

person be subjected to discrimination by the State because of race, color, religion, or 

national origin.” N.C. Const. art. I, § 19 (emphasis added). Plaintiffs couch their 

religious discrimination claim, both for justiciability purposes and with respect to the 

merits of the claim, in terms of the public purpose doctrine. In short, plaintiffs 

contend that the Opportunity Scholarship Program accomplishes no public purpose 

because it allows funding for educational scholarships to schools that may 

discriminate on the basis of religion. Again, our analysis of the public purpose 

doctrine made clear that Article I, Section 19, like Article I, Section 15, has no effect 

on our disposition with respect to plaintiffs’ public purpose claim.

With respect to the independent applicability of Article I, Section 19 as a standalone claim, defendants have maintained throughout this litigation that such a claim 

is not justiciable in this case because plaintiffs, as taxpayers of the state, lack
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-28-

standing. Specifically, defendants contend that plaintiffs have suffered no injury in 

fact because they are not in the class of persons against which the program allegedly 

discriminates. We agree and therefore hold that plaintiffs’ Article I, Section 19 claim 

must be dismissed.

Generally, “a taxpayer has standing to bring an action against appropriate 

government officials for the alleged misuse or misappropriation of public funds.” 

Goldston v. State, 361 N.C. 26, 33, 637 S.E.2d 876, 881 (2006). Yet, “[a] taxpayer, as 

such, does not have standing to attack the constitutionality of any and all legislation.” 

Nicholson v. State Educ. Assistance Auth., 275 N.C. 439, 447, 168 S.E.2d 401, 406 

(1969) (citations omitted). “[A] person who is seeking to raise the question as to the 

validity of a discriminatory statute has no standing for that purpose unless he belongs 

to the class which is prejudiced by the statute.” In re Martin, 286 N.C. 66, 75, 209 

S.E.2d 766, 773 (1974) (quoting 16 Am. Jur. 2d Constitutional Law § 123 (1964)). 

Here plaintiffs are taxpayers of the state, not eligible students alleged to have 

suffered religious discrimination as a result of the admission or educational practices 

of a nonpublic school participating in the Opportunity Scholarship Program. Because

eligible students are capable of raising an Article I, Section 19 discrimination claim 

on their own behalf should the circumstances warrant such action, plaintiffs have no 

standing to assert a direct discrimination claim on the students’ behalf.
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-29-

IV

“The General Assembly has the right to experiment with new modes of dealing 

with old evils, except as prevented by the Constitution.” Redev. Comm’n v. Sec. Nat’l

Bank of Greensboro, 252 N.C. 595, 612, 114 S.E.2d 688, 700 (1960); see also New State 

Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262, 311, 52 S. Ct. 371, 386-87 (1932) (Brandeis & 

Stone, JJ., dissenting) (indicating that an individual state may serve as a laboratory 

of democracy and experiment with new legislation in order to meet changing social 

and economic needs). In this case the General Assembly seeks to improve the 

educational outcomes of children in lower-income families. The mode selected by the 

General Assembly to effectuate this policy objective is the Opportunity Scholarship 

Program.

When, as here, the challenged legislation comports with the constitution, the 

wisdom of the enactment is a decision for the General Assembly. As this Court has 

previously recognized, “[i]t may be that the measure may prove eventually to be a 

disappointment, and is ill advised, but the wisdom of the enactment is a legislative 

and not a judicial question.” Sec. Nat’l Bank of Greensboro, 252 N.C. at 612, 114 

S.E.2d at 700. To the extent that plaintiffs disagree with the General Assembly’s 

educational policy decision as expressed in the Opportunity Scholarship Program, 

their remedy is with the legislature, not the courts. Our review is limited to a 

determination of whether plaintiffs have demonstrated that the program legislation 
HART V. STATE

Opinion of the Court

-30-

plainly and clearly violates our constitution. Plaintiffs have made no such showing 

in this case. Accordingly, the trial court erred in declaring the Opportunity 

Scholarship Program unconstitutional. We therefore reverse the trial court’s order 

and final judgment.

REVERSED.

Justice HUDSON dissenting.

Because the Opportunity Scholarship Program provides for the spending of 

taxpayer money on private schools without incorporating any standards for 

determining whether students receive a sound basic—or indeed, any—education, I 

conclude that the program violates the North Carolina Constitution in two respects.

As a result, I must respectfully dissent.

First, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (also known as the “voucher 

program”) violates the requirements of Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7) that public 

funds be spent for public purposes only. “The power of taxation shall be exercised in 

a just and equitable manner, for public purposes only, and shall never be 

surrendered, suspended, or contracted away.” N.C. Const. art. V, § 2(1). Additionally, 

“[t]he General Assembly may enact laws whereby the State, any county, city or town, 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-31-

and any other public corporation may contract with and appropriate money to any 

person, association, or corporation for the accomplishment of public purposes only.” 

Id. § 2(7). Second, in so doing, the spending authorized under the voucher program 

also violates Article I, Section 15, which states: “The people have a right to the 

privilege of education, and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that 

right.” Id. art. I, § 15. 

In its order the trial court includes the following among the “Undisputed 

Material Facts”:

4. Private schools that receive scholarship funds are (1) 

not required to be accredited by the State Board of 

Education or any other state or national institution; (2) not 

required to employ teachers or principals who are licensed 

or have any particular credentials, degrees, experience, or 

expertise in education; (3) not subject to any requirements 

regarding the curriculum that they teach; (4) not required 

to provide a minimum amount of instructional time; and 

(5) not prohibited from discriminating against applicants 

or students on the basis of religion. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 

115C-562.1 et seq.

. . . .

6. Of the 5,556 scholarship applicants, 3,804 

applicants identified 446 private schools they planned to 

attend. Of those 446 schools, 322 are religious schools and 

117 are independent schools. Of the 322 religious schools 

scholarship recipients planned to attend, 128 are 

accredited by some organization and 194 are not accredited 

by any organization. Of the 117 independent schools 

scholarship recipients planned to attend, 58 are accredited 

by some organization and 59 are not accredited by any 

organization. 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-32-

The trial court then reached the following conclusions of law, among others: 

3. The Court concludes from the record beyond a 

reasonable doubt that the [Opportunity Scholarship 

Program] Legislation funds private schools with taxpayer 

dollars as an alternative to the public school system in 

direct contravention of Article [I], Section[ ] 15 . . . and 

Article V, Sections 2(1) and (7) of the North Carolina 

Constitution. The legislation unconstitutionally

. . . .

b. appropriates public funds for education in a 

manner that does not accomplish a public purpose, 

in violation of Article V, Sections 2(1) and (7), in 

particular by appropriating funds to private primary 

and secondary schools without regard to whether 

these schools satisfy substantive educational 

standards: appropriating taxpayer funds to 

unaccountable schools does not accomplish a public 

purpose; 

. . . .

e. fails to “guard and maintain” the right of the 

people to the privilege of education in violation of 

Article I, Section 15 by appropriating taxpayer funds 

to educational institutions that are not required to 

meet educational standards, including curriculum 

and requirements that teachers and principals be

certified[.]

. . . .

4. The General Assembly fails the children of North 

Carolina when they are sent with taxpayer money to 

private schools that have no legal obligation to teach them 

anything. 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-33-

As noted above, these facts are undisputed, and in my view, these conclusions are 

correct. 

In Madison Cablevision, Inc. v. City of Morganton this Court articulated a twopart test for determining if a spending statute complies with the requirements of the 

North Carolina Constitution as found in Article V, Section 2(1), which is quoted above 

and known as the “public purpose” clause. 325 N.C. 634, 646, 386 S.E.2d 200, 207 

(1989). As noted by the majority, while “[t]he initial responsibility for determining 

what is and what is not a public purpose rests with the legislature” and “its 

determinations are entitled to great weight,” “the ultimate responsibility for the 

public purpose determination rests, of course, with this Court.” Id. at 644-45, 386 

S.E.2d at 206 (internal citations omitted). Further, in Stanley v. Department of 

Conservation and Development this Court articulated the following principle 

regarding public purpose expenditures: “In determining what is a public purpose the 

courts look not only to the ends sought to be attained but also ‘to the means to be 

used.’ ” 284 N.C. 15, 34, 199 S.E.2d 641, 653 (1973) (citations omitted), abrogated in

part on other grounds by Madison Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 647-48, 386 S.E.2d at 208, 

and superseded by constitutional amendment, N.C. Const. art V, §§ 2(7), 9. Therefore, 

I conclude that the majority’s assertion that “our public purpose analysis does not

turn on whether the appropriation will . . . ‘accomplish’ a public purpose” is contrary 

to our precedent. It is precisely this determination that we are called upon to 

undertake here. To that end, this Court has articulated “[t]wo guiding principles” for 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-34-

determining whether an expenditure of tax funds is for a public purpose. Madison 

Cablevision, 325 N.C. at 646, 386 S.E.2d at 207 (citations omitted) (involving 

operation of a public enterprise by a municipality). A governmental expenditure 

satisfies the public purpose clause if: “(1) it involves a reasonable connection with the 

convenience and necessity of the particular [jurisdiction], and (2) the activity benefits 

the public generally, as opposed to special interests or persons.” Id. 

Defendants assert, and I agree with the majority, that our courts have long 

held that education generally serves a public purpose. See, e.g., State Educ. 

Assistance Auth. v. Bank of Statesville, 276 N.C. 576, 587, 174 S.E.2d 551, 559 (1970) 

(“Unquestionably, the education of residents of this State is a recognized object of 

State government. Hence, provision therefor is for a public purpose.” (citations 

omitted)). I further agree with the majority that, in principle, “the provision of 

monetary assistance to lower-income families so that their children have greater 

educational opportunities is well within the scope of permissible governmental action 

and is intimately related to the needs of our state’s citizenry.” 

Nonetheless, I cannot agree that the spending of taxpayer funds on private 

school education through the Opportunity Scholarship Program here serves “public 

purposes only” as our constitution requires. N.C. Const. art. V, § 2(1). In Leandro v. 

State this Court concluded that “the right to education provided in the state 

constitution is a right to a sound basic education. An education that does not serve 

the purpose of preparing students to participate and compete in the society in which 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-35-

they live and work is devoid of substance and is constitutionally inadequate.” 346 

N.C. 336, 345, 488 S.E.2d 249, 254 (1997). We went on to say in Hoke County Board 

of Education v. State that a sound basic education should include an “effective 

instructional program” taught by “competent, certified, well-trained” teachers and led 

by “well-trained competent” principals. 358 N.C. 605, 636, 599 S.E.2d 365, 389 

(2004). Admittedly, this is the standard we have set for our public schools, not our 

private ones, and it is conceivable that we would set a less comprehensive substantive 

standard for private schools. However, a large gap opens between Leandro-required 

standards and no standards at all, which is what we have here. When taxpayer 

money is used, the total absence of standards cannot be constitutional. 

Before the legislature created the Opportunity Scholarship Program, taxpayer 

money had not been used to directly finance any part of a private school education. 

The expenditure of public taxpayer funds brings the Opportunity Scholarship 

Program squarely within the requirements of Article V, Sections 2(1) and 2(7). As 

the trial court noted, the schools that may receive Opportunity Scholarship Program 

money have no required teacher training or credentials and no required curriculum 

or other means of measuring whether the education received by students at these 

schools prepares them “to participate and compete in the society in which they live 

and work.” Leandro, 346 N.C. at 345, 488 S.E.2d at 254. As we have observed in 

State Education Assistance Authority v. Bank of Statesville, “[t]he people of North 

Carolina constitute our State’s greatest resource.” 276 N.C. at 587, 174 S.E.2d at 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-36-

559. Educating our citizens plants the seeds for their participation, and when we 

are able to reap the rewards of having an educated citizenry, we can see that our 

people are our greatest resource. See, e.g., Saine v. State, 210 N.C. App. 594, 604-05, 

709 S.E.2d 379, 388 (2011) (“Educating North Carolinians certainly promotes the 

welfare of our State, particularly at a time when unemployment is high and many 

jobs that have historically not required education beyond a high school diploma, or 

its equivalent, are rapidly disappearing.”). Therefore, while students enrolled in 

private schools may be receiving a fine education, if taxpayer money is spent on a 

private school education that does not prepare them to function in and to contribute 

to our state’s society, that spending cannot be for “public purposes only.” In my view, 

spending on private schools through the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which 

includes no means to measure the quality of the education, cannot satisfy the second 

prong of the Madison Cablevision test. The main constitutional flaw in this program 

is that it provides no framework at all for evaluating any of the participating schools’ 

contribution to public purposes; such a huge omission is a constitutional black hole 

into which the entire program should disappear. 

I am not persuaded by any of defendants’ arguments that the program, as 

created, contains standards that are constitutionally relevant or adequate. 

Defendants assert that “layers” of accountability standards are built into the 

Opportunity Scholarship Program. I find none of these arguments convincing. First, 

defendants argue that the “educational marketplace” will regulate the quality of the 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-37-

education provided by participating schools. Defendants assert that parents will not 

send their children to schools that do not provide a solid education or adequately 

prepare students for college or beyond. This may be true, but marketplace standards 

are not a measure of constitutionality. To the contrary, this Court must insulate 

constitutional standards from the whims of the marketplace. See Maready v. City of 

Winston-Salem, 342 N.C. 708, 739, 467 S.E.2d 615, 634 (1996) (Orr, J., dissenting) 

(“While economic times have changed and will continue to change, the philosophy 

that constitutional interpretation and application are subject to the whims of 

‘everybody’s doing it’ cannot be sustained.”). 

In a related argument, both intervenor legislative officers and intervenor 

parents contend that, because parents choose the private schools, the program is 

“directly accountable to the parents.” This argument serves only to underscore that 

the program serves the private interests of the particular families and not the public 

good. While families are surely entitled to choose schools for their children according 

to their interests, a program like the Opportunity Scholarship Program that spends 

taxpayer money must, to be constitutional, serve “public purposes only.” 

Second, defendants look to the statutory requirements governing all private 

and nonpublic schools in North Carolina. These standards relate to attendance, 

health, and safety, and also require standardized testing at certain intervals. See 

N.C.G.S. §§ 115C-547 to -562 (2013). Here, however, we are not considering 

standards for private schools that receive no public funding. Those schools are not 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-38-

governed by the same constitutional requirements as schools receiving public 

funding; they need not serve “public purposes only.” When considering these 

statutory standards in a public purpose context, it is clear that they do not help 

measure whether the students enrolled are receiving an education that prepares 

them to function in our state’s society. Even the requirement regarding standardized 

testing falls short: that provision simply mandates that all private schools 

“administer, at least once in each school year, a nationally standardized test . . . to 

all students enrolled or regularly attending grades three, six, and nine.” Id. § 115C549; see also id. § 115C-557. A similar testing requirement exists for eleventh grade 

students. Id. § 115C-550; see also id. § 115C-558. These testing standards do not 

specify that students take any particular test, nor do they require any minimum 

result. When a wide range of testing options are available and administered, it can 

be difficult to compare results across schools (a tool which is regularly used to 

determine the efficacy of our public schools). While the regulations governing private 

schools do require comparisons with public school populations, these provisions 

impose no consequences, regardless of test results. Moreover, the standards require 

no accreditation of schools and no particular training or certification of teachers. As 

a result, these standards fail to ensure that spending on these schools through public 

Opportunity Scholarship Program funds is for any public purpose. 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-39-

Third, defendants point to statutes regulating schools participating in the 

Opportunity Scholarship Program. In addition to the above requirements for private 

and nonpublic schools, schools wishing to participate in the program must also: 

(1) Provide to the [State Education Assistance] Authority 

documentation for required tuition and fees charged to 

the student by the nonpublic school.

(2) Provide to the Authority a criminal background check 

conducted for the staff member with the highest 

decision-making authority, as defined by the bylaws, 

articles of incorporation, or other governing document, 

to ensure that person has not been convicted of any 

crime listed in G.S. 115C-332.

(3) Provide to the parent or guardian of an eligible student, 

whose tuition and fees are paid in whole or in part with 

a scholarship grant, an annual written explanation of 

the student’s progress, including the student’s scores on 

standardized achievement tests.

(4) Administer, at least once in each school year, a 

nationally standardized test or other nationally 

standardized equivalent measurement selected by the 

chief administrative officer of the nonpublic school to all 

eligible students whose tuition and fees are paid in 

whole or in part with a scholarship grant enrolled in 

grades three and higher. The nationally standardized 

test or other equivalent measurement selected must 

measure achievement in the areas of English grammar, 

reading, spelling, and mathematics. Test performance 

data shall be submitted to the Authority by July 15 of 

each year. Test performance data reported to the 

Authority under this subdivision is not a public record 

under Chapter 132 of the General Statutes.

(5) Provide to the Authority graduation rates of the 

students receiving scholarship grants in a manner 

consistent with nationally recognized standards.
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

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(6) Contract with a certified public accountant to perform a 

financial review, consistent with generally accepted 

accounting principles, for each school year in which the 

school accepts students receiving more than three 

hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) in scholarship 

grants awarded under this Part.

Id. § 115C-562.5(a) (2014). Like the standards referenced above for private schools 

in general, none of these additional requirements relates to the quality of education 

received by enrolled students. Simply mandating that a report card be sent home to 

parents provides no guarantee that the education received is sufficient. And the same 

problems exist as articulated above regarding the requirements to administer 

standardized tests. 

Finally, defendants point out the Opportunity Scholarship Program is required 

by statute to report to the General Assembly. Under Section 115C-562.7, the 

program’s overseers must report annually to the legislature specific administrative 

statistics (relating to enrollment numbers, student demographics, and funds 

received), as well as “[l]earning gains or losses of students receiving scholarship 

grants.” Id. § 115C-562.7 (2014). While the data will allow the legislature insight 

into the successes of the program, such reporting does not determine 

constitutionality. First, the legislature is under no obligation to act on the reports. 

Second, as we held long ago in Madison Cablevision, it is ultimately up to this Court 

to determine if public spending serves a public purpose. 325 N.C. at 644-45, 386 

S.E.2d at 206. Legislative oversight does not automatically make a controversial 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-41-

program constitutional, particularly when, as here, the law creating and governing 

the program mandates no action.

Defendants themselves admit that the program lacks the standards outlined 

in Hoke County for the employment of certified teachers and principals and for 

curriculum. Hoke Cty. Bd. of Educ., 358 N.C. at 636, 599 S.E.2d at 389. Despite this 

concession, they argue that because this is a facial challenge to the statute, plaintiffs 

must show that the program is unconstitutional under all conceivable facts and 

circumstances. See, e.g., Martin v. N.C. Hous. Corp., 277 N.C. 29, 44, 175 S.E.2d 665, 

673 (1970). To that end, defendants argue that even if substantive standards were 

required under our state constitution, some of the participating private schools would 

meet those standards. This argument falls short, however, because our state 

constitution mandates that every child obtaining an education paid for by public 

funds receive an education that prepares him to succeed in society, and because we 

are analyzing the statutory framework of the program, not the merits of a specific 

school. N.C. Const. art. I, § 15; id. art. IX, § 2(1); Leandro, 346 N.C. at 351, 488 S.E.2d 

at 257 (concluding that our state constitution “requires that all children have the 

opportunity for a sound basic education” (emphasis added)). While I acknowledge 

that “[w]e seldom uphold facial challenges because it is the role of the legislature, 

rather than this Court, to balance disparate interests and find a workable 

compromise among them,” it is important to remember that we must also “measure 

the balance struck in the statute against the minimum standards required by the 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-42-

constitution.” Beaufort Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Beaufort Cty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 363 N.C. 

500, 502, 681 S.E.2d 278, 280-81 (2009) (citation omitted). Here those minimum 

standards require that children receiving a publicly funded education obtain an 

education that serves a public purpose. The statute at issue here creates a program 

that fails to incorporate any requirement to determine, much less ensure, that any, 

let alone all, children enrolled are receiving a real education; as such, the statute 

cannot survive a facial challenge. 

Private schools are free to provide whatever education they deem fit within 

the governing statutes’ requirements. When parents send their children to any 

private school of their choosing on their own dime, as they are free to do, that 

education need not satisfy our constitutional demand that it be a for a public purpose. 

However, when public funds are spent to enable a private school education, that 

spending must satisfy the public purpose clause of our constitution by preparing 

students to contribute to society. Without meaningful standards meant to ensure 

that this or any minimum threshold is met, public funds cannot be spent 

constitutionally through this Opportunity Scholarship Program. 

As stated above, I would not necessarily impose the same detailed 

requirements on our private schools receiving public funds as are imposed on purely 

public schools by Leandro and its progeny. I do conclude that such spending must 

include some standards by which to measure compliance with the public purpose 

doctrine; the complete lack of any such standards in North Carolina’s voucher 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-43-

program makes determining such compliance impossible. It is instructive that all 

other states that have adopted similar programs have included substantive 

requirements. Although other states certainly are not bound by constitutional 

obligations identical to ours, examining their similar programs and the substantive 

standards imposed on participating schools exposes the woeful lack of oversight in 

the Opportunity Scholarship Program here. For example, compared with ten similar 

programs across the country, North Carolina’s program falls painfully short. As 

opposed to other jurisdictions’ legislative requirements for participating private 

schools in the categories of state approval or accreditation, state-required curriculum, 

required teacher qualifications, required participation in a state testing program, and 

required number of instructional days or hours, the Opportunity Scholarship 

Program fails to incorporate any of those mandates. In comparison, six of the ten 

other jurisdictions have requirements in all those areas; nine out of ten have 

requirements in at least four of the five areas; and all ten have requirements in at 

least one of these areas.13 For example, in Indiana (which has the largest state wide 

voucher program in the country), participating schools must be accredited, Ind. Code.

§ 20-51-1-6(a)(3) (2010); Ind. Code. Ann. § 20-51-1-4.7(4) (West 2013), and must teach 

subjects prescribed by the State, Ind. Code. Ann. § 20-51-4-1(f)(9) (West 2011). These 

 

13 According to the brief filed by amici curiae Education Scholars, the other 

jurisdictions include Arizona, Cleveland, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Louisiana, 

Maine, Milwaukee, Ohio, Vermont, and Wisconsin. 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-44-

schools must participate in state wide testing. Id. § 20-51-1-4.7(5) (West 2013). In 

Louisiana participating schools must be approved by a state board, and approval is 

contingent on a showing that the quality of the curriculum is at least as high as that 

mandated for similarly situated public schools. La. Stat. Ann. § 17:11 (2001); id. §

17:4021(A) (West Supp. 2012). Even in Arizona, the least regulated jurisdiction 

behind North Carolina identified by amici, participating schools must educate 

students in reading, grammar, math, social studies, and science. Ariz. Rev. Stat. 

Ann. § 15-2402(B)(1) (West Supp. 2011). As summarized above, North Carolina’s 

Opportunity Scholarship Program lacks any kind of substantive oversight, 

curriculum standards, or instructional requirements. Schools receiving public 

funding through the program are essentially free to employ whomever they desire to 

teach whatever they desire. This is a perfectly acceptable scheme for truly private 

schools, but it fails utterly to satisfy the constitutionally mandated educational 

standards required when public funds are spent on education. 

This failure brings me to the second constitutional flaw in the Opportunity 

Scholarship Program: the breach of the State’s duty to guard and maintain the right 

to the privilege of education as set forth in Article I, Section 15, which is part of our 

constitution’s Declaration of Rights. Notwithstanding this constitutional provision’s 

clear statement that the people of our State have “a right to . . . education” and that 

it is the State’s duty “to guard and maintain that right,” N.C. Const. art. I, § 15, the 

majority indicates that this constitutional provision merely states a “general 
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-45-

proposition concerning the right to the privilege of education”; that this provision is 

merely aspirational, rather than substantive, in nature; and that plaintiffs’ reliance 

on it as an independent source of relief is misplaced. The majority has not, however, 

cited any decision from this Court in support of this proposition, and I believe the 

majority’s assertion is inconsistent with this Court’s constitutional jurisprudence. 

In Leandro this Court concluded that Article I, Section 15 and Article IX, 

Section 2 of the North Carolina Constitution worked together in combination to 

“guarantee every child of this state an opportunity to receive a sound basic education 

in our public schools.” 346 N.C. at 347, 488 S.E.2d at 255. In other words, this Court 

gave Article I, Section 15, considered in conjunction with other constitutional 

provisions, substantive effect. As such, the plain language of Article I, Section 15 and 

this Court’s decision in Leandro regarding the interplay between Article I, Section 15 

and Article IX, Section 2 makes me unable to accept the majority’s statements 

regarding the substantive import of this constitutional provision. See John V. Orth 

& Paul Martin Newby, The North Carolina State Constitution 62-63 (2d ed. 2013) 

(citing Leandro as an example in which, along with other constitutional provisions, 

Article I, Section 15 was given substantive effect by this Court and stating that “[i]n 

addition to the substantive component, this section may also secure other rights, the 

violation of which could subject a local school board to suit without the benefit of 

governmental immunity or insurance coverage”).
HART V. STATE

HUDSON, J., dissenting

-46-

Turning to the application of Article I, Section 15 to the instant matter, this 

voucher program, as explained above, allows for taxpayer funds to be spent on private 

schooling with no required standard to ensure that teachers are competent or that 

students are learning at all. I must conclude that by creating this program, the 

State’s legislature has completely abrogated the duty to “guard and maintain [the] 

right” to an education. N.C. Const. art I, § 15. As the trial court concluded, “[t]he 

General Assembly fails the children of North Carolina when they are sent with 

taxpayer money to private schools that have no legal obligation to teach them 

anything.” This failure violates the duty set forth in Article I, Section 15. 

This Court’s duty to the people of our State, as expressed in several clauses of 

our constitution, is to ensure that if taxpayer money is spent on private education, 

the expenditure is for an education that can prepare our children to participate and 

thrive in our state’s society. When the General Assembly fails to ensure that these 

constitutional requirements are satisfied, this Court must exercise its responsibility 

to do otherwise. Because the majority fails to do so, I respectfully dissent. 

Justices BEASLEY and ERVIN join in this dissenting opinion.

Justice BEASLEY dissenting.
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-47-

I join fully Justice Hudson’s dissent. I write separately to explain my 

additional concerns with the Opportunity Scholarship Program as currently enacted. 

I also write to urge caution and to reiterate the State’s duties under the North 

Carolina Constitution “to guarantee every child of this state an opportunity to receive 

a sound basic education in our public schools,” Leandro v. State, 346 N.C. 336, 347, 

488 S.E.2d 249, 255 (1997), and to “afford[ ] school facilities of recognized and everincreasing merit to all the children of the State . . . to the full extent that our means 

could afford and intelligent direction accomplish,” id. at 346, 488 S.E.2d at 254 

(emphasis added) (quoting Bd. of Educ. v. Bd. of Cty. Comm’rs, 174 N.C. 469, 472, 93 

S.E. 1001, 1002 (1917)).

The Supreme Court of the United States made the following prescient 

observation regarding education more than sixty years ago. These words remain 

equally valid now. 

Today, education is perhaps the most important 

function of state and local governments. Compulsory 

school attendance laws and the great expenditures for 

education both demonstrate our recognition of the 

importance of education to our democratic society. It is 

required in the performance of our most basic public 

responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the 

very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal 

instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in 

preparing him for later professional training, and in 

helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In 

these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be 

expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of 

an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has 

undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-48-

available to all on equal terms.

Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 347 U.S. 483, 493, 74 S. Ct. 686, 691, 98 L. Ed. 873, 880 (1954),

additional proceedings at 349 U.S. 294, 75 S. Ct. 753, 99 L. Ed. 1083 (1955). Central 

to the Court’s decision was the understanding that “[w]e must consider public 

education in the light of its full development and its present place in American life.” 

Brown, 347 U.S. at 492, 74 S. Ct. at 691, 98 L. Ed. 2d at 880.

Free public education historically has been, and today remains, vital to 

American life. Its diminishment in quality or its concentration among a few invites 

despots to power and risks oppressing the rest. With continued necessity for 

preserving and promoting free public education clearly in view, I turn to the 

Opportunity Scholarship Program.

The Court correctly explains that our circumspect inquiry is constrained to the 

facial challenge presented in view of established principles of constitutional 

interpretation. Nonetheless, the majority’s opinion should not be read so broadly as 

to set an impossible standard for a facial challenge to legislation, particularly when 

the legislation stands to affect the education of the children of North Carolina. 

Beaufort Cty. Bd. of Educ. v. Beaufort Cty. Bd. of Comm’rs, 363 N.C. 500, 502, 681 

S.E.2d 278, 280-81 (2009) (“This Court will only measure the balance struck in the 

statute against the minimum standards required by the constitution.”). It is well 

established that, subject to the constitution, it is for the General Assembly to 

“establish minimum educational requirements and standards.” Delconte v. State, 313 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-49-

N.C. 384, 402, 329 S.E.2d 636, 647 (1985); see id. at 401-02, 329 S.E.2d at 647 (“We 

also recognize that the state has a compelling interest in seeing that children are 

educated and may, constitutionally, establish minimum educational requirements 

and standards for this education.” (citations omitted)). But those standards must 

comport with the constitutional minimum, and it has long been beyond dispute that 

this Court has jurisdiction to determine whether legislation meets the minimum 

allowed by our Constitution. E.g., Bayard v. Singleton, 1 N.C. 5 (1787).

This Court already has articulated “the minimum standards required by the 

constitution,” Beaufort Bd. of Educ., 363 N.C. at 502, 681 S.E.2d at 281, when the 

General Assembly purports to provide for public education. In Leandro we 

“address[ed] plaintiff-parties’ constitutional challenge to the state’s public education 

system.” 346 N.C. at 345, 488 S.E.2d at 254. We explained that the North Carolina 

Constitution guarantees every child the right to a sound basic education, and we 

defined the mandate for public education by explaining that 

[f]or purposes of our Constitution, a “sound basic 

education” is one that will provide the student with at 

least: (1) sufficient ability to read, write, and speak the 

English language and a sufficient knowledge of 

fundamental mathematics and physical science to enable 

the student to function in a complex and rapidly changing 

society; (2) sufficient fundamental knowledge of geography, 

history, and basic economic and political systems to enable 

the student to make informed choices with regard to issues 

that affect the student personally or affect the student's 

community, state, and nation; (3) sufficient academic and 

vocational skills to enable the student to successfully 

engage in post-secondary education or vocational training; 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-50-

and (4) sufficient academic and vocational skills to enable 

the student to compete on an equal basis with others in 

further formal education or gainful employment in 

contemporary society. 

Id. at 347, 488 S.E.2d at 255 (citations omitted).

Although Leandro concerned public schools, this Court has established that 

the particular type of building in which the education occurs is immaterial. See

Delconte, 313 N.C. 384, 329 S.E.2d 636 (allowing home schools). It is the opportunity 

for a constitutionally permissible minimum quality of education that is essential. If 

the General Assembly appropriates public funds14 for public education, whether that 

education occurs in public schools or nonpublic schools receiving public funds, the 

General Assembly is limited to doing so only for the constitutionally permissible 

public purpose of providing a “sound basic education.” When public funds are used 

for nonpublic initiatives to fulfill the constitutional public education mandate, the 

appropriation may violate the public purpose clause, especially if the grant recipients 

are chosen because the public school system fails to meet their educational needs. 

In denying relief for plaintiffs under North Carolina Constitution Article IX, 

Sections 2(1), 5, and 6, the majority posits that these sections constitutionally protect 

 

14 The General Assembly is conspicuously careful to avoid acknowledging that the 

grants at issue are public funds. See, e.g., N.C.G.S. § 115C-555 (2013) (“For the purposes of 

this Article, scholarship grant funds awarded pursuant to Part 2A of this Article to eligible 

students attending a nonpublic school shall not be considered funding from the State of North 

Carolina.”) (emphasis added); id. § 115C-562.1(6) (2013) (defining “Scholarship grants” as 

“Grants awarded annually by the Authority to eligible students”). The majority correctly 

notes that the program is funded through appropriations from the general revenue of the 

Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina.
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-51-

funds designated for education but do not limit the General Assembly’s designation 

of other public funds for additional nonpublic education initiatives. In setting 

education policy, the danger posed by the General Assembly in designating general 

funds for nonpublic education and a non-public purpose is that it effectively 

undermines the support the legislature is constitutionally obligated to provide to the 

public school system. Because the Opportunity Scholarship Program circumvents the 

mission of public schools to successfully offer a sound basic education to all students, 

the General Assembly has failed to meet the mandated minimum standard.

Given North Carolina’s history of public education and the State’s continued 

efforts to address shortcomings to deliver on its constitutional mandate, the General 

Assembly’s decision to pursue vouchers at this time and in this way is vexing.15 The 

majority notes that the purpose of the grants is to address grade level deficiencies of 

a “large percentage of economically disadvantaged students,” but as shown below, it 

is unclear whether or how this program truly addresses those children’s needs. While 

every member of this Court fully recognizes the legislature’s responsibility to 

implement education policy and its right to pursue novel approaches, Redev. Comm’n 

v. Sec. Nat’l Bank of Greensboro, 252 N.C. 595, 612, 114 S.E.2d 688, 700 (1960), this 

 

15 There may be instances when the use of public funds for nonpublic schools can serve 

a public purpose. While public schools are supposed to accommodate all students’ educational 

needs, some circumstances exist in which the public purpose may be best met by funding a 

nonpublic educational situation, such as the education of children with disabilities under 

North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 115C, Subchapter IV, Article 9. This issue, 

however, is not before our Court at this time.
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-52-

Court should not permit the State to lessen its obligation to the children of North 

Carolina. 

In endeavoring to provide its citizens with a sound basic education, North 

Carolina has long embraced a complex variety of educational initiatives, including 

public schools, secular and sectarian private schools, and home schools. See generally

M.C.S. Noble, A History of the Public Schools of North Carolina (1930) (discussing 

the history of public education in North Carolina, including the development of 

curricula, religious instruction in public schools, teachers’ qualifications, and 

segregated schools); see also Delconte, 313 N.C. at 397-400, 329 S.E.2d at 645-46

(summarizing the development of public education legislation). Our legislature has 

met the standard with varying degrees of success. It is worth observing that our 

General Assembly previously embraced vouchers for approximately a decade as a 

means to avoid the State’s obligation under the U.S. Constitution to desegregate 

public schools as required by the Supreme Court of the United States in its seminal 

Brown v. Board decisions. See Milton Ready, The Tar Heel State: A History of North 

Carolina 349 (2005) (describing the “Pearsall Plan” as “a stubbornly conservative 

strategy that eventually satisfied no one”); id. at 355-56 (explaining that beginning 

in the 1960s and 1970s, “[s]ophisticated racial and segregationist appeals . . . . took 

on a more abstract form” and “[m]any of the newer strategies came wrapped in terms 

as local control, vouchers, charter schools, tax cuts, distributive welfare, and limited 

government interference in the private affairs of ordinary citizens”); see also Hawkins 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-53-

v. N.C. State Bd. of Educ., No. 2067, 11 Race Rel. L. Rep. 745 (W.D.N.C. Mar. 31, 

1966) (declaring the Pearsall Plan facially unconstitutional). Indeed, some of our 

schools are only now achieving unitary status under long-standing federal orders to 

desegregate. E.g., Everett v. Pitt Cty. Bd. of Educ., 788 F.3d 132 (4th Cir. 2015). Even 

those victories, however, are tempered by a different reality: 

The rapid rate of de facto resegregation in our public school 

system in recent decades is well-documented. As one 

scholar put it, “Schools are more segregated today than 

they have been for decades, and segregation is rapidly 

increasing.” Erwin Chemerinsky, Separate and Unequal: 

American Public Education Today, 52 Am. U. L. Rev. 1461, 

1461 (2003) (footnote omitted); see also Lia B. Epperson, 

Resisting Retreat: The Struggle for Equity in Educational 

Opportunity in the Post–Brown Era, 66 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 131, 

145 (2004) (“American public schools have been steadily 

resegregating for more than a decade, dismantling the 

integrative successes of hundreds of districts that 

experienced significant levels of integration in the wake of 

Brown and its progeny. Such racial isolation in public 

schools is worse today than at any time in the last thirty 

years.”).

Id. at 150-51 (Wynn, J., dissenting).

For now, as noted by the majority, the program is available only to lowerincome families. This availability assumes that private schools are available within 

a feasible distance, that these families win the grant lottery, and that their children 

gain admission to the nonpublic school of their choice. With additional costs for 

transportation, tuition, books, and, at times, school uniforms, for the poorest of these 

families, the “opportunity” advertised in the Opportunity Scholarship Program is 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-54-

merely a “cruel illusion.” Tenn. Small Sch. Sys. v. McWherter, 851 S.W.2d 139, 154-

55 (Tenn. 1993) (“[E]ducational opportunity of the children in this state should not 

be controlled by the fortuitous circumstance of residence . . . . Such a system only 

promotes greater opportunities for the advantaged while diminishing the 

opportunities for the disadvantaged. . . . ‘The notion of local control was a “cruel 

illusion” for the poor districts due to limitations placed upon them by the system 

itself. . . .’ ”) (first and second ellipses in original) (quoting Dupree v. Alma Sch. Dist. 

No. 30, 279 Ark. 340, 346, 651 S.W.2d 90, 93 (1983)) (third ellipsis in original))). 

Without systemic and cultural adjustments to address social inequalities, the 

further cruel illusion of the Opportunity Scholarship Program is that it stands to 

exacerbate, rather than alleviate, educational, class, and racial divides. See generally

Julian E. Zelizer, How Education Policy Went Astray, The Atlantic (Apr. 10, 2015), 

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/04/how-education-policy-wentastray/390210/ (last visited July 16, 2015) (discussing changes in American education 

policy over the past fifty years and the relationship between continually failing 

education policy and economic inequality). See also Br. for N.C. Conference of the 

NAACP as Amicus Curiae Supporting Plaintiff-Appellees at 3-9, Hart v. State, ___ 

N.C. ___, ___ S.E.2d ___ (2015) (No. 372A14) (discussing discriminatory “creaming” 

and “cropping” practices by which private schools admit “the best and least costly 

students” or “deny[ ] services and enrollment to diverse learners” (citations omitted)). 

In time, public schools may be left only with the students that private schools refuse 
HART V. STATE

Beasley, J., dissenting

-55-

to admit based on perceived lack of aptitude, behavioral concerns, economic status, 

religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or physical or other challenges, or public 

schools may become grossly disproportionately populated by minority children. The 

policy promoted by the Opportunity Scholarship Program, therefore, may serve to 

widen already considerable gaps and create a larger class of underserved children.