The North Carolina PTA recognizes that changes must be made within the public schools to provide an equitable and excellent educational opportunity for every child. Vouchers, tax credits, deductions and other such funding sources do not provide the means for bringing about improvements in our public schools. The North Carolina PTA supports our system of public education as the major vehicle for perpetuating the basic values of a democratic system of government. This system must be strengthened and continue to be governed by public officials accountable to the public and supported by adequate funding. Vouchers will not ensure parental choice.
Private schools select whom they want to admit.
Parents may apply to any private school they choose, but application does not guarantee admission. Vouchers fail to solve problems with inequitable school financing and the underfunding of education. Vouchers violate the constitutional guarantee of church-state separation by subsidizing religious schools. Vouchers are taxation without representation. Vouchers are tax dollars spent according to the policies of private school boards, not through democratically elected school boards.