On Monday Democrat North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a “State of Emergency for Public Education” in response to the Republican’s efforts to expand the state’s private school voucher program. In a video on social media, Cooper said Republicans lawmakers are “dropping an atomic bomb on public education” with the expansion and claims it will result in “steep funding cuts” for public schools. Democrat-turned-Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham, supporter of the program, said, “the true emergency here is that the Governor is advocating for systems rather than students themselves.” Former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) accused Cooper of using ‘state of emergency’ as a “political prop” and said, “Our Republican legislature is allowing families to chart their own educational destinies because they know what their children need better than a bureaucrat.”
