NC Democrats allege a lack of accountability among religious groups with millions in state funding

Private groups, including many with ties to conservative Christian churches and activists, have received hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding in recent years. But they are not transparent about their activities, Democratic state senators said at a news conference Wednesday.

It’s an accusation strongly denied by some groups in the lawmakers’ crosshairs.

The Senate’s top Democratic leader, Raleigh Sen. Dan Blue, and Democratic Sen. Gladys Robinson of Greensboro, raised concerns about transparency during a news conference Wednesday.

Robinson and her fellow Greensboro Democrat, Sen. Michael Garrett, have in recent weeks urged private schools and anti-abortion pregnancy centers to get more information about what they’ve done with their government aid — but with little response from these groups to their questions. On Wednesday, Blue expressed dismay that Republican Party leadership at the state Legislature doesn’t seem interested in asking the same questions.

“Good governance should not be a partisan issue,” Blue said.

Last month, Garrett sent a letter to private schools where families have paid tuition with taxpayer-funded vouchers — a program that GOP leaders are preparing to soon increase by an additional $500 million. He directed the schools to submit data on their demographics, disciplinary data, academic data and the amount they have collected in tuition since the inception of the voucher program, among others.

Robinson, meanwhile, sent a similar letter to crisis pregnancy centers run by anti-abortion activists to convince women considering abortion to change their minds. Republican lawmakers have used recent state budgets to give millions of dollars to crisis pregnancy centers across the state. She asked for data on the qualifications and training of their staff, any religious requirements for volunteers, how many patients they see, what types of medical services they offer and more.

One of the recipients of Garrett’s letter to private schools was Cornerstone Christian Academy in Statesville, where most of the 265 student families pay their tuition using state vouchers.

Co-founder Renee Griffith told WRAL News she does not plan to respond to the request for information. Much of what Garrett’s letter requested was data her school already reports to the state, she added, questioning how much attention lawmakers are paying to data they should already have.

“This is simply not the way government should operate,” Griffith said. “If they have any questions, let’s consult the authorities who are already there and have that documentation. Let’s get what we need from them. And then if we’re not able to answer the questions through the authority that’s been established, then add additional requirements to that authority. Don’t come after the schools.”

Several schools and pregnancy centers that received the letters — which referred to the possibility of criminal penalties for noncompliance — contacted Wake County Attorney Paul “Skip” Stam, a former high-ranking Republican state lawmaker.

Stam told the groups not to cooperate and sent his own letters back to Garrett and Robinson, criticizing their tactics and telling them that as individual lawmakers they did not have the authority to request such data.

Democrats have long criticized the private school voucher program because it takes money – and students – away from public schools and sends them to private schools, where there is often little public accountability for academic success, and where schools are free to pursue to deal with discrimination or hiring people. without a teaching diploma. Republicans say the program gives families more choices in raising their children.

Griffith’s school is unashamedly Christian, with an application form that instructs potential families to provide the name and phone number of their pastor, indicate which church ministries they are involved in, and agree to allow their child to leave school be sent if the family is not present. church services at least once a week.

But she said the school also focuses on academics, and she agrees with the general premise of accountability for private schools — even if she disagrees with Democratic lawmakers’ approach to it. She added that since schools like hers ask families to attend, the ultimate responsibility lies in whether they think it’s worth continuing to pay.

“Our parents who get these scholarships, that money is tied to that child,” she said. “And if a school is doing poorly, those parents will move that child. They vote with their feet. And so they hold schools to a high level of accountability.”

Private schools in North Carolina must administer at least one standardized test, but they are not required to use the same end-of-course tests as public schools. And unlike public schools — whose testing data is publicly reported — private school testing data is only considered a public record if the school receives voucher funding and also checks several other boxes, aimed at the larger schools. And some test results, even if not made public, must still be made available to state inspectors.