NC court upholds taxpayer-funded grants
BY MICHAEL B1ESECKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A divided state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in
favor of a Republican-backed program that spends tax
payer money on tuition for students at private and reli
gious schools.
The 4-3 decision split North Carolina's highest court
along ideological lines, reversing a lower court ruling
declaring the state's Opportunity Scholarships unconstitu
tional.
Chief Justice Mark Martin wrote in the majority opin
ion that taxpayers who challenged the program failed to
show they suffered harm, adding that it's not the court's
responsibility to determine whether such tuition vouchers
are a good idea.
"Our state and country benefit from the debate
between those with differing viewpoints in this quintes
sential^ political dialogue. Such discussions inform the
legislative process," wrote Martin, who was joined by the
court's other three Republican justices. "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."
Last year, the program distributed more than $4.6 mil
lion for 1,216 students from low-income families to attend
224 private schools. At least three-quarters of the schools
identify a religious creed.
Supporters of the program tout that almost three-quar
ters of the students who received scholarships were
minorities.
'Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed that education
in North Carolina is about our children and their future,"
said Senate leader Phil Betger, R-Rockingham, who
backed the law creating the program. "This ruling makes
clear that parents, not education bureaucrats or politicians,
ought to be able to choose the educational pathway best
suited to their children's needs, and it empowers thou
sands of low-income families across the state to make that
important choice."
About 20 states help students attend religious and
other private schools with vouchers, tax credits or both,
according to the National Conference of State
Legislatures
In a pair of dissents, the court's three Democrats said
the scholarships violated a constitutional edict that public
funds can be spent only for public purposes. They also
agreed with an earlier ruling by Wake County Superior
Court Judge Robert Hobgood that the program was
unconstitutional because religious schools can enroll or
reject children based on their faith.
Critics also point out that the program doesn't require
private K-12. schools to meet state teaching standards.
Teachers at voucher schools aren't required to have a high
school diploma, criminal background checks aren't
mandatory, and schools may focus instruction on Bible or
Quran texts,
'Today is a sad day for any North Carolinian who
cares about public education," said Christine Bischoff, a
staff attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center.
"Allowing public funds to go to private schools will
directly harm our already underfunded schools and the
children of North Carolina who rely on them."
Moral Monday leader Barber
inspires protests, arrests
and action
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GOLDSBORO, N.C. -
The Rev. William Barber II
walks gingerly with a cane,
in a hunched-over posture,
yet here he is on a recent
Monday, leading 3,500
protesters on a downtown
street.
He says God must have
a sense of humor to call on
a man who has such diffi
culty walking to lead the
Moral Monday protests
that began in North
Carolina two years ago.
Barber's speeches and
his throwback tactics _ in
vogue again following sev
eral deaths of black men at
the hands of police _ draw
comparisons to the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr.
More than 1,000 demon
strators have been arrested
for civil disobedience in
North Carolina since
Barber, president of the
state NAACP, started the
legislative protests.
The demonstrations
have spread to at least half
a dozen other states and
given him minor celebrity
status. Supporters wear "I
went to jail with Rev.
Barber" buttons. Barber,
51, has been jailed five
times himself.
"What I know is what
we are in is a time when we
can't afford to be silent,"
Barber said, perched
against a tall stool in his
office at his church in
Goldsboro. "We are bat
tling for the soul and con
sciousness of this country."
The protests target con
servative politics and
Republicans, who took
control of the North
Carolina Statehouse and
governor's office in 2013,
and cover everything from
redistricting to labor laws
to women's rights, gay
rights and the environment.
Moral Mondays are the
legislative protest piece of
the broader Forward
Together movement led by
the NAACP, which is in
court over the state's new
voting law and will be back
in court next month to chal
lenge redistricting. Barber
led thousands in a march
and rally in Winston-Salem
on Mass Moral Monday,
July 13, the day the voting
law trial began in Winston
Salem.
Detractors accuse
Barber of grandstanding or
say he is continuously
repeating himself and not
worth their time. A former
state senator once called
his movement "Moron
Monday."
His supporters say his
leadership is reminiscent of
both King and Ella Baker,
who helped form the
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee in
1960.
Scholar and civil rights
activist Cornel West, who
is friends with Barber,
describes him as the only
King-like figure we have in
the country right now."
"I have just been over
whelmed by his intellectual
and spiritual power," West
said.
To understand Barber's
desire to help the disen
franchised is to know his
father's influence Almost
)>.
every story Barber tells
somehow references
Buster Barber, who would
point to Jesus' first sermon,
when he said he had been
anointed "to proclaim good
news to the poor."
"And my father was
very clear that to be
Christian, to follow Jesus is
to be concerned about the
weightier matters of the
law, of justice and
mercy ."'Barber said.
He was 4 years old
when his parents returned
from Indianapolis to his
father's roots in eastern
North Carolina, called
there by local leaders who
wanted their help with
desegregating the schools.
His father, now deceased,
was an educator and minis
ter, and his 81-year-old
mother has worked as a
secretary in schools.
He took his parents' les
sons about equality to
heart, becoming the first
black student elected alone
as student body president
of Plymouth High school;
previously, a white student
and a black student had
shared the position. He
understood the value of
education and got a doctor
al degree.
He can speak thought
fully and quietly, quoting
the Bible, the Constitution
and poets, or he can jump
and shout, and he often
does during speeches.
Willie Jennings, a pro
fessor at Duke University,
is one of Barber's closest
friends. They got to know
each other when Barber
was getting his master's
degree in divinity at Duke
and Jennings was a doctor
al student.
"William has, for many
years, even before Moral
Monday, he has always
spoken to people with
power, whether they be
political figures, military,"
Jennings said. "He has
always spoken to them and
challenged them to give
account of how what they
do will help poor people."
Barber
Barber's paying job is
as minister of Greenleaf
Christian Church in
Goldsboro. The NAACP
doesn't pay him for his
work as state chapter presi
dent or as chair of the polit
ical action committee of
the organization's national
board. He has no set speak
er's fee, although he some
times gets paid for speech
es. He also will talk to
groups that can't afford
anything but his transporta
tion.
He and his wife have
five children; because of
death threats, he shields
them from reporters.
His difficulty walking
isn't the result of his weight
_ he's lost 150 pounds in
recent years and is trying to
lose more _ but of an
inflammatory disease that
also causes a bend in his
neck that gives him that
hunched-over appearance.
The best-known criti
cism of Barber came two
years ago, just after the
Moral Monday protests
had started, from then-Sen.
Thorn Goolsby, who wrote
a column referring to the
movement as "Moron
Mondays."
More recently, state
Republican Party leaders
set up a website accusing
Barber of taking money
from unions. Barber does
speak to unions and sup
ports their efforts.
Two GOP leaders
declined to be interviewed
about Barber. A spokes
woman for Senate Majority
Leader Phil Berger wrote
that Barber "has been mak
ing the same claims for
years now - and this point
jjt the legislative session,
we simply don't have time
to respond."
Barber resists calls to
raise his national profile,
believing change in the
country starts in the South,
where his parents brought
him more than 40 years ago
to fight segregation. He'll
stay in North Carolina and
fight, just as they did.
"We can overcome the
crippling realities of our
current moment because
when you come together,
things can be changed," he
said. "This kind of prophet
ic hope is not the kind that
sets you to peace; it's the
kind that stirs you to
action."
Associated Press writer
Kathy Matheson in
Philadelphia contributed to
this report.
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