Orange County NC Website
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14 <br /> • Because the state's budget is primarily income tax, the property tax burden <br /> on elderly and low income would be significantly reduced if the state budget <br /> funded k-12 properly, not counties. <br /> • In Orange County, the cost of education operating expenses is $1,393 for a <br /> resident with a $400,000 home, and $1,985 for a resident in the city school <br /> district. <br /> • For capital funding, it is worth noting that Lottery funding has not been a <br /> meaningful supplemental source for supporting county funding. The county <br /> only anticipates getting 3% of its 10-year capital expenses from lottery <br /> proceeds. <br /> • The County recently voted for a capital education bond to modernize a portion <br /> of aging school facilities. <br /> • GOAL—Seek full funding for public Pre-K education which benefits both students and <br /> the general public through improved life-long health/mental health, achievement; and <br /> other benefits. <br /> TALKING POINTS <br /> • Full funding for NC Pre-K, a high-quality program for at-risk four-year-olds, offers <br /> significant benefits. Pre-K provides a return on investment with improved literacy, <br /> math, and social-emotional skills that last through elementary school and increased <br /> workforce participation for parents. It also allows for improved teacher compensation, <br /> and expansion of slots in underserved areas. <br /> • Full funding for Pre-K will improve student outcomes. Participating children show <br /> increased literacy, math, and social-emotional skills upon entering kindergarten. <br /> • Pre-K funds enhance teacher compensation and retention. They support better <br /> compensation for teachers in private centers, aiming for parity with public school <br /> salaries. <br /> • Full Pre-K funding support for working families by stabilizing the childcare workforce, <br /> allowing parents to work. <br /> • GOAL — Support legislation to reduce funding and limit eligibility for/availability of <br /> private school vouchers (especially reversing the availability of funding for non-low <br /> income families), as vouchers constrain available funding for public education <br /> statewide, encourage students to leave public education, and limit services and <br /> educational opportunities for all remaining public school students. <br /> TALKING POINTS <br /> • School vouchers (Opportunity Scholarships) negatively impact public education by <br /> draining hundreds of millions in state funding to private, often unregulated schools. <br /> These programs primarily benefit wealthier families with children already in private <br /> school, lack academic accountability, and allow discrimination in admissions based <br /> on religion, sexual orientation, and ability. <br /> • The expansion of vouchers redirects significant state funds away from public schools. <br /> If fully expanded, this could siphon nearly $100 million in state funding from public <br /> education. <br /> • Data shows that the majority of voucher recipients were already enrolled in private <br /> schools, rather than transferring from public schools, thereby benefiting <br /> wealthy/private school families:. In 2024-25, only 6,710 out of 80,470 vouchers went <br />