Opportunity Scholarship Program Analysis

In 2015, for the first time in state history, the Supreme Court of North Carolina determined that non-public schools could qualify as constitutionally eligible recipients of public taxpayer dollars. The court in Hart v. State determined that the expenditure in question, the Opportunity Scholarship Program (“the Program”), met the standards required for designation as a public purpose. The Program consisted of a $4,200 per year voucher scholarship set for distribution to eligible students who live “in a household with an income level not in excess of 133% of the amount required for the student to qualify for [a] federal free or reduced lunch program.” Subject to certain restrictions, parents and students could use the scholarship money …show more content…
City of Raleigh was one of the earliest cases to address a challenge to an expenditure under the public purpose provision. In Briggs, taxpayers challenged whether a proposed bond to pay for a state fair would constitute a “public undertaking” sufficient to warrant an expenditure of public funds. In setting the parameters for its analysis, the Supreme Court of North Carolina stated that “[m]any objects may be public in the general sense that their attainment will confer a public benefit or promote the public convenience, but not be public in the sense that the taxing power of the state may be used to accomplish them.” However, the court clarified that “the term ‘public purpose’ is not to be construed too narrowly.” In drawing this distinction, the court made clear the importance of recognizing a cognizable constraint on the ability of the state to spend taxpayer funds on certain types of expenditures, but also signaled that the general interpretation of the provision should not serve as unduly onerous. Ultimately, the court held that because a state fair promotes “the general welfare of the people, advance[s] their education in matters pertaining to agriculture and industry, [and] increases their appreciation for the arts and sciences,” the expenditure constituted a public …show more content…
For example, the court in Mitchell v. N.C. Industrial Development Finance Authority imposed additional restraints on public purpose challenges, holding that “the concept expands with the population, economy, scientific knowledge, and changing conditions.” By introducing a more nuanced analysis through the endorsement of a “changing conditions” formula, the court opened the door for increasingly broad interpretations of what could count as a public purpose under Article V of the North Carolina State