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by Mebane Rash, EducationNC
December 5, 2024
In November 2024, the Republican-led General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of its mini budget, providing an additional $463.5 million toward private school vouchers for this fiscal year to effectively clear the waitlist.
Opportunity Scholarships are state-funded vouchers that families can use to pay for eligible private schools. You can see the current list of eligible private schools here.
by Mebane Rash |
by Hannah Vinueza McClellan |
by Mebane Rash |
On Dec. 3, 2024, with the additional funding, the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) made offers to more than 54,000 new students on the Opportunity Scholarship waitlist for the 2024-25 school year, according to a press release.
NCSEAA is the state agency designated by law to administer K-12 scholarship programs, including Opportunity Scholarships and Education Student Accounts (ESA+).
Additionally, NCSEAA made ESA+ offers to nearly 2,000 new students, according to the press release. The General Assembly’s mini budget also included $24.7 million in recurring funds to clear the ESA+ waitlist for students with disabilities.
“North Carolina’s Education Student Accounts (ESA+) program is available to meet the needs of students with disabilities. Funds may be used to pay tuition and fees for eligible private schools, and for expenses such as speech therapy, tutoring services, and educational technology,” according to NCSEAA’s website.
Families whose students received offers on Dec. 3 have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, to accept or decline the award offer.
Families must log into their MyPortal account, go to their To-Do List, and click on “Respond to Award Offer.” Families can also see notifications in their MyPortal account. Offers that are not accepted by Dec. 27 will expire and expired awards cannot be reinstated.
NCSEAA will begin disbursing funds for the spring 2025 semester as well as for the fall 2024 semester in January.
Here is the Opportunity Scholarship website. The email for Opportunity Scholarships is OpportunityScholarships@ncseaa.edu.
Here is the ESA+ website. The email for ESA+ is ESA@ncseaa.edu.
Customer service is available to assist families by phone at 855-330-3955 on the following dates and times:
Dec. 3-6: 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7: 9:00 a.m. until noon.
NCSEAA will be closed on Sunday, Dec. 8.
Dec. 9-13: 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
NCSEAA will be closed on Saturday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 15.
Dec. 16-20: 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
NCSEAA will be closed Dec. 21-25.
Dec. 26-27: 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
A note on the website of NCSEAA says: “Children who are placed in a nonpublic school by their parents do not have a right to receive all of the special education and related services that they would receive if enrolled in the public schools. Likewise, a private school does not have a legal obligation to provide special education and related services to students with disabilities. Parents are encouraged to select a nonpublic school carefully and to establish a plan prior to enrollment which meets their child’s educational needs.”
The NCSEAA website also says, “Parents of children with disabilities may have another option to help save and pay for education expenses at K-12 schools through the use of an NC ABLE Account. The NC ABLE Program allows eligible individuals the opportunity to save and fund a variety of qualified disability expenses, including certain education expenses. The NC ABLE Program is overseen by the Department of the State Treasurer and additional information can be found here.”
According to this FAQ, that depends.
“Most newly awarded students who were attending an Eligible School on October 1, 2024, and remained continuously enrolled and attending that same school into the spring 2025 semester, will receive scholarship funds for the fall semester,” the website says. “Once these funds are disbursed to a school, the school must work directly with parents to reimburse any costs already paid that will now be covered by the scholarship. SEAA will provide guidance to schools.”
Families of prospective new students are invited to join these webinars in January 2025 to learn about the 2025-26 school year new student application cycle.
Register here for the Opportunity Scholarship webinar on Jan. 17, 2025 at noon.
Register here for the ESA+ Scholarship webinar on Jan. 17 at 1 p.m.
Data on the NCSEAA website indicates that the number of vouchers disbursed has increased since school choice expansion from 32,549 in 2023-24 to 34,798 as of Oct. 1, 2024, to 37,143 as of Nov. 4, 2024, and to 37,329 as of Dec. 2, 2024.
Mebane Rash is the CEO and editor-in-chief of EducationNC.
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by Hannah Vinueza McClellan |
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