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Senate Bill 866 amends North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship program to include home schools, awarding eligible homeschool students $1,500 per year for books, equipment, and other required costs.
OUR POSITIONNorth Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship program currently awards grants to eligible students attending private schools, with amounts scaled to household income as a percentage of the average State per-pupil allocation. Senate Bill 866, sponsored by Senator Burgin and now before the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee, amends the program to extend scholarship grants to students enrolled in home schools as defined under Part 3 of Article 39 of Chapter 115C.
The bill establishes a flat grant of $1,500 per year for eligible homeschool students. That figure is set independently of the income-tiered structure that governs private school grants, and it is capped at $1,500 regardless of household income. Permitted uses are defined specifically: funds may cover books, equipment, and other required items. The bill expressly excludes tuition, fees, and transportation from allowable homeschool expenditures, reflecting the reality that homeschooling does not carry those costs in the same form private schooling does.
Home schools accepting scholarship students are not subjected to the testing, reporting, and nondiscrimination obligations the bill imposes on private schools. Instead, Section 1(d) states simply that a home school accepting scholarship grant students must comply with the existing requirements of Part 3 of Article 39, which is the existing legal framework under which home schools already operate in North Carolina. The bill does not layer new regulatory conditions onto homeschool families beyond what state law already requires of them.
Scripture places the formation of children squarely with parents. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 calls mothers and fathers to teach diligently; Proverbs 22:6 frames the direction of a child's upbringing as a parental charge. A scholarship program that funds one lawful expression of that responsibility while excluding another does not treat parental choice neutrally. Homeschool families pay the taxes that support this program and absorb the full direct cost of curriculum and materials. The current exclusion is not a neutral omission; it is a financial disadvantage imposed on a specific and lawful educational decision.
This bill does not create a new program or expand government oversight of home schools. It corrects an internal inconsistency in an existing program by extending a defined, limited benefit to families who have already chosen the most direct form of parental education. The American Council supports Senate Bill 866 because it reduces a material barrier to homeschooling, treats lawful educational choices with equal dignity, and affirms that parental authority over a child's formation is not merely rhetorical but deserving of practical recognition in state policy.
Senate Bill 866 was filed on April 28, 2026, passed its first reading the following day, and was initially referred to the Senate Rules and Operations Committee before being withdrawn and re-referred to the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee, where it currently sits. The bill carries a single primary sponsor, Senator Burgin, which suggests it has not yet built a broad co-sponsorship coalition, though its referral to Appropriations rather than a policy committee indicates the chamber leadership views it principally as a fiscal matter requiring budget review. The session is already in its second year, and bills that do not clear committee and reach the floor before the legislature moves to adjourn face diminishing opportunities for floor time. Constituent contact directed at Appropriations/Base Budget Committee members is most consequential right now, while the bill awaits a committee hearing and vote.