Name the only state in the country with the lowest legal minimum wage, no collective bargaining rights, no Medicaid expansion, loosely regulated vouchers and charter school expansion, and a school performance grading system that measures achievement over growth.

North Carolina.

Now name a state that has a lower state corporate flat tax than NC. 

You can’t. There are none.

AND ALL OF THIS AFFECTS PUBLIC EDUCATION. EVEN WITHOUT A PANDEMIC.

All of that has happened under the watchful eye and enabled hand of one Phil Berger who maintains power through racially gerrymandered districting.

And when he and other lawmakers could help fully fund public schools and give them resources to aid in opening up in-person instruction, Berger’s too busy “selling” tax-payer money through vouchers so students can go to private schools.

A couple of things that Phil does not tell you.

First, well-off parents who send their kids to private schools usually send them to private schools that have a tuition that is much higher than an opportunity scholarship would allow.

Secondly, Berger has no proof that sending students to private schools through vouchers increases student achievement. He’s helped to keep the voucher program too opaque for measurement.

And third, I can imagine that “not-well-off people” need money to survive and just get the basics, especially if they are unemplyed right now.

Why? Because Phil Berger helped make sure that employment benefits in NC are among the worst in the nation.

And one more thing. Berger might want to go back to his home district and try and sell his idea.