The Republican-dominated North Carolina legislature completed on Wednesday its override of Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of legislation that both approves more funds for private school scholarship grants for recipients of all incomes and directs local sheriffs to comply with federal immigration agents' requests to detain certain inmates.
The Senate voted to enact the bill despite Cooper's objections, one day after the House voted for a similar result. Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in each chamber.
The bill, which is now law, means that a large windfall of funding - about 463 million - will be provided to the Opportunity Scholarship program in part to eliminate a waitlist of families who otherwise qualified beginning in the fall for grants to attend private or religious K-12 schools.
"A historic expansion of parental school choice is now a reality in North Carolina," Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina President Mike Long said after Wednesday's vote, adding that that legislature sent "a clear message that our state will continue to invest in students over systems."
When the General Assembly eliminated income caps for recipient families on the program last year - leading to skyrocketing interest - 55,000 children were otherwise unable to access the aid because GOP lawmakers initially this summer were unable to agree on appropriating additional funds.
