If NC’s new state auditor wants to target ‘waste,’ start with school voucher abuses | Editorial

North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek, who was elected last November, is a Republican. But he vowed to be an independent auditor who operates above the throes of partisanship.

We know one way he can prove it. The state auditor’s job is to be a watchdog of public dollars, and Boliek and other Republicans have expressed a desire to rein in supposedly wasteful spending and mismanagement of government services. If they’re serious about that, they should focus their attention on a major expenditure that’s already susceptible to abuse: the state’s private school voucher program.

That’s what at least one state auditor is already doing. Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, is attempting to audit his state’s voucher program to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent correctly — including by ensuring that students receiving a voucher meet the income eligibility requirements and that the money is disbursed appropriately. Sand says the state’s Republican governor and state agencies are blocking him from fully auditing the program.

In North Carolina, legislators have made the school voucher program universal, so there are no longer any income eligibility requirements for receiving a voucher. But that doesn’t erase the need for oversight. Approximately $6.5 billion will be spent on vouchers over the next decade, making it a major budget expense. And that money comes with little accountability or strings attached. Not only is there little oversight over whether the funding is being used appropriately, schools that receive voucher funds are not held to the same standards regarding student outcomes. Teachers don’t have to be licensed, and there is no standard curriculum that must be taught. It’s why North Carolina’s voucher program is one of the least accountable and transparent in the nation.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that at least some misuse may be occurring. An 2023 analysis from the N.C. Justice Center found dozens of instances in which a school received more vouchers than they had students. That same year, a WFAE reporter spent months trying to find the location of one Charlotte school receiving voucher funding, to no avail, and the State Bureau of Investigation launched a probe into a Johnston County private school over allegations it fraudulently received voucher funds for students who didn’t attend the school. These occurrences, even if isolated in nature, suggest that an audit of the program might be warranted.

“The Office of the State Auditor welcomes all suggestions on what should be audited, and education is certainly an area of interest,” Randy Brechbiel, a spokesperson for Boliek, said in an email. “That said, we do not have unlimited resources, and the current focus remains the DMV.”

If the auditor is too busy, this could be a job for the legislature, which also seems to have a commitment to cutting what it believes to be wasteful spending. Republicans in the state House recently formed the House Select Committee on Government Efficiency, modeled after a similar initiative at the federal level that’s spearheaded by Elon Musk. The committee’s goal is to examine “state and local government operations for potential waste, duplication of services, mismanagement and violations of constitutional liberties.” While there are certainly many operations that could fall under the scope of such a committee, lawmakers should consider making the Opportunity Scholarship program one of them.

Shouldn’t schools receiving voucher funds have to show some sort of proof that the investment is worthwhile and is achieving its intended purpose? Don’t taxpayers deserve good stewardship of public dollars? For an expenditure that big, surely due diligence is warranted.

Of course, there’s always the chance that an audit of the program will find very little, if any, fraud or misuse. If that’s the case, Boliek and Republicans can reassure North Carolina taxpayers that their money is being put to good use. If the program is as valuable and legitimate as they say it is, what’s the harm in being transparent about it? The same standards of accountability and oversight should apply to every program — not just the ones they don’t like.