Last time we wrote about the North Carolina school choice bill HB 823 — led by party-switcher Tricia Cotham — it was just a handful of sponsors away from the veto-proof 60% mark. Now it’s there, with all 72 Republicans signed on as co-sponsors.
Bill McGurn credits Randi Weingarten, of all people, for the school choice revolution sweeping state capitals:
What’s happening in Raleigh this week points to Ms. Weingarten’s real but crumbling power. If North Carolina passes choice into law, it will be the fifth state this year to do so—and the seventh state in two years. The teachers’ unions are looking more like the French army in 1940: invincible only on paper…
Six months ago, when former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was thinking of running for president, he surprised many by calling Ms. Weingarten “the most dangerous person in the world.” He meant that she was weakening America by undermining public education.
But Mr. Pompeo also sees a post-COVID shift in public perception. “The silver lining to Randi Weingarten shutting down schools,” he said, “is parents saw firsthand the damage that teachers’ unions were doing to kids.”
We have long said that while the school lockdowns were the most tragic policy error of the COVID era, the cynical school closures by the unions have led to the most sweeping school choice movement in American history.