Raleigh’s Word of God Christian Academy has received $180,600 in public money through the state’s voucher program.
According to public records obtained by left-leaning NC Policy Watch, five schools in the state received more than $100,000 in taxpayer dollars diverted through the voucher program; all are religious schools. The state has paid out more than $4 million in scholarship funds (of the $10 million lawmakers appropriated last year) to schools participating in the voucher program so far.
According to its website, the Word of God Christian Academy on Rock Quarry Road was founded in 1993 and provides a K-12 education to more than 200 children. Daily bible classes and weekly chapel services are a part of the school’s curriculum.
“We stand in opposition to the ‘progressive’ education predominantly used in our public schools today, in which the emphasis is on the following: Questioning authority. The innate goodness of man. The suppression of discipline. The relativity of all things (including morals). Omitting God, His Word and prayer from the educational process,” a page on the schools website, entitled Educational Philosophy, states.
The Academy charges either $510 or $530 per month on a ten-month plan, and either $425 or $442 per month on a twelve-month plan in tuition. The school packs in a number of other fees on top of tuition, including curriculum fees, activity fees, a capital improvement fee and a graduation fee for seniors.
More than thirty private schools in the Triangle receive scholarship funds through the voucher program, including twenty others in Raleigh, seven in Durham, three in Wake Forest, one in Apex and one in Chapel Hill. Raleigh’s Al-Iman School and Raleigh Christian Academy have also received large amounts in taxpayer-funded school vouchers, at $86,841 and $81,900 respectively.
On Tuesday, the N.C. Supreme Court will hear arguments challenging the constitutionality of the state’s voucher program.
