Hickory Sun

In North Carolina, Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Republican from Mecklenburg County recently associated herself with the Democratic party and is playing a significant role in sponsoring a bill to enhance the Opportunity Scholarships that provide private school tuition. This proposal has been highly supported by the Republican Party.

"North Carolina Representative Tricia Cotham introduced a bill to fund students instead of systems.", said the representative.

With an academic background from University of North Carolina-Charlotte for her Bachelor of Arts degree in History and master's degree in school administration from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, according to Ballotpedia, Cotham has served as an educator, assistant principal and sports coach within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system. Affiliated to the Republican Party, she represents District 112 in the North Carolina House of Representatives since Jan. 1, 2023 and will continue till Jan. 1, 2025.

According to The News and Observer article, school choice through public funds for private schools is gaining momentum with the existing Republican supermajority in North Carolina General Assembly. A notable sponsor being Rep. Tricia Cotham who recently switched parties from Mecklenburg County Republicans. She sponsors a bill that seeks to expand the private school tuition vouchers or Opportunity Scholarships - popular among Republicans. The new bill intends to broaden these scholarships program to all students replacing previous limitations which was supported by majority of Republicans but opposed by Democrats with a vote ratio of 45-1.

According to an article by Carolina Journal House Bill 823 (H.B. 823) aims at extending opportunity scholarship program across all K-12 students in North Carolina with grant amounts based on household income. It received approval from House representatives with a vote count of 65-45 where only one Democrat casted their vote in favor of it demonstrating the division between Republicans supporting it while Democrats opposing it by margin of 45-1. An intriguing incident occurred when Representative Julie von Haefen, a Caucasian woman from Wake County expressed that school choice is associated historically with white supremacy, however her Democratic colleague Shelly Willingham from Edgecombe voted in favor of the bill.