Cooper Vetoes School Reopening Bill, Gets Blasted

RALEIGH – We gave him too much credit.

After letting it sit on his desk for nearly the entire 10 day period, Governor Roy Cooper picked up his pen and vetoed Senate Bill 37, the bipartisan legislation requiring school districts to offer in-person instruction to students.

For 10 days he kept kids and parents hopeful, only to be a prick that pops their bubble on behalf of the Radical Leftists at the N.C. Association of Educators and those favor delusion and damage to children over reality and the best interests of our kids.

In his veto statement, he contradicts plainly obvious facts and comprehensive scientific studies to assert that opening the schools under SB37 ‘threatens public health.’

“Students learn best in the classroom and I have strongly urged all schools to open safely to in-person instruction and the vast majority of local school systems have done just that. However, Senate Bill 37 falls short in two critical areas. First, it allows students in middle and high school to go back into the classroom in violation of NC Department of Health and Human Services and CDC health guidelines. Second, it hinders local and state officials from protecting students and teachers during an emergency.”

That’s a lot of words to say, “This takes our emergency powers away, and hobbles our Pandemic Panic leverage, therefore I veto.”

Sponsors of the bill reacted strongly to Cooper’s appeasement of fear and the Far Left. From Senator Phil Berger’s (R-Rockingham) Press Shop:

“Gov puts fealty to far-left NCAE ahead of parents and children desperate for certainty:

The legislation, Senate Bill 37, requires all school districts to offer students in-person instruction while adhering to public health protocols.

Parents, some of whom have never before been politically active, have signaled their overwhelming support for the measure. Some have even purchased giant billboards imploring leaders to act.

But the far-left N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE) opposes the bill, mirroring a nationwide trend: Health and education experts say schools should be reopened immediately, but teachers’ unions are flexing their political muscle to withhold or minimize in-person education.

Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-Watauga), who co-chairs the Senate Education Committee and sponsored Senate Bill 37, said, “At the same time the Governor boasts of teacher vaccinations after giving them a higher priority than cancer patients, he vetoes this school reopening bill because it offers school districts the flexibility to operate under the plan that best suits their on-the-ground needs.

“With teacher vaccinations in full swing, there is no legitimate excuse for Gov. Cooper and the far-left NCAE to oppose the broad reopening flexibility this bill grants to school districts.

“The far-left NCAE owns the Governor’s mansion. Thankfully, Senate Bill 37 passed with enough bipartisan support to override Gov. Cooper’s veto, and we expect to bring it up for an override vote.”

Hopefully the Democrats that supported this critically necessary bill will not waver in their support for getting kids safely back in school.

But as Cooper and the Far Left fail our kids, new test results are confirming fears about what the closures have done to kids’ education over the last year.

The lasting effects of this policy will prove it to be not only the biggest policy disaster of Governor Roy Cooper’s tenure, but the most damaging government policy failure in North Carolina’s recent history.

Track the opportunity for an override here.