NC School Leaders Urge No Votes on Two Tax Amendments

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s top public school officials are asking voters to turn down two constitutional amendments on this fall’s ballot, arguing the tax limits would tie the hands of lawmakers and county leaders who pay for schools.

State Superintendent Mo Green, State Board of Education chair Eric Davis and Alan Duncan, the board’s vice chair, made the case in a joint statement issued Oct. 21. The full board did not vote on the statement, which went out under the three officials’ names.

One amendment would drop the highest personal and corporate income tax rate the state constitution allows from 7% to 3.5%. The personal rate is now 3.99%, and the budget passed in July already schedules it to fall to 3.49% in 2027 and keep stepping down in later years. The second amendment tells the General Assembly to pass a law limiting how fast local property tax levies can grow, though it does not set a specific cap itself.

In their statement, the three leaders said the state ranks near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending on public schools, trailing Virginia by more than $3,000 per student and South Carolina by more than $5,000, citing a 2025 Education Law Center report called Making the Grade. They said more money, not less flexibility, is needed to build on gains in graduation rates, career credentials and college-level classes taken in high school by the state’s 1.5 million public school students. The officials said they understand the wish to hold down taxes but called the amendments the wrong approach.

Supporters see it differently. Republican legislators put both measures on the ballot in May, with the income tax cap clearing the Senate 30-18 along party lines. Conservative policy analysts argue the limits would deliver relief to taxpayers and push local governments to set priorities.

Early polling favors the amendments. A September Elon University Poll found 67% of likely voters backing the income tax cap and 72% backing the property tax measure. Voters will also decide a third amendment, which would require photo ID for voters who cast absentee ballots by mail.

Filed under: Asheville NC Education News