Sneed v. Greensboro City Board of Education

EXUM, Justice.

The central question presented by this case is whether our state constitutional guarantee of a “general and uniform system of free public schools” precludes the charging of public school students with incidental course and instructional fees. We answer that it does not. We find no constitutional bar to the collecting by our public schools of modest, reasonable fees for the purpose of enhancing the quality of their educational effort.

Article IX, Section 2(1) of the North Carolina Constitution, as amended in 1970, directs that “ft]he General Assembly shall provide by taxation and…