2505: State of Corruption: The School That Didn't Exist

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Javier Leiva

Society & Culture, True Crime, Technology

4.7 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Look, I'm not anti-private school. You want your kid to learn in an environment that matches your beliefs? Cool. To each their own. But should your neighbors be paying for it? North Carolina is funneling half a billion dollars into private schools with almost zero oversight. 87% of new voucher money is going to families who were already paying for private school. Meanwhile, public schools are losing funding and teachers are getting paid near the bottom in the country. In this episode, I talk to a former student, a policy researcher, and a reporter who couldn't find a school that was cashing state checks. Spoiler: it took her seven addresses to track it down. Stephen Cordes — Former student at the Word of Faith Christian School in Spindale, NC Kris Nordstrom — Senior Policy Analyst, NC Justice Center Education & Law Project https://www.ncjustice.org/author/kris-nordstrom/ Blair Reeves — Executive Director, Carolina Forward https://carolinaforward.org/about/ Ann Doss Helms — Former Education Reporter, WFAE (Charlotte's NPR station). 22 years covering education in Charlotte. https://www.wfae.org/people/ann-doss-helms Kris Nordstrom's voucher discrepancy analysis (NC Justice Center) https://www.ncjustice.org/analysis-nc-private-school-voucher-program/ Ann Doss Helms' reporting on TAS Academy (WFAE): Charlotte private school had more vouchers than students: https://www.wfae.org/education/2023-06-27/charlotte-private-school-had-more-vouchers-than-students-and-wheres-the-building The elusive voucher school — some answers and lingering questions: https://www.wfae.org/education/2023-08-01/charlottes-elusive-voucher-school-some-answers-and-lingering-questions Elusive voucher school has a new address in Harrisburg: https://www.wfae.org/education/2024-03-07/elusive-voucher-school-has-a-new-address-in-harrisburg-and-students-are-there Carolina Forward https://carolinaforward.org NC Justice Center — Education & Law Project https://www.ncjustice.org PRETEND Season 3 — Word of Faith Fellowship https://www.pretendradio.org If you live in North Carolina and you have an opinion about how your tax dollars are being spent on private school vouchers, let your legislators know. They work for you. Find your NC state representative and senator: https://www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegislators Call the NC General Assembly directly: 919-733-4111 (ask to speak to your representative or senator) Public Schools First NC also has a full contact list with emails for every member of the General Assembly, including education committee members: https://publicschoolsfirstnc.org/engage/contact-elected-officials/ You don't have to live in North Carolina to care about this. If your state has a voucher program, find out where the money's going. Ask the questions nobody else is asking. Got a story idea? Hit me up: javier@pretendradio.org GuestsResources & Further ReadingMake Your Voice HeardContact Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	True Story Media
0:07.0	What was it like? Was it like regular school?
0:14.0	Well, that's an interesting question because I don't know what regular school is like.
0:19.0	Stephen Cordes is a former student at the Word of Faith Christian School in Spindale, North Carolina.
0:25.6	The Word of Faith Fellowship has a K-12 school run by the church.
0:29.9	With a principal is none other than the accused cult leader herself, Jane Whaling.
0:35.5	So I'm not going to lie, Javier, like we were given a good education.
0:40.0	Every day began with Bible class.
0:42.0	Bible class consisted of reciting and learning Bible verses, then taking a test on them
0:47.2	every Friday.
0:48.4	Not unusual for a private religious school.
0:51.3	But at the Word of Faith Fellowship, a lot of the teachers were also part of the church leadership and the line between the school. But at the Word of Faith Fellowship, a lot of the teachers were also part of the
0:55.4	church leadership. And the line between the school and the church, well, it didn't really exist.
1:01.8	Discipline was like a core part of the school. If you go out of line, spoke without raising your hand,
1:07.7	like there was all these rules. You would go into what they called
1:11.5	school discipleship. And that was a separate class. And when you went to discipleship, that's like
1:17.5	attention, I guess, right? But what was it? Oh, my God. Yeah, it's glorified attention. It's intense.
1:24.7	And when you went to discipleship, you weren't allowed to do any score until lunchtime.
1:29.1	So before lunchtime, you were going through your Bible, usually like either by yourself
1:33.1	or you were told to read passages. Like, it depended. Like, some people get like specific punishments.
1:36.7	Like me, I had to write Psalms 119, like probably 200 fucking times. So far, pretty strict, but not
1:43.8	that uncommon for a private religious institution.
	...

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