Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) says the Tar Heel State is facing an emergency for public education as lawmakers there are poised to pass a universal school choice bill with enough votes to override his veto.

The Democratic governor issued a state of emergency Monday that accused Republicans in the state legislature of trying to "choke the life out of public education" by enacting a universal school choice bill. The bill, he said, would drain precious funds from the state's public schools.

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"I’m declaring this state of emergency because you need to know what’s happening," Cooper said in a video address. "If you care about public schools in North Carolina, it’s time to take immediate action and tell them to stop the damage that will set back our schools for a generation."

With a Republican veto-proof majority in the legislature, Cooper is largely powerless in his bid to stop the bill, which boasts the support of the entire Republican caucus. The governor's website currently bears a red alert banner urging North Carolina residents to call their state representatives.

"Public school superintendents are telling me they’ll likely have to cut schools to the bone — eliminate early college, AP and gifted courses, art, music, sports — if the legislature keeps draining funds to pay for private schools and those massive tax breaks," Cooper said. "If they get their way, our State Board of Education will be replaced by political hacks who can dictate what is taught — and not taught — in our public schools. North Carolina schools need rigorous science, reading, and math classes, not more politicians policing our children’s curriculum with book bans, elimination of science courses, and more."

Jason Bedrick, an education expert at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner that the governor should consider calling a state of emergency for the current state of North Carolina's public schools, not because of what the legislature is going to do.

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"If Gov. Cooper wants to call a state of emergency about education, it should be because four in 10 North Carolina 4th graders scored ‘below basic’ in reading last year — the worst scores in 15 years — not because the legislature is empowering families to choose the learning environments that work best for their children," he said.

Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, blasted Cooper's actions, saying the governor "can go cry about it" because his state of emergency "will do nothing to stop the school choice tsunami from empowering all families with education freedom."