The GOP-led NC legislature’s 2013 decision to end graduate degree pay bumps for new teachers entering the teaching profession was not only misguided, but another wave in the assault on public education that continues here in the Old North State. And the very person who has influenced more policy on public education since 2013, Sen. … Continue reading Here’s A Way To Recruit & Retain Great Teachers In NC – Restore Graduate Degree Pay

Please consider something before attacking the school, teacher, administration, and/or school board. Go through all of your student's social media, scrolling history on the internet, all text messages, and other media that might be on the phone/computer your student has it his/her disposal. Then watch all of the movies and television / streaming shows he/she … Continue reading If You Are A Parent Who Is Going To Challenge A Book Taught In High Schools, Then …

Multiple calendar flexibility bills have been filed in the past several years to allow schools in North Carolina to open their doors earlier in August so fall semesters end before the winter break and get exams finished before students leave for a couple of weeks. One such bill actually passed the NC House chamber with … Continue reading One Man’s Ego Overrules An Entire State Public School System? It Does In NC.

We are pushing to get a state cookie. And an official fried apple pie festival. Hard to fathom eating cookies or a fried apple pie without requiring something to drink in our public schools. Might as well make the red herring the official state bird. Why? Because it is honored so much in Raleigh. Supt. … Continue reading The State Superintendent’s Quest To Make The Red Herring The NC State Bird

Hard to look at this when you know that the surplus has been built on the back of under-funding public education. Yes, NC is a great place to conduct business for business owners. Consider how low the corporate tax rates are. That headline from EdNC.org above highlights a report from the Education Law Center. That’s NC way down … Continue reading That’s Not A $3 Billion Surplus. It’s A Moral Deficit.

It's good that we are getting the important things done first in Raleigh as the NC General Assembly comes together for the first session of the 2023 year. Cookies are a big thing. If you don't like cookies, maybe a fried apple pie? Hard to fathom eating cookies or a fried apple pie without something … Continue reading North Carolina: Where Cookies, Fried Apple Pies, And Grape Juice Are More Important Than Fully Funding Public Education

Imagine the state of public education in North Carolina right before the Great Recession. The "sides" are sound and strong. There is support from the state government on all sides. Look at those four sides as four different categories that need to be fairly monitored closely and supported adequately to keep public education going strong. … Continue reading They Are Tearing Down The Once Strong Walls Of NC Public Education

The very lawmakers who claimed that public education in North Carolina needed to be reformed because it was failing our students have had over a decade to make things better. In this last decade, North Carolina’s public school system has actually been surgically weakened by our state government instead of strengthened. Here are a few … Continue reading A Decade Of “Reforming” Public Education In NC Has Been A Complete Failure

With all of the talk about the rather misnamed "Parents' Bill of Rights" legislation being rushed in the NC General Assembly, it seems obvious that the aim of those in Raleigh is to weaken public education even further. To have a bill that literally says "to enumerate the rights of parents to DIRECT THE UPBRINGING, … Continue reading Actually, NC Needs A Students’ Bill Of Rights.

One might think that allowing voters to decide who serves on the NC State Board of Education would be good and democratic. As of right now members are appointed to represent different parts of the state (as well as those Council of State members automatically included on the state board. But while voters might get … Continue reading They Want to Gerrymander The State Board Of Education