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.

1. Pay & Benefits
2. Classroom Conditions
3. Fully Funded Schools
4. How Schools & Teachers Are Measured

Since the Great Recession and a gerrymandered election of a certain majority party, each side of that once solid structure has been attacked by acts of intentional sabotage.

Educators are working with more students with fewer teacher assistants in more buildings that need updating.

A secret algorithm is being used to measure teacher effectiveness in a state that has a school performance grading system which uses achievement more than growth.

And now NC is playing with a performance based merit system in how it will pay teachers.

Deliberate measures to curb teacher income are causing the overall profession to get younger and less invested in making teaching a career.

And money that should be going into fully funding the public school system is being schematically siphoned off to unregulated “reforms” and an ignorance of a court order.

And there is that dwindling corporate tax rate as well.

So that strong system seen pre-2008?

That has now become this:

…which is causing this: