As August approaches, teachers will begin a new school year and their "step" will increase by another year. That "step" is the number of years served in schools. Not long ago, teachers who served the state for at least ten years would receive what was called "longevity" pay as part of their commitment to public … Continue reading Remember Longevity Pay? It’s Now Seven Years That Teachers Have Been Denied.

This bill just passed in the Texas state senate. Do not think that this would not be attempted in North Carolina. It's SB 3. It's what has been "struck out" that is really disturbing.

In March of 2019, then State Supt. Mark Johnson released his budget recommendations for the next two-year cycle for the North Carolina General Assembly to use in their shaky investment in NC’s public schools. He published those recommendations on his website (it is not in existence any longer). Here is part of that list. There was … Continue reading 10588 Openings In NC Schools?

Just remember that the guy who is championing HB324... ... is the same guy who championed this: North Carolina's Republican-led General Assembly has approved a set of legislative district maps to replace the 2011 plans thrown out by the courts for being illegal racial gerrymanders.  And the guy who is championing this... ...is the same … Continue reading The Boogeystrawman That Is HB 324

This morning it was reported that Pulitzer-Prize winner, MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient, and UNC-CH alumna Nikole Hannah-Jones turned down an offer to teach at UNC-CH's School of Journalism. From that News & Observer report: Hannah-Jones said her tenure was originally delayed because of interference from political appointees and from Walter Hussman Jr., who gave the … Continue reading What The Nikole Hannah-Jones / UNC-CH Debacle Says About Our NCGA’s Commitment To Public Education

Veteran social studies teacher and public school advocate John deVille delivers a vital perspective on the recent budget proposals from the NCGA Senate. Clear, concise, to the point, and truthful. Courtesy of Cardinal & Pine. https://twitter.com/i/status/1410312340457857042

From June of 2016 concerning the Achievement School District, now the Innovative School District (ISD): With just days remaining in the N.C. General Assembly’s short session, leaders on the Senate Education Committee have given their approval to achievement school districts, a GOP-backed model of school reform that may clear for-profit charter takeovers of low-performing schools.Committee Chair Jerry Tillman, a Republican … Continue reading The Innovative School District: Another NC “Reform” That Never Worked

Peter Greene, a teacher/writer who writes both a highly regarded blog Curmudgucation and regular column for Forbes.com, had a very good post this past week. It was not long ago that we had a state superintendent who used that kind of boogeyman to help his political career. Remember this? Mark Johnson ran on a platform … Continue reading From Common Core To CRT: 18 Months Of Educational Reform Straw Men

This past April it was reported that NC had fallen to 33rd in the country for teacher pay. The process that NEA uses to figure teacher pay in this report is not as fluid as one might think. Too many states provide differing data and then it has to be normalized against other data when it … Continue reading About That “But You Vetoed The Last Teacher Raise Proposal” Argument

Finally, the North Carolina General Assembly released its new budget proposal. Well, Sen. Phil Berger released his new budget proposal. Details of that budget can be seen here. Proposed teacher salary schedules are explained on pages 56, 57 and 58. Two tables appear that show the "raises" Sen. Berger and his party are offering in … Continue reading Sen. Berger’s Meager Teacher Raise Explained In Chic-Fil-A Terms