"You expect at least eight weeks paid vacation per year because that is what the taxpayers of North Carolina gave you back when you were a poorly compensated teacher." - Sen, David Curtis in May of 2014 in response to a teacher letter. "I suspect that most people, if told they could work 10 months … Continue reading Summers Are Not Paid Vacations For Teachers – Far From It

If Raleigh is going play around with Civic and Economics classes to include lessons on personal finance, then can they also tweak the curriculum to make sure and cover real life applications of civics and economics as well? Could they include the fact that North Carolina is the only state in the country that does … Continue reading Can We Change NC’s Civics Classes To Include:

In 2013, the state of North Carolina started using a value-added measurement scale to help gauge teacher effectiveness and school performance. Developed by SAS which is headquartered in the Triangle area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, EVAAS collects student data and creates reports that are used to measure teacher and school effectiveness. EVAAS stands … Continue reading North Carolina Needs to Stop Being So SASsy

Last Friday, WRAL posted an editorial board opinion on its website entitled "Editorial: Private school vouchers to be even more open to corruption, waste." It stated, Let us be clear, we DO NOT oppose private school vouchers. We DO strongly believe there should be reasonable and responsible accountability and transparency in how these tax dollars … Continue reading Dear PEFNC, Whether It’s “Our Money” or “Your Money,” There is No Proof That Vouchers Are Working

Charles Davenport Jr., an Editorial Board Member for the N&R, last year penned one of the most blatantly ignorant op-eds in recent memory when he made a claim that NC teachers were probably paid enough if not too much because “as far as academic rigor is concerned, education majors are not even in the same … Continue reading When Someone Who Needs to be Educated About Education Writes an Op-Ed About Public Education

When Mark Johnson sent one of his “informative” emails this past week in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, he made the following statements: We should talk to our students about considering the teaching profession. Teacher compensation is competitive with other careers. (Starting salaries for teachers in NCrange from $35,000 to $41,000 per school year — the … Continue reading What Mark Johnson Didn’t Tell You About Those Teacher Salaries in One Graph

Remember when Phil Berger kept calling the All Out For May 1st march and rally an action by the far-left and a partisan attack against his party's "reforms" which he thinks have strengthened public schools? Apparently, Phil Berger never really clarified his definition of what it was to be "partisan" in those press releases he … Continue reading Sen. Phil Berger’s Definition of Bipartisanship and What It Means For the May 1st March and Rally

Many public school advocates, especially the teacher who writes this blog, have argued that the Opportunity Grants are a detriment to public schools in that it takes public money meant for public schools and gives it to private, unregulated entities which can practice admission standards that would never be allowed in public schools and can … Continue reading When A State Has To Make Its Voucher System Less Transparent, Then It’s Not Working

Sen. Harry Brown's press release concerning his view of Wake County's request for more state funding was another stellar example of the willful ignorance that many in the NCGA adopt when it comes to funding public schools.   For a lawmaker whose record has been one of passing on unfunded mandates to local school systems … Continue reading “Don’t Be Fooled”: Sen. Harry Brown Is The “Irresponsible” One – Either He Proves His Claim or He Shuts Up