As of this post, there are thousands of vacancies in the state of North Carolina. According to a recent study, NC ranks 11th in teacher shortage rates. That report is based on this study of the number of teachers as measured against the population. One quick and effective action the state could take is to allow retired … Continue reading Time For This State To Allow Teachers To “Double-Dip”

North Carolina has had record budget surpluses but refuses to acknowledge the LEANDRO decision that emphatically states that NC has failed to fully fund our public school system for decades. Teachers fill out a working conditions survey every other year for the state that has no questions about how teachers feel the state handles public … Continue reading 10 Intentionally Cruel Ironies About Public Education in NC

In the last decade, North Carolina’s public school system has been surgically weakened by our state government. Here are a few of the actions taken. 1. Teacher Pay Kept Well Below National Average 2. Removal of Due-Process Rights  3. Graduate Degree Pay Bumps Removed  4. Retiree Health Benefits Removed For New Teachers 5. Push for Merit Pay and … Continue reading 27 Attacks On North Carolina Public Education

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 Graduate Degrees Do Matter & NC Should Restore Graduate Degree Pay

From the News & Observer in March of 2023: What they are reporting here is that DPI under State Super Catherine Truitt claims the average salary for teachers in NC is a little under $58,000 / year. That figure is one of the most grossly manufactured statistics in this state. Let’s lay bare the facts … Continue reading The Average NC Teacher Salary Is Almost $58,000? Here’s Why That Is Grossly Misleading.

As we ready ourselves for another new calendar year and return to begin the second half of our school year, please remember all those people who could have done the right thing and helped public education more. From delaying budgets, betraying voters, to expanding nontransparent vouchers, those who qualify for copious lumps of coal are … Continue reading The Lumps Of Coal For 2023

My friend Kim Mackey started a GoFundMe page for another friend Justin Parmenter who is having heart surgery next month. Kim writes the blog educatEDpolicy and Justin writes the blog Notes From the Chalkboard. She writes: "Justin is a father, husband, teacher, and public schools advocate. He puts his heart into his classroom, home, and … Continue reading Please Help If You Can: Justin Parmenter’s Heart Surgery

Bedford Falls, NY could be almost any small town if you didn’t qualify weather and the appearance of book-carrying angels as criteria. The setting for the movie It’s a Wonderful Life supposedly is fashioned in a striking fashion after Seneca Falls, NY and plays host to one of the best stories of the holiday season to grace … Continue reading Bedford Falls High School – A Foundation For “It’s A Wonderful Life” And How It Shows That Public Schools Are Pillars of the Community

The powers that rule in the North Carolina General Assembly have been waging a war against public schools in our state for the last four years. Under the guise of “reform,” GOP conservatives driven by ALEC-crafted policies have successfully enabled and instituted privatization efforts in many forms: unregulated charter school development, expansive growth of unproven … Continue reading The North Carolina General Assembly’s Christmas Wish: Make Veteran Teachers Extinct

Dear Santa, With gerrymandered districts and continued emphasis on using public taxpayer money to finance unproven reform efforts that do more to privatize and divide our student bodies, I thought it might be worth adding a few items to my holiday wish list. Sure, I want efforts to clean our environment and hold entities accountable … Continue reading This North Carolina Teacher’s Letter to Santa