EDUCATION IN North Carolina

Some of the latest postings on this blog were excellent posts by NCDP Labor Caucus ally Thomas Mills and caucus member George Vlasits on the education system in NC. If you haven’t read their posts, I recommend you do so. I would also like to opine on the situation of public education in North Carolina.

I will be 77 years old in December. I grew up with two remarkable Democratic Governors, Governor Terry Sanford, and Governor Jim Hunt, who understood that building a sound education system was a good investment for the future and suitable for creating an economic system that worked for NC citizens by giving them a chance to advance on the economic ladder. When Jim Hunt left, the NC Public Education System was rated 5th in the nation. The teachers in North Carolina felt valued, and the system retained good dedicated teachers until retirement.

But that was then, and now we find a completely different situation. North Carolina retained its high national ranking until Republicans took over the state legislature and senate.  Since the Republican takeover of the NC Legislature and Senate, Republicans have declared war on our public education system. Why would they do such a thing? Becasue the Republican NC Legislature is taking orders from wealthy donors who want to kill the NC Public Education System to have an excuse to privatize the entire system. Governors Sanford and Hunt wanted a system that provided higher education and favorable student outcomes. Like everything else, Republicans want to base their outcomes on profits for a select few.

Since the Republican take over, they have dropped the national rating of the NC Public Education System to 22nd place in the nation. They have dropped the amount of money spent per student to dead last in the nation. They have attacked the teaching corps by cutting benefits and refusing pay increases for years. Many of our top teachers have left for neighboring states because there, they will retain more benefits and make an average of $10,000.00 more annually by simply working in adjacent states. They have eliminated benefits for entry-level teachers, thereby putting North Carolina in a crisis in its ability to recruit competent teachers to replace those that have already left. Again, this was done deliberately to hurt the system, and they are succeeding.

While the Republicans are letting our Public Education System die on the vine, they are sitting on a 4.75 billion dollar rainy day fund. That’s right, 4.75 billion dollars while underfunding our education system so that we are rated dead last. Why are NC citizens allowing this shameful fraud in our public education system? As Dr. Andy McGuire said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” The citizens of North Carolina need to get together and kick out politicians who see education as a means of profit-making for a few selected owners of charter schools. We need to reclaim our commitment to public education and again see it as a good investment for the future of all of us. Even though we have a Democratic Governor, he is at the mercy of the NC Republican Legislature & Senate, that now has a super majority to override Governor Cooper’s veto of their bad and despicable policies. Here in NC, we need local representation in our state legislature and senate who understand the value of a good educational investment.