In one of the closest elections in the country, Governor Pat McCrory conceded at last to State Attorney General Roy Cooper in the race for governor.
McCrory came to office as the formerly moderate mayor of Charlotte. Once in office, he joined the far-right wing Tea Party majority in the General Assembly to pass legislation for charters and vouchers, to eliminate the respected North Carolina Teaching Fellows program (which required a five-year education commitment and produced career teachers) and replaced it with a $6 million grant to Teach for America, and enacted law after law to reduce the status of the teaching profession.
To understand the damage that McCrory and his cronies did to the state read this summary of five years of political wrecking imposed on the state.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ding Dong!
Yes, doorbell ringing and AMWAY on the front stoop.
This report is really something both visually and factually.
It is a prophetic summary of where the USA is headed unless we Just Say NO!!!!
What Pat McCrory and the Alt-Right, biased, hate monger, tea party people did to North Carolina is a preview of what Trump will attempt to do to the United States.
Who financially supported the birth of the so-called tea party movement?
“The Secret Origins of the Tea Party” Time Magazine
How Big Oil and Big Tobacco Partnered with the Koch Brothers to Take Over the GOP (and subvert the U.S. Constitution)
Awesoime link, Lloyd. Many thanks.
Great news for public school kids in North Carolina. Maybe now they’ll get some funding and state support back before the (existing) schools are irreparably damaged?
No matter what happens in DC, this shows we can change things at the state and local level.
They were up against extremely well-funded opposition and a lock-step anti-public schools crew. Congrats!
“Jeb Bush wants to see big changes in federal education funding and policy in the coming years under the newly unified Republican government.
“I hope they’re bold about this,” Bush said Thursday at the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s annual conference. “I hope there’s an earthquake as it relates to education funding and education policy.”
More chaos and gimmicks and fads are on the way!
The innovators in DC are set to launch a whole new round of super-cool experiments on our kids!
We literally just started to adjust to Common Core here and they’re back! Look for cheap, garbage “blended learning” if Jeb Bush has anything to do with it. He won’t be happy until every poor and middle class kid if in the country is being trained using computer programs.
Public schools can resist this. They don’t have to go along with every ed reform directive. They have to start saying “no” to these people.
If ed reformers all want to go to a privatized system why are public schools taking their advice on public school reforms?
Shouldn’t they be advising charter and private schools?
I see Fordham in Ohio weighing in on every public school in the state. Is there some reason people in public schools should listen to “experts” who oppose the continued existence of public schools?
Why are we listening to them on graduation requirements or testing or anything at all, really? If they’re unwilling to support public schools why not just cut them loose completely?
Chiara,
You are right about that. Why do the media go to privatizers to get their advice on what public schools should do to improve? In most cases, the person who answers the phone never taught, never had a child in public schools, is just a wonk.