Congratulations to Yevonne Brannan, whose post about the legislative attack on public education in North Carolina went viral today. Nearly 30,000 people read her post. That is amazing!
Congratulations, Yevonne, and forgive me for misspelling your first name in the post.
Yevonne is one of the leaders of Public Schools First NC.
She and other devoted parents, teachers, and citizens will win this battle. Not today, not this year, maybe not next year, but they will win.
Here is the announcement of the formation of her group of brave fighters for the common good. They got started only last February. They are determined. They will take back NC from the cultural vandals. It will happen. They have just begun to fight.
Public Schools First NC Forms to Champion Public Education
We are pleased to let you know that a a new statewide, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy group committed to high-quality public schools for North Carolina has formed. Public Schools First NC is a group of citizens, parents, teachers, businesses and organizations joining together out of a deep concern about the growing threat to privatize and weaken North Carolina’s public schools.
Public Schools First NC’s common sense agenda includes:
Adequate, equitable funding reflecting at least the national average for North Carolina’s school district
A limited number of truly innovative charter schools designed to work with local school districts, managed with careful local and state oversight.
Excellent educational environments that are partnerships between schools, families, teachers and the community.
Increased support for pre-school, because high quality, early childhood education is a wise investment for communities and has lifelong, positive results for children.
Programs that encourage the training and retention of professional experienced teachers and principals.
Take the next step for public education in NC!
Join Public Schools First NC to receive news, information, and important action alerts: http://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/join-us/
Like Public Schools First NC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/publicschoolsfirstnc
Follow Public Schools First NC on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ps1nc
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
After reading the post on the actions of the NC legislature, it is fantastic to hear that someone has been developing a grassroots movement to counter the attack on Public education. Good luck.
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Good work.
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From the comments, though, I would say that some folks are still not seeing the issues of Common Core and RttT. Yes the Republicans in there are making radical, hard to stomach changes for public school supporters. But also, some short sightedness has been previously demonstrated in making us beholden to RttT (in my opinion).
btw, love the remedy by WordPress for those who try to correct typos. 🙂 message received.
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Joanna, I am thinking that not much can be done now. NC signed onto CC and accepted the RttT money. I don’t see our state back-tracking on that deal. Do you?
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I agree it is a complex question. So for a parent who does not like it the options are: opt out, or go to a private or charter. ?
I do believe we have the talent in our teacher pool to deliver a strong experience to public school students no matter what. But I feel like the blows have come from all sides, not just the Republicans we have in there now. In fact, some of them are the ones introducing a bill to look into Common Core and when I have emailed anyone in Raleigh, only the most conservative wrote me back.
I guess that’s why I am an independent now.
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Thanks to Diane for letting everyone know what’s happening in NC. We at Public Schools First NC will continue to fight the good fight, regardless of whether our legislature is in session or not. It’s unfortunate, but it’s good to know we’re not alone.
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An article about NC politics that may be of interest.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/23/moral_mondays_the_liberal_protest_that_would_shock_the_right/?source=newsletter
From the article:
“The twelfth consecutive week of Moral Monday protests took place on Monday, July 22, outside the North Carolina General Assembly building at 5 p.m. as usual. Thousands of people were there, this time focusing on proposed state voter restrictions and attacks on public education.”
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