Justin Parmenter, a teacher in North Carolina, explains that teachers in his state have good reasons to walk out, like teachers from West Virginia to Arizona. The state legislature has kept their pay low and failed to fund the schools adequately. At the same time that the Tea Party dominated legislature was administering cuts to schools and teachers, it was cutting taxes for corporations and expanding charter schools.
Consider the facts of the last several years:
- NC teachers earn 5% less, on average, than they did before the recession when numbers are adjusted for inflation.
- Our state today spends 12.2% less per pupil than it did prior to the recession, ranking 39th in the nation.
- Staffing ratios for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers are far below what industry recommends, leaving our students without the social and emotional support they desperately need.
- Teachers have lost due process rights, longevity pay, and pay increases for graduate degrees. New hires after January 1, 2021 will not enjoy retiree health benefits.
- Legislators removed the cap on charter schools, 173 of which are currently adding substantial fiscal pressure to cash-starved districts.
- We’ve lost nearly 7,500 teacher assistants due to state budget cuts, crippling teachers’ abilities to differentiate instruction and manage behavior.
- Health insurance premiums have skyrocketed. Teachers responsible for insuring their families now pay an average of nearly $10,000 a year.
- The General Assembly implemented a new principal performance pay system, which will result in some school leaders suffering pay reductions of more than $20,000, leading to early retirements.
- Despite some progress, a bungled class size reduction leaves schools with unfunded capital needs and almost 7,000 new teaching positions that will be difficult to fill, especially considering the hostile landscape detailed above.
The day of reckoning in North Carolina is May 16, when the Legislature reconvenes.
Expect to see teachers at the State Capitol on May 16.
They will be there to demand that North Carolina make good public education a priority.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A couple of books that give the grand vision that’s been underway since the 70s and has gripped education for the last 10+ years, everything subordinated to the tenets of Neoliberalism where, in the words of Chris Hedges, everything is dollarable:
-“The Global Assault on Teaching, Teachers, and their Unions: Stories for Resistance” by Lois Weiner (Editor), Mary Compton (Editor)
-“A Brief History of Neoliberalism,” by David Harvey
-“Dark Money,” by Jane Mayer
-“Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy”
by Nicholas Tampio
posted at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Why-North-Carolina-Teacher-in-General_News-Diane-Ravitch_Education-Funding_Legislators_Schools-180503-241.html
with this comment:
Well, they can always get teachers from overseas. like the Philippines , like they do in Arizona where they defunded public education and won’t pay salaries for professional educators. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Teacher-Pay-Is-So-Low-in-S-in-General_News-Educators–Teachers_Mass-Teacher-Firings_Recruiting_School-180503-857.html#comment699258
Thus, the wealthy can send their kids to private school but the rest of the people, get inferior education. So much for the COMMON GOOD.’
@Susan: Are you saying that publicly-operated schools are inferior to private schools?
Are you also suggesting, that the “rest of the people” should be given the option to leave the public systems, with vouchers?
Charles: Publicly funded schools [meaning public schools?} are loosing funding. How can they compete with the BEST private schools. Barron Trump goes to a very wealthy private school. Why can’t public schools be funded just as well? They should be. Cuts in all departments, larger class sizes, poor salaries for teachers has an effect. It is astounding that these schools are achieving in spite of the cutbacks championed by the GOP.
It has been statistically proven that children who use vouchers lag behind their peers who stayed in public schools. Leaving public schools to use a voucher is not in anyone’s best interest. People who do so don’t know the facts on how bad they are.
Charles, you have read Susan enough to know exactly what she means. Carol, while I agree with you most of the time, I do not feel that public schools need to compete with private schools for $$ to provide an excellent education. If someone wants to send their child to an exclusive private school and can afford to, more power to them. My ire is saved for those who then turn around and try to profit off the public system by diverting funds through tax credits, vouchers, and charter schools or demands for lower taxes, all of which drain the public schools of resources.
speduktr: I’m just saying that public schools should be funded as well as the best private schools. I was shocked when I first arrived in KL to work at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. The art department was well stocked with EVERYTHING imaginable. We had a thriving band program. The library was rich with books and new ones were ordered each year. Class sizes were overloaded at 17 kids. The school had its own certified nurse.
We had plays galore and programs of all sorts for all sorts of occasions. Why aren’t our schools funded this way?
Yes, wealthy parents do have an advantage but if common folk want better schools, why not demand better? This cutting and cutting is demeaning to teachers and it is not going to make us world leaders. Our little ones will become the robots who can’t think. Perhaps that is the way of the future. We’d be electing better politicians if people could think.
Hey, there are lots of things I want that I can’t afford. This country can afford to provide a good public education system. What is it that is so knock out special about private schools that we should be spending $$$$$ to try to match them?
Demanding better, yes. I just don’t see elite private schools as the gold standard.
speduktr: I know that it is ‘La La Land’ to expect that much to be spent on education. I still say that this country has the money. Imagine if education were as important as the military. [Can you imagine Trump saying he wants billions more for public schools? No, I can’t either. We may as well wait for trickle down to fulfill my dreams.] Obama wouldn’t have done any better.
It just is so grand to work in a school that had money and spent it on kids. There were several computer lab rooms for the different grade levels. There were computers in the very large library. Teachers had time to meet within each grade level to do planning. We even had a few professional development days where we met at a resort in the area. Busses were provided and so was lunch.
I especially loved how foreign hires were given an allowance that was sent to a local travel agent. We just called the travel agent and told them where we wanted to travel. It was all taken care of. [I sincerely doubt that teachers in the US will ever get that bonus.] It was taken away after a few years. Then, the extra travel money was added to my once a month paycheck. Dang. I had to do more planning myself.
When I see what is possible and then read what is reality, it makes me ill. Gary, Indiana students had to go outside in the snow a few years ago to protest that their school boilers hadn’t been working for several years. They were wearing coats to class. Some hallways were flooded and drinking fountains were turned off. There was mould growing in the band room. The media got hold of this and the state finally repaired the boilers.
Grover Norquist’s National Taxpayer’s Union demand that the Republicans sign a pledge to “Starve the Beast” of big government until it got so small that it could be drowned in a bucket of water wasn’t aimed at such Republican programs as corporate welfare, wealth protection for the 1%ers, etc. No it was aimed squarely at Public Schools, Professional Teachers, Teacher’s Unions, and other Public Sector Unions. Well they’ve been successful. Now teachers in the earliest “Right to Work for Less” states mainly in the South, Appalachia, the Plains States and the Southwest are revolting. Citizens all over the country need choose between protecting their teachers and public schools or keeping the Republicans in power in their states. It is clearly time for these voters to revolt against the Norquist/Koch cabal.
It makes me wonder how much the public backing of unions and vocal support for growing union membership will end up as part of the 2018/2020 election cycles…?
Add to the NC malaise the fact that it was the envy of other parts of the country in the 1980s
US teacher of the year stages silent protest as Trump awards prize
Guardian News
Published on May 3, 2018
A teacher who leads a classroom for teenage refugees staged a silent protest by wearing several overtly political badges while receiving an award from Donald Trump at the White House. Mandy Manning works at a school that specialises in English language development
BREAKING NEWS:
Our neighboring school district’s (Chapel Hill-Carrboro) school board just voted unanimously to close schools on May 16th for an advocacy day!! They cited lengthy public comment (huge turnout!) at the board meeting as part of their rationale… this morning, I had heard there were only ~100 teachers there who has put in their leave… what a quick turnaround!
LINK:
http://chapelboro.com/news/pre-k-12-education/chccs-preparing-teacher-absences-day-advocacy
Ladies & gentlemen, we have momentum in N.C.!! 🙂