Please join Jen Mangrum in her important campaign for state superintendent of education in North Carolina, a post that has been held by an ineffectual Republican supporter of charters, vouchers, and other Tea Party policies for the past four years.
Jen is an experienced educator and a woman with guts. She ran against state Senator Phil Berger, the most powerful politician in the state in the last election, which she lost. But she has a good shot at winning the race for state chief. She has the support of teachers and parent groups.
Jen is holding a campaign event on June 25. I will join her, virtually.
Please join us and help her restore integrity and leadership in public education in North Carolina.
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
It will really tweak the noses of the privatizer forces here in NC if we can elect Jen Mangrum to head DPI. In the same session that they tried to strip powers from the governor back when both Cooper and Johnson were elected, the Republicans in the Legislature stripped a lot of power from the State BoE (which is appointed by the Governor) and gave it to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on the idea that Johnson could then carry out their agenda. It didn’t quite work out that way, because Johnson really is a pretty feckless SPI, but we could see some real change for the better with Mangrum wielding the same powers. It would serve the GOP and their privatizing friends right.
Stewart,
I had the same thought. The GOP General Assembly made the state superintendent very powerful. It would serve them right if Jen Mangrum won. Not as if they could strip her powers and give them back to the Governor, who is a Democrat!
Exactly. All they could do is give them back to the State BoE, which is appointed by the Governor. Of course, we’re all aiming to get at least one house of the Legislature in Democratic hands in November, now that the legislative district maps have been redrawn following court orders to end gerrymandering. We have a good shot at it, and that will help finally put an end to some of the worst excesses of the privatizers here in NC.