Archives for category: North Carolina
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GOOD NEWS: NC Court Overturns State Law Ending Tenure

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2014 //
46

North Carolina Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood ruled that the state’s effort to eliminate teacher tenure was unconstitutional.

“Superior Court Judge Robert H. Hobgood ruled this morning that the state’s repeal of teacher tenure, also known as “career status,” and the 25 percent contract system that would award temporary employment contracts to those who relinquish their tenure, are both unconstitutional. Hobgood issued a permanent injunction.

“It’s a great day for teachers in North Carolina,” said Rodney Ellis, President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, following Hobgood’s ruling.

– See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/05/16/breaking-court-rules-that-repeal-of-teacher-tenure-25-contracts-unconstitutional/#sthash.LmEaN7Ii.dpuf

Categories North Carolina, Teacher Tenure

North Carolina: McCrory Proposes to Raise Teachers’ Salaries

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2014 //
13

North Carolina, once seen as the most forward-looking state in the South, has become an educational backwater in recent years, despite winning Race to the Top funding. The governor and legislature have skimped on public schools, cut their budgets, while expanding deregulated charters and introducing vouchers. They even eliminated their own NC Teaching Fellows program to prepare career teachers while spending millions to bring in Teach for America temps. Teachers’ salaries have been flat since 2008, and NC teacher pay dropped from the national average to nearly last in the nation. The state has been experiencing a major brain drain of veteran teachers, under the withering assaults of the legislature and governor.

Last February, the governor announced a pay raise, but only for new teachers. This eases the path for the TFA recruits (the governor’s senior education adviser is a TFA alum).

This week, the governor announced a series of pay raises for all teachers, as well as small increases for textbooks and preschool. He did not explain how he will pay for his proposals. The legislature previously enacted major corporate tax cuts. Some of his proposals involve pay for performance, with increases tied to test scores, a widely discredited approach that has many believers.

Some of the increases fail to restore the previous deep cuts. For example:

“Acknowledging that the deep cuts that have been made to the textbook budget are not good for students, the Governor pledged to double the current textbook budget to $43 million. In 2009, however, the textbook budget was roughly $110 million – the next year it was slashed to just $2.6 million. Early childhood education will receive $3.6 million with the Governor’s proposal, enough for around 700 pre-K slots, which are reserved for low-income children to get a head start on their education. Past years’ cuts in funding have left the pre-K program with significant waiting lists that are in the tens of thousands.”

– See more at: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2014/05/08/gov-mccrory-unveils-latest-teacher-pay-and-education-reform-plan/#sthash.oasfgXeJ.dpuf

Categories North Carolina

North Carolina May Drop Common Core

By dianeravitch
April 25, 2014 //
83

The North Carolina legislature is deciding whether to back out of the Common Core standards.

As a critic of the Common Core, I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I would be pleased to see a state that won Race to the Top funding telling Arne Duncan “No, thanks,” we don’t take orders from you.

On the other, the North Carolina legislature is so extremist and so hostile to public education that I fear what might be acceptable to them.

This is what it means to be between a rock and a hard place.

Maybe Jeb Bush and the Fordham Institute will talk them out of it and remind them why conservatives are supposed to love Common Core.

Categories Common Core, North Carolina

Breaking News: NC Judge Blocks Anti-Tenure Law

By dianeravitch
April 23, 2014 //
87

A judge in Guilford County, North Carolina, ruled that the district and Durham Counties do not have to comply with a state law intended to take away tenure.

It’s not yet clear whether e the ruling applies statewide or only to the districts that opposed the law.

But for now, teachers view it as vindication of their claim that the law violates the state constitution.

Districts were supposed to offer $500 a year for the top 25% of their teachers if they abandoned due process rights.

“RALEIGH, N.C. — A Guilford County judge on Wednesday halted a requirement that North Carolina school districts offer a quarter of their teachers multi-year contracts as an enticement for them to give up their so-called “career status” protections.

“Special Superior Court Judge Richard Doughton issued an injunction that allows Guilford County Schools to evade the requirement, which lawmakers passed last year as part of the state budget.

“Durham Public Schools last month joined a lawsuit filed by the Guilford County school district, and more than a quarter of the 115 school districts statewide have expressed opposition to contract requirement.

“Under career status, commonly referred to as tenure, veteran teachers are given extra due process rights, including the right to a hearing if they are disciplined or fired.

“Lawmakers asked school districts to identify the top 25 percent of their teachers and offer them new four-year contracts with $500 annual salary increases. In exchange, those teachers would lose their tenure rights. The provision aims to move North Carolina to a performance-based system for paying teachers instead of one based on longevity.

“A spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who initially crafted the tenure elimination proposal, said legislative leaders plan to seek an appeal of Doughton’s injunction.

“It is hard to fathom why a single judge and a small group of government bureaucrats would try to deny top-performing teachers from receiving a well-deserved pay raise,” Amy Auth said in an email. “We will appeal this legal roadblock and continue to fight for pay increases for our best teachers.”

Because if low pay and the legislsture’s attacks on teachers, North Carolina has experienced unprecedented resignations among veteran teachers. The legislature, for example, abolished the respected five-year NC Teaching Fellows program while allotting $5 million to TFA.

Categories North Carolina, Teacher Tenure

Vivian Connell’s Journey: On Her Way

By dianeravitch
April 20, 2014 //
1

You have read here about the courageous journey of Vivian Connell. She lives in North Carolina, where she was a teacher for many years. In 2010, discouraged by the state legislature’s hostility to teachers and low salaries, she left the classroom to enter law school. She graduated last May with honors. Vivian recently learned she has ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and she returned to teaching for whatever time remains to her. Her goal right now is to raise $20,000 to take her class to the U. S. Holocaust Museum in D. C.

Read her story here.

You can find the link here to make a donation. Send $5, $10, $25, whatever you can afford.

Let’s help Vivian fulfill her dream.

Do it in the spirit of Easter. Or Passover. Or humanity.

Categories North Carolina, Teachers and Teaching

Troubled North Carolina Charter School Collapses in Financial Mess

By dianeravitch
April 6, 2014 //
14

The North Carolina legislature recently voted to expand the number of deregulate, privately managed charter schools in the state. One that opened last fall, StudentFirst Academy in Charlotte, announced that it would close its doors on April 11, leaving nearly 300 students unprepared for state exams and scrambling to find a school.

The school struggled financially almost from its first dy, when enrollment was less than projected. And there were other problems.

“Many employees were laid off in December, after the board fired Head of School Phyllis Handford and Deputy Head Sandra Moss. The board was reacting to a consultant’s report that said the two founders had boosted their own salaries, put Handford’s family members on the payroll, overstaffed on administration, fallen behind on bills and failed to document expenses. Handford and Moss are now suing the StudentFirst board for breach of contract.

“The remaining StudentFirst employees will lose their jobs effective April 15…..”

“When the state approved a budget of $3 million in public money for StudentFirst’s first year, it was based on projections for 432 students. The school opened with 338, and Medley said the latest count he heard was 266. The dwindling enrollment reduced the amount of local and state money available to StudentFirst, though the final tally was not available.”

Parents said they chose the school because it promised strong academics and a cultural arts program.

Privatization and deregulation are perilous.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/04/03/4814539/studentfirst-charter-school-to.html#.U0HnyOi9KSO#storylink=cpy

Categories Charter Schools, North Carolina

Breaking News: NC Court Freezes Voucher Plan

By dianeravitch
April 6, 2014 //
13

The News-Oberver in North Carolina reported that a court put a freeze on the voucher program passed by the legislature:

“The state school voucher plan remains frozen after the N.C. Appeals Court this week rejected requests to lift a lower court’s injunction.

“A Superior Court judge in February halted the new program that would have given parents up $4,200 in taxpayer money to help pay their children’s private school tuition.

“Two parents who want to use vouchers asked the Appeals Court to lift the legal freeze.

“The N.C. School Boards Association and state residents, backed the the N.C. Justice Center and the N.C. Association of Educators, are suing to stop vouchers. Among their claims is the program violates the state constitution.”

Categories North Carolina, Vouchers

Waltons Send Big $$$$ to North Carolina for Voucher Advocates

By dianeravitch
April 4, 2014 //
18

Now that North Carolina is controlled by an extremist governor and legislature intent on destroying public education, the Walton Family Foundation has increased its support for groups advocating for vouchers in that state.

Lindsay Wagner writes in NC Policy Watch:

“The Walton Family Foundation, known for supporting vouchers, charters, and other school privatization initiatives across the country, paid $710,000 to NC-based school voucher advocacy group Parents for Educational Freedom NC (PEFNC) in 2013, an increase of more than $100,000 over its 2012 contribution to the group.

“Parents for Educational Freedom NC has received large contributions from Walton since at least 2009. The Walton Family has paid PEFNC $275,000 in 2009, $525,000 in 2010, $625,000 in 2011 and $600,000 in 2012, according to the foundation’s website.

“Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom NC, has seen his own compensation increase considerably as the influx of Walton money has ramped up. In 2010, Allison received $107,889 for his work running the non-profit; in 2012, Allison reported an income of $156,582—a 45 percent pay increase in just two years.

“PEFNC has been the primary advocacy group responsible for bringing school vouchers to North Carolina.

“Last summer, lawmakers passed the Opportunity Scholarships program, a school voucher program that would enable taxpayer dollars to be funneled directly to private schools–$10 million in 2014-15 and $40 million in 2015-16, with the goal of expanding the program even further in the future.

“The law, passed as a part of the budget bill last summer, provides little in the way of accountability for private schools while reducing funds for public education at a time when schools are seeing sharp reductions in funding over a years-long period.”

Read the post to open the links to other articles about privatization.

– See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/04/03/walton-family-spends-big-on-school-vouchers-in-north-carolina/#sthash.wNEd4Eig.dpuf

Categories North Carolina, Vouchers, Walton Foundation

NC: How to Waste Taxpayer Dollars on a Useless Bonus Plan

By dianeravitch
March 29, 2014 //
10

Governor McCrory has had a new idea.

Given the terrible morale of teachers in his state and the exodus of veteran teachers, it is important for the state to act quickly to support its teachers.

But that is not his idea.

 

He wants to use Race to the Top dollars to pay $10,000 each to 450 teachers across the state.

Since merit pay and bonuses have not had a positive effect anywhere else, consider this just a way of getting rid of RTTT money fast.

He previously announced a plan to pay new teachers more, which will be a boost for the TFA that the far-right governor and legislature are bringing to the state, but he has no plans to raise the salary of experienced teachers.

The proposal sounds similar to a plan McCrory floated last summer, when he announced his intention to use $30 million of Race to the Top funds for an Education Innovation Fund that would reward 1,000 top teachers with $10,000 stipends. That proposal was met with criticism by State Board of Education members at a meeting shortly after his announcement.

In September, NC Policy Watch reached out to Gov. McCrory’s education advisor, Eric Guckian, to see if the Education Innovation Fund was on the table. While the name seemed to have changed by then, policymakers were still moving forward with the idea.

“The goal of the Governor’s Teacher Empowerment Network is the same as the Innovation Fund was, to get the money in teachers’ pockets,” said Erin Gray, Guckian’s assistant. “However, the process of how the teachers receive this money is different. We want to be able to reward as many teachers as possible with this network and produce innovative [sic], master, leader teachers to not only benefit from the extra pay, but will be active to reform schools and lead other teachers.”

Today’s announcement about the GTN comes at a time when the state’s entire teacher workforce has not received a raise since 2008, with the exception of a 1.2 percent pay increase in 2010. Recently ranked 46th in the nation in teacher pay for the second year in a row, North Carolina is also dead last in teacher salary growth over the past decade.

– See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2014/03/24/mccrory-announces-plan-to-give-450-teachers-10000-bonuses-with-race-to-the-top-funds/#sthash.USLAC2Vj.dpuf

 

 

Categories North Carolina, Teachers and Teaching

NC Loses Another NBCT Teacher

By dianeravitch
March 26, 2014 //
22

Governor Pat McCrory and the Legislature in North Carolina are doing their best to get rid of the state’s’s star teachers, and they are succeeding.

The state is losing large numbers of experienced teachers, because of low salaries. Teachers’ salaries have been flat for six years and are now 46th in the nation.

This National Board Certified Teacher quit, and she wrote a letter to the governor to explain why.

A 13-year veteran, Melissa Taylor wrote:

“To Whom It May Concern,

It is with great sadness that I submit my written notification of resignation from my teaching position with Wake County Public School Systems effective 3/14/14. I have found it more and more difficult to pay my bills every month and continue to fall further and further into debt, not to mention the feeling of absolute disrespect that I feel every time a new “expectation” is mandated for our classrooms while all of our resources are being taken away. I had no choice but to search for a job that will allow me to provide for my family and to pay back the thousands of dollars in college loans that I took to be a teacher. I find the condition of our education system in NC to be heartbreaking. It seems that our leaders and law makers have completely forgotten what is the most important thing here, the kids! We are failing our students, our teachers and our future. Please accept this letter as my official resignation from Wake County Public Schools.

Sincerely,

Melissa Taylor, M.Ed, NBCT”

Do you think Governor McCrory cares? Or will he gladly full her job with a TFA who will leave before vesting for a pension?

Categories North Carolina, Teach for America, Teachers and Teaching
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