Archives for category: North Carolina
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Moral Monday: The North Carolina Protest Movement Spreads

By dianeravitch
August 6, 2013 //
5

The message from North Carolina: We can defeat the power if we organize and stand together. The Moral Monday idea started in North Carolina but it is spreading:

 

It’s heartening to see that word of North Carolina’s Moral Monday events are inspiring others, just as we have been inspired by the actions occurring in other states across this nation. 
 
http://www.carolinamercury.com/2013/08/thousands-attend-mountain-moral-monday-protests-spread-to-chicago-and-oakland/
 
 
As you’ve said,
WE ARE MANY. THERE IS POWER IN OUR NUMBERS. TOGETHER, WE WILL SAVE OUR SCHOOLS.
 
We’re on a roll.
 
Patty
 
Patty Williams
Communications Director
 
Great Schools in Wake:   greatschoolsinwake.org / Facebook / Twitter
Public Schools First NC: publicschoolsfirstnc.org / Facebook / Twitter
Categories California, Chicago, North Carolina

North Carolina Wants Armed Guards in Schools

By dianeravitch
August 3, 2013 //
61

North Carolina has earned the distinction of being ALEC’s playground so it is not surprising to learn that the General Assembly has voted to put armed guards in the schools, with the right to arrest students. .

Jacob Langberg asks these questions:

“Would you want armed former cops and soldiers patrolling your office? Your supermarket? Your place of worship? I wouldn’t. So why are policymakers putting them in schools? Can’t we all agree that schools should be supportive, loving, peaceful environments, and not violent, hostile, and intimidating places? Apparently not.”

Other districts worried about protecting students from outside intruders after the tragic shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. North Carolina decided the students were threatening.

Langberg writes:

“This is not an abstract fringe issue. It’s about how we want our public schools to look and feel – child-friendly and caring or hostile and punitive. It’s about refusing to sort youth into potential perpetrators and potential victims. It’s about terrorism against young people. Sadly, school resource officers, who hardly existed two decades ago, already seem normal to most young people. We must refuse to start down a path that will soon make armed militias in schools feel like commonplace.”

Categories ALEC, North Carolina

NC Governor: Phony Claims About Education

By dianeravitch
August 2, 2013 //
22

Governor Pat McCrory presented his budget and boasted it was the largest education budget ever.

But it isn’t true. Adjusted for inflation, North Carolina is spending half a billion dollars less than in 2008.

The fibs just kept on coming at a news conference.

“Gov. McCrory also repeated a claim he made as he signed his tax reform package into law that teachers making between $40,000 and $45,000 annually will actually get 1% of their earnings back, thanks to tax reform.

“But according to tables that accompanied the tax reform bill, citizens don’t get a 1% tax break until they have a household income of $250,000.

“McCrory also said that teachers are not able to get raises in this budget because of high Medicaid costs. He did not address the fact, however, that state revenue availability was reduced by $684 million over the biennium as the result of tax cut package he signed into law.

“When talking about the state of teacher pay, McCrory said that North Carolina ranked “in the 40′s” in 2010, just as we do now.

“Again, however, this does not comport with the facts. North Carolina actually ranked 27th in teacher pay in 2005-06 and has dropped to 46th in the nation in less than 10 years.

“Governor McCrory took no questions at the conclusion of his remarks.”

– See more at: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/08/01/mccrory-claims-nc-education-budget-largest-in-history/#sthash.VTz1cy2t.dpuf

Categories Budget Cuts, North Carolina

NC: Teachers Get No Pay Raises for Masters

By dianeravitch
August 2, 2013 //
35

North Carolina legislators, ever on the hunt for ways to demoralize teachers, decided there would be no extra pay for masters’ degrees.

This is their way of showing their contempt for education. They don’t see the return on investment for a masters’ degree in history or science or special education.

Teachers with existing masters are grandfathered in, and those enrolled in masters programs now may be out if luck.

Expect the education level of teachers in NC to decline. A victory for ignorance.

Categories North Carolina, Teachers and Teaching

NC Teacher: These “Reforms” Are Insane

By dianeravitch
July 30, 2013 //
18

A reader from North Carolina explains how the legislatures so-called reforms will affect her:

“I have been teaching in NC for 13 years now. To be honest, having to sign a new contract each year or not getting a raise yet again doesn’t concern me as much as having 25+ 7 year olds with no assistant. I’ve had to share an assistant with 3 other teachers for the past few years, and that is better than having no one. The idea that teachers can meet the individual needs of all children with less time and resources is insane. During a classroom emergency (sick or violent behaving student) how am I supposed to take care of the student needing help plus keep teaching the others? I’d like to see how some of these politicians would function without their secretaries and personal assistants. Instead of trying to help public schools, they are setting us up for failure. It’s like giving a carpenter a hammer, a handsaw, a couple of boards, and a box of nails then calling him incompetent when the house isn’t built in 3 weeks.”

Categories North Carolina, Students, Teachers and Teaching

Join NC’s Moral Monday Protest Against Assault on Public Schools

By dianeravitch
July 27, 2013 //
7

Supporters of public schools in Virginia will be car-pooling to join the weekly protest at the North Carolina state Capitol called Moral Monday. If you can be there to support public schools, to oppose budget cuts and privatization, please join them.

This comes from Rachel Levy in Virginia:

“There is going to be a big Moral Monday event in support of public education & in protest of education cuts in NC: http://www.ncae.org/whats-new/moral-monday-protest-walk-join-us/

The VEA in neighboring Virginia will be hosting car pools to the event. From the VEA: “car pools are forming at VEA headquarters, 116 South 3rd Street, Richmond, at 11:15 am for a noon departure. The rally is being organized to protest steep cuts to North Carolina public education. The North Carolina Association of Educators HQ, the pre-rally meeting spot, is at 700 South Salisbury St. NCAE asks that you wear RED. Get more information at http://www.ncae.org.”

Categories Budget Cuts, North Carolina, Vouchers

NC: Schools Lose, Corporation$ Win

By dianeravitch
July 26, 2013 //
5

A reader explains the logic behind North Carolina’s budget cuts and other school “reforms”:

“They cut millions in education in NC to give corporations $365 Million in tax cuts.

“So with Citizens United, they have financed their own re-election campaigns for next year by giving the corporations the money to donate.
See how Teabagastan Politics work?”

Categories Budget Cuts, North Carolina

North Carolina: Public Education in Peril

By dianeravitch
July 25, 2013 //
22

Dr. June Atkinson, the state superintendent of instruction in North Carolina, said, ““For the first time in my career of more than 30 years in public education, I am truly worried about students in our care.”

Lindsay Wagner summarizes the damage done to public education by the North Carolina legislature:

It cut more than $500 million from the state’s public schools.

It passed a voucher program to allow students to take public money to private and religious schools.

And more:

The 2013-15 biennial budget introduces a raft of spending cuts to public schools that will result in no raises for teachers, larger class sizes, fewer teacher assistants, little support for instructional supplies or professional development, and what could amount to the dismantling of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows program. Teachers can also say goodbye to tenure and supplemental pay for advanced degrees.

Wagner asks, “Is this the beginning of the end for public education in North Carolina?”

The privatization movement is in full swing in North Carolina. What was once the most progressive state in the South is now leading the attack on public education. For the first time since Reconstruction, the governorship and both houses of the Legislature are in the hands of Republicans, and these are not moderate Republicans who want to preserve a strong public education system. These are radical privatizers who want to send public monies to private schools, religious schools, and entrepreneurs.

The governor’s education advisor, Eric Guckian, is a Teach for America alum. TFA won $5.1 million in the new budget.

Categories Budget Cuts, Class size, Education Industry, For-Profit, North Carolina, Privatization, Teacher Tenure, Teachers and Teaching, Vouchers

This Post Went Viral Today

By dianeravitch
July 23, 2013 //
7

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
_________________________________________________________________________________

Categories North Carolina, Vouchers

North Carolina: A First Look at the Destruction of Public Education

By dianeravitch
July 22, 2013 //
22

Lindsay Wagner is an excellent journalist at NC Policy Watch. She covers the legislature.

Here is her summary of the slash-and-burn policies that the legislature applied to public education:

1. Vouchers. $10 million set aside. This week, legislators will consider vouchers for students with disabilities. This is an ALEC priority, but ironically students with disabilities have greater rights and protection in public schools than in private schools.

2. Elimination of teacher tenure. Teachers now become temporary employees.

3. Teacher pay. NC teachers are among the worst paid in the nation. This legislation won’t help. “Teacher pay: no raises for teachers, who have only seen a 1% pay increase in the past five years. Supplemental pay for teachers who have master’s degrees is gone, with the exception of those whose jobs require advanced degrees. A scheme for merit pay is included, with highly performing teachers getting bonuses in the second year.”

4. Funding for teacher assistants was cut.

5. Class size limits were removed. Class sizes will grow.

6. Virtual charters: the state board is urged to give them another look.

The North Carolina legislature and governor are systematically dismantling the teaching profession and privatizing public education. These people are cultural vandals.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, North Carolina, Teacher Tenure, Vouchers
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