Daily Journal

Hunt Got It Wrong

By John Hood

Jan. 22nd, 2014

RALEIGH — If state leaders want to improve North Carolina’s education system in the future, they will have to begin with a better understanding of the history of school reform in our state.

Unfortunately, the current education debate has become more about political gamesmanship than sound reasoning. Exhibiting the natural human tendency to embrace information that fits one’s preconceived notions — a phenomenon known as “selection bias” — many politicians have drawn invalid conclusions about the history of North Carolina education reform.

READ THE ARTICLE. 

Sun Journal New Bern--Letter to the Editor

Letter: Stay informed

By Pat Griffin, New Bern 

Published: Saturday, August 24, 2013 at 20:59 PM.

Shirley Scott made several points in her letter to the editor of Aug. 19 that are factually inaccurate. By researching the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and legislative records, I obtained the following information:

First, the county did not have any control over the state reduction for Teacher Assistants. This is a specific allotment category on the state budget. Last fiscal year the state legislature allotted $5,889,906 to be used specifically for TAs, and this year's allotment for TAs is $4,808,880. This state mandated reduction of over $1 million dollars prompted action by all 115 school districts.  Craven County Schools followed their previously established reduction in force policy for classified personnel to rank employees based on years of service, performance evaluations, and the ability to perform other duties such as drive a bus. The projection from the state for the allotment for TAs for next fiscal year includes an additional reduction of 19 percent. Craven County Schools is not authorized by the state to override the state legislature’s budget, which was signed by the governor, and move funds from another category into that established for TAs.

CONTINUED:  http://www.newbernsj.com/opinion/letters/letter-stay-informed-1.192628

Atkinson: Health of Public Schools More Important Than Student Welfare

RALEIGH — State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson said her concerns about allowing students to use vouchers to offset the cost of private schooling was more a principled support of public schools’ role in modern society than the effect vouchers could have in meeting individual children’s needs.

“It’s not the individual, it’s the society as a whole, where it worries me about the privatization of public education,” Atkinson said Monday. “It’s a philosophical belief that public schools — public education — is at the core of our democracy, and is at the core of ensuring that we can prepare people to live with and work with people who are different than what one they have in a segregated environment.”

Atkinson said she worried that the availability of vouchers would erode support for public schools.

“What concerns me is not that individual child, but what concerns me is as a society that we will slowly starve public education,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson made the comments during a roundtable discussion with reporters in downtown Raleigh. The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Program of Public Life sponsored the program.

The budget recently signed by Gov. Pat McCrory authorized $10 million for the 2014-15 school year to cover "opportunity scholarships," or vouchers, of no more than $4,200 each that would offset the tuition costs of low-income students who wanted to attend private schools. The funding would cover a portion of the expenses of private schooling for roughly 2,000 students the first year; approximately 1.5 million students attend K-12 public schools in North Carolina.

Terry Stoops, director of research and education studies at the John Locke Foundation, had qualms with Atkinson’s comments.

“That’s par for the course for someone in her position,” Stoops said. “The Department of Public Instruction is not mindful of the needs of individual students.”

READ MORE:  Atkinson: Health of Public Schools More Important Than Student Welfare

The Facts about NC Education Budget

 

State education spending: the facts

Rep. John R. Bell, IV   

We’ve all heard the dire predictions about the Republican-passed budget: “They’re going todecimate the whole public education system in this state!” and “This proposed budget will set back this state 25 years!” and “Cuts near this magnitude will dramatically eviscerate the ability of this state to provide a constitutionally-sound education to all of the students of our state!”

Do those claims sound familiar? They should — they’re from over two years ago. On February 24, 2011, Democrat representatives Mickey Michaux, Rick Glazier, and Ray Rapp all clucked that under the Republican budget the sky was falling. Former Governor Perdue, for her part, warned that 20,000 teachers would be fired, class size would double, and the Republican budget would “result in generational damage” to North Carolina’s public schools.

But none of it happened.

Not only were all our teaching positions fully funded, but according to the Department of Public Instruction’s own figures, North Carolina’s public schools actually added 3,198 state-funded education jobs this school year — and 7,811 total teaching jobs since Republicans have held the majority in the General Assembly. And significant education reforms enacted over the last two years have already begun bearing fruit: last year, North Carolina’s high school graduation rate surpassed 80 percent – a first in the state’s history and a 12-point jump from six years ago.

It’s shameful how the hyper-partisan teachers union — the largest and most organized group of paid lobbyists in the state — and their mouthpieces in the media continue to scare hard-working teachers and parents with wild claims that never seem to materialize. Let’s cut through the wild rhetoric and look at the facts.

I heard on the news last week that you cut education by half a billion dollars!

Nope. The amount spent on education programs will actually increase by $400 million next year. Total spending on public schools, community colleges, and universities amounts to $11.5 billion (that’s more than half of the entire state budget) and of that, $7.9 billion will go to K-12 education. That figure is up from the $7.7 billion we spent last year on K-12 (an increase of 2.1%) and the nearly $7.3 billion spent two years ago.

This year’s state budget will spend more money on public education in North Carolina than we have ever spent.

http://nchouse10.com/state-education-spending-the-facts/

A NC SENATE UPDATE FROM SENATOR JERRY TILLMAN

Senator Jerry Tillman Senate Majority Whip Senate update August 5, 2013
The Facts About Public K-12 Education Spending and Reform ·         We’ve heard a lot of overblown rhetoric and misinformation from those interested in preserving the status quo in education – mostly focused on the state budget.  ·         For some, success is measured by money spent. And for those people, the raw data disproves many of the claims of dire cutbacks. ·         Here are the facts about our education budget: ·         First, contrary to what some are saying, our budget protects and even expands funding for public education, despite out-of-control costs in Medicaid. ·         It invests over $300 million more in our public schools than the budget we passed last year – more than a four percent increase. ·         That means we’re spending nearly $11.5 BILLION on public education and $7.9 BILLION on our K-12 system – or over half of our state budget. ·         It fully funds enrollment growth in K-12, community colleges and the university system. ·         And while we were unfortunately unable to provide salary increases this year, keep in mind that during our first term as leaders of the General Assembly, Republicans gave teachers and other state employees their first raise in five years. ·         But simply investing more dollars into our system is not enough. Progress must be measured not on how much we spend, but on results. ·         Reforming education is about changing the establishment philosophy – moving away from the status quo and toward a metric that values the results we see from our schools, teachers and students. ·         Last year, we began moving the needle on education reform. This year, we delivered on our promise by fully implementing the Excellent Public Schools Act and provisions that: 1.     Strengthen student literacy to improve reading achievement and graduation rates, 2.     Give parents tools to make better informed decisions about their children's education, and 3.     Increase classroom accountability while rewarding our most effective teachers. ·         It’s widely agreed that the single-most important factor in enhancing student academic growth is a high quality teacher. And North Carolina is blessed with some of the best teachers in the country – we lead the nation in national board certified teachers. ·         The overwhelming majority of our educators are top-notch, and they’re invaluable to the success of our children. Those teachers should be recognized and rewarded. But administrators also need the ability to make sure the handful of underperforming teachers either improve or find new professions. ·         That’s why tenure as we know it will be completely reformed under the Excellent Public Schools Act. Instead of granting permanent job-security to all after a few years in the classroom, teachers will work under contracts that are renewed based on performance – like nearly every other profession. ·         Our focus shouldn’t be on ensuring that bad teachers keep their jobs. Rather, it must be on making sure students can get a job after they graduate. ·         At the same time, we are recognizing and rewarding our most effective teachers through a pay for excellence system. Our budget includes $10.2 million to begin that process and fund annual pay raises for the best teachers based on data and evaluations. ·         Beginning in 2014, the top 25 percent of teachers identified by their local school boards will receive four-year contracts with built-in annual increases. That means over the next four years, those highly effective teachers will earn an additional $5,000 through a permanent salary increase. ·         And that’s just the first step in our commitment to implementing a strong pay for excellence system to take care of our best teachers. ·         While we are moving in the right direction, the fact remains 1 in 5 North Carolina students do not graduate from high school. It is clear our students deserve better than the status quo in education. ·         Change is not always easy, but we must remain focused on solutions that enable our students to reach their full potential. ·         The Excellent Public Schools Act honors our pledge to recognize and reward our state’s many outstanding teachers, maintains our commitment to identify and improve struggling schools and – most importantly – upholds our promise to prepare our children for future success. Senator Jerry Tillman can be reached on Facebook Are you on Facebook? You can reach Senator Jerry Tillman by clicking this link. http://www.facebook.com/jerrywtillman Once you get to Jerry’s page, just hit the like button at the top of the page and you’ll start getting updates during the week. If you don't have a Facebook account, you can sign up for an account so you can start getting Jerry's updates. Then tell your friends and neighbors who might want to know what Jerry is doing in Raleigh for the folks in Randolph and Moore counties. Again, just click: http://www.facebook.com/jerrywtillman To connect today. You Can Follow Senator Tillman on Twitter Go to http://www.twitter.com/jerrytillman and sign up to follow Senator Tillman. Senator Jerry Tillman Senate Majority Whip 627 Legislative Office Building Raleigh, NC 27601-2808 Phone: 919.733.5870 Fax: 919.754.3339 jerryt@ncleg.net