Dear Friends of Public Education |
The legislative budgets for the past decade have not been kind to public schools and in the past four years they have been especially damaging. Salary increases for public school educators have been virtually nonexistent at the same time funding for private school vouchers has been massively expanded. These are just two examples of how our public taxpayer funds are being redirected toward the private sector to the detriment of communities across the state.
It is time for our educators and children to have a budget they deserve.
Our students deserve safe, welcoming schools with qualified, dedicated educators. With your help, we will continue to advocate for public dollars to stay in public schools and all schools to be held accountable for how they spend tax dollars and educate children.
We will fight to increase teacher pay and improve student outcomes. We will work to expand services, especially for vulnerable children in small, rural, and under-resourced schools. We want every child in NC to reach their full potential. All students deserve a free, high-quality public education.
Will you help us? Please donate to help to fund our work!
Together we can protect and empower public education!
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With your support, we will advocate for legislators to do the following along with funding other educational priorities!
- Hire the social workers, psychologists, counselors, nurses our kids need. Fund these essential positions at recommended staff: child ratios.
- Stop underfunding public schools. Currently North Carolina is #48 in cost-adjusted per pupil funding level and #49 in funding effort.
- Pay educators a professional salary and work to restore the teacher pipeline.
- End private school vouchers; keep public dollars in public schools!
- Stop NC corporate tax cuts.
- Support NC Pre-K by funding the 27,000 kids currently on the waitlist.
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The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of intense focus on education policy and the activities of school boards across the nation. Initially motivated by conflict over masking policies, after the pandemic eased activists such as Moms for Liberty members shifted their attention to other conflicts. They rallied community members who often had little or no connection to the school district to express outrage about topics ranging from Critical Race Theory (CRT), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), book banning, to bathroom access for trans students.
In The Co$t$ of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States authors use district case studies to highlight the changing conditions under which schools and their leadership teams have operated since 2021. They found that conflict in schools and school districts has grown dramatically and the increased conflict has come at a high cost in some cases.
These costs are both personal and financial as school personnel come under verbal and physical threat and districts must pay for heightened security and deal with the cost of staff turnover.
Using extensive survey data and follow-up interviews with superintendents, researchers categorized districts into low, moderate, and high levels of conflict. They found that high conflict districts spent substantially more on security, media, social media, legal, community relations, government relations, school board relations, and other costs than low conflict districts.
Of particular concern are the emotional and financial costs due to staff turnover in high conflict districts:
"It is important to note that increased staff turnover in HIGH Conflict districts is often tied to what one superintendent in our survey described as "incredible stress on leaders and teachers as they navigate imaginary slights and online drama in the community." Citing the "demoralizing … attack on the character of public servants," a superintendent in Pennsylvania wrote that "the emotional stress and anxiety can be nearly crippling." A New Jersey superintendent explained, "The negative language bantered about education professionals and our schools is having dire consequences. This is the leading cause of the teacher shortage and burnout/retention issues.”
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As a superintendent in Wyoming shared with us during her interview, the recent attacks have been particularly hard for educators who have traditionally been respected in their communities. “It’s like the shift from how public schools used to be seen as a positive, a way to serve every child, a way to bring us together. Now we’re being vilified and that is so hurtful, I think, and that contributes to my staff stress.”
The researchers found that “On average, a school district serving 10,000 students and experiencing HIGH levels of culturally divisive conflict is spending $812,000— funds that could otherwise be spent enriching students’ education. If this district’s level of conflict decreased to a LOW level of conflict, the district would save roughly $562,000. And, in addition, such a district would experience far lower levels of stress among students and staff.”
School districts across the country are already dealing with extremely tight budgets due to the end of pandemic relief funds this year. Let’s all work to make every district a low-conflict district and do what we can to make sure resources are spent where they’re intended—on improving students’ education through safe, welcoming environments and supported, well-paid staff.
READ THE REPORT
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Legislative and SBE Updates |
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Legislators are back in Raleigh next week and the House is scheduled to vote on overriding Governor Cooper's veto of SB382. Keep an eye on the legislative calendar for meetings and changes.
On Wednesday, December 11, the House Select Committee on Helene Recovery meets at 10:00 a.m. (stream).
The NC Charter Schools Review Board meets December 9 and 10 for their regular monthly meeting. The meeting will be live streamed.
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Will Business Leaders Stand Up for Education? |
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By Paul Fulton, Chair, Public Ed Works
Once upon a time, North Carolina was a leader in public education.
The president of the state Chamber of Commerce was also the chair of the State Board of Education. Average teacher pay in North Carolina ranked 19th in the nation in 2001.
Business leaders seemed to understand the connection: Strong public schools are the backbone of a strong economy and a strong democracy.
But where are we today?
Strong public schools are just as important as low taxes – maybe more so.
There’s nothing more important to attracting industry – be it pharmaceuticals, AI, EVs or whatever acronym you choose – than a sound school system, from pre-school to grad school.
As our governor likes to say, the top three priorities of the CEOs he speaks with are workforce, workforce and workforce.
A trained workforce is vital for industry and a dynamic economy. Our community colleges are a major factor in attracting industry. Yet as good as they are, we too often shortchange them.
And we embarrassingly underinvest in our K-12 public schools:
- North Carolina ranks 49th in the percentage of its economy (GDP) it devotes to K-12 public schools. We have the means, the capacity, the wherewithal to do more. We just don’t – year after year.
- North Carolina ranks 48th in per-pupil spending. Again, we can do more. But we don’t.
- The state ranks 42nd in starting teacher pay. And it is projected to rank 41st in average teacher pay this year.
Why? This is an embarrassment to a state that has ranked among the top two states for business for the past three years. That ranking won’t last without strong public schools.
TO BE BLUNT, the vast expansion of taxpayer dollars for private-school vouchers – $6.5 billion over the next decade – drains public education to send those tax dollars to private schools. READ MORE
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Voters Across the Political Spectrum Gave Public Education Important Wins in the 2024 Election |
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People around the country split their tickets to support public schools and vote for Trump.
By Jeff Bryant
In a general election that was by-and-large disastrous for the Democratic Party, voters across the political spectrum united to oppose efforts by Republicans to privatize and politicize public schools. The wins mostly occurred in red states that voted for President-elect Donald Trump, who has called for shuttering the U.S. Department of Education, accused schools of indoctrinating students, vowed to privatize education, and pledged to defund schools that teach “liberal” curriculum.
School voucher programs, elaborate schemes that give parents taxpayer money to fund their children’s private school tuition, had an especially bad day at the ballot box. Voters rejected these schemes despite their popularity with Trump, who many experts say will likely make a federal voucher program a priority in his upcoming administration.
“School vouchers continue to fail at the ballot box,” says Joshua Cowen, a visiting senior fellow at the Education Law Center, in an email to The Progressive. “Voters in Colorado, Nebraska, and Kentucky shot down voucher schemes.”
In Nebraska, voters rejected a measure that would have provided $10 million in tax money annually to fund “education scholarships,” also known as vouchers. Vouchers lost despite backdoor attempts by state lawmakers to thwart the will of the people, according to Leigh Dingerson, senior research fellow at In the Public Interest.
READ MORE
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December 2 Was Special Education Day |
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Special Education Day is celebrated on December 2 each year to recognize the signing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975. IDEA was signed by President Ford on November 29 to grant access to a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for children with special needs . The act has been revised several times but the essential purpose has not changed. IDEA is the foundation for special education in the U.S. |
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Mark Your Calendar for the Second Webinar on the Future of Public Education |
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What Do We Do Now? Money Matters More Than Ever So States Can Make the Grade!
When: Monday, December 16, 4-5 p.m. ET
Who: Dr. Danielle Farrie, ELC Research Director, author of Making the Grade; Wendy Lecker, Esq., Senior Attorney, School Finance and Resource Equity; Robert Kim, Esq., ELC Executive Director.
If the new federal administration adheres to the plans set out in Project 2025 they will dramatically reduce the role of the federal government in public elementary and secondary education. Though states are responsible for the vast majority of public school funding, a reduction and/or loosening of oversight of the billions of dollars that the federal government sends to states each year will have dramatic implications, especially for the nation’s most vulnerable students
These threats make it more important than ever that states have adequate and equitable school funding systems that support all students. Learn how states are performing on ELC’s Making the Grade 2024, our annual report on the condition of school finance across the country; get an update on the state school finance litigation across the country; and learn how to push back against harmful federal and state proposals that would undermine advocates’ progress in reducing disparities and improving educational opportunities.
REGISTER HERE
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Great Gift Ideas from PSFNC |
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There's nothing better than a good book for relaxing with over holiday breaks. Public Schools First NC has a terrific selection of books we've featured over the years in our webinars and conferences.
When you donate $50 or more to Public Schools First NC, we'll send you your book choice.
Another great gift idea is a Public Schools First NC t-shirt. Wear it yourself and give as gifts to show your public school pride! BUY BOOKS and T-SHIRTS
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Words to Remember
"In public schools, students have numerous constitutional rights, including equal protection, due process, free speech, and both free exercise of religion and freedom from religion. None of these constitutional protections apply in private schools." The School Voucher Illusion, p. 81
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Help us support public schools!
Public Schools First NC is a statewide nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused solely
on pre-K to 12 public education issues. We collaborate with parents, teachers, business and civic leaders, and communities across North Carolina to advocate for one unified system of public education that prepares each child for productive citizenship.
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