May 10, 2025

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NC House Lowers Math Requirements

In another blow to public schools, a majority of House members voted this
week to lower the high school mathematics graduation requirements for all
public schools. Because the new, lower standards fall below the minimum
admissions requirements for UNC system schools, the bill also directs the
UNC Board of Governors to lower its standards to align with the new high
school graduation standards.

Instead of supporting high standards and student success through
investments in the teacher pipeline, tutoring, counseling, and other widely
researched effective strategies, House legislators opted to simply lower
the standards. These changes risk making North Carolina students less
competitive when compared to their national and international peers.

House Bill 415 "[7]Modify Math & Social Studies Grad. Req" removes Math 3
as a graduation requirement and replaces it with a computer science course.
Under this bill, mathematics graduation requirements will include four
“math” courses: 1) NC Math 1, 2) NC Math 2, 3) Computer Science, and 4) a
fourth mathematics course aligned with the student’s career development
plan.

Current mathematics [8]high school graduation requirements include NC Math
1, 2, and 3 and a fourth mathematics course aligned with the student’s post
high school plans.

The current Math 1, 2, and 3 content standards loosely align with
traditional Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry courses, but they integrate
the three content threads throughout the full Math 1-3 sequence. As a
result, completing the full Math 1-3 sequence is needed to meet college
admissions requirements for Algebra 1, 2, and Geometry.

During House debate on Wednesday,[9] Rep. Julie von Haefen pointed out that
when legislators added a computer science course to the high school
graduation requirements last year, they specifically chose to keep it an
elective course instead of labeling it as a mathematics course. For college
admissions purposes, computer science is often not considered a mathematics
course, so students who complete high school in North Carolina with just
the required courses, will have completed only three traditional math
courses, one short of the minimum required of many colleges and
universities.

Rep. von Haefen’s amendment to keep the current computer science
requirement labeled as an elective course and require four years of
conventional mathematics courses failed mostly along party lines.

House Bill 415 also directs educators to enroll students in “Foundations of
Math 1” instead of Math 1 if they did not pass (i.e., score Level 3 or
higher) the eighth grade EOG mathematics test. Students who don’t pass Math
1 are to be enrolled in “Foundations of Math 2” instead of Math 2.

The Foundations of Math courses would be taken in addition to Math 1 and
Math 2, likely prior to enrolling in the standard courses.

The bill allows parents or the principal to intervene and enroll the
student in Math 1 or Math 2 (instead of Foundations of Math 1 or 2) as
appropriate.

The bill sponsor, [10]Rep. David Willis, gave two primary reasons for the
mathematics changes: 1) too many students are not succeeding in Math 1, and
2) higher level math courses are not needed for many postsecondary career
options, so students should not be required to take them.

House Bill 415 directs public schools to encourage all students to complete
additional math courses beyond the required courses. In addition, public
schools must continue to make “NC Math III and all other math courses
existing on the effective date of this act” available to all high school
students.

However, many students do not choose a post-secondary path until well into
their high school careers or even after graduation. If House Bill 415
becomes law, some students may find that even though they’ve met all high
school graduation requirements, they have not met the minimum standard for
college entrance.

Families often rely on the public schools to adequately prepare their
students for postsecondary options by establishing appropriate graduation
requirements. This bill, through inappropriately low graduation standards,
signals an end to the state's commitment to college and career-ready
preparation for all students.

Although the bill requires the UNC system schools to lower their admission
standards, the lowered high school graduation standards puts North Carolina
graduates at a clear disadvantage if they move out of state or want to
attend a private college/university.

To address challenges in finding enough computer science teachers, House
Bill 415 directs DPI to create a pathway for any licensed
teacher—regardless of licensure area—to teach computer science if a school
district determines the teacher “possesses the necessary content knowledge
to effectively teach the course.”

In addition to the mathematics changes, House Bill 415 also makes changes
to one of the required high school history courses: Founding Principles of
the United States of America and North Carolina: Civic Literacy. Specific
course content is described, including subjects such as “the
Creator-endowed inalienable rights of the people,” and “rule of law.”

Students will also be required to take a new United States History
test. Developed by DPI, it must be composed of questions from the pool of
publicly available questions used for the civics test given by the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the naturalization
interview for prospective U.S. citizens.

House Bill 415 goes to the Senate where its fate will be decided in the
coming weeks. Please contact your senator and urge them to support students
in achieving high standards instead of lowering the state's mathematics
requirements.

Vouchers in Your County

Public Schools First NC has developed a new resource to add transparency to
the Opportunity Scholarship school voucher program. These short documents
show the recent taxpayer-funded tuition voucher funding increases for
selected counties. They reveal many of the huge increases that resulted
from removing income cap limits and allowing all private school students to
apply for tuition vouchers.

In the example below, Thales Academy of Pittsboro saw a 665% one-year
increase. At the time of the April update, the school is receiving $969,000
more from the state than it did last year.

You can access data on all schools and counties on the [11]Public Schools
First NC Google drive (accessed via the website under County Profile Data)
(Select 2_Op Scholarship Voucher $ by School_Year).

Select [12]2025 County and Schools Details with Tier Information to find
the county documents. If you don't see your county, contact us, or create
your own with the data provided in the Google sheet.

If your local public schools are facing budget cuts, [13]call your
legislators and request that they move funding for private school vouchers
into the funding stream for public schools instead.

Teacher Appreciation All Year

To truly address the foundational role teachers have in our communities and
democracy, Teacher Appreciation Week should extend all year. To help
explain why and give ideas of how to make this happen, watch this short
video created by Dr. Amelia Wheeler, a former high school teacher and
current professor of curriculum and instruction.

[14]video

Legislative and SBE Updates

The NCGA convenes again on Monday, May 12. The crossover deadline to get
bills through at least one chamber has passed, so efforts now will focus on
getting bills through the second chamber and to Governor Stein for his
signature.

Check the [15]legislative calendar for updates and click on committee names
to access the agendas (dashboard) for a list of the bills being considered.

Read our [16]Week in Review for a summary of legislative actions and the
status of bills.

Below are a few of the bills that made crossover that we will be watching
(in addition to House Bill 415).

Good Bills

HB 578 "[17]The Jason Flatt Act of North Carolina" requires suicide
prevention education to be part of the school-based mental health policy of
a public school.

HB 713 "[18]Universal Free Breakfast and Lunch" (in Senate Budget) provides
breakfast and lunch in public schools at no cost to students who qualify
for reduced-priced meals. (Bills providing no-cost meals more widely did
not make crossover.)

HB 772 "[19]North Carolina Student Lifeline Act" requires ALL schools (even
private schools) to share the suicide and crisis lifeline phone number in
various ways.

SB 55 "[20]Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices" requires public
schools to establish wireless communication policies that prohibit student
from using wireless devices during instructional time.

This is a partial list. See our Week in Review for more bills.

Bad Bills

HB 171 "[21]Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI" eliminates DEI
initiatives in state and local government and adds penalties for each
violation.

HB 193 "[22]Firearm Law Revisions" allows a person with a concealed handgun
permit to carry a handgun on an educational property owned, used, or
operated by a private school.

AND SB 280 " Private School Security Act" extends the provisions of HB 193
to churches

Join a [23]Phone Bank to Keep Guns out of NC Schools and make calls staring
next week to try to halt these gun bills

HB 556 "[24]2025 Charter Schools Review Board Omnibus" (in the Senate
budget) makes various changes to charter school review policies including
expediting remote charter academy approvals and allowing low-performing
charter schools to report their improvement plans to the review board only
(not SBE, etc.)

HB 636 "Promoting Wholesome Content for Students" (See our recent
[25]Action Alert on this bill) establishes new procedures to allow any
community member to dispute books/media in public schools and allows them
to sue the district if they are not satisfied with the result.

SB 227 "[26]Eliminating DEI in Public Education" prohibits public schools
from promoting certain concepts the bill defines as promoting divisive
concepts.

This is a partial list. See our Week in Review for more bills.

In Case You Missed It

[27]Federal funding cuts hit NC farmers who sold to local public schools

[28]Assaults on teachers would be felonies under proposed NC bill

[29]453 NC Schools Receive Recognition for Extraordinary Support of
Military Students, Families

[30]Ed. Dept. Axes $1B Mental Health Program Designed to Thwart School
Shootings

[31]After Uvalde, school mental health grants had bipartisan support. Now
Trump is cutting them.

School Vouchers Risk Student Safety!

By Clyde Edgerton, Concerned Parents and Citizens 2020 (New Hanover County)
and award-winning author

By law, we require children to go to school where they spend hours and days
and weeks with adults. Two important safeguards for children are background
checks and staff training to recognize and report abuse. By law, public
schools are required to check the backgrounds of staff and also train staff
to recognize and report abuse—the training is free.

What about private schools that receive tax-funded vouchers? Surely with
the money—the vouchers—goes a requirement for background checks and free
staff training.

Not so. Yes: not so.

The private school gets the money with the voucher, but only one person in
the private school—the one with the “highest decision-making
responsibility” is required to submit to a background check, and there is
no requirement regarding mandatory reporter training. This deficiency
brings danger to our children and indicates a severe moral gap in our state
laws.

[32]READ MORE

Calling on Western NC Educators

Call for Participants: Oral History Project for WNC Educators Affected by
Hurricane Helene

Dr. Amelia Wheeler (Western Carolina University) and Dr. Morgan Tate
(University of Georgia) are launching a research project titled Beyond the
Storm: A Tribute to Appalachian Teachers and Their Stories. This oral
history project seeks to document the experiences of public school
educators in Western North Carolina who taught during and after Hurricane
Helene.

If you are a K–12 public school educator in the Appalachian region and were
working in a school impacted by Hurricane Helene, you may be eligible to
participate.

Participation includes:
* A one-hour, audio-recorded interview conducted at a location of your
choice in your community
* A $100 gift card as a thank-you
* Optional review of interview excerpts before public sharing or
publication
* A $75 contribution offered to your school district to offset substitute
costs (if the interview occurs during the school day)

Interviews will take place between May and September 2025. The project aims
to honor educators' stories and make visible the critical roles they play
during times of crisis.

Interested in participating? Want to know more? Please Contact:
* Dr. Amelia Wheeler – [email protected]
* Dr. Morgan Tate – [email protected]

Book Event: Autism Out Loud!

An Evening with Dr. Adrian Wood: Conversation and Book Signing in Raleigh,
NC.

May 19, 2025 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Join us for an evening with vlogger and author Dr. Adrian Wood, Tales of An
Educated Debutante.

Adrian will talk with us about her new book, Autism Out Loud: Life With A
Child On The Spectrum, From Diagnosis to Adulthood. Adrian’s “Tales of An
Educated Debutante” is her blog and “vlog” where she “offers personal
glimpses where satire meets truth, faith meets irony, despair meets joy and
this educated debutante escapes the laundry and finds true meaning in
graceful transparency.” With lots of humor and honesty, Adrian shares her
experiences as a mom of four and how her youngest child changed their
family for the better.

Your $50 ticket includes a signed copy of Autism Out Loud. Refreshments and
beverages included. Get your [33]Tickets HERE.

We’re excited to offer a limited number of FREE tickets to public school
educators. If you’re a teacher, please contact us at
[email protected] for details.

Did You Miss Our Webinar?

“No matter how hard a time period has been, North Carolinians have always
shown up to promote public education and democracy.“ - Ann McColl

On Thursday, we were thrilled to join education law expert Attorney Ann
McColl for a screening of her film "Let History Speak: How 1868, 1901, and
1956 Help Us Find Our Voice Today."

Her film documents the establishment of public education in North Carolina
during the challenging times after the Civil War and two other key time
periods in our state's educational journey: 1901 and 1956.

After the 50-minute screening, we discussed how these periods help inform
what's happening today and the lessons learned from history.

You can [34]watch the webinar HERE.

Words to Remember

"We can never have a thorough and perfect system of instruction adapted to
the circumstances of all the people, except at the expense and under the
direction of the State.

The State alone has the means; and the State by adopting a wise system can
diminish the cost, and make education, by a universal system of District
schools, cheaper than it can be afforded on any other plan."

— C.H. Wiley, 1854 Report (NC)

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.

[35]DONATE HERE

[36]www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org

Questions? Contact us today at [email protected]

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