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 "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 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, 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. |
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The bill sponsor, 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Legislative and SBE Updates |
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| 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 legislative calendar for updates and click on committee names to access the agendas (dashboard) for a list of the bills being considered. Read our 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). |
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| HB 578 "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 "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 "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 "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. |
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| HB 171 "Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI" eliminates DEI initiatives in state and local government and adds penalties for each violation. HB 193 "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 Phone Bank to Keep Guns out of NC Schools and make calls staring next week to try to halt these gun bills HB 556 "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 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 "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. |
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School Vouchers Risk Student Safety! |
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| 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. READ MORE |
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Calling on Western NC Educators |
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| 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: |
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Book Event: Autism Out Loud! |
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| 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 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. |
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Did You Miss Our Webinar? |
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| “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 watch the webinar HERE. |
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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) |
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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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