Amazing, North Carolina Can't Find Money to Give Teachers 10% Raise But They Can Give University Vice Chancellors One

Interestingly, it seems the UNC System Trustees gave whopping 10% raises to several vice chancellors, and gave the UNC Chapel Hill Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham a 10% or $58,388 raise, retroactive to July 1, 2015. (See “UNC Gives Raises to Top Administrators”). His annual pay is now $642,3268. Is it really surprising that our state would give that much of a raise to an athletic director? Not really. In a society that values athletics over education, and paying CEOs exorbitant salaries, it is not surprising at all. At least Bubba will not see his raise erased by increased health plan charges like most state employees and educators.

If 10% raises to university “executives” isn’t enough to ponder about this state’s priorities, it seems a rally against this plan to raise health insurance costs for state employees and educators was held at the Legislative Building in Raleigh today. (See the News and Observer article “NC Government Workers Slam Proposal to Raise Insurance Costs”). The article makes it sound like those greedy “labor organizers” and agitators are at it once again. They just don’t want to pay their fair share of health care costs it seems to suggest. They are just a bunch of greedy, mooching state employees. That kind of thinking never ceases to amaze me. An athletic director gets a $60,000 dollar per year raise and state workers who are simply trying to avoid having $120 to $180 of their $200 raise, or less if you are an experienced educator, taken back to pay for insurance. How is that greed?

Even Though Controversial Health Plan Changes on Hold, Educators Had Better Remain Vigilant!

Apparently, the board planning to vote on changes to the NC State Employees Health Plan has decided to hold off voting on those controversial changes proposed earlier in the week. According to WRAL (See “State Heath Plan Will Put Off Discussion of Controversial Changes”) and emails from lawmakers, this board will only “vote on changes in store for 2017, including rises in costs for members.” That is certainly some good news to educators and state employees, but not entirely good news. Applause certainly goes out to all of North Carolina legislators who, no doubt, put pressure on this board to "hold off” on making the controversial changes. But "holding off” certainly does not mean the issue is dead. State employees and educators need to remain vigilant, because this will definitely come back in some form.

The increased costs in 2017 in the State Health Plan is still cause for concern. For example, after 20 plus years in education, I wish I could count the times that our state has engaged in a bit of “bait-n-switch” with our pay increases and health insurance. There have been quite a few times that they have provided raises to teachers, then, when the next health insurance cost increases come around, those increases immediately go to pay for the increased health insurance costs. This kind of switcharoo is common and is just plan old political practice in North Carolina. Politicians can say, with a straight face, that they gave teachers a raise, and even pass a lie detector test. After all, appearances mean a hell of lot more than truth and reality in the political game in North Carolina, no matter political party.

As I indicated earlier, educators and state employees need to remain vigilant, especially with a legislature known to put together some late night shenanigans to get things passed before anyone notices.

NC State Legislature & Governor Find Backdoor Way to Cut Educator & State Employee Benefits

The deviousness and downright deviltry of our North Carolina political leaders never, ever ceases to amaze me. North Carolina educators enjoy salaries at the bottom of the barrel, and now, it seems, our legislature and governor have found yet another way to stick it to, not only educators, but this time, to all state employees. They are tinkering and destroying what little health insurance benefits we have left. Their deviousness never ends. I suggest all North Carolina state employees contact their legislators today and the governor’s office to object to this latest slap across the face. If you want to know more about this diabolical move to destroy our health benefits, check out this video.

NC Lt. Governor Nixes State Charter School Report Because It’s Too Negative and He Doesn’t Like It

What happens in North Carolina when a state politician does not like what’s in a report on charter schools? They change it. Our own Lt. Governor Dan Forest recently did not like what was in a legislated report on charter schools in the state because “It did not have a lot of positive things to say.”

Well, Mr. Forest, sometimes the truth hurts! Mr. Forest’s actions clearly illustrate what political leaders in North Carolina currently do when they don’t like truth and reality: they seek to re-write it so that it says what they think it should say. Forest says, “He just wants to make sure charter schools get a fair shake.” I only wish he would say the same about public schools, but then again, we know where our current state political leadership stands regarding public schools; just look at the mess they’ve made of our state’s education. Just a reminder, this is the same individual who proposed taking up donations to fund teacher pay increases. What is one to think when people like this have any say in our public education system!

Check out “State Board Delays Vote on Charter School Report,Approves Policy Change” from WRAL TV.

NC's New A-F School Grading System: Perfect Measure of Poverty in Schools

Today, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released the school report cards mandated by North Carolina’s legislature. (See those here.) These report cards graded each school with a letter grade A-F. Once again, our state has taken a step backward into absurdity with this action. Grading all the things our schools do with a single letter grade reduces, once again, what matters in North Carolina schools the most, to test scores. Once again, our state has elevated state testing to even higher stakes. Schools will now work in earnest prepping students for tests and getting those numbers up.

But elevating test scores is not only what this exercise in madness does; it also clearly demonstrates what’s wrong with education, and society, in North Carolina. In its article entitled “NC Public School Letter Grades Released, Reflecting Student Family Incomes,” The News and Observer sums up the real truth we learn from these report cards.

We don’t really learn which schools are failing and which are succeeding because the data used for this is narrowly focused on test score data and a few other indicators. What we learn of real importance is stated so aptly in this article:

“Among the schools where 80 percent or more of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch, 81 percent received a D or F. Only one of those schools got an A. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 90 percent of schools where fewer than 20 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch received an A or B. Only one of those schools received an F."

In other words, our legislature and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction hasn’t come up with a test at all on how our schools or do; they’ve developed the perfect test for poverty. In fact, it really shows that North Carolina’s barrage of tests are great for indentifying students who live in poverty! Probably much better than actually measuring student achievement.

Sadly though, I suspect the motivation behind this A-F grading system isn’t really about improving public education at all. After all, our North Carolina State Legislature proved during its last session it is no friend to public education, why would we expect different.? No, this grading system is simply another attempt by our political leaders to drum up or even manufacture false charges of failure so that they can continue to push their pet project of school vouchers and their blind obedience to free markets.

NC Legislature Shows Love for Charters & Hostility to Traditional Public Schools

Here’s some more evidence that our North Carolina State Legislature despises traditional public schools and favors charter schools that don’t have to play by the same rules as other public schools. Yesterday, the North Carolina House voted to allow charter schools to once again play by different rules.
While traditional public schools have been required to disclose to names and salaries of all its employees to newspapers and the other media under public records laws, it seems our legislature does not believe charter schools should have to do the same. The bill passed by the North Carolina House does not require charter schools to disclose the names of employees with the salaries with public records requests. The logic used to justify this measure by NC Representatives Charles Jeter and David Lewis? “Disclosing the charter school salaries by name creates a hostile work environment.” (See “NC House Votes to Block Charter Employees’ Names with Pay.”)

As far as I am concerned, the logic and intentions of this legislature is clear. It simply despises public schools. period. Through this bill, our legislature finally admits, though tacitly, that it “wants to create a hostile work environment” in traditional public schools, because they are unwilling to protect public school employees from some “theoretical hostile work environment.”

Once again, this North Carolina Legislature proves its hostile intentions toward traditional public education. For the past several years, all employees in school districts in our region have endured having their salaries publicly available in data-bases located on newspaper web sites. Has it caused a hostile work environment? I’m not sure it has. Most of us don’t even bother to access that data anymore. But the fact that our political leaders somehow want to hide how charter schools operate and spend money, definitely shows hostile intentions toward traditional public schools.

These two state legislators, Jeter and Lewis, prove that what they really want to protect is how charter schools actually spend public money. Charters in our area have been known to pay exorbitant salaries to administrators. One charter in Charlotte, North Carolina recently imploded due to bloated administrator salaries. (See “Troubled StudentFirst Charter School Closes Abruptly")

If anyone needs names and salaries disclosed it is public charter schools. Because they are not required to play by the same employment laws as traditional public schools, the public has an even greater interest in making sure these schools do not waste tax payer money. Perhaps this is once again that the signs of intelligent life in our North Carolina Legislature grow even dimmer.

NC State Senate Bill Proposes Paying Teachers Through Donations & License Plate Sales

NC Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest’s proposal to fund teacher pay raises by collecting donations and selling special license plates is now a bill proposed by the North Carolina Senate Education Committee. The proposed bill would collect money from individuals and businesses and place these funds in an endowment. Lieutenant Governor Forest stated in May that his idea was “a creative response to tough economic times.” Now, Republican Senator Jerry Tillman has bought into the idea by starting that they are “looking for ways to build up and enhance education dollars…"

Instead of looking for “creative" ways to fund teacher pay and education in general, I suspect Forest and Tillman are looking for “creative ways to avoid adequately funding public education.

They don’t won’t to fund education the way it should be funded because they do not want it to exist.

It’s clear that our North Carolina Legislature still continues its anti-public education campaign with Lt. Governor Forest and NC Senator Jerry Tillman in the lead. For more info, check out “NC Bill Asks for Donations, License Plates to Pay Teachers More."

NC Legislators Vow to Find Voucher Money Despite Budget Woes

Once again, our state legislative leaders in North Carolina demonstrate where their hearts really are: anything but public education. According to to WRAL,  North Carolina State Representative “Skip” Stam from Wake County said he hopes to find “another $7 to 8 million” to pour into the state’s legally challenged voucher program that the North Carolina predominately anti-public education legislature passed last year.

Not to be outdone, North Carolina State Senator Jerry Tillman jumped in and stated that he felt obligated to continue pouring money into state vouchers too.

One thing is clear; this North Carolina Legislative leadership, which includes Senator Tillman, Senator Phil Berger, and NC House Speaker Thom Tillis, do not demonstrate the same dedication and determination to provide for students in the public schools in this state.Their eagerness to find money for vouchers rather than find funding for textbooks, teacher assistants, and teacher pay is a clear indication of where their heart is. Together, these three have done more to damage public education in this state than anyone else. At the end of their anti-public education campaign, there will be no public schools left standing. For more information about their determination to find voucher money even in difficult budget times, check out “Voucher Backers Want NC to Double Available Slots Before Lottery."

With political leaders like these guys, North Carolina continues to become the anti-education state.

NC Legislature & Governor Incapable of Listening to Reason

It seems the North Carolina legislature has found a new target after the North Carolina Senate targeted teachers with a budget that offers a bribe for them to give up due process rights or tenure in exchange for massive pay raises which are basically paid for by gutting other parts of the state’s education budget. What’s their new target? The Common Core State Standards. Today the North Carolina House voted to toss out those standards and create a commission of parents and educators to develop more rigorous standards for the state of North Carolina.  What is their primary reason for doing this? Here’s what former school administrator from the last century and current North Carolina State Senator, Jerry Tillman had to say"

“A lot of time and energy were invested in something we should never have gotten into the start with. We ought to own our own standards, and this will put them in our hands.” (See “House, Senate Takes Bites From Common Core Apple” from WRAL.)

Now, as I’ve posted before about the Common Core Standards, I am under no illusion that these have any power to improve education, nor do I step out here to defend them. If they are that great, then they need no defense nor marketing from me; they’ll stand on their own. But Senator Tillman’s statement I think captures more of a “how dare that federal government tell us what to do” attitude than any actual critique of the standards themselves. I would bet he’s most likely never read them, and that is fundamentally a problem with this state legislature.

This North Carolina government is incapable of listening to argument and reason because they are so ideologically driven. Even if one were capable to making a solid argument for Common Core, raising teacher salaries, or increasing funding for textbooks, it doesn’t matter. Our state legislature and even Governor McCrory are incapable of even having any open-mindedness to listen to arguments. That is North Carolina’s greatest danger right now; we have a government driven by ideology and if your ideology or ideas clash with that, forget it.

In the end, Senator Tillman’s objections to the Common Core aren’t based on logic or reason; it’s based on an ideology that blinds them to any level of reason and understanding, and unfortunately, I would say that doesn’t bode well for North Carolina Public Schools this year.

Texas Advertising for Teachers in NC: Perhaps NC Should Advertise in Texas Too

Recently, the Houston School District in Texas decided to take advantage of how teachers in our state are being treated by a legislature that has no interest in supporting public education. Here’s their ad:



Perhaps we should run an ad in Houston, but it wouldn’t look like this one. Here’s what our ad might look like.



As long as our North Carolina Legislature is more interested in tax cuts for the wealthiest and for businesses, than providing a quality education, unfortunately this won’t change, but with the way our state government is acting, one has to wonder whether that is their intention.

NC State Superintendent Responds to Anti-Public Education Budget of NC Senate

In her response to the North Carolina State Senate’s budget proposal which continues the anti-public education agenda of this current state legislature, North Carolina State Superintendent, June Atkinson, pointed out these additional, hidden gems in that budget:

• Administrator salaries have been separated from the teacher salary schedules and no change from last years salaries. Personnel on these schedules would receive an average 2 percent pay raise.
• Teachers would get 11% pay raise if they choose to give up tenure.
• Central office employees would receive a $500 raise while the rest of state workers would receive $800.
• Teacher assistant funding would be cut in half.
• No improvement in instructional supplies funding and technology.
• State funding to local central offices would be cut by 5%.
• Reduced funding to school transportation by $28.6 million. Funds replaced with driver’s education funding which would be cut entirely.
• The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction would be cut by 30%.
• Grades 2 and 3 teacher allotments will remain at 1 teacher per 18 students rather than be reduced to 1:17 as funded last year.

As Dr. Atkinson amply points out, “The dismal state of textbook, technology, and instructional supplies funding means that teachers will have fewer resources to work with as they develop lessons and assignments,” this lack of additional instructional resources continues even as accountability and testing demands have increased. These cut resources will also translate into teachers having to take on even more responsibilities and duties in the schools as well. Teachers will most likely in their dedication do what they normally do, continue to dig deeper into their own pockets for money to pay for what this state legislature is refusing to pay for.

It would appear that our North Carolina Legislature and Governor are continuing the same strategies and plans that had from last year. They will do all they can to make sure business and industry get those tax cuts as evidenced by their proposals now to limit taxing from local governments. Education is simple dispensable with these politicians. That leaves these questions to think about?

• Why would any business or industry be willing to move to North Carolina with such anti-public education leadership in the state government—from Governor McCrory, to Senate leader Phil Berger, to House leader Thom Tillis. All that talk about preparing students for careers and jobs seems to be bluster. These people aren’t willing to work with educators. They are focused intently on an agenda that must have been borrowed from the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC.
• How can our state government leaders possibly think this budget would be good for public education in this state? This budget will do more to set education back in North Carolina than anything else this state legislature has done. One can almost conclude that is their intention; wreck public education in this state.

You can read Dr. Atkinson’s full response to the draconian North Carolina Senate budget here. (Dr. Atkinson’s Response.)

NC House Speaker Thom Tillis Says Educators Don't Care About Kids

Across the United States, politicians have decided that it is permissible to mis-characterize educators and educator organizations instead of listening to them. This past Saturday, and the North Carolina GOP Convention in Wilmington, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis took an opportunity to take a jab at the North Carolina Association of Educators, and perhaps by default educators everywhere in our state by making the following remarks as described in this Charlotte Observer article.

• Tillis drew applause also when he said the budget cut one-third of the staff of the State Department of Public Instruction.
• Tillis also drew applause for bragging about a bill that would bar the state from collecting dues for the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE).
• Tillis added: "They (speaking specifically about NCAE) don't care about kids. They don't care about classrooms. They care only about their jobs and pensions."

Now I might be wrong, but each of these show a insensitivity and level of meanness that has become just a bit fashionable in the era where politicians promise that budget cuts and more budget cuts will take us to the promise land. For a state level politician to brag and boast about putting one-third of a department at the state level out of job is just plain mean. Perhaps those jobs needed to be cut, but to gloat about cutting them ignores that there are now more people entering the unemployment line, and the attitude of Thom Tillis seems to be I'll use even the misfortunes of others to push my political cause if necessary.

The second remark about forbidding the state from collecting NCAE dues is a purely political ploy by a party that has long had enmity with the teacher organization. For the sake of disclosure, I am not a member of NCAE and have not been for quite a few years. Like every organization, I have not always agreed with their every stance, but to characterize an entire organization like NCAE the way Thom Tillis does is unfair. I know many, many teachers who are members of that organization who give their all for kids. Across this country, Republican legislatures are dismantling any influence professional educator unions and organizations have over policy. Tillis' remarks makes me wonder if he also had drunk from the cup offered by the American Legislative Exchange Council, who may be the actual author of so many legislative bills introduced across the country in recent months. Still, it is clear from this legislature's actions, it is perhaps they who do not care about kids, or at least they care more about scoring political points and budget cutting. This ploy to remove payroll deductions for NCAE dues is not about kids, it's about the majority party being able stay in power and push its agenda to destroy public schools.

Thom Tillis' remarks should not go unchallenged by those of us who know his mis-characterization of an entire organization and educators is wrong. Perhaps all those educators who do care more about kids than their jobs or pensions should give him a call and inform him about how much they care. To contact Mr. Tilllis, see the link below:

NC House Speaker Thom Tillis' Contact Information