Tillis, McCrory, Berger & Company's Hidden Anti-Public Ed Budget

In this News and Observer article entitled "A Hidden, Drastic Change in NC School Funding" Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske describe more sinister legislative action taken by our North Carolina Legislature and Governor during this last legislative session.

In the past, school districts received funding based on projected enrollment. This allowed school districts to plan for growth, and if their enrollments did not pan out, adjustments to funding were made. Now, the waning hours of this past legislative session, and without much public input, schools funding will be based on last year's enrollment. Basically, as Ladd and Fiske point out, "Funding to cover growing enrollments will have to be negotiated and compete with other state priorities." The bottom line, is our legislature has opened the door to being able still cut education further without saying they are cutting education.

In spite of the recent political advertising by Governor Pat McCrory and House leader (US Senate Candidate) Thom Tillis boasting about their "increased" education funding, these two have been leaders in a North Carolina government that has done more to hurt education than ever. Of course I have to throw Senate leader Phil Berger in that mix as well because he is the third prong of this anti-public education crew. The one thing all of these gentlemen have been consistent about is their disdain for public education and for public educators. They have resorted to trickery and deception on a number of occasions before, so this little budget wizardry is hardly surprising.

These are sad times in North Carolina when our North Carolina Legislature and Governor have resorted to deceptive and underhanded tactics to continue to underfund and undermine public education. Teachers and educators in general are leaving. None of our young people are choosing teaching as a profession. It has become fairly clear that our current state government continues to damage public education in North Carolina in ways I fear it would never recover, but perhaps that's the plan.

NC Judge Blocks Law Asking Teachers to Give Up Tenure for Bonus

Last summer, our North Carolina Legislature handed all our state school administrators a hand grenade with the pin pulled. Under a law that they passed, school districts were tasked with finding a way to identify the "top 25%" of all teachers. The law did not specify how this identification was to be done, but it mandated that districts offer bonuses to whoever was identified as the top 25% of teachers in the schools. Then, those who accepted these bonuses were to automatically lose their tenure and be immediately placed on contracts.

The problem, as many districts quickly discovered, lay in trying to find a way to equitably identify this top 25 percent. You can't use just test scores because so many subject areas are not subject to testing. When it comes to other characteristics of teaching, how could you possible quantify and narrow down who falls in the top 25% category and not inadvertently and arbitrarily leave someone out who deserves the designation too? Some districts have struggled with trying to find a way to implement this impossible law, often wasting a great deal of man hours implementing what clearly has to be one of the most ridiculous laws passed during last year’s session.

That’s when some districts  decided to fight having to implement the law. Two districts, Guilford County and Durham School District challenged the law in court, and as WRAL is reporting, a judge has  issued injunction allowing these two districts to avoid implementing it. It's not clear yet whether that injunction applies across the state. (See "Judge Gives Teachers Victory in Tenure Battle.")

While the injunction blocking its implementation makes a great deal of sense, what is amazing from the WRAL story is how quickly Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger spokesperson Amy Auth tried to spin this as efforts by government bureaucrats "to deny top-performing teachers from receiving a well-deserved pay raise." What Ms. Auth apparently doesn't quite get is that the lawsuit wasn't brought on by bureaucrats; it was brought by a group of concerned educators and baord members as well as others who saw how ridiculous and impossible this law was to implement in the first place. Phil Berger has demonstrated he does not respect teachers and educators, and for his spokesperson to pretend to have the least bit of concern for teachers is beyond belief.

Under Phil Berger and Thom Tillis’s legislative leadership and with NC Governor Pat McCrory’s endorsement, North Carolina education suffered greatly last year. This North Carolina Legislature has worked extra hard to pass many of the American Legislative Exchange Council's (ALEC) laws. It is no secret that this legislature, Phil Berger, Thom Tillis and Governor Pat McCrory are do not appear to be friends to public education and to educators, and no amount of spin is going to hide that.

North Carolina Public Education Funding Continues Its "Race to the Bottom"

Chris Fitzsimon at the NC Policywatch posted his Monday numbers on the NC Policywatch Blog. These numbers show the damage our state legislature and political establishment has wrought on public education since 2008. You can check out the complete numbers for yourself, but here's some that I think are indicative of the true value our state government places on public education.

• There have been 16,678 public school jobs eliminated in North Carolina in the last four years. (Our government has done its part to contribute to the unemployment rate.)
• North Carolina ranked 49th in 2007-2008 among 50 states in administrative spending in public education. (All that administrative waste politicians like to banter about isn't there and wasn't there.)
• Speaker of North Carolina House Thom Tillis said there were 0 teacher and teacher assistant positions cut in the 2011-2012 North Carolina General Assembly Budget. (See the reality in the next bullet.)
• As of August 31, 2011, 534 teachers have been laid off due to budget cuts made by the North Carolina General Assembly's 2011-2012 Budget. (For more reality, see next bullet.)
• There were 1,260 teacher assistants who lost their jobs due the North Carolina General Assembly's 2011-2012 budget. (Reality is not something our current political establishment deals with very well.)
• There have been a total of 2,418 layoffs in public education due to the North Carolina General Assembly's 2011-2012 budget. (While Thom Tillis can boast that his budget didn't lay off these individuals, his budget created the reality that made it necessary.)
• There have been a total of 6,307 public school jobs eliminated due to the North Carolina General Assembly's 2011-2012 Budget. (Tillis, as did many in General Assembly, demonizes these people as moochers.)
• 4,000 more public school jobs will go after the federal stimulus money goes away next year.

If you really want a good picture of North Carolina's commitment to public education, check out these two:

• In 2007-2008, North Carolina ranked 45th in per pupil spending.
• In 2010-2011, North Carolina ranked 49th in per pupil spending.

I've heard all the tired arguments about "money won't solve the problems in public education." But I think the reality is in business and education, "You get what you pay for." Those who make statements like the ones above most likely have another agenda. They want public education gone, not reformed. Thanks to our current North Carolina General Assembly, we have begun the "Race to the Bottom" in earnest and are inching closer to that goal.