Why Earn a Doctoral Degree When NC Legislature Does Away with Doctoral Pay?

I’ve asked myself the question about why would I get a doctoral degree as an educator when our NC Legislature voted last summer to end pay for doctoral degrees? Who in their right mind would earn a degree that will perhaps have no immediate financial return? My answer? Me.

First of all, my reasoning is rather rebellious. Our North Carolina Legislature has made it rather clear through their work that they do not value education—from the K-12 level through college—they’ve been playing games and giving the appearance of funding education without really funding it properly. My earned doctoral degree is my way of shoving sheepskin in their face and a means of shouting, “You’re wrong!” My education is mine. It is the one thing of great value, in spite of their legislative ignorance, they can’t take away.  Education is important! It’s life changing and it matters and ultimately is more powerful than they give credit. Why else would politicians make a concerted effort to keep as many people in ignorance as our current state political leaders have?

Secondly, I firmly believe that there is still value that comes from learning for learning’s sake. Not every thing we learn has to have an immediate monetary return. Sure, I like earning a salary. I like having the ability to purchase things I want, but learning has value for it’s own sake, and it has value in ways we can’t foresee. Learning brings wisdom. It brings experience. It makes us better people. Ultimately, it creates people that can see what politicians are really doing. The bottom line for learning is that there is no bottom line.

Why did I earn a doctoral degree? Ultimately, I can hardly see why I would not have if I am communicating to the students in my school as principal that learning is an excellent thing and we can never get enough. While our North Carolina Legislature places little value in learning, as an educator and life-long learner, learning for me is like breathing; I’m going to do it until my time is no more. 

NC Legislative Still Manages Devalue Public Ed with New Principal Pay Scale

After this year’s North Carolina General Assembly sessions, what can one say about principal pay? Somehow we have a legislature that thinks administrators in North Carolina should be somehow grateful that they’ve alotted an additional $35.4 million dollars to principal and assistant principal pay increases, and that increases to $40.6 million in the 2018-19 school year, but took away longevity pay and established a pay system tied directly to test score performance. As has always been with our North Carolina Legislature since republicans have assumed control, let’s say the truth is really in the details.

First of all, the North Carolina Legislature ditched any connection between pay and experience in their new pay scale. Maybe this was because some economist out there has determined there’s no connection between experience and the raising of test scores, so experience is seen as meaningless. (Never mind that test score performance is not the entire end of education.) I think it is perhaps more truthful that we have a legislature really does not want principals to stick around anyway. Experienced principals are more expensive. They want newer, cheaper administrators anyway. We now have a principal pay system in North Carolina perfectly designed to encourage new and young principals to move in but quickly leave because the system does not value experience at all.

In fact, the new principal pay system completely dissolves a long-time practice of giving experienced longevity pay to experienced principals too. Now, the budget language says this longevity pay was absorbed into the pay schedule, but that makes no sense. The fact is, our legislature took away longevity pay to create their new merit pay system. Ultimately, with the actions of our North Carolina Legislature in recent years, our state is becoming the kind of state where educators are much better off looking for jobs elsewhere, and now principals are no exception.

Secondly, the new principal pay scale employs a merit pay system with substantial bonuses tied to test score performance. In spite of many studies and research pointing out the fallacies and failures of such pay schemes, our legislature still assumes that principals are motivated by greed, and that test score performance is the end of all things in public education. By dangling a few thousand dollars in front of principals this legislature believes that somehow principals will figure out how to increase student growth with less textbook money than ever and less resources than ever. Our state government has been cutting public education for years, and now, our legislature with its merit pay scale wants to use money as a hammer to beat principals into getting more out of teachers in this state with less resources than ever. We don't even have enough money to purchase textbooks and supplies any more, never mind professional development funding.

Finally, let’s stop kidding ourselves: our republican-controlled legislature just does not value education. Phil Berger and the republican elites in our legislature want to appear from year to year that they are increasing education funding, and by the numbers they are, but they are increasing it to strategically to harm public education and not support it. The principal pay scale is a perfect example. It is not designed to encourage educators to take principal positions and remain in them as careers. It only wants principals to stay around until their pay is too high. Like almost everything else this legislature supports, it is short-term and short-sighted, with the ultimate goal of harming public education in the end.

In North Carolina, despite the boasting of many republican legislators, we have a state government controlled by those who still want to end public education.  Why do we in education deceive ourselves from year to year. They might be actively trying to appear to support it, but their tactics have gotten more devious than ever. They strategically fund programs and initiatives that actually undermine public education. That’s why the political activism of educators is all the more important in the coming elections.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: One aspect of this new principal pay scheme adopted by out North Carolina legislature that I forgot in my original post is this: It also ends pay for advanced  and doctoral degrees for principals. As usual, this legislature continues to ignore the value of further education for educators. Now, any principal in North Carolina can no longer expect extra pay for obtaining an EdS degree or EdD degree. In the history of North Carolina I don't think we've ever seen a governmental body so anti-education from the public school level through the university level. Perhaps they still think if we keep the public ignorant, then they will continue to buy their baloney. It's time for a major change in North Carolina.

Is Getting Students ‘College-and-Career’ Ready Just Empty Blather?

As is clear from a post by EdNC entitled “Questions at the State Board on Quality of Graduation Rates,” the is some question about just how much our schools in North Carolina are successfully getting our students, especially poorer and minority students “College and Career Ready.” Our North Carolina State Board of Education, in a meeting this week, questioned North Carolina’s highest than ever graduation rate because although the state is graduating more students than ever, there are still serious gaps in “College and Career Readiness,” as indicated in testing data, between African-American students and other racial and ethnic groups.

The data being discusssed (and included in a link in the post) makes it clear, “We’re not getting near as many students ‘college-and-career’ as are the number we’re graduating.”

Yet, I can’t help but ask a very serious question: If we’re serious about getting students “College and Career Ready” then what are we really getting them ready for? Let’s face it, college costs are higher than ever, so are we getting them ready for something many of them won’t be able to afford anyway? Are we getting them “College and Career Ready” so private banks, lenders, and our student loan programs can saddle them for life with enormous amounts of debt? Why spend all this time and energy getting students ready for something they might not be able to afford anyway?

I am certainly not arguing about the noble nature of the goal of getting every student ready for college attendance or for getting a good job once they graduate. But, and this is where I scratch my head, I can’t help but wonder if for all our effort, we’re not lying to students. While there’s so much talk about getting our students “College and Career Ready” there’s little or no talk by our policymakers, politicians, and even educational leaders at the K-12 level about making college affordable to all. There’s something that really smells bad about getting students “College-Ready” and then making them turn to loans. Isn’t that in some ways turning them into indentured servants?

If we’re going to talk about “College and Career Readiness” at all, perhaps our policymakers, politicians and state and local education leaders should be advocating to make college affordable. And, while we’re at it, let’s make sure there are jobs that offer opportunities for our students to earn a comfortable living wage and provide rewarding careers. If not, we’re dressing them up for a party that will never happen.

Why Are Genuine Requests by Teachers for Fair Pay and Benefits Seen as Greed?

If you want to see greed, just look to Congress and the business world. It was their fault the economy crashed in 2008, though they still try to blame educators. The problem with all this is simple: we’ve allowed politicians, corporations, and businesses paint workers as “greedy” when they are simply trying to get a raise of a few percentage points, or have insurance that actually does insure them when an illness or injury occurs, and paying executives exorbitant salaries is perfectly acceptable. It is perfectly fine for a CEO or administrator at the top to demand more pay, but when classroom teachers or other state employees demand the same consideration from our North Carolina politicians, they are painted as part of a greedy labor union.

We need to shift the discourse back to the real truth! The ones who are truly greedy are those who are really taking home all the bread and leaving crumbs for everyone else: CEOs and “executives.” Just look at the Martin Shkreli Congressional hearings today. Are we really surprised when we see sarcastic smirks and smug smiles from the likes of Martin Shkreli when he testified before Congress to explain why he raised the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750 while CEO of a pharmaceutical company? Shkreli defends his role by saying his job was to earn the most money for his stockholders and himself, and shows absolutely no remorse. We’ve created a culture that worships money. Everything is “All about the money.” What’s even worse, making money “legally” is perfectly fine, nevermind if that way the money is earned is unethical. Add that fact that those who make the money are the ones who decided and enacted the laws, so of course it is all going 
to be legal.

Martin Shkreli Before Congress

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.

More Info on NC Legislature’s Gutting of Health Insurance for Educators and State Employees

According to a WRAL article “State Health Plan Board Could Remove Option Popular with Workers” our North Carolina Legislators and Governor Pat McCroy might even make it worse for educators and state employees when it comes to insurance. Due to our state politician’s demand to find savings, here’s just some of the ways our political leaders are trying to find ways to degrade our health insurance:

• elimination of coverage for spouses.
  
• drop the 80/20 plan which a large number of state employees have chosen.
• add premiums and raise deductibles.
• passing on more costs to state employees.

This is on top of a refusal by our North Carolina legislature and North Caroline Governo Pat McCroy to substantially raise teacher and educator pay in North Carolina. It is becoming fairly clear that this legislature and governor’s office does not see state employees as valuable to the state of North Carolina. The haven’t listened to educators in the past so I am not sure they will in any way change their ways.

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.

Why Are NC Politicians So Reluctant to Raise Teacher? They’ve Been Listening to Frederick Taylor Too Long

"The writer has great sympathy with those who are overworked, but on the whole a greater sympathy for those who are under paid. For every individual, however, who is overworked, there are a hundred who intentionally underwork---greatly underwork---every day of their lives, and who for this reason deliberately aid in establishing those conditions which in the end, inevitably result in low wages." Frederick Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management

Could it be that at the heart of the reluctance by North Carolina political leaders to provide raises to teachers is the Taylorist belief that “most teachers are lazy, therefore, none of them deserve a raise?" In his Principles of Scientific Management, Frederick Taylor made it clear that he believed that workers are inherently lazy and will seek to do least amount of work they can. There can be no doubt that Taylor’s Principles have been and consistently are applied to education, but this stubborn reluctance on the part of our state political leaders seems to defy logic at times, unless your logic happens to be based on Taylorist principles. That logic goes: “Because most teachers are lazy, we only want to reward the few who aren’t."

Taylor’s Principles of Scientific Management, though written a little over a hundred years ago are still bedrock thinking in business and I would contend much of our schools and their operations. Since our legislative leaders see the application of the business and corporate model to everything as the ultimate answer, it only stands to reason is that the last thing they want to do is give those “lazy teachers a raise.” Instead of finding ways to improve North Carolina teacher pay , they continually look for ways to reward “good” teachers.

The problem becomes though how do you define “good” teachers? If you follow Taylorist principles to the maximum, you must rely on science to identify those “good teachers.” In our American Taylorist education system, the only measure of a “good teacher” often perceived to be “scientific” is a test score. A merit pay system where pay is based on test scores is usually the option explored, because, after all, the job of teachers is to produce student achievement, and test scores are an accetable proxy for student achievement. But most psychometricians and educators who know education, know this to be incorrect. Tests just are incapable of capturing all worthwhile learning, and they are impossible instruments to measure achievement in the arts and performance-based disciplines. If you make the product for which teachers are rewarded test scores, then anything that can’t be tested or is not tested automatically becomes irrelevant.
So then how do you reward “good teachers?” Some of our politicians talk about rewarding teachers who work in science and math, and other hard to fill areas with more pay. Additionally, they want to pay more to teachers who take on additional responsibilities. Certainly, it is understandable to try to find ways to fill those math and science positions, as it is also understandable to try to find ways to reward teachers who take on additional responsibilities. But by focusing only those in hard-to-fill areas, aren't they saying that only teachers in math and science are “good teachers?” “Good teachers” are not just those who teach in areas deemed “highly-valued” by the current regime. To reward only those teachers immediately subjugates English teachers, foreign language teachers, kindergarten teachers, and guidance counselors. They are not seen as valuable. Our cultural richness exists because the arts are valued, literature is valued, film is valued. Like a good Taylorist though, our political leaders and even education leaders want to subjugate every aspect of education in the pursuit of economic dominance anyway.

As far as rewarding teachers for taking on additional responsibilities, what about the hard and difficult job that these teachers already do? The idea of rewarding additional responsibilities is so wrought with the stench of Taylorist thinking, that it should be discarded immediately. It communicates to all teachers that they do not deserve a raise. It tells them they are not working hard enough. It tells them that they currently do not earn the salaries they currently receive.

In the end, our state political leaders don’t really think our educators in this state work hard. There are certainly lazy educators, just like there are lazy legislators, governors, and business men, even CEOs. Lazy leadership is relying on belief without going out and gathering the facts before making decisions, and that’s what these merit pay ideas demonstrate. Our political leaders need to perhaps spend some time in the shoes of a kindergarten teacher or of a urban school principal. They perhaps they can make the correct decisions about educator pay.

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 Senator Phil Berger Continues Anti-Public Education Campaign

NC State Senator once again proves he is the number one enemy of public education in North Carolina. In a speech made before Best NC, he had this to say(Check out this post.):

“Research shows that teacher assistants don’t have a meaninfgul impact on students’ academic outcomes…but here in North Carolina this year we will spend almost $400 million dollars on teacher assistants next year. I equate it to an office supply business that chooses to continue to invest in manual typewriters."

Berger clearly equates the main purpose of schools are to obtain high test scores, and anything that does not serve that purpose is useless. This comes from an individual who apparently has no clue how schools operate, and probably hasn’t set foot in a classroom since he walked through the doors of his one-room school-house sitting in the middle of the Sandhills of North Carolina.

But, why should we blame him entirely? Public education should blame itself. When “student outcomes” and “teaching inputs” become the language of instruction, then it is no wonder that policitians like Berger use our own research, and language, in his quest to end public education in North Carolina. When every decision in a school is made in the service of “getting those test scores up,” it’s not a big leap to using test scores to justify every single expenditure.

Educators are as guilty as Berger if we let his nonsensical blather about standardized testing continue unchallenged. Educators also need to challenge Senator Berger’s nonsense too rather than trying to be “politically correct” and connect with him.

If you want to hear more of Berger’s nonsensical rhetoric check out his speech before the educational “reform” organization BEST NC (Business for Educational Success and Transformation) here.

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.

Truth About NC Rep Thom Tillis and Gov Pat McCrory's 'Simple' Math of Teacher Raises

Most of us have heard the old politician joke that begins with the question, "How can you tell when a politician is lying?" And the answer? "Their lips are moving?" While the humor from that joke might have disappeared from that statement after years of use, the truth of that statement is perhaps alive and well in North Carolina. Maybe the word lying isn't exactly correct, but there sure is a great deal of prevaricating going on.

Recently, in a WRAL newstory, "Letter from McCrory Stirs Pot Over Teacher Raises," it seems our governor's office and NC US Senate candidate have declared that a 5.5% raise is the same as a 7% raise. According to that same article, Josh Ellis, a spokesperson for Governor McCrory, states that McCrory and Thom Tillis are saying the same thing. According to Ellis, the difference between whether his office and the North Carolina Legislature gave teachers a 5.5% average raise or a 7% raise is a matter of "accounting differences." Methinks I see both politician's lips moving on this one.

The question I ask is really simple, "Why does our NC Governor and NC State Legislature, led by Thom Tillis and Phil Berger have to resort to deception and trickery when they should simply be doing something right for education and teachers?" I certainly know part of the answer; there's an election in a couple of months and they had to at least "give the appearance of giving teachers a raise." What better way to do that than by using "accounting trickery" to cook the books? That way, they can claim the same truth, and both be right. Well, they might use this "accounting wizardry" in their businesses, but it is just plain wrong to play those games on the hardworking teachers in this state, and to deceive the public as they've done.

What's even worse, other legislators like NC Representative Nelson Dollar and State Senator Tom Apodaca don't even appear to be sure about the amount of raise they gave teachers. Apodaca is quoted as saying that from "everything he's seen on the pay raise tells him its a 7% average hike, not the 5.5% percent raise listed by the governor." The phrase "from everything he's read" could certainly mean he hasn't read much except the lines being fed to him by legislative leaders.  Other legislators aren't sure about other things in this raise as well. NC Representative Dollar seems to be either confused or is being misleading. Hard to tell which, except his lips are moving too. He even questions whether the raise provided by this NC Governor and Legislature included taking away longevity and adding it back as part of the "7.7%" raise. He claims the 7.7% does not include the longevity. Perhaps its some of the NC Legislative Accounting again. According to our state legislature and governor's office, 2+2 can equal whatever they decide it equals apparently.

What's really bad about all this, is that appears we have a NC governor and NC Legislature that purposefully or unpurposefully made the raises they gave teachers this year murky. For Thom Tillis and Governor Pat McCrory, it makes a great deal of sense to do just that in an election year. Figure out a way to give the least amount of raise, and then use fuzzy accounting to inflate the amount of raise you gave. Instead of using reality to back their arguments, they use inventive accounting. Either these two gentlemen think the general public and teachers are too stupid to figure it out, or they are more devious that even I could imagine. Once again though, you have to keep in mind their lips are moving!

NC Legislative Staffer Calls Concerned Teacher an Idiot? Say It Isn't So!

The question of the evening is, "Did a staffer in North Carolina Representative Tim Moore's office call a teacher concerned about about the recently passed North Carolina budget an "idiot?" According to a a recent post to my Facebook timeline, a teacher in Cleveland County, North Carolina  described what it was like to call her state representative and express concerns about the budget. Here's her post:

Post by Julia Clore-Laurich.

Perhaps this incident really illustrates how this legislature really feels about teachers in general. To call a teacher, who happens to be citizen, an "idiot" says a great deal about how this representative really feels about teachers. My fear is that such sentiments extend throughout the legislature and our state's governor's office as well. Their past actions have shown they are no friends to public education. They certainly have proved during this session that they are no friends to veteran teachers.

NC Gov McCrory & Legislature Approves Budget with Hidden Anti-Public Ed Agenda

Today, North Carolina Governor McCroy signed the budget presented to him by the legislature. What amazes me is how our state political leaders can say with a straight face, that they have given teachers a "historical pay raise." Teacher raises are actually between 18% and .3%, depending on years experience. From what I can see, here's what this budget really does.

• It takes away longevity pay for experienced teachers and then returns it back to them in what the Legislature is calling an "average 7% raise." In other words, the actual raise is lower than what they brag about because they are taking pay away that teachers earn because of their years of service.
• This budget sets up a donation fund to collect donations for those would like to donate money to future teacher pay raises, because we have political leaders unwilling to use tax money to fund future teacher raises.
• The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is cut by 10%.
• There were no direct cuts to teacher assistant jobs, but the wording of this part of the budget has an odor difficult to identify.
• Textbook funding was increased only by $1 million, bringing to to a whopping total of $25 million, yet our legislature was able to somehow find another $840,000 for school vouchers. Compare this to the fact that the textbook budget pre-2010 recession was around $125 million.
• Monetary allotments for salaries and benefits to district offices were decreased by 3%.
• The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program, an excellent program designed to provide scholarships to promising high school students who want to become teachers was also cut.
• The budget directs funding toward for-profit virtual charter schools, even though there questions about their effectiveness.

This budget is what I would call a "grudge" budget, which is a budget that uses mirrors and smokescreens to hide this legislature's continued anti-public education agenda. It is sad that Governor Pat McCroy, Thom Tillis, and Phil Berger would resort to deception in an election year, but then again being able to deceive others is a valued trait in American politicians of every stripe. It's too bad that children will continue to suffer under these kinds of budgetary decisions and public education will still continue to deteriorate. 

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.