Republican leaders have mounted a sustained attack on education in this state.  There has been a reduction in funding for public education and the devaluation of teachers and the teaching profession is high on the agenda of the Republican leaders.

North Carolina has some of the most dedicated, competent, caring teachers in the country.  They spend hours preparing lessons, motivating students, conducting parent conferences, and numerous other duties in preparing our children for their futures.  Because of a cut in funding for materials, many teachers have been forced to purchase classroom materials from their own pocketbooks.

Pay for North Carolina teachers has traditionally been lower than that in other states.  However, former Republican governor James Holshouser and former Democratic governor James Hunt made great strides in improving education in North Carolina, both in educational performance and pay for teachers.  Largely as a result of their efforts, pay for North Carolina teachers was higher than that in half of the other states by 2008.

The current Republican leaders, however, seem to have pursued a vendetta against the public school system and against our teachers.

View details about this vendetta against teachers and public schools.

In Wake County, it’s all the more important that state support keep pace with growth because the 153,000-student system sees an annual increase of 3,000 students.

But now, Republican legislative leaders have changed a budget policy, making the state’s coverage of enrollment growth no longer automatic.  It simply means school systems can plan because they know they will not know whether they will have the money to cover increases in enrollment.

Without the enrollment money guarantee, administrators will have to wait on an uncertain state budget allocation, and doing any planning ahead will be impossible.

The omission of the enrollment factor for budgeting purposes allows the state legislators to blame any cuts in school programs, elimination of teacher and teacher aid positions, and the increase in class size on the local administrators.

These actions have devastated North Carolina classrooms and left North Carolina children behind.  They have also severely damaged teacher morale; they make teacher recruitment and teacher retention more difficult; and they suggest to teachers that the Republican leaders do not care about them.  Many teachers have been forced to work at one extra job to make ends meet.

These policies can be reversed by removing these uncaring, anti-education Republican leaders from office.  It is important that all North Carolinians concerned about public education in this state vote Democratic.

What is in store for public education in the future?  If the Republican leaders are reelected, the situation gets worse:

  1. The Republican leaders have promised to reduce income tax rates further in 2015.  This tax cut will result in less income tax revenue for the state and a further reduction in funding for the public schools.
  2. The Republican leaders have promised to increase funding for private schools (if there is a reversal of the ruling that this funding is unconstitutional), taking even more funds from the public schools.
  3. The Republican leaders are considering eliminating the teachers’ guaranteed pension plan and replacing it with a non-guaranteed 401(k) plan.  Some teachers prefer the 401(k) plan, but many prefer the certainty of the guaranteed pension plan.  If any change is made, teachers should have a choice.
  4. There will probably be further attempts to abolish teacher tenure by Senate leader Phil Berger if he is reelected.  After the bill to abolish tenure was ruled unconstitutional, Berger introduced legislation that would provide an 11% pay raise only to teachers that “voluntarily” gave up their tenure rights.  The bill was not passed.

It is clear that the Republican leaders do not value our hard-working teachers; they have passed laws that are harming the public schools and that are leading to the destruction of the public school system.  These Republican leaders need to be replaced.  VOTE DEMOCRATIC!!

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