It is widely recognized that top students will often choose majors where financial aid is available. In order to increase the number of top students entering the teaching profession, North Carolina established the Teaching Fellows Program. This program, which was established several years prior to the take-over by the Republican leaders, was a scholarship program which brought talented, highly motivated teachers into the classroom. Unfortunately, this highly effective program has been eliminated by the Republican leaders as a part of their “cut spending” approach. Thus, we are losing some potential teachers to other fields since scholarship funds are available elsewhere. Also, because of their understanding of the teacher pay issue, many top students, who would really like to teach, are choosing other professions.
Voting 2016 