Ongoing NC GOP debacle thread

BiffTannen said:

That's a pretty light touch with the Greensboro homerism there. I thought she was the most hated person in the McCrory administration.

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PhDeac said:

Even Tatas are in decline in NC?

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In fact, by 2014-15, North Carolina was still spending $100 million less on public education than it had before the economic recession. And over the past ten years, public schools added more than 150,000 additional students. No Republican legislator can honestly say that per pupil expenditures across the state have increased in the last six years.

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Enrollment in teacher prep programs in the UNC system has dropped 27 percent in the last five years. A teacher shortage is just around the corner.

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But instead of demonstrating the quality of a school, the state’s new grading measure much more accurately described the socio-economic status of its enrolled students–nearly every one of the state’s “failing” schools were considered high-poverty schools. The state of Virginia, which also had an A-F rating system, got rid of the system because it was ineffective.

No matter, though. It was perfect timing for the legislature’s next move: with this new “evidence” that North Carolina schools were failing in their mission, the state could move forward with its plan to grant parents options–freedom of choice was how the Republicans phrased it–and built a tuition voucher plan that sent tax dollars to parents who opted out of public schools and into private or religious schools. Despite another lawsuit, this time the legislature came out on top after a court upheld the practice.

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But the legislature has also weakened oversight at public charters–introducing legislation this year to remove them from the Department of Public Instruction’s management altogether. The result is a diminished accountability for tax payer dollars spent in schools–the exact opposite of what the legislature said was important when it came to public schools originally.

(And aren’t you curious why the legislature has been so kind to charters? It isn’t hard to figure out when you follow the money. Apparently if you have a lobbyist group that isn’t a teacher’s “union,” nothing is impossible in Raleigh.)

The legislature then opened up the charter field to for-profit companies, many of which have terrible track records for effectiveness, and some of whom have benefited from zero-bid competition for state tax dollars.

That’s right–our state government has maimed public schools so it can offer tax dollars to for-profit charters and private schools with totally inadequate government oversight from the same systems that declared public schools inadequate in the first place.

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Deacon923 said:

I think there is merit in this approach. There appear to be some strong accountability measures for the charters that take over these 5 schools. If we can turn around 5 schools while holding the charters accountable and learning best practices from them, I think that's fine. As usual in this general assembly, of course, it's all being plotted in secret and will be rushed through committee and voted on before anybody has time to blink, offer amendments or get public input. Probably be part of a motorcycle safety bill. That's the part I don't like.

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2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:

That is the only alternative that is currently on the table. Nobody is overhauling the public school system any time soon, no matter how much it is needed. So do you make that move to help those schools, or continue with the status quo with those schools?
This is basically the Obamacare argument. Do you do something even though it may not be the perfect solution (though I would argue this is exponentially better than Obamacare in their respective areas), or do you do nothing and continue with the status quo?

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