public schools

Apparently North Carolina ranks 48th in the nation in per pupil spending? And our average for teacher pay ranks 46th? To say that is discouraging is an understatement.

According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI),

This will be the fifth consecutive year public schools have endured significant funding reductions. Many local superintendents have shared that schools in their districts have already been "cut to the bone." For years, many schools in North Carolina have operated with fewer teachers and staff, limited resources such as textbooks and technology, less training for teachers, and with facilities in need of update and repair. One superintendent has described the situation as a rubber band that has been stretched to its breaking point.

Given the harsh spending cuts over the past few years, it seems strange that our lawmakers are focused on charter schools and other faddish privatization schemes. No matter what your opinion is on charter schools, they take money away from our traditional public schools. Since 2008, the number of charter schools has grown by almost 50 percent, while over that same period nearly 4,000 traditional public schools have closed.

TWO THOUSAND TWELVE was a difficult year for public investments in North Carolina. We saw even more cuts to vital services on which the entire state depends, and the inadequate funding so many of our schools and other public structures have suffered through since the start of the Great Recession has become the new baseline by which some NC lawmakers will judge future spending decisions.

To be expected, more bullshit and double talk from the King of Christian Lawyers.

Previously.

For those following the ongoing debate about public education vs. the Pope-Eshelman model of privatizing public schools, the comments on this New York Times article will be interesting. The article itself? Not so much.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction is in the process of overhauling the curriculum for North Carolina Public Schools. The DPI has asked for feedback on the proposed curriculum through February 15, 2010. I reviewed the proposed curriculum. There is a glaring problem with the proposed history instruction in North Carolina high schools. The proposed curriculum eliminates the teaching of United States history prior to 1877 in North Carolina public schools. A few pre-1877 concepts are covered in other parts of the curriculum, but the proposed curriculum would not teach children:

Who came to the Americas and why
The states were once colonies of England
We fought a war to free ourselves from an imperial crown
We had a lot of discussion of how people in a democracy best rule themselves, culminating in the Constitution.
Western Expansion
Death and Displacement of Native Americans
Wars of U.S. Territorial Expansion
Slavery
Civil War
Reconstruction

About 1000 volunteers showed up at 14 Haywood County Schools on Saturday as part of our "Save a Teacher" campaign.

Story in today's Mountaineer newspaper in Waynesville.

Among all the hypocrisies of the libertarian wing of the North Carolina Party of Greed, their hypocrisy around protecting young people from being monetized by commercial interests or proselytized by religious interests is most damning. Carrying the banner of free-market fundamentalism, they believe businesses should be free to exploit children with no restrictions - and that it's just fine to reallocate tax dollars into "faith-based" initiatives like religious charter schools. "What's the problem?" they ask. The marketplace will eventually work things out and the best ideas will win in the end.

For my part, the line between church and state is both broad and bright. Though I am personally a regular church-goer and student of all things religious, I strongly object to any instance in which government sanctions, embraces or endorses any aspect of religious practice. Institutional prayer in public meetings, schools, courts, and other government-funded activities should be strictly forbidden - as Jesus specifically recommended.