Education

House budget falls short on teacher pay, community support

By Eleanore Wood / May 31, 2017 / Comments Off on House budget falls short on teacher pay, community support

The newly-released House budget proposal merely repackages the same misplaced priorities as the Senate budget, failing to match Gov. Cooper’s plan to raise teacher pay to the national average, expand access to community college and broadband Internet, and combat the opioid crisis. “A budget tells you a lot about someone’s values, and the House proposal shows that…

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House budget proposal: More of the same bad priorities

By Eleanore Wood / May 25, 2017 / Comments Off on House budget proposal: More of the same bad priorities

The budget proposal from House Republicans is no better than the Senate version, merely doubling down on the same bad priorities that continue to harm North Carolina public schools under Republican rule. Although lawmakers like to say they’re spending the most money ever on public education in North Carolina, when you take inflation and enrollment growth…

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Trump Proposes Slashes to Financial Aid for College Students

By Eleanore Wood / May 24, 2017 / Comments Off on Trump Proposes Slashes to Financial Aid for College Students

Trump’s budget was released Tuesday and there are some huge budget cuts to education. Included in the education portion of Trump’s budget is a huge cut to federal financial aid for college students. UNC’s former President Molly Broad came out and spoke on the budget cuts, stating that these huge cuts to financial aid will…

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Trump Releases First Education Budget Plan….And it Funds More Private than Public Schools

By Eleanore Wood / May 18, 2017 / Comments Off on Trump Releases First Education Budget Plan….And it Funds More Private than Public Schools

Trump has finally released his first full education budget…and the outlook is not good. He and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s budget plan includes cuts to work-study programs, public-service loan forgiveness, and funds for mental illness and advanced courses. So where is all this money going? They’re planning to spend $400 million on school choice, meaning…

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NCGOP Cuts Education Funding in the Middle of the Night

By Eleanore Wood / May 15, 2017 / Comments Off on NCGOP Cuts Education Funding in the Middle of the Night

Thursday night the NC Senate debated budget amendments well past midnight. Now out of spite, the Republicans in Raleigh want to cut science and math education programs for low-income students in rural NC. At 3AM Thursday night, Republican Senators introduced a new budget amendment that strips education funding from Democrats’ districts all because Democrats were speaking out against…

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Teachers in North Carolina Forced to Have Multiple Jobs

By Eleanore Wood / May 12, 2017 / Comments Off on Teachers in North Carolina Forced to Have Multiple Jobs

Teachers across North Carolina are speaking out against teacher pay by sharing their personal stories. Most teachers work two jobs in order to sustain a paycheck that supports them. These teachers are forced to wake up in the early hours of the morning, spend an entire day at school and go to multiple part-time jobs…

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Expect this from the Senate budget proposal

By Eleanore Wood / May 9, 2017 / Comments Off on Expect this from the Senate budget proposal

When Senate Republicans release their budget proposal this week, you will likely hear several claims about their commitment to public education that don’t match reality. For example, they will undoubtedly repeat the tired claim that they are spending more on our public schools than ever before. But when you take inflation and enrollment growth into account,…

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NC Chamber Refuses to Speak Up About NC Education Funding

By Eleanore Wood / May 2, 2017 / Comments Off on NC Chamber Refuses to Speak Up About NC Education Funding

The North Carolina state legislature has had to make some big decisions regarding education lately and have chosen tax cuts for big corporations over funding public education. The NC Chamber, who should speak up on big issues such as education, has failed to advocate for more public school funding in North Carolina. The Chamber used…

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Charter School Special Perks for Big Corporations?

By Eleanore Wood / April 28, 2017 / Comments Off on Charter School Special Perks for Big Corporations?

Charter schools are paid for by North Carolina taxpayers, so all North Carolina children should have equal opportunity to attend charter schools. However, a set of new bills in the General Assembly could change that. These bills would allow big corporations that donate land or equipment to the school to reserve up to 50% of…

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Editorial: NC Should Fund Class Size Cut, Not Roll It Back

By Eleanore Wood / March 14, 2017 / Comments Off on Editorial: NC Should Fund Class Size Cut, Not Roll It Back

When politicians in Raleigh passed a law last year that reduced class sizes, they thought they were getting an easy political win. Some of them even ran campaign ads touting the reduction. Except there was one little problem…they didn’t provide the funding required for local districts to actually reduce class sizes. Now, with local districts…

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