As I mentioned in my last column, the leadership of the General Assembly likes to tout that they have increased funding for K-12 public schools even though the categorical funding available to meet the needs of the state’s 1,449,515 students (as of last school year) is really decreasing. Let’s examine just how much the funding for various categories has decreased since 2008-09.
2016
Op-Ed; Stop, not expand school voucher program
Thanks to the N.C. General Assembly, Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh is due to receive $583,800 of your tax dollars this academic year. That money was supposed to be used for public schools. Greensboro Islamic Academy is also due to receive $546,000 that was intended for public schools.
NC schools facing teacher recruitment and retention challenge
Higher education and K-12 educators said Wednesday that more needs to be done to recruit and retain North Carolina teachers at a time when fewer students want to enter the profession and those who are in the classroom are less experienced.
Enrollment at the 15 UNC schools of education has dropped 30 percent since 2010, according to Alisa Chapman, UNC system vice president for academic and university programs. The UNC system provides 37 percent of the state’s teachers, so any decline in the education programs makes it more difficult for districts to recruit teachers.
Tiny private school puts spotlight on voucher system’s flaws
Star Christian Academy, a K-12 private school, occupies two rooms in the back of New Generation Christian Church in Smithfield. According to a former student, it has just three teachers for the 13 grades, and they provide minimal active instruction. The school is run by a husband-and-wife team with a long history of personal bankruptcies and failure to pay state and federal taxes.
February 2016 Monthly Legislative Report
Special Session on Redistricting
Lawmakers returned to Raleigh this month to hold a special session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional maps following a federal judge’s ruling that two of the districts were racially gerrymandered and unconstitutional. The redrawn map can be found here. The maps must receive court approval before officially going into effect.
As a result of the new maps, lawmakers moved the NC congressional primaries to June 7. No other business was taken up during this special session. If you want to see if you are in a new congressional district as a result of the redrawn map you can click here to find out.
Education Oversight
The Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee met on February 2 and discussed the following pertinent topics:
The Every Student Succeeds Act
State Superintendent June Atkinson and DPI Director of Data, Research, and Federal Policy Dr. Lou Fabrizio updated legislators on The Every Student Succeeds Act, the new federal law that has replaced No Child Left Behind. Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Fabrizio talked about: the new law’s major components; how the law compares to NC’s current requirements; and major implementation actions that need to be taken over the next few years. To see the materials provided as part of this presentation click here, here, here, here, here, and here.
You can watch the full presentation here.
Work Experience Credit/Licensure
Rebecca Garland, Deputy State Superintendent, and Dave Fairall, HR Director of Lexington City Schools, talked about the State Board’s experience with giving teachers credit for non-teaching work experience. Some committee members questioned whether this process should be done more at the local level. You can view the presentation materials here.
Juvenile Literacy Study
The Honorable Ann Marie Calabria and Anna Hedgepeth talked about an initiative in Wake County called the Juvenile Literacy Center program. This program provides direct one-on-one tutoring to court-involved youth. The Ed Oversight committee was directed by the legislature to study this program and make recommendations on expansion. Click here to see the presentation materials.
Education Strategy and Practices
The House Select Committee on Education Strategy and Practices met on February 24 & 25 and discussed the following pertinent topics:
Principal Salaries
Alexis Schauss of DPI came back before the committee to answer some lingering questions that had been prompted by her January presentation on principal compensation.
Early Childhood Education
John Pruette, Executive Director of DPI’s Office of Early Learning, reviewed research evidence demonstrating that Pre-K programs work well. You can view his presentation materials here.
Joan Lord, Vice-President of the Southern Regional Education Board, discussed the findings and recommendations of her group’s Early Childhood Commission report. You can view her presentation materials here.
Mark W. Lipsey, Vanderbilt University, presented some findings that Pre-K programs have yielded mixed results nationally. He also talked about some additional factors that must be considered in evaluating Pre-K programs. You can view his presentation materials here.
Sydney Atkinson with the Division of Public Health discussed the State’s Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program. You can view her materials here.
Principal Leadership and Preparation
The committee heard from a series of speakers, including administrators with experience in low-performing schools, talking about how to cultivate strong school leaders.
Betty Fry, Southern Regional Education Board: Materials here; Video here
Dr. Pascal Mubenga, Franklin County superintendent: Materials here; Video here
Jan Wagner and Larry Hodgkins, Martin County school administrators: Materials here; Video here
Dr. Steve Tozer, University of Illinois Chicago Professor: Materials here; Video here
The individual presentations were followed by a panel discussion between lawmakers and the presenters which you can watch here.
ESSA
There were two presentations on the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and how it will impact state education systems:
Lee Posey with the National Conference of State Legislatures: Materials here; Video here
Claire Voorhees with the Foundation for Excellence in Education: Materials here; Video here
Buildings/Infrastructure Commission
A new Blue Ribbon Commission tasked with studying the capital infrastructure needs of the state held its first meeting on February 22. This commission is a mix of legislators and members of the public representing various groups across the state that have an interest in capital infrastructure, including school boards, county commissions, cities, the UNC system, the Community College system, and the NC Chamber of Commerce. School boards are being represented on the commission by Mr. Barry Shoemaker, a member of the Cabarrus County school board. Click here to see all the members of this commission.
At this first meeting, the Commission received an overview of how public school building construction/renovation projects are funded. There was also a presentation on the funding of community college and other State capital projects.
Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial
Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile
Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial
Teacher for a day State legislator leads academic studies
A day in the classroom was as much a lesson for state Rep. Phil Shepard as it was for the students he visited.
Shepard, R-Onslow County, spent Monday at Southwest High School in Jacksonville, where he was a guest teacher for three history and civics/economic classes.
What’s it like being designated as a low performing school
I am currently the principal of what our state of North Carolina deems as a “low performing school.” Based on our EOG proficiency and value added analysis, we are an “F” school that showed no growth last year.
When I began at my school on July 1, 2015, I knew the situation. My superintendent was very clear with me about what I was “getting into” as some folks would word it. Then we received the official designation in September as part of new state policy. We are still in the process of figuring out the in’s and out’s of being a low performing school and it is now almost February.
January 2016 Monthly Legislative Report
Select Committee on Achievement School Districts
A special House committee formed to examine Achievement School District (ASD) legislation held its inaugural meeting on January 27. A bill from Rep. Rob Bryan (R-Mecklenburg) under discussion in the House proposes to move up to five of the state’s lowest performing schools out from under their local boards of education and place them under a separate ASD run by a Superintendent hired by the State Board of Education. The ASD would contract with charter management organizations (EMOs) to run the ASD schools. The bill went through over 40 drafts behind the scenes last session but never received a public hearing or action in the General Assembly. Twelve House members have been appointed to this select committee that will analyze the concept of ASD and make recommendations for the short session.
At the January 27 meeting, the Committee discussed the following pertinent topics:
Current State Turnaround Efforts
A DPI official told the committee about a program the State already has in place to help struggling schools. Dr. Nancy Barbour, Director of DPI’s Division of District and School Transformation, outlined the initiatives her division provided to the bottom 5% of schools from 2010-14 using Race to the Top funds. Through targeted efforts around technology, professional development, coaching, and other school improvement initiatives, Dr. Barbour told the committee that 83% of these schools moved out of the bottom 5% and 67% moved out of the bottom 10%. While acknowledging successes in the State’s current efforts, some committee members expressed concern that the pace of turnaround is still too slow in many areas of the state.
Plans for Upcoming Meetings
It is anticipated that the February meeting will feature experts on ASD programs in other states and also allow time for public comment. NCSBA has significant concerns about this approach based upon the lack of evidence of success in other states. This along with eight pages of concerns and questions about the particulars of the bill have been shared with Rep. Bryan. The committee is expected to vote on ASD recommendations/legislative proposals in March.
House Select Committee on Education Strategy and Practices
The House Select Committee on Education Strategy and Practices held meetings on January 27 and 28.
On January 27, the Committee received presentations on and discussed the following pertinent topics:
Teacher Pay Suggestions and Perspectives
Presenters
Dr. June Atkinson, NC Superintendent of Public Instruction
Materials: here, here, here, and here.
Watch the Presentation here
Dr. Trip Stallings, Director of Policy Research, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University
Materials: here, here, and here
Watch the Presentation here
Dr. Terry Stoops, Director of Education Studies, John Locke Foundation
Materials: here
Watch the Presentation here
Brenda Berg, President and CEO, BEST NC
Materials: here
Watch the Presentation here
Presentation Highlights
Dr. Atkinson suggested that lawmakers institute a 10% across-the-board salary increase for classroom teachers, estimated to cost approximately $540 million. This suggestion was publicly rebuked by Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), who called it unrealistic. You can read more about Speaker Moore’s response to Dr. Atkinson here.
Dr. Atkinson also suggested that an effective pay system would “layer” additional compensation models on top of base salary to improve retention of effective teachers and target personnel in low-performing schools. The approach she suggested would be to provide supplemental pay for teachers who assume additional responsibilities and duties, then add pay incentives for staffing at low-performing schools, and finally provide bonuses for teachers in schools that exceed growth.
Dr. Stallings told the committee that there is no research-based evidence that pay-for-performance programs alone impact student outcomes or teacher behavior. Lawmakers should focus on funding multiple differentiated pay pilots involving strategic staffing initiatives.
Dr. Stoops reviewed the five most important considerations for raising teacher quality.
Ms. Berg discussed the changing nature of the state’s workforce and made recommendations from BEST NC’s perspective on addressing teacher recruitment and retention challenges.
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On January 28, the Committee received presentations on and discussed the following pertinent topics:
School Administrator Salaries
Presenters
Alexis Schauss, Director of of School Business Administration, DPI
Materials: here, here, here
Watch the Presentation here
Presentation Highlights
Ms. Schauss discussed how Principals and Assistant Principals are compensated in North Carolina, some of the major changes that have occurred in administrator compensation over the past few decades, and significant challenges of the current pay structure.
Superintendent Perspectives
A group of local superintendents were invited to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns with the committee. Most of their comments focused on the importance of teacher pay. The superintendents who spoke were:
Greg Little, Mt. Airy
Sean Bulson, Wilson
Dr. Beverly Emory, Winston-Salem/Forsyth
Dr. John Parker, Roanoke Rapids
Mark Garrett, McDowell
Dr. Frank Till, Cumberland
Dr. Barry Williams, Gates
Jeff Booker, Gaston
To watch a video of the superintendent remarks click here.
Charter Schools Advisory Board
The NC Charter Schools Advisory Board met on January 11 and 12. The Board took the following notable actions.
2017-18 Charter School Applications
The Board interviewed five (5) applicant groups seeking to open a charter school in 2017-18. Three (3) of the interviewed applicants were recommended to the State Board of Education and one (1) was not recommended. The Board deadlocked on whether to recommend the fifth applicant, Next Generation Academy (Guilford County) to the State Board. Board members disagreed over whether the “need” for the school in its proposed Greensboro location outweighed an unclear educational plan/mission statement. When it came time to vote on recommending Next Generation, the Board split 5-5. The State Board will be notified of this tie vote when it takes up the 2017-18 recommended applicants.
Of 28 charter applicants for 2017-18, six (6) have been recommended for approval and 17 are still awaiting interviews.
For a complete status update on 2017-18 charter applicants click here.
Leanne E. Winner
Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6686 direct dial
Bruce Mildwurf
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919) 606-3916 mobile
Bryan Holloway
Associate Director of Governmental Relations
N.C. School Boards Association
(919)747-6677 direct dial