Gov. Roy Cooper attended a State Board of Education meeting Thursday morning to share his thoughts on public school funding. Cooper, a Democrat, joins Republicans Superintendent Catherine Truitt and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson as directors of the board's office.
Mr. Cooper and Mr. Truitt are currently in the lame duck stage of their terms. Both will be out of office by January, with Cooper reaching his term limit and Truitt losing his first bid this week. Meanwhile, Robinson was recently selected as the Republican candidate for governor.
During the meeting, Cooper criticized the Republican-led General Assembly's lack of state funding for public schools.
“Unfortunately, all too often our schools are told by parliament to do more with less,” Professor Cooper said.
Cooper cited figures from the National Education Association's 2023 annual report on starting salaries for teachers.
“Unfortunately, our starting salary for teachers ranks 46th in the country and 11th out of 12 in the Southeast. We invest $5,000 less per student than the national average,” Cooper said. added. “That’s not the North Carolina I know.”
Cooper criticized the state Legislature's decision to expand the state's private school voucher program, known as Opportunity Scholarships, to students of all income levels, regardless of whether they already attend a private school. The state plans to provide about $3 billion in scholarships of up to $7,000 per student for private school tuition over the next seven years.
“According to an analysis by the state Office of Management and Budget, public schools could lose $200 million in state funding in the first year of voucher expansion alone,” Cooper said. “That's wrong.”
Cooper said he would advocate for a moratorium on private school vouchers “until we fully fund our public schools.”
Mr. Cooper touted his budget proposal, which would fund a comprehensive improvement plan for public schools ordered by a state judge in the ongoing Leandro case. The judges in this case are tasked with overseeing whether North Carolina is meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a sound basic education to all students.
Republican Truitt offered his thoughts on a comprehensive relief plan.
“It goes back to a common metaphor in politics: You can't write 'fully funded' on a check,” Truitt said.
Truitt cited several persistent challenges facing public schools. Difficulties recruiting teachers to rural areas, rising costs of teacher health and welfare, and what she calls an outdated teacher pay system. These problems are difficult to solve, she said.
“I don't agree that we need to spend more, but what matters is how we spend the money,” Truitt said. “And no comprehensive restoration plan will get us there.”
Truitt credited North Carolina's recent rise in reading proficiency to legislation with bipartisan support that would require teachers to be trained in phonics to teach reading and writing, resulting in the highest rate per student in the nation. No such change was observed in New York state, where spending is high. Nationally standardized tests yield commensurate results.
Robinson disputed Cooper's comments about private school vouchers.
Robinson said the most memorable part of his travels around the state was “the conversations I had with parents who received vouchers that literally changed the lives of their students and children.” .
One thing all three seem to agree on is that teachers are underpaid.
“Our teaching profession is stuck in another era, paying teachers the same salaries as they did in 1950, as if they were extra income for their spouses,” Truitt said. Ta.
“Teachers across our country are one of the most undervalued assets our country has. They are poorly paid. They are not respected and they are not protected,” Robinson said. Told. “If this state is going to change anything, it has to change.”