Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, North Carolina's Republican candidate for governor in November, offered a stark departure Tuesday as he outlined his priorities for public schools at the North Carolina Public Schools Forum's 10th annual “Eggs and Challenges.” He spoke in a different, unusually calm tone. ” breakfast.
The breakfast at the McKinmon Center in Raleigh drew about 400 attendees, including educators, politicians and community leaders from across the state.
Robinson and current Attorney General and Democratic candidate Josh Stein spoke at the event and called for teacher pay increases.
During his speeches, he was regularly criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for several militant and controversial attacks on public education and a long series of homophobic, misogynistic, Islamophobic, and anti-Semitic statements. Robinson, who has been criticized, made a clearly different argument during his speech. A surprisingly traditional pose. Instead of elevating a conservative culture war agenda, Robinson said public education's top priorities include focusing on fundamentals like reading, writing and math, improving teacher treatment, and ensuring that children are better at graduation. He said this includes making sure they are career ready.
“We have to treat our teachers better,” Robinson said. “Now notice what I said. I didn't say pay them better. That's definitely a priority. Pay them better.”
Robinson said improving teacher pay doesn't start with raising salaries. “That starts with giving them the respect they deserve and the protection they need in the classroom.”
But when asked to elaborate on what it means to treat teachers better, Robinson said: “It definitely starts with pay. We have to pay teachers better, but we also have to come up with some ways to reduce waste and not transfer that money to other things.” It won't.
“We should also look at the budget and cut anything that can be cut and move it directly to teacher pay, rather than moving it elsewhere, and list the priorities we need to make increases within that budget.” I think you need to create one.''
He did not mention the fact that current teacher salaries were set by his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly over the objections of Gov. Roy Cooper and Democrats. Democrats have repeatedly called for higher pay raises for educators and more funding for schools.
Both candidates were asked the same questions.
Stein appeared via a prerecorded video interview Tuesday morning as his office was hosting the annual Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony.
Stein also called for teacher pay increases, reinstating additional pay for master's degree holders and hiring more counselors and social workers to help students with their behavior.
“School counselors, school nurses and social workers are woefully underfunded,” Stein said. “This means that children and the real challenges they face place an unreasonable burden on teachers in our schools… so they have to deal with behavioral problems rather than education. is.”
Former Guilford County Schools Superintendent and current Democratic state superintendent candidate Moe Green was among the officials and candidates who attended the event, but Greene's opponent, Republican Michelle Morrow, was not in attendance. I declined the invitation. Like Robinson, Morrow rose to prominence within the Republican Party by championing aggressive culture war policies that were highly critical of traditional public schools.
In a speech, current Superintendent Catherine Truitt encouraged voters to support candidates who are “actively engaged” and refrain from using “buzzwords” like critical race theory. At the time, he appeared to harshly criticize Morrow, who defeated him in the Republican primary in March. .
“I hope we can rally behind education leaders who take the time to show up and share our vision, regardless of the buzzwords,” she said. “Our students deserve it. Our teachers and administrators deserve it. Let's be sure to support those who are trying to do that.”
“Let's talk about hot issues other than buzzwords like indoctrination, Leandro, critical race theory, social emotional learning, fake cat litter boxes,” Truitt said. Morrow has come under fire for past social media posts in which she supported the execution of prominent Democratic officials and called public schools “socialist indoctrination centers.”
But Democratic state Sen. Lisa Grafstein criticized Truitt's positioning of “Leandro” (the name of a 30-year-old lawsuit aimed at improving funding for the state's public schools) as a buzzword. I rebelled. She said funding for Plan Leandro is the bare minimum needed for education in North Carolina.
Organizers the Public Schools Forum called on state leaders to take action on decades of “disinvestment” from North Carolina's public schools.
“Our Top Education Issues reflect what the Forum views as the most pressing issues facing North Carolina's public education system,” said Sr., Senior Director of Policy and Research at the Public Schools Forum. said Dr. Lauren Fox. “The disinvestment in public education has left our nation with one of the most underfunded public education systems in the country. We must act now to provide the best educators and the resources they need to succeed.”
The event also included remarks from Cooper, who reiterated many of the themes he emphasized at a news conference Monday in which he was highly critical of Republican lawmakers' plans to expand the state's private school voucher program.
“It's really amazing how successful public schools are despite being underfunded. Here's the hard part, but it's also the good part: The money is there. Public schools without raising taxes. It's there to invest in,” the governor said. “The future of our state depends on public school instruction. We must invest in that future.”