In a Wake County courtroom this morning, the judge presiding over the Leandro case signed a consent order which requires the State of North Carolina and the State Board of Education to “work expeditiously and without delay” to create and implement major changes to North Carolina’s public education system.
Judge David Lee says “considerable, systemic work” is necessary in order for the state to meet its constitutional obligation to provide a sound, basic education to students, as our current system “leaves too many students behind–especially students of color and economically disadvantaged students.”
The defendants have 60 days to prepare a plan of action for changes they intend to implement in seven areas:
*Teacher development and recruitment, including professional development and competitive pay
*Principal development and recruitment, including professional development and competitive pay
*A finance system that provides adequate resources, especially to at-risk students
*An assessment and accountability system that includes multiple measures of student performance
*Additional support for turning around low-performing schools and districts
*Improved access to high-quality Pre-K
*Alignment of high school to postsecondary and career expectations to ensure student readiness for life after K-12
Not one member of the North Carolina General Assembly attended the hearing, and NC Superintendent Mark Johnson was also notably absent.
You can see the last two pages of the consent order below, and the entire document is linked in the first paragraph above.
It is about time! NC historically has had a very good public education system. Our University system was 2nd to none. The community college system was the best in the nation.
Sadly K-12 has been destroyed by the NCGA. The UNC Board of Governors, acting at the direction of the NCGA, has slipped from its previous national lofty status.
It is time to get all NC education back to where it was.
Please stop leaving NC behind. Our students deserve the same education as the rest of the country is getting. Private schools are fine but public schools should come first. Private schools should pay their own way. They are the ones who choose to not participate in the system.