Utah became the poster child for choice in education when Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed the Parent Choice in Education Act, which puts a portion of education funding directly into the hands of parents. As Lindalyn Kakadelis told Warren Smith on “Worldviews,” the steps taken by Utah’s leadership will be a crucial experiment in universal school choice that will hopefully have positive ramifications in NC. Lindalyn continued this message during a segment of “Capital Close Up” with Scott Carr. While it’s good to see one state taking the necessary leap to support school choice, NC still remains behind the time, not only with our cap on charter schools, but in terms of dropout rates and school construction needs. In conversations with Lockwood Phillips and the Charlotte Observer, Lindalyn spoke to the Department of Public Instruction’s recent report on increased dropout rates. Terry Stoops‘s constant advice, and criticisms, to Wake County have yet to move the debate on school construction away from frivolous wants. But, there’s still time. His message is definitely not falling on deaf ears; folks in Tennessee are listening. To the list of school gripes, some – mainly teacher’s unions – would point to teacher pay as a reason for poor performance and low teacher recruiting and retention. Terry’s recent Spotlight shows that teacher pay in the state is doing quite well, if you factor in cost of living and fringe benefits. The report proved to be a good point of discussion for bloggers in Greensboro.
