Representative Larry M. Bell is the chair of the Education Committee in the North Carolina General Assembly. During the 2009 legislative session, he introduced H856: Modify Charter School Law, which would have raised the cap on charter schools by six schools.
Now, as chair of the Standing Committee on Education for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), Bell sent a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan complaining about the Obama administration’s strong support for increasing the number of charter schools nationwide.
To make matters worse, Rep. Bell also makes absurd claims like the following:
The parents, students, teachers, principals, superintendents, school board members and state and locally elected officials in North Carolina have decided on a different mix of reforms to improve our low-performing schools than the ones prescribed by the Department in Race to the Top.
Since when?
The truth is that the State Board of Education, the Governor, and the General Assembly have decided on the mix of reforms. Don’t think for one minute that state education leaders involved parents, students, or school personnel in these decisions. These constituencies would opt for more charter schools.
