Take a minute to read the News & Observer’s take on the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) 2009 Legislative Report Card.
The N.C. Association of Educators, an organization of mostly teachers, released its grades for legislators Thursday.
The report card notes how legislators voted on bills NCAE wanted and gives a final grade.
The grades don’t necessarily have much to do with the votes, though.
Senate leader Marc Basnight voted for all the bills the NCAE wanted, as did budget writers Linda Garrou and Charlie Dannelly. Yet those senators, all Democrats, got C-minuses. Identical voting records earned other senators A’s or even an A-plus.
A written explanation of the grades says they’re not based just on votes. Legislators are judged on other factors – whether NCAE considers them accessible, reliable, and if they promote NCAE’s positions in committees, for example.
As for the Senate budget writers’ grades, perhaps that shouting match they had last year with NCAE lobbyists didn’t help at report card time.
Republican Sen. Jerry Tillman voted for three bills the NCAE wanted, voted against three, and got a C. Sen. Debbie Clary, a Republican, voted for three of the six and got an F.
Guess we all knew teachers just like some kids more than others.
Sen. Martin Nesbitt, Rep. Alma Adams, Rep. Tricia Cotham, and Rep. Maggie Jeffus received A+ grades.
For the most part, the NCAE used two simple formulas:
D ≥ C, whereas D is the party affiliation and C is the grade
R ≤ D, whereas R is the party affiliation and D is the grade
