Jason Langberg, attorney for Legal Aid of NC, is outraged. In a letter published in the News & Observer, Langberg, says that the elimination of the personal education plan (PEP) requirement in the budget is harmful, cowardly, racist, classist, hypocritical, shortsighted, and unconstitutional.
Of course, if Mr. Langberg did a simple search of the NC General Assembly website, he would have found that the House passed HB 855: Personal Learning Plan for Each Child. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Marcus Brandon (D-Guilford), made crossover, passed its first reading in the Senate, and sits in a Senate education committee. Rep. Brandon’s bill would give school districts greater flexibility in the design of PEPs. It also requires students to have a greater role in developing and maintaining the plan. In other words, it is an improvement over the existing statute.
That said, I am not sold on the idea of PEPs. Aside from questions about the efficacy of PEPs, we should be looking for ways to reduce the paperwork burden on our teachers. I welcome that debate.
