The mainstream media narrative surrounding contentious Wake County school board elections since 2009 often missed the mark. That’s one key finding from The End of Consensus, a book that explores factors that contributed to a much more contentious school board climate starting in the 2000s.
Co-author Andrew Taylor, N.C. State political science professor and Carolina Journal columnist, shared key themes from the book during a presentation for the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. Taylor shared polling data that contradicted media themes that people in western Wake County and north Raleigh were much less likely to support diversity-based school assignments than those living inside Raleigh’s Interstate 440 Beltline.
Polls also showed little difference in attitudes about school assignment policies among longtime Wake County residents and newcomers from out of state. Polling suggested that the issues of diversity and neighborhood schools were not the ideological poles that the media portrayed them to be. And in the video clip below, Taylor addressed one factor that did divide residents: whether they had kids.
3 p.m. update: Click play below to watch the full 47:37 event.
You’ll find other John Locke Foundation video presentations here.
