Welcome

If a good teacher, like a candle, "consumes itself to light the way for others," then perhaps burnout is not so bad after all.

Bulletin Board

  • The E.A. Morris Fellowship for Emerging Leaders is now accepting applications for the 2010-11 class. Applicants must be between the ages of 25 and 40, reside in North Carolina, and commit to a yearlong program of activities designed to examine, develop, and enhance their leadership skills. There is no cost to individuals accepted into the program. For additional information, please visit the E.A. Morris website at http://www.eamorrisfellows.org.
  • The John Locke Foundation invites you to a Headliner Luncheon on Wednesday, September 29 at Sisters’ Garden in Raleigh. Join Michael Barone, Marc Rotterman, John Hood, and Gary Pearce for a preview of state and national elections. For more information, visit https://www.johnlocke.org/events or call 919-828-3876.
  • The John W. Pope Civitas Institute will hold its monthly poll luncheon on Wednesday, September 29 at 11:45 a.m. at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Wilmington. This month’s speakers include Francis De Luca, Chris Hayes, and Chad "Big Talker" Adams. To register, go to http://www.nccivitas.org/events or call 919-834-2099.
  • On September 29, the North Carolina Committee of the Heritage Foundation will hold a panel discussion on American education at 6:00 pm at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Panelists include Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation, Darrell Allison of Parents for Educational Freedom in NC (PEFNC), and John Tedesco of the Wake County school board. For additional information, please contact Brittany Balmer at 202-608-1524, email [email protected], or visit http://www.myheritage.org/committees/north-carolina.
  • Are you looking for winning ideas (and great videos)? Visit the Free to Choose Network http://freetochoose.com.

Are you kidding me?

Governor Bev Perdue recently awarded Bill Harrison, chair of the N.C. State Board of Education (SBE), a $90,000/year post to "oversee the state’s implementation of $400 million in federal Race to the Top Funds" and "chair the newly formed Governor’s Education Transformation Commission." Harrison also plans to use the funds to hire a budget analyst, two auditors, and office staff. Do not be surprised if those positions add hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and benefits to the bottom line.

Governor Perdue has been looking to place Harrison in a paid position ever since the courts ruled against her blatantly unconstitutional attempt to place him in a $265,000/year "CEO" position at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. Shortly after the ruling, Harrison retired from a lengthy career in the public school system and began collecting a sizable pension from the state. According to a pension database maintained by the Charlotte Observer, he currently receives a pension of nearly $150,000 a year. A recent WTVD report found that state guidelines permit him to collect his pension as long as the combined income does not exceed state limits.

This is not the first time North Carolina’s governor found a paying gig for an appointed chair of the State Board of Education. During his second term, Governor Mike Easley appointed SBE chair Howard Lee to a paid position on the board of the N.C. Utilities Commission. Unfortunately, that is what North Carolinians have come to expect from state government — political patronage and cronyism. Do not expect any apologies from occupants of the governor’s mansion, however. In fact, expect more of the same.

Facts and Stats

National Education Association (NEA) membership as of December 31, 2009 (one-year change):

 

National — 2,753,129 (up 8,235, +0.3%) Montana — 12,922 (up 57, +0.4%)
Alabama — 72,145 (down 188, -0.3%) Nebraska — 21,114 (up 101, +0.5%)
Alaska — 11,140 (up 298, +2.7%) Nevada — 26,970 (up 1,978, +7.9%)
Arizona — 31,074 (down 454, -1.4%) New Hampshire — 15,404 (up 197, +1.3%)
Arkansas — 13,416 (down 48, -0.4%) New Jersey — 175,414 (up 1,547, +0.9%)
California — 301,237 (down 5,463, -1.8%) New Mexico — 8,127 (up 309, +4.0%)
Colorado — 35,585 (up 122, +0.3%) New York — 347,229 (up 3,382, +1.0%)
Connecticut — 37,427 (up 277, +0.7%) North Carolina — 47,917 (down 418, -0.9%)
Delaware — 10,941 (up 213, +2.0%) North Dakota — 7,076 (up 64, +0.9%)
Florida — 125,033 (down 4,479, -3.5%) Ohio — 117,594 (up 1,459, +1.3%)
Georgia — 33,654 (up 849, +2.6%) Oklahoma — 23,451 (down 987, -4.0%)
Hawaii — 12,503 (down 297, -2.3%) Oregon — 40,103 (up 277, +0.7%)
Idaho — 11,637 (up 75, +0.6%) Pennsylvania — 154,198 (up 2,287, +1.5%)
Illinois — 125,386 (up 2,868, +2.3%) Rhode Island — 7,108 (down 197, -2.7%)
Indiana — 47,499 (up 193, +0.4%) South Carolina — 7,793 (down 1,081, -12.2%)
Iowa — 35,232 (down 268, -0.8%) South Dakota — 5,650 (up 33, +0.6%)
Kansas — 25,510 (down 31, -0.1%) Tennessee — 47,129 (up 405, +0.9%)
Kentucky — 32,182 (down 70, -0.2%) Texas — 42,969 (up 817, +1.9%)
Louisiana — 14,331 (up 179, +1.3%) Utah — 23,989 (down 21, -0.1%)
Maine — 18,444 (down 46, -0.2%) Vermont — 10,790 (up 166, +1.6%)
Maryland — 66,515 (up 386, +0.6%) Virginia — 56,262 (down 471, -0.8%)
Massachusetts — 84,994 (up 1,120, +1.3%) Washington — 77,542 (up 468, +0.6%)
Michigan — 118,339 (up 2,551, +2.2%) West Virginia — 11,372 (down 442, -3.7%)
Minnesota — 70,493 (down 513, -0.7%) Wisconsin — 84,023 (up 548, +0.7%)
Mississippi — 5,411 (down 39, -0.7%) Wyoming — 5,568 (down 24, -0.4%)
Missouri — 29,400 (up 662, +2.3%) Others — 5,887 (down 120, -2.0%)

Source: Education Intelligence Agency

Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected].

Education Acronym of the Week

CEDARS — NC Common Education Data Analysis and Reporting System

Digital Preservation Acronym of the Week

CEDARS — CURL Exemplars in Digital Archives

Quote of the Week

Schools may be erected, East, West, North, and South; pupils may be taught, and masters reared, by scores upon scores of thousands; colleges may thrive, churches may be crammed, temperance may be diffused, and advancing knowledge in all other forms walk through the land with great strides; but while the newspaper press in America is in, or near, its present abject state, high moral improvement in that country is hopeless. [Y]ear by year, the memory of the Great Fathers of the Revolution must be outraged more and more, in the bad life of their degenerate child.
Charles Dickens, American Notes for General Circulation