Yesterday, Judge Howard Manning conducted hearings on issues related to the Leandro school adequacy case.

The News & Observer focused their report on a co-payment requirement for families who enroll their children in pre-kindergarten programs.  Of course, there wasn’t much talk about Section 10.7 (h) of the budget, which says, “All at-risk children and age-eligible children of military personnel as described in subsection (g) of this section are exempt from the co-payment requirements of this subsection.”

That aside, I was astounded that Judge Manning tolerated so much hearsay testimony from John Pruette, executive director of the state’s Office of Early Learning.  On a number of occasions, Pruette reported on statements made by officials at the NC Department of Health and Human Services, the agency now responsible for the state’s pre-kindergarten programs.

I was also disappointed that Manning did not challenge Pruette on the student performance issue.  Indeed, Manning spent the first 30 minutes reviewing Leandro, including his role in the case, and reporting unimpressive test scores from the 2010-11 school year.  If pre-kindergarten programs have a record of successfully preparing kids for school, then why do our at-risk students continue to struggle throughout the remainder of their academic career?  It would have been a fair question to ask, but Manning didn’t.

Rebecca Garland, DPI’s chief academic officer, spent little of her lengthy testimony discussing the state budget.  She assured Manning that the Department of Public Instruction “has a plan.”

Ricky Lopes, associate superintendent for Cumberland County schools, addressed budget/finance matters on the local level.  On several occasions, Lopes mentioned that Cumberland County used temporary stimulus money to pay the salaries and benefits of permanent employees.  The loss of these federal funds will force the district to eliminate about 300 teaching positions and, I believe, 44 teacher assistants.

John Dornan of the NC Public School Forum blamed both Democrats and Republicans for “dismantling” North Carolina’s public schools.

On Monday, Manning commented, “This is not a money case.  This is a quality case.”  As expected, the testimony featured much bellyaching about money and not much talk about quality.  How will Manning respond?

Update: After additional testimony and closing arguments, Judge Manning adjourned the hearing.  Now the waiting game begins.