NC public schools

"I am a Democrat. He’s the governor, and a Democratic governor.” And with that explanation, North Carolina state senator Paul Lowe cast the deciding vote to sustain Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of a bipartisan bill offering in-person learning for kids.

Senate Democrats pledged unwavering allegiance to the North Carolina Democratic Party, the N.C. Association of Educators, and the advocacy groups that ignore the overwhelming support for in-person instruction and the mounting academic and social/emotional needs of public school students.

Friedman’s ideas have helped to fuel an education revolution in North Carolina and across the country. Choice empowers parents to make educational decisions, challenges monopolies, and calls out bureaucracies. Choice expands personal freedom but also highlights that accountability comes in different forms. In so doing, choice has helped to shift the public discussion of education from a focus on how much money is spent to how well money is spent.

There’s always been overwhelming support for programs offering school choice opportunities for disadvantaged and special-needs children assigned to underperforming or unsafe public schools. Modest investments in school choice programs can…

Schools are finally beginning to reopen. The urgency of resuming in-person instruction cannot be overstated. Not only has it taken a toll on students’ mental health, learning losses exacerbated by remote learning are devastating and will be most severe among our most vulnerable student populations.

What accounted for the extraordinary net decrease in public school students? A cursory review of the data offers few patterns or common characteristics of note.

During the 2015-16 school year, North Carolina licensed (via interstate reciprocity agreements) and subsequently employed 1,556 out-of-state teachers.1,2,3 At the same time, 828 public school teachers resigned to teach in other states. All told, the state imported 728 more teachers than it exported last year.