Issue Position: Protecting Education

Issue Position

Public education is central to my life. I am a product of North Carolina public institutions, from elementary through graduate school. The North Carolina public school system has been an integral part of my family. My mom taught elementary school and worked as an elementary and high school librarian. My dad served on the school board. One aunt served as county superintendent and another is currently a high school principal. Both of my grandmothers spent over thirty years in the classroom as elementary school teachers. I know education in North Carolina, and it is my top priority.

There is no more important responsibility of our state government than providing a quality education, and our public education systems are North Carolina's greatest competitive advantages in recruiting industry and jobs. Yet Senator Hise and the legislature have chosen to attack North Carolina public education at every level. He voted for a budget to make North Carolina one of the lowest states in per pupil spending for K-12 students. Our community college and university systems have suffered devastating cuts. Fewer students will have the opportunity to seek higher education in either system because financial aid was severely cut. At-risk children are losing access to pre-kindergarten, the single biggest asset in preparing a student for success.

Senator Hise was the primary author of legislation to silence teachers simply because they stood up for their students and spoke out against that horrible budget. His legislation to single out and weaken the North Carolina Association of Educators was introduced for no reason besides partisan political retribution. Meanwhile classroom positions have been cut in our district and across the state. These unwise decisions jeopardize North Carolina's future.

I will work to protect education. We need to keep teachers in the classroom and stop the widespread layoffs. We need to recruit a new generation of educators through innovative programs like Teaching Fellows and work to retain the best teachers before they leave the classroom for other careers. We need strong pre-K programs that give every child the chance to have a good start and succeed in school. We need to end the cuts to our community college and university systems. And we need to live up to the promise of our state constitution by keeping those higher education systems affordable and accessible to all.

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