Democrats and education

Published November 25, 2014

by Gary Pearce, Talking About Politics, November 24, 2014.

One thing Democrats did right this year was push education onto the public agenda. But will it last? And the key question: Where do they take it now?

 

The Hagan campaign came close largely because they almost turned a United States Senate race into a school board election. 

 

The same thing was true in many legislative races. Republicans who were running scared campaigned like Democrats, promising to improve the public schools and even to raise teacher pay to the national average.

 

One path for Democrats now will be to see whether Republicans keep that promise in what looks like a legislative session that will be dominated by a shortfall in revenues

 

But Democrats should be wary of falling into a trap that equates more money with better education.

 

Republicans are learning how to push back against the charge that they “cut $500 million from education.” And, if you Google that charge, you’ll find a series of fact checks that challenge its veracity.

 

Given their ideological preference for vouchers and charter schools, Republicans are not likely to appropriate much more money for the schools. Their position is more likely to be: “We’re spending more money than ever before on the schools, but they’re not getting better. We have to do something different.”

 

Democrats better figure out how to overcome that argument.

 

Same with the universities. Democrats can’t just criticize budget “cuts” – more accurately, cuts in per-pupil spending – when Republicans are already rolling out their riposte: “North Carolina spends more on its universities per pupil than all but three other states.”

 

I saw this movie in the 1990s with Governor Hunt. It’s why he didn’t just say: “Let’s raise teacher pay to the national average.” He also, always, said: “And let’s raise standards for teachers, students and schools.”

 

To win in 2016, Democrats will again have to propose more than more money.

http://www.talkingaboutpolitics.com

November 25, 2014 at 12:01 pm
Richard Bunce says:

Sorry Gary, the government education industrial complex only cares about the money... students are just a number in the funding formula. The spice must flow...

November 25, 2014 at 7:21 pm
Norm Kelly says:

Gary is a die-hard lib. Maybe not as far left as Chris, but pretty close. It appears he has NOT been paying attention to the demoncRAT party for many decades. Take this as an example: 'But Democrats should be wary of falling into a trap that equates more money with better education'. The demon party across the nation, and definitely in NC, has told us for DECADES that more money means better education. If they didn't believe this, why would they want to drive 'average teacher salary' UP to the national average? This is a completely, totally, undeniably bogus comparison, yet libs and teacher unions continue to promote it. There is no difference between 'more money' and the demon belief that it equals better education. Whenever libs whine/complain about lack of funding for government monopoly schools, the first thing they tell us is that the kids will suffer because they won't get the education they deserve. There is a constant, overwhelming, repeated, never-ending whine from libs that money DOES equal better education. So, where is Gary that he doesn't know this. Demons need to be careful about 'falling' into that trap? Like it's a possible future event? Just like the coal ash pond leaks, the whine about funding equaling better education is a demon problem that has existed FOR DECADES! Gary, regardless of how you try to downplay this, the FACTS and TRUTH are too obvious to everyone else. Libs may skip over these things, but freedom lovers and conservatives remember things like facts.

'Democrats better figure out how to overcome that argument'. They THINK they already have. Spend more on education. Increase the power of teacher 'associations'. Allow local school boards to become taxing authorities in their own right. Oh, and did I mention spend more? If not, their answer is already clear/obvious cuz they say it every time they get a chance: spend more!

'To win in 2016, Democrats will again have to propose more than more money'. Again? It's possible, probable, that Hunt was and remains the only lib who believed this or ever said it. This is DEFINITELY NOT the way the modern demon party works. This MIGHT be good advice coming from Gary. But in order for this to work, in order for it to be heard by demons, all the existing members of the demon party 'leadership' need to be pushed aside and some new blood come in. The existing lib leaders have no other schemes up their sleeves to improve education. Their idea is more of the same. And eliminate ALL competition to government monopoly schools.

Based on the history of the demon party, the current make-up of the demon party, and what's been said by demons since the most recent election, they are paying zero attention to Gary's advice. Heck even the occupier says that he pays more attention to what WASN'T said by the 60% or so who didn't vote than he does to the 40% or so of us who did vote. You know that saying about stuff rolling down hill. It's absolutely true in politics, and certain in the lib party!

November 25, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Tom Hauck says:

Thanks for your column.

Why is there never a comment about the quality of the education that North Carolina children in the public schools are receiving?

In the 2012-13 school year -- the latest available -- 82.6% of the ED or Economically Disadvantaged children failed to pass both their End Of Grade reading and math tests. There were a total of 1.4 million children in the public schools in the 2012-13 school year and 68% of the total or 950,000 children failed the two tests.

When are you going to start speaking out on their behalf?

Darrell Allison of Parents for Educational Freedom North Carolina (www.pefnc.org) does that and he gets a lot of blowback from teachers and Democrats. Why?