It's past time to put children ahead of education politics

Published January 26, 2017

by Keith Poston, Public School Forum, published in Durham Herald, January 26, 2017.

As 2016 wound down, North Carolina -- and the nation -- closed the book on a divisive and unpredictable election year. Unfortunately it seems likely that partisan politics will continue to set the tone for 2017, including in education.

In November, North Carolina voters elected a new governor in Democrat Roy Cooper. At the same time voters gave Republicans another term with veto-proof supermajorities in both the House and Senate and elected Mark Johnson State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the first Republican to be elected to that post since 1896.

On the federal level, Donald Trump was elected President and tapped a leading school choice advocate in billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos to head the U.S. Department of Education. With the DeVos pick, it seems likely issues like vouchers for students to attend private, and in most cases, religious schools, will loom even larger in education policy debates, both nationally and here in North Carolina.

This week the Public School Forum of NC continued its tradition of forecasting the 10 issues most likely to impact public schools across the state this year. Our Top 10 revisits some familiar themes from the last two years, including teacher pay and per-pupil spending where we still rank near the bottom nationally. New issues include changes in education leadership brought on in part by the 2016 election, as well as new turnaround strategies for low-performing schools and a larger focus on principal pay and preparation, which is critical.

How all of this will play out in 2017 is difficult to predict. With Republicans firmly in control in the General Assembly, it’s safe to assume many of the same priorities will continue including private school vouchers, charters and virtual charter schools and public school takeover initiatives like the Achievement School District that is slated to begin this year.

Looming large is the possibility of a new court-ordered election this fall. There are also lawsuits filed by Gov. Cooper and the State Board of Education that seek to overturn two laws that, if they are upheld, will limit the power of the new governor and significantly shift responsibility over education policy from the State Board of Education to the new State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Both the Democratic governor and the Republican-led State Board of Education have challenged the constitutionality of these measures that were passed in a surprise special session in December and signed by a lame duck governor as he stepped out the door.

There is certainly nothing new about a party winning elections and using that power to gain more political advantage. That has been going on for a long time. But it was not always this way when it came to education. Former Republican governor Jim Holshouser was a strong supporter of public schools and expanded kindergarten statewide. Democrat Jim Hunt followed him as the nation’s first true “education governor,” pushing for higher standards for teachers, raising teacher pay to the national average and creating Smart Start, an early education program that became a national model. He was followed by two term Republican governor Jim Martin who pushed for increased spending on public schools and improved teacher salaries. He even challenged the Democratic majority in the General Assembly to do more to support public education.

This is not ancient history, although it may feel like it. It now seems education is no longer a bipartisan priority, but rather just another political battle to be fought out for short term electoral advantage. The only thing clear is who loses in that scenario -- our state’s children.

Governor Cooper, along with nearly all candidates running for seats in the House and Senate, campaigned on promises to increase teacher pay and invest in our public schools. In recent years, North Carolina has made national headlines for the wrong reasons. But our state has a long and well-deserved reputation as a national leader in investing in education, whether it’s early childhood education, our state’s community colleges and universities or our k-12 public school system. We hope 2017 will be an opportunity for education to take the lead once again.

Keith Poston is president and executive director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on public education in North Carolina.

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/with-education-it-s-past-time-to-put-children-ahead/article_a36df77e-e3e3-11e6-97ab-0b9c874d6af1.html

January 27, 2017 at 10:41 am
Richard L Bunce says:

Another sycophant for the government education industrial complex...

It is not about government education, it is about education.

It is not about government educators pay, it is about students education.

It is not about government control of education, it is about parents control of education for their child.

It is not about limiting competition to maintain the same poor results, it is about creating competition to get the best possible result.

Parents make the best choices for their children. Relatively wealthy parents have been doing this with excellent results for centuries. Empowering realtively poor parents will produce similar results. Many school choice opponents send their children to other than government run schools, could it be they don't want "those children" in their non government schools? Nobody complained about the quality of non government schools that relatively wealthy parents were sending their children to so this is really about the money, not the quality of the education. Proponents of the government education industrial complex offer the relatively poor only the soft bigotry of low expectations for parents and their children, trapping them in government school systems where the majority of students being not proficient at basic skills is acceptable and where social scientists can use them as lab rates in their social engineering schemes.

January 27, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Norm Kelly says:

'Unfortunately it seems likely that partisan politics will continue to set the tone for 2017'. Not much of a crystal ball required on this one. Start with Roy & HB2. Ran his ENTIRE campaign on this single issue, constantly reminding us the election wasn't about just 1 issue, and now insists on making daily comments about how close repeal is. So far the only one talking repeal is Roy. And rightly so. Just this week we found out Durham has an anti-HB2-type Charlotte-style ordinance just waiting for Roy's pipe dream to come true. So, left-wing zealots haven't given up on their agenda. Meaning partisan politics is quite strong among lefties.

Then there's the entire Demoncrat and left-wing zealot reaction to the peaceful turnover of power to our new President. Based on how these zealots are reacting, you would think the world was coming to an end. Leftists are digging in their heels like never before. Leftists are arming for battle on every front, for every issue, over every word. Leftists are showing exactly how partisan they truly are. They've had the attitude for at least a few decades that it's either their way or they take you to court to force their way on you. And they have not given up on this approach one single bit. Their partisanship is at an all time high, if it's possible for their partisanship to be higher than it was!

Bi-partisanship is now being redefined. Used to be demons, libs, media allies defined 'bi-partisanship' or 'compromise' as Republicans caving on everything and demons getting everything. Otherwise, if you didn't see it their way, if you didn't cave to their demands, and they were demands, you were an obstructionist or 'the party of no'. Just recently 'compromise' started to be redefined where perhaps each party gives up something to get something OR libs give up for a change and Republicans get something. I must say, it's about time. It's also about time that partisan, left-wing zealots get used to be in the minority and NOT getting everything they want. The entire nation will be better off for it. Need proof. Just look around the country at those locations controlled by demon pols VS Republicans. (darn it, do some research for a change. prove it to yourself and it will mean more than if i spoon feed it to you! i ain't your momma. cuz if i was, you would have been raised right.)

'In recent years, North Carolina has made' some progress. But libs don't want you to know this. Unions want you to forget this. Dems want you to forget that they were the last to ACTUALLY CUT education spending. And Republicans have been working hard since to increase education spending across the state. While at the same time, something libs don't seem capable of doing, providing parents with more choice.

January 29, 2017 at 11:49 pm
Richard L Bunce says:

Legislature sending a notice to Durham about revoking their Municipal Charter will put an end to that nonsense should they take any action not authorized in the NC Constitution or NC Statute will put an end to that nonsense.