NC schools face a double crisis as teachers quit and lawmakers resist order to boost funding

NC schools face a double crisis as teachers quit and lawmakers resist order to boost funding
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD


When the Leandro school funding case was filed in 1994, it sought more state funding for five poor rural districts. But nearly three decades later the crisis caused by state neglect has spread statewide.

As North Carolina children return to the classroom, their schools are reporting a shortage of more than 4,400* teachers and overall staff vacancies that top 11,000.** The COVID pandemic has added to a national teacher shortage, but the effects have been especially strong in North Carolina, where teachers were already quitting over low pay and poor treatment from the Republican-led General Assembly.

These were the pressures bearing down on North Carolina’s public schools as the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments*** last week in the long-running school funding case. At issue is whether the court can compel the legislature to fulfill an agreement between the Leandro plaintiffs and the state’s executive branch that would provide full funding for school needs.

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... a lawyer for the legislature’s Republican leaders made the bewildering claim that there is no legislative reluctance to give schools what they need. “This not a contest between those who want to fund education and those who don’t,” Matthew Tilley said.****

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Much more at the link.
https://archive.ph/8zsWa

❤️ pants

*https://archive.ph/o/8zsWa/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article264526776.html

**https://archive.ph/o/8zsWa/https://www.wunc.org/education/2022-08-22/nc-has-over-11-000-vacancies-in-public-schools-a-statewide-survey-finds

***https://archive.ph/o/8zsWa/https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article264995024.html%23storylink=cpy

****https://archive.ph/o/8zsWa/https://www.wral.com/nc-supreme-court-weighs-785m-education-plan-in-latest-leandro-case-hearing/20439447/