North Carolina’s step-by-step war on public education

By Valerie Strauss

Here is a piece by a veteran educator on the assault in North Carolina on public education. It was written by James Hogan, a former teacher who is now a writer and a fundraiser at Davidson College. He is also a board member of Our Schools First, a local public education advocacy non-profit. He taught high school English for five years, including AP Language and Composition, Creative Writing, and American Literature. While he was a school teacher, he was also a member of NCAE (North Carolina’s version of an education advocacy group), and sometimes worked with his school system’s administration as an adviser. He is a North Carolina Teaching Fellows alumnus (a now-defunct state scholarship program that granted scholarships to college students in return for their service as teachers in-state) and 2003 graduate of Western Carolina University. A version of this appeared on his blog.



By James Hogan

I am no fan of hyperbole, but I mean it when I say this: North Carolina is waging war against public education.

The pathway that brought us here has been paved with underfunded budgets, tactical strikes against public school teachers, fundamental changes in charter school operations, the diversion of public funds to private or religious schools, and the erosion of our hallowed University of North Carolina system. Here’s what’s happened.

more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/07/north-carolinas-step-by-step-war-on-public-education/