Affirming Academic Freedom at the Nation’s First Public University EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third installment of a three-part essay by Lloyd Kramer, a professor of history and former Chair of the Faculty Council at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he has been a faculty member since 1986. By Lloyd Kramer Some academic colleagues and some… READ MORE
Lawmakers show what they mean by school choice
RALEIGH (June 1, 2023) – State legislators are moving to dramatically expand vouchers to attend private schools this year, lifting income limits on who qualifies and raising state spending on vouchers to more than half a billion dollars a year by 2032-33.1 Make no mistake – budgets are about choices. And state legislators are choosing… READ MORE
Defending Carolina’s priceless gem, Part I
Academic Freedom is the Foundation for Great Universities EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the first installment of a three-part essay by Lloyd Kramer, a professor of history and former Chair of the Faculty Council at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he has been a faculty member since 1986. By Lloyd Kramer Almost 700 faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill… READ MORE
Senate budget: Simply not enough
RALEIGH (May 18, 2023) – It’s simply not enough. The budget proposal released this week by the state Senate is simply not enough to improve public education in North Carolina. There’s an undeniable link between education and a skilled workforce. Yet state legislators don’t seem to get that. At a time when average teacher pay… READ MORE
What to do with an extra $3B?
RALEIGH (March 1, 2023) – North Carolina will finish the current budget year with $3.25 billion – 10.7% – more revenue than it budgeted for the year, state economists reported last month. The consensus report from economists for the General Assembly and the Governor’s Office attributed the additional funds to a smaller-than-expected decline in individual… READ MORE
Will the NC Chamber walk the walk?
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK (August 11, 2022) – There were lots of nice words at the NC Chamber’s annual Education and the Workforce Conference last week – lots of great ideas shared. Which made it that much more difficult to square with the Chamber’s actions the week before. First, though, some of those ideas: Durham Tech… READ MORE
Don Martin: A middle ground on teacher pay plan?
EDITOR’S NOTE: With school set to resume soon across North Carolina with thousands of teaching positions still vacant1 and a new pay plan being floated for K-12 teachers, Don Martin, retired superintendent of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, shares his views about the plan. WINSTON-SALEM (August 10, 2022) – In 2020, the Forsyth County Commissioners asked… READ MORE
NC business leaders: Fund the Leandro plan
(August 4, 2022) RALEIGH – More than 50 North Carolina business leaders asked the NC Supreme Court last week to uphold a lower court’s order last fall directing state officials to transfer more than $700 million to improve the state’s public schools. The “friend of the court” brief1 is part of the 28-year-old Leandro case… READ MORE
A pay cut
RALEIGH (July 6, 2022) – With the 2022-23 budget they unveiled and adopted last week, state legislators simply aren’t taking care of their people – our people. The state has a $6.5 billion revenue surplus this year. Let that sink in: $6,524,141,444.00.1 Yet this state continues to systematically underfund public education. By one estimate, the… READ MORE
$6.2B NC surplus: Make education a priority again
RALEIGH (May 18, 2022) – As the NC General Assembly reconvenes today with a $6.2 billion state budget surplus, it’s time to make education a priority again in North Carolina. Officials announced last week that the state will take in $4.24 billion more than projected in the budget year that ends June 30 – a… READ MORE