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Time to mandate masks in schools
Let’s establish an important fact up front: masks are one of the most important ways to contain the spread of COVID-19. A review of 19 randomized controlled trials found that universal mask wearing is important for preventing COVID, where transmission may occur before a person becomes symptomatic. Countries that introduced mandated masking within 30 days of the […]
Duke study highlights the need for in-school reforms to truly integrate schools
An innovative new study from researchers at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy examines the racial segregation that takes place within North Carolina schools, highlighting the need for more deliberate school-level policies to truly integrate schools. While many studies have examined segregation across districts and schools, this study provides a rare, in-depth look at […]
Report: Federal grants to NC charter schools found to promote racial and economic segregation
A June report from the Network for Public Education, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on strengthening public schools, uncovers how North Carolina is using the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) to finance schools that have historically served as schools of white flight. North Carolina’s charters contribute to the racial and economic segregation of our public […]
Senate budget writers opt to violate constitution, denying NC students the education they are owed
The Senate budget proposal unveiled this week contains a shocking admission: Senate leaders are content to violate their oath to uphold the North Carolina Constitution, denying full citizenship to the state’s 1.5 million public school students. Over the past 27 years as part of the Leandro court case, North Carolina courts have consistently found – […]
New Duke University study: Big, unresolved problems continue to plague NC’s school voucher program
A new report from Duke University’s Children’s Law Clinic outlines the many ways in which North Carolina’s largest school voucher program continues to suffer from glaring policy weaknesses. These policy weaknesses increase the likelihood that voucher students are receiving an inferior education than their peers in public schools, delivering a bad deal to students and […]
New tool shows impact of state’s Leandro Plan on school district budgets
A new interactive tool from the Every Child NC Coalition calculates the impact that the state’s Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan would have on state funding for every school district. The tool distills the 57-page Leandro Plan into something that is tangible and readily understandable for advocates and policymakers. The Leandro Plan proposes to make changes […]
First-of-its-kind bill would incentivize integration of North Carolina schools
This week, Rep. Cecil Brockman introduced a first-of-its-kind bill to add measures of school segregation to North Carolina’s School Report Cards. If passed, H948 would provide policymakers, families, and students with new data to identify racially segregated schools and those in which opportunities and resources are being denied to certain student groups. The bill is […]
With latest voucher bills, NC House and Senate compete to undermine public education
Both House and Senate leaders have now introduced bills (H32 in the House, S671 in the Senate) overhauling North Carolina’s three voucher programs in an apparent effort to see who can do more to dismantle public schools. Both bills are long, complex, and would further subsidize students in unregulated private schools at the expense of […]
Governor’s education budget shows that we can give students the education they’re owed
The biggest public school issue facing North Carolina’s state education policymakers this session is whether or not the state will make progress on providing children with the education they are owed under our state constitution. The Governor’s budget proposal marks an important first step towards securing such progress this year. Under the decades-long Leandro court case, North Carolina’s courts have consistently found that state leaders have […]
New analysis of school and COVID data suggests additional caution warranted
As this week’s education news has been dominated by the General Assembly’s top-down efforts to force schools to return to in-person instruction, a new analysis offers a note of caution. Data analysis from Wake County Board of Education member (and NC State chemistry professor) Jim Martin pushes back on the narrative that COVID incidence in […]
NC legislators waste little time in trying to further privatize state’s public schools
As state legislatures have started their sessions, anti-public school legislators have wasted no time introducing “school choice” bills that would divert public funds to privatization schemes. In the first three weeks of January alone, 34 bills to expand private education options had been introduced in 15 states.
Don’t rely on the ABC Science Collaborative study to inform school re-opening decisions
As schools begin spring semester classes, local leaders in North Carolina face the weighty decision of whether to offer in-person instruction. Local leaders have been handed no favors from federal and state officials who have abrogated their responsibility to establish objective criteria for in-person instruction that would apply to all schools, public and non-public alike.